Sometimes the apostle Paul, in his letters, gives an indication of the main concern of the letter in his introduction. It is so here. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he shows in these verses that he is writing about the necessity of the truth of God being believed and followed in practice.
The God of Truth
a) Truth Within the Godhead (v.2). The true God is the God of truth. Here we are told that there is something God cannot do! He cannot lie. But surely nothing is beyond the power of God. "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (Gen.18:14). But the limitation in our text is not a limitation of power, but of character. God will always be Himself and act in accordance with His character. "The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works" (Psalm 145:17). So He is the never-lying God.
Our text speaks of this God of truth making a promise before the world began. There was no one but God to Whom such a promise could be made. It can only refer to the undertakings of the Persons of the Godhead in what is known as the Covenant of Redemption. The Father choosing a people and giving them to His Son to redeem them by His incarnation, life, death and resurrection and receiving the Father's promise of the Holy Spirit to apply His work by bringing them to faith in Himself. "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should loose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day" (John 6:39). So truth begins within the Godhead.
b) Truth From God to Man (v.3). Despite the fact that we are Hell-deserving sinners, God always tells us the truth. How thankful we should be that God always tells the truth, even to the unworthy! He "manifested his word" to men. The promises and threatenings of God in Holy Scripture will always prove true.
c) Truthful Methods Appointed by God (v.3). The apostle says "through preaching". The term means proclaiming or heralding. In olden times a king's herald had the responsibility, not to invent the king's message, but to declare the message of the king to the people. The public means of making known the message of the King of Heaven is preaching! Certainly, the Scriptures approve of the individual Christian bearing witness to the Gospel in his private capacity to those with whom he comes into contact, as the woman of Samaria did (John 4:28-30, see also Acts 8:4 where the word translated 'preaching' is literally simply 'evangelizing' – 'telling the good news'). We also have Scriptural warrant for the use of the written word.
The methods approved by God, however, all have this in common; they are all open, up-front, above-board and with no hidden agenda behind the honestly declared aim. There is no bribery by entertainment, with the hope of slipping in the Gospel without people noticing. Truthful and honest methods are appointed by God. The apostle Paul says we "have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost…" (2 Cor. 4:2-3).
We must openly make known the Gospel. The decline in the use of the Biblical methods, especially public preaching, in favour of less straightforward ones is a sign of desperation in the church. It is a symptom of unbelief in a Sovereign God who builds His church. Certainly, we have a God-given responsibility to spread the Gospel, but that responsibility is limited to the methods the Lord has approved in His word. These methods should be employed to the full with compassion in our hearts, but let us not turn aside to the follies of human invention. When the church is struggling against the tide of ungodliness, we must resist the temptation to resort to entertainment in the name of evangelism. Biblical evangelism and prayer are what the situation calls for, not novelties. If God is withholding His blessing, let us humble ourselves before Him, not provoke Him by behaving as if we think we can remedy the situation by our bright ideas and unbiblical inventiveness.
d) True Messengers Called by God (v.3). The apostle speaks of Christ having "committed" the preaching of the word to him. Public preaching is not for every Christian, but for particular men called by God. Ministers today are not called by the Lord by direct revelation from Him, as the apostles were, but they are called by Him nonetheless (Rom.10:14-15).
e) True Converts With True Godliness (v.1). Paul declares himself to be a means appointed by God whereby elect sinners are brought to faith in Christ by acknowledging the truth which is "according to" or in line with and leads to "godliness". Since faith in Christ is caused by the renewing of the heart by the Holy Spirit, there is no such thing as a true believer who does not begin to love our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom.6:1, 1 Cor.16:22). Chapters 2 and 3 of Titus show what this godliness means in various areas of life – the home, the workplace etc. Real godliness, including concrete application of the Word to daily life, must be the result of true conversion to Christ.
We now see the stream of truth set forth in these verses. Truth begins with the God of truth within the Godhead who makes that truth known to men by true methods employed by true messengers and results in true converts manifesting true godliness.
The Father of Lies
Satan has his own agenda at all points.
a) False Messengers With a False Message. (vs.10-12). There are "deceivers" (v.10). The apostle quotes from Epinedes (6th Cent. B.C.) declaring lying to be a feature of the Cretians among whom Titus was labouring. There was, however, a special kind of liar there at present in the form of pseudo-Christian teachers.
b) False Motive (v.11). These false teachers were motivated by desire for "filthy lucre" or base gain. Long before the present crop of prosperity-gospel telly-evangelist rogues, there were men who used religion to make money.
c) False Profession (v.16). There were those who made loud profession of being Christians, but there was no evidence of it being real in their lives, but the opposite. Some unbelievers use such gross hypocrites to excuse their rejection of the Gospel, but this will not avail in the slightest before God. His word tells us there will be such in the world. In any case, there are no valid excuses for rejecting the truth of God, precisely because it does come from God and what anyone else does with it does not alter our obligation to receive it.
The Importance of Truth
a) The Importance of Truth in the Church. The apostle was concerned about the churches. He speaks elsewhere of his "conflict", his agonizing, for the churches (Col.2:1). He had this same concern for the churches on Crete and so he left Titus there to, among other things, "ordain elders in every city" (v.5). These were to be men who held to the truth and would be able to uphold the truth in the face of attack (vs.9-11). But they must also exemplify the truth in practice (vs.6-8) as Titus himself must (2:7-8) and by contrast with others (1:16).
The consistories of the churches must have in them men who live according to the truth and who are able and willing to uphold and defend the truth at all costs – men of Spiritual courage, who will serve the true interests of the people, but not necessarily their wishes. This explains why Paul declares himself not to be a pleaser of men (Gal.1:10) and yet as "ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor.4:5). He acted, under Christ's authority, for their good, but not necessarily according to their wishes when those wishes were contrary to the word of God (see also 2 Cor. 12:15). This principle must govern the preaching of ministers and the government of the church by all the officers.
b) Are You 'Of the Truth'? Since truth is so important, do you not only know, but also love the truth? Satan introduced to man the great lie of happiness through seeking independence of God (Gen.3:1-5). Men have loved this delusion ever since. Do you love the lie that salvation is not necessary because, you say, 'my sins are not serious and God is not so holy as to punish my sins forever. Or, if salvation is necessary, I can save myself, at least in part'. That is why people embrace non-Christian or pseudo- Christian religion. False religion tells proud man that even if he needs saving from sin, he isn't totally dependent on God for that salvation. By contrast, the Bible tells us that sinners must depend utterly on Jesus Christ, who bore the guilt of sin as a substitute for sinners, to be accepted before God. In fact we are dependent on God's sovereign grace even to be made willing to depend on Christ (Eph.2:8). Has your proud heart been changed so that you heartily depend only on Christ to make you accepted before God? Have you received "the love of the truth" (2 Thess.2:10 see also John 18:37)? Do you love God's salvation? Are you glad he saves this way and no other? Are you a real Christian?
Rev. David Silversides |
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