Lessons #01 and 02
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual exposition not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GWT = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Titus 1-3
The book of Titus is generally considered one of the pastoral epistles of Apostle Paul the others being 1 and 2 Timothy, although the word “pastor” is not explicitly used in the books. Of course, the designation “pastoral epistles” is not strictly correct because as some contend they are not manuals of pastoral theology but contain instructions concerning the administrative responsibilities of Timothy and Titus in the local churches the apostle sent them. Nonetheless, the focus of the book implies that it is one written to help Titus function as a pastor in Crete. The book begins with salutation in verses 1 to 4 of the first chapter. This is followed by the tasks that Titus was to carry out in Crete. There were three general tasks that he had to carry out as a resident pastor. He was to appoint elders, deal with pressing problems of the Christian community, and instruct believers with respect to proper conduct of those who are Christians. These tasks are described beginning in verse 5 of the first chapter to verse 7 of the third chapter. The epistle then concludes with final instructions to Titus and final greeting in verses 8 to 15 of the third chapter. The tasks that Titus were charged to carry out are those that are expected of a pastor/overseer of a local congregation. Therefore, it is fitting if the epistle is considered a pastoral one, notwithstanding that it is not, as some contend, a book of pastoral theology. With this brief introduction, we will begin its exposition.
Paul – his office and purpose (Titus 1:1-3)
1Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— 2 a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, 3 and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
This epistle followed the normal pattern of writing a letter in the ancient world where the writer is normally identified first before its recipient. Therefore, the epistle begins with the word Paul who is the author of the epistle although there are scholars that dispute this assertion but we have no reason not to accept that the man identified in the passage is the human author of the epistle since it is the practice of the ancient world for a writer to identify himself at the beginning of his letter.
The personal name Paul is the Roman name given to an Israelite with the name Saul that was born a Roman citizen in Tarsus of Cilia but who grew up in Jerusalem in the sense that he received his education there, according to Acts 22:2–3:
2 When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said: 3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.
This passage does not explicitly state Paul was a Roman citizen but is implied. Nonetheless, we have a direct assertion of the Roman citizenship of Paul in Acts 22:27–28:
27 The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes, I am,” he answered. 28 Then the commander said, “I had to pay a big price for my citizenship.” “But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.
It is not difficult to understand how a Jew was a Roman citizen when we realize today that in many countries, once a child is born in a country that child is automatically a citizen of that country regardless of the parent’s nationality. It was certainly a high privilege in the ancient world to be a Roman citizen just as it is today with United States citizenship. This explains why some women from many parts of the world would spend substantial amount come to this country to give birth in order that their children will become US citizens. That aside, Paul was educated in Jerusalem as indicated by the fact he studied under the famous Jewish Rabbi Gamaliel. His education, although not directly stated, included acquiring the skill of tent making, since that was his occupation, as stated in Acts 18:1–3:
1After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
We know nothing about the birth of Paul or his childhood. Our first introduction to him using his Jewish name of “Saul” was with respect to the death of Stephen recorded in the seventh chapter of Acts, specifically in Acts 7:58:
dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
He was originally a persecutor of believers, as indicated in Acts 8:1–3:
1 And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
His persecution of the church was intense that he pursued believers who lived outside Jerusalem to persecute them, as implied in Acts 9:1–2:
1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
It was on his way to Damascus to persecute believers in Christ that he was converted when Jesus appeared to him, as recorded in Acts 9:3–6:
3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
His conversion was such that within a short period of time, he was preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, as implied in Acts 9:19–20:
19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.
The Jews in Damascus based on his activity tried to kill him but he escaped back to Jerusalem where the early church was reluctant to accept him until Barnabas introduced him to them but his stay in Jerusalem was not for extended time because of the plot to kill him, as recorded in Acts 9:24–30:
24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall. 26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
By the way, the narrative in Acts gives the impression Paul immediately began to preach following his conversion in the sense of his full preaching ministry but that does not seem to be the case. This is because it seems that it is sometimes between Paul’s conversion and his preaching in Damascus that he went to Arabia, as he stated in Galatians 1:15–17:
15 But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
Anyway, eventually Paul made his way back to Tarsus and came to Antioch, as indicated in Acts 11:25–26:
25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
It was from Antioch that Paul launched his missionary work to Gentiles first in company of Barnabas, as they were sent out for this work by the church in Antioch as directed by the Holy Spirit, according to Acts 13:2–3:
2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
Then after his split with Barnabas because he did not want to take John Mark with him since he abandoned them in their first missionary trip, he continued his second missionary journey in the company of Silas, as stated in Acts 15:39–40:
39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
We should note that in the early part of the history of Paul as a convert, he was identified with his Jewish name Saul but only during his first missionary Journey that Luke first introduced Saul with the name Paul in Acts 13:9:
Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said,
The introduction of the name Paul during his first missionary journey was quit fitting since he traveled in a world under the Roman Empire so it was better for him to be identified with his Roman name.
Paul although he carried out missionary trips to Gentile nations, his life of suffering after his conversion was in keeping with the spiritual law of sowing and reaping. He persecuted Christians and so he himself was persecuted in keeping with the declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ to Ananias in Acts 9:15–16:
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
In keeping with the declaration of our Lord and the spiritual law of sowing and reaping, Paul suffered for the gospel. During his first missionary journey, he was stoned to the point he was thought to be dead until God miraculous revived him, as we read in Acts 14:19–20:
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
He was beaten and put in jail in Philippi because he drove out evil spirits from a slave girl, as described in Acts 16:17–24:
17 This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. 19 When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
He was probably beaten badly and nearly killed in Jerusalem until he was rescued by Roman soldiers, as described in Acts 21:27–34:
27 When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place.” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple area.) 30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.
Beside these examples, Paul suffered tremendously for the gospel of Jesus Christ, as he recorded in 2 Corinthians 11:25–27:
25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
At any rate, our concern at this point is with the identity of the human author of the epistle we are considering. He had identified himself as Paul. The name Paul is usually a Roman surname, that is, a name that is borne in common by members of a family so it is necessary for the author of the epistle to ensure that there was no confusion as to his identity so he provided additional description of himself.
Paul described himself as a slave of God as in the phrase a servant of God that is found in majority of our English versions. Really, the Greek should be translated slave of God as we find in a handful of English versions such as the CEB, the NET, and the Revised NAB. The translation a servant of God is misleading since it obscures the precise meaning in the first century of the Greek word used in the phrase that we will get to shortly. In effect, the use of the word “servant” does not convey the meaning of the word “slave” as understood by Titus and those who first received the apostle’s epistle. The implication of this is that we today would not indeed understand what the apostle meant in using the Greek phrase that most of our English versions translated a servant of God instead of a slave of God.
The word “servant” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (doulos) that the Greek English lexicons give the meaning of “slave.” The word may not mean much to those of us who live at the present time; therefore, it is important to explore what the word means so that we will understand its use by the apostle in the epistle we are considering. The word “slave” refers to a legal status where someone is owned by another as a property. Thus, to be a slave is to be attached to a master, as the word is used by the apostle in 1 Timothy 6:1:
All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God’s name and our teaching may not be slandered.
The implication of the fact that a slave is attached to a master is that a person is a slave to whatever dominates the individual, as the Apostle Paul states in Romans 6:16:
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
A slave is considered the master’s property because such a person is purchased by the master by paying a specified price. Consequently, it is stated that slavery is an institution which has as its essential goal to make available to one person the activities/services of another person under compulsion. This being the case, a slave is a “worker” or “a living tool” whose important role is carrying out his task to profit his master or to carry out his master’s will. It is because of this meaning of slave that the Virgin Mary considered herself the Lord’s slave, as we read in Luke 1:38:
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
The phrase the Lord’s servant is better translated the Lord’s female slave. It is also because of this nuance of a slave being a living tool or worker that the prophets are described as slaves of God in Revelation 10:7:
But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
The phrase his servants the prophets, is better translated his own slaves the prophets. Because a slave is his master’s worker, he does not expect any kind of reward. It is probably this concept that was in the mind of the apostle when he indicated that he was not expecting a reward for preaching the gospel in 1 Corinthians 9:16–18:
16 Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.
The fact that a slave is his master’s tool to do what he wants implies that a slave is totally submissive to his master’s will so that a slave is one that is totally dependent on his master in every way. Another interesting fact about a slave that would be understood by those who lived in the first century of the Christian era is the designation of name with respect to a slave. Freemen and freed men have three names but a slave bears only the surname (i.e. the third of usually three names borne by a male citizen of ancient Rome) which is specified using the genitive of his owner’s name to which is often joined a title designating the job that he does for his master.
We have noted the way those in the first century understood who is a slave. Thus, we contend that it is wrong and misleading to translate the Greek word (doulos) the apostle used as “servant.” The Greek word should be translated “slave” to avoid diminishing the impact the apostle intended in his use of the word. There is no justifiable reason to translate the Greek word as “servant” since a servant implies a free individual serving another at his will without compulsion. This meaning is not found in the Greek word the apostle used. The standard Greek English lexicon of Bauer, Danker, Arndt and Gingrich states that our Greek word is always translated “slave” and it was not until the “early American times” was the word translated “servant” in place of the word “slave.” The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) indicates that although there is a Greek synonymy (diakonos) to our word but that is distinct from our word because the primary emphasis in the Greek word (doulos) used is that of serving as a slave. The stress on this word is the total dependence of a slave on his master. Therefore, our Greek word should be translated “slave” and not “servant” as I will now demonstrate with ensuing arguments.
A first argument regards the Greeks’ view of slaves or slavery. To the Greeks, personal freedom was highly prized, and that is why they fought to maintain their freedom. To them, true freedom means to be independent of others in the sense of being able to manage one’s life and to live as one chooses. But a slave by nature belongs not to himself, but to someone else and so carries out what another dictates or wants. The Greeks were very conscious of any service that resembles that of a slave. This does not mean that they did not serve their government. But a Greek, finds repulsive that service that is after the manner of a slave. For one thing, a slave does not have the possibility of evading the tasks laid upon him since he has no choice but must do what another person’s will imposes on him. A free man may refuse a task with little or no consequence. It is this specific element of slavery, that is, no choice to refuse a task, that the Greeks found very offensive that they were careful not to perform any form of service that will indicate that they are slaves. Therefore, any service that has the slightest sense of dependence and subordination was very debasing and contemptible. The Greeks’ view of a slave makes it difficult to translate the Greek word that means “slave” as a servant since that is not their view of the Greek word used by the apostle.
A second argument is based on the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Hebrew word (ʿěḇěḏ) that is translated a slave or servant is nearly in all cases translated in the Septuagint (LXX) by the Greek word (doulos) the apostle used. When the meaning of the Hebrew word (ʿěḇěḏ) that may mean “slave” or “servant” is used for the “servant of God” that generally refers to the Messiah, a different Greek word (pais) is used, as we find mostly in the latter half of the book of Prophet Isaiah such as, in Isaiah 52:13:
See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
The Jews were conscious of their slavery experiences, that is why there are elaborate rules governing how to treat slaves to avoid abuses. For example, whenever an evil intent could be proved (Ex. 21:14) or the slave died (Ex. 21:20), the master was to be punished. So, for them to use the Hebrew word (ʿěḇěḏ) for such passages dealing with serving others is significant. It is true that later in the land of Palestine, people became sensitive to the word that indicates slavery as were the Greeks; nonetheless, the point remains that the Greek word (doulos) that means “slave” was used to translate the Hebrew word (ʿěḇěḏ) that meant “slave.” Thus, the fact the translators of the Septuagint made a distinction in their translation of the Hebrew word that may mean “slave” or “servant” in the Greek when the sense of the Hebrew word is that of service that does not involve slave situation indicates that our Greek word should be translated “slave” and not “servant.”
A final argument to support translating our Greek word as “slave” instead of “servant” is because when the Greek word (doulos) that means “slave” is used in certain passages in the NT, the idea of complete obedience is involved. An example will suffice. We read in Matthew 8 :9:
For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.
The phrase to my servant is better rendered to my slave because our Greek word (doulos) is used. The implication is that a slave does not have a choice, he simply does what he is told. He is in the position of absolute obedience to his master. Therefore, since our Greek word is used to depict such complete obedience it is better to translate it as “slave.”
Why then did most of the translators choose the word “servant” instead of “slave?” The answer lies with the concept attached to slavery. Even in Judaism in the time of Jesus, as it was with the Greek world, a slave was on a lower level of humanity. By law, the slave was classed with immobile goods without any rights of the law and could not own property. In religious life, he had a limited obligation, similar to that of his master’s wife. A slave being considered a property was treated by his master any way he chose. The view of a slave was such that according to the Rabbis, the worst insult a man could hurl to another was to call him “a slave.” As I indicated before, the Jewish laws provided some form of protection for slaves but the laws for Israelites who are slaves is different. An Israelite who is a slave must be freed during the jubilee or after serving for six years. Of course, if he does not want to be freed, the instruction is for his ears to be pierced to mark him as a slave for life, as stipulated in Exodus 21:5–6:
5 “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ 6 then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.
The clause if the servant declares is better rendered if the slave explicitly says. In examining this passage, I cannot but wonder what goes on in the minds of men today who pierce their ears. Is it not a sign of slave mentality? I know that people say that they are making a statement or that they are following the trend or fashion, but I think that the only statement they are making is that in their souls they are under slavery. You may ask, what about women who pierce their ears? The answer is that it is a sign that they are under men’s authority. At any rate, because of the negative view of slavery and the American experience with it, you can understand why many of the English translators, in my opinion, chose to translate the Greek word (doulos) the apostle used as “servant” instead of “slave.”
The NT, however, has given a higher meaning to the Greek word (doulos) that means “slave” as we will note. We begin with the way our Lord used it in some of His teachings and parables. He used the verb form (douleuō) to mention slaves in His teaching in Matthew 6:24:
“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Before commenting on this verse, the translation “money” is not really a bad one, but a fuller rending of the Greek word may be “wealth” because wealth includes not just money but also property. Also, the Greek word (miseō) translated “hate,” may mean “to prefer.” In this verse of Matthew 6:24, our Lord is dealing with the possibility that a slave may have two masters but if that is the case, his total commitment to both becomes almost impossible. For one thing, both may require from him conflicting functions which will create problem. For example, both may require him to do two different things at a given time. Who should he obey? If he obeys one, then he is not a true slave to the other. There is another aspect to this teaching, if one master sets him free but the other refuses, then the slave is half free and half slave which still means he is a slave. This teaching of our Lord implies the overthrow of slavery in terms of total commitment. Remember what our Lord is really teaching is the question of commitment. The believer cannot be controlled by wealth and truly serve God. I want to be clear because people sometimes take this type of passage to preach that wealth is wrong. No, what our Lord is teaching is in terms of control. You cannot be controlled by wealth and be committed to your service to the Lord. How can one tell if this is the case? There is really one simply test. If wealth is the top priority of your life, then you are controlled by it. Furthermore, if you desire to be wealthy at all costs or to be wealthy by doing things you know to be doctrinal incorrect then you are controlled by it.
Another use of the Greek word (doulos) that means “slave” by our Lord is in Matthew 24:45:
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?
The phrase wise servant is better translated a wise slave. Here, our Lord indicates that a slave can be put in high position of responsibility. He is just not a sub human, without intellect or initiative. This statement of our Lord no doubt has the effect of seeing slaves in a different light, that is, our Lord did not endorse the contemporary verdict on slaves as a contemptible lower class.
The way the Greek word (doulos) that means “slave” is used in the NT to show that all men are under a different kind of slavery, adds to a new view of the Greek word. Our Lord puts it this way in John 8:34:
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
Apostle Paul expressed the same concept in the passage we cited previously, that is, Romans 6:16:
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
What is clear is that a person who is outside Christ is a slave either of sin or of the Law. Of course, the apostle conveyed the fact that a person may be a human slave but a free person because of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as per 1 Corinthians 7:21–22:
21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22 For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave.
Anyway, the apostle applied our Greek word to himself and Timothy in Philippians 1:1:
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
The phrase servants of Christ Jesus is better translated slaves of Christ Jesus. It is the same Greek word that the apostle used to describe the Lord Jesus Christ in Philippians 2:7:
but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
The phrase nature of a servant is more literally the form of a slave. This use of our Greek word that means “slave” in describing Jesus Christ more than anything gives dignity to the word. Thus, although the word had a negative connotation in the ancient world but its usage in the NT removes much of the stigma attached to the word that there is no reason to be affected by its negative connotation to cause the Greek word to be rendered “servant” instead of “slave.”
We have seen the progress and the development of the Greek word (doulos) that means slave, so we ask; what does the apostle mean when he used our Greek word to describe himself in Titus 1:1 in the phrase servant of God or better slave of God? Before we answer our question, it should be noted that the apostle’s use of the phrase is his way of acknowledging the deity of Christ. On a surface reading, one may argue that I am jumping to a conclusion that is not warranted by the passage. But am I? No! The reason for asserting that the phrase is a way the apostle acknowledged the deity of Christ is that he used the same Greek word used in our phrase elsewhere to describe himself, we find the apostle address himself using our Greek word in Romans 1:1:
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—
The apostle described himself to the Romans as slave of Christ Jesus but to Titus he described himself as slave of God. Either the apostle recognized the deity of Christ or he was confused in his mind. Since he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostle was aware of the implication of describing himself as slave of God when he previously had described himself as the slave of Christ Jesus. This change in his description of himself is intentional to describe that Jesus Christ is God. This should not surprise us since it is in this epistle of Titus that we find one of the most direct assertions of the deity of Christ by the apostle. It seems that by using the phrase slave of God that he had introduced the doctrine he will assert later regarding the deity of Jesus Christ. The apostle is not alone in using this phrase servant/slave of God to convey the deity of Jesus Christ, James did the same in a different manner in James 1:1:
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.
The Greek phrase translated a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ may because of the Greek syntax involved be translated a slave of God, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. In this way, it is much clearer that James declared the deity of Christ in his identification of himself in his epistle. The point is that Apostle Paul in the phrase slave of God has acknowledged the deity of Christ. That aside, we return to our question: what does the apostle mean when he used our Greek word to describe himself in Titus 1:1 in the phrase servant of God or better slave of God?
There are several things Paul communicates when he describes himself as slave of God or slave of Jesus Christ. First, he draws attention to the fact that his master is no other than the God of the universe. Slavery is very terrible because it involves the imposition of one’s will over another. But when the master is the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a welcomed condition because He is God and as such being sovereign, His will must be submitted to always. Furthermore, whatever, he desires of His slaves are the things that will bring glory to Himself and there can be no injustice on His part. He is a loving savior and so what could be better than to be a slave of Jesus Christ. It is the highest form of honor that one can be considered a slave of Jesus Christ. Remember that a slave is always purchased by a price. For Christ to purchase us from the slave market of sin, to free us from the repression of the devil, is the highest privilege of this life. The apostle had this concept in his mind since he had expressed in his epistles that the Lord Jesus Christ purchased us, as we read, for example, in 1 Corinthians 6:20:
you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
There is more to this first fact. A slave takes the name of his master. Therefore, the apostle recognized he took the name of Jesus Christ and so belongs to Him. The second thing Paul wants to communicate with this phrase slave of God or slave of Jesus Christ is that he is not the one setting the agenda for what he does. He follows the task that has been laid for him. A slave does not question his master. The apostle is saying something like “listen, I do not always understand what the master asks of me, but I trust him completely. I do not have to question Him, He knows all the facts, He has the plan; all I can do is to follow.” The third thing implied by the phrase slave of God or slave of Jesus Christ is that he gives unqualified obedience to whatever instruction he receives from Christ. The fourth is that Paul knows that a just slave master provides for the welfare of his slave therefore, it is not his part to worry in this life, since he has someone who is always looking out for him, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one that provides the means by which to fulfill His purpose and plan. Therefore, it is not difficult for him to detail out the tasks Titus should carry out because he himself is indeed a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have noted the implications of the apostle describing himself with the phrase slave of God or slave of Jesus Christ, so knowing what it means to be a slave of Jesus Christ, can you honestly describe yourself as a slave of Jesus Christ or a slave of God? Do you believe you belong to Him? do you trust Him completely to take care of you on this planet?
01/13/17