Lessons #73 and 74
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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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Reasons to be considerate of others (Titus 3:3-7)
... 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Our last study was concerned with the fourth fact Apostle Paul states about our salvation. This fourth fact is that our salvation involves the gift of the Holy Spirit such that the Holy Spirit indwells the believer and the believer benefits from His presence. It is this fact that is given in the clause of Titus 3:6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior. We interpreted this clause to be the same as the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Consequently, our focus in our last study was the doctrine of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. In doing so, we made four observations regarding the doctrine with the promise to continue with that today. Recall, the first observation is that the baptism with the Holy Spirit or the outpouring of the Holy Spirit does not necessarily involve spectacular display of any kind. Second, in the early church, the apostles were intermediate agents of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Third, there is no record of an individual receiving this outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Scripture. Fourth, a person may believe in Jesus Christ but know nothing about the baptism with the Holy Spirit although the person has received it. So, we proceed with the fifth observation.
Fifth, there is no command in the Bible for anyone to seek or ask to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In all the cases of baptism with the Holy Spirit recorded in the book of Acts, there is no evidence that those who received the baptism with the Holy Spirit ever asked for it. They simply received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit according to God’s own choosing. Some of the groups received the baptism with the Spirit after they have been baptized with water and others received it before they were baptized with water. One group received it at the time of their salvation and another right after their salvation since baptism with the Holy Spirit is a Sovereign act of God. The Lord Jesus promised all believers that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit so when a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ that person is baptized with the Holy Spirit. My point is that baptism with the Holy Spirit is not something that God reserved for the elite Christians, so to say. It is simply a part of the work of Christ in salvation. Again, all believers are promised this gift of the Holy Spirit by the Lord Jesus Christ and testified to by Apostle Peter in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:38–39:
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Apostle Peter was clear as to the extent of the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is promised to all believers not only those who heard the preaching of the apostle on that day but to anyone who would later believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this promise of the Holy Spirit linked to the baptism with the Holy Spirit for subsequent believers or the elect that is intended in the last clause of Acts 2:39 for all whom the Lord our God will call. Those whom the Lord will call are the elect. These are called to salvation through the preaching of the gospel. That aside, the fact is that the gift of Holy Spirit is for all believers. In fact, we may put it this way. No one has salvation or no one is saved if the individual does not have the Holy Spirit. This assertion is borne out by the declaration of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in Romans 8:9:
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
The phrase the Spirit of Christ is a reference to the Holy Spirit. An individual that does not belong to Christ is not a Christian and so such a person is not saved. Therefore, anyone who is saved receives the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is what Apostle Paul implies when he writes to Titus to remind him that salvation involves the gift of the Holy Spirit. This gift of Holy Spirit takes place at the point of salvation. In other words, it is a false doctrine to imply that a person would be saved and then waits to receive the Holy Spirit later because of the unique experience of Samaritan believers. Such teaching is shown to be false by what the Holy Spirit implies in the question through the apostle recorded in Galatians 3:2:
I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?
The verbal phrase by believing what you heard refers to the point of salvation. For it is at the point of salvation that a person believes. Thus, if the Holy Spirit is received by believing the gospel message then it is difficult to understand how a person would wait later to receive the Holy Spirit. Anyway, baptism with the Holy Spirit occurs at the time of salvation.
Sixth, we must be careful to note that there is a difference between the baptism with the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Baptism with the Holy Spirit is a one-time event in the life of the believer while the filling of the Holy Spirit occurs several times in the life of a believer. In fact, the normal Christian living requires constant normal filling of the Holy Spirit. For without the normal filling of the Holy Spirit no believer could live the Christian life, therefore we are commanded to be filled of the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18:
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
We have indicated that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is not the same as the filling of the Holy Spirit that affects our experiences in life as Christians. This assertion leads to the next major point we need to consider regarding the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Our next major point is that baptism with the Spirit is the basis of our experience with the Holy Spirit. This point we will develop further because before the baptism with the Holy Spirit there were believers who enjoyed special filling of the Holy Spirit to carry out specific function for God. For example, we read of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist being filled of the Holy Spirit in Luke 1:41:
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
The same is said of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, of being filled of the Spirit in Luke 1:67:
His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
The filling of the Spirit of these two individuals is what I describe as “special filling” of the Holy Spirit since it was associated with specific function of prophesying concerning the coming of the Messiah. However, since the resurrection of Christ and His ascension no one who is not baptized with the Holy Spirit is capable of the special or normal filling of the Spirit. By the way, we differentiate normal and special filling in the sense that the normal filling of the Spirit is recognized by the fruit of the Spirit listed in Gal 5:22-23 while special filling of the Spirit is recognized by special power to preach the gospel or even to exercise some of the spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12.
This aside, there are many Christians who have been led to believe that baptism with the Holy Spirit or the receiving of the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with the experience of the believer. This could be misleading. The truth is that while baptism with the Holy Spirit is not in and of itself experiential but it is the basis of believer’s experiences with the Holy Spirit. If you do not have real experiences with the Holy Spirit you could not tell if you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit. In other words, there is no way for you to convince yourself that you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Many of us Christians are powerless in our daily living because this idea of experience with the Holy Spirit is almost ignored in many quarters of the Christian faith. There are many cold and formal local churches today because members have been convinced that they do not need any kind of experience to validate what they believe. However, if you read Acts and the Apostle Paul’s epistles you find several references to experience with the Holy Spirit. As we noted previously, when the apostle asked the Galatians the penetrating question about receiving the Holy Spirit, there is no way for them to relate to the apostle’s question if there were nothing in their experiences that convinced them that they have the Holy Spirit within them. The point is that because baptism with Holy Spirit is considered by many as not relating to experience of any kind, Christians have become impotent spiritually. Nonetheless, there must be clear evidences in the life of the believer to enable the individual to recognize that baptism with the Holy Spirit is a reality. We have already referred to the question of Apostle Paul to Galatians regarding their receiving of the Holy Spirit that requires them to answer it because they had experience of some kind with the Holy Spirit following their receiving of the Spirit. In addition, there was something Simon the sorcerer observed that caused him to request from Peter to be able to lay his hand on people to receive the Holy Spirit. Thus, there are evidences of some kind that will enable a believer to know of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the individual’s soul.
What kind of evidences are there, you may ask? There are several kinds of evidence that the Lord provides to believers to help them confirm that they have been baptized with the Holy Spirit. It seems that the most important evidence of the baptism with the Spirit is the special filling of the Holy Spirit. We say this because this is the first thing stated about the very first believers to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, as we read in Acts 2:4:
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
It is the special filling of the Spirit that allowed the first recipients to speak in other languages that they have not previously known. This speaking in tongue was one of the results of being filled of the Spirit in a special way. It is, of course, God who determines if a person is to manifest this particular evidence or not. At other times, the filling of the Spirit would lead a person to prophesy, as was the case with the twelve men that were baptized with the Holy Spirit in Ephesus. The point is that when a person is filled of the Spirit any of the several spiritual gifts God has given to the church could be manifested. However, in all cases of manifestations of the filling of the Spirit for those who received the baptism with the Spirit recorded in Acts, the evidence of their having received the Holy Spirit is associated with power of speech either speaking in tongues (different languages) or prophesying.
The Scriptures reveals that there are different spiritual gifts to believers. Therefore, regarding evidences of the presence of the Holy Spirit, we are concerned with those evidences of the Spirit that are common to all believers. Normal filling of the Spirit is an evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit that is common to all believers who have received the Holy Spirit or have been baptized with the Spirit. So, how can anyone tell by his experience that he is filled of the Spirit? The most basic way you can tell that you have been filled of the Holy Spirit in your experience is by your boldness in witnessing about Christ. This is because the power that the Holy Spirit provides when He fills a believer, that is, in control of the believer, is primarily for witnessing for Christ. It is this power to witness that our Lord promised the disciples in Acts 1:8:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
You see, many Christians look for powers for miracles but that is not really the primary goal of the Holy Spirit for the believer. Instead, it is to provide power to witness for Christ through speech and also through one’s lifestyle. Certainly, there are places for miracles even then the true purpose of any miracle is to witness for Christ. The point we seek to emphasize is that the clearest proof that you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit is that you have had in your experience this unusual boldness to witness for Christ. You may by nature be a timid person but when you are filled of the Holy Spirit you would have this unusual boldness to witness for Christ. The promise of our Lord to the disciples about power to witness should convince anyone that boldness to witness for Christ is an undeniable proof of the presence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. That boldness to witness for Christ results from the filling of the Holy Spirit is demonstrated by Apostles Peter and John, as stated in Acts 4:8-13:
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 He is "'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.' 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus
Remember that it was Peter, who before the baptism with the Spirit denied Christ because he was afraid. He along with the other disciples was afraid and could not venture to come out in public to preach Christ. Of course, our Lord instructed them not to venture out until after the baptism with the Holy Spirit and its accompanying filling of the Spirit. After the baptism with Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Peter preached Christ before a hostile audience. He was no longer timid or afraid of the Jewish authorities because of whom he once denied knowing Christ. He was bold enough to state that there is no other way of salvation than faith in Jesus Christ.
A second evidence of the Holy Spirit in the believer or of baptism with the Spirit is the experience of being able to recall and apply the truth that one has been taught. This ability to recall and apply truth may seem strange to some but it should not since it was originally promised to the disciples in John 14:26:
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
This promise certainly had to do with the writing of the NT but it also applies to the believer’s ability to recall truths taught to him. If the Holy Spirit is in a person, the individual should be able, under the power of the Spirit, to recall the truth he has been taught. Satan does not want any of us to remember the truth of God’s word that we have been taught. Therefore, he would do everything to block that truth out of our mind but if you have the Holy Spirit in you then you would be enabled by Him to recall the truth that you have been taught that is applicable to a given situation.
A third evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit as the result of baptism with the Spirit is love for God. Our experience should tell us if we are loving God more and more. In effect, we should know from our experience if constantly we want to know more of God and to do His will. Furthermore, our experience should also tell us if we love others that we could not previously love. If these are true of you, then you have the evidence of the Spirit in your life. This is because only the Holy Spirit in the believer can produce this kind of love that we have mentioned, as it is clear in Romans 5:5:
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
A fourth evidence of presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer is great enthusiasm in praise and worship of God. If a believer is filled of the Spirit then he should have enthusiasm of praising God in songs. You can tell there is no involvement of the Holy Spirit in the worship of many congregations by the way they sing. They lack the joy and enthusiasm of singing praise to God. Now, it is not a matter of whether you have a good singing voice but a matter of the enthusiasm for the song. People get concerned about good voices but you are not singing for man but to God. Anyway, it is certain that when filled of the Spirit in worship then a person should sing with great enthusiasm. It is this evidence of the filling of the Spirit that is actually manifested by Paul and Silas when they sang in jail, as we read in Acts 16:25-28:
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
Paul and Silas were in prison but it is because they were filled of the Spirit that they faced their ordeal with great courage and joy. They sang hymns with enthusiasm as they praised God. They did not care about those who were listening. We are informed that the other prisoners heard them sing. It is not difficult to imagine that the prisoners were surprised that people in prison could be that joyous to sing songs to God. That is the evidence of these two men being filled of the Spirit. Someone may ask, how did you arrive at the filling of the Spirit in this passage? It is primarily because of the extraordinary event of earthquake. It is because of their praise of God that God brought about an earthquake at this time because of what else He wants Paul to do, which is to evangelize the jailer. There is one more way to prove that when Paul and Silas were singing they were certainly filled of the Spirit. The apostle could not possibly be praying or singing out of fellowship. But then the condition of shaking of the foundations of the prison is similar to what happened when the disciples received the special filling of the Spirit recorded in Acts 4:31:
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
The point remains that when we are filled of the Spirit, we would be enthusiastic in our singing of songs to God in worship. This is also in keeping with the instruction that the apostle gave to the Ephesians that involves singing when filled of the Spirit, as we read in Ephesians 5:18-20:
18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
A fifth evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit that is certainly connected with the filling of the Spirit is joy. This connection is evident in the state of the believers who responded to Apostle Paul’s message in Pisidian Antioch, as recorded in Acts 13:52:
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
If a person is full of the Holy Spirit, that is, if he is under the control of the Spirit then that person would have joy that is associated with the Spirit. It is no ordinary joy. Many people claim to have joy but the joy that the Holy Spirit gives if He is in control of your life is that which you cannot have adequate words to describe. It is this type of joy that Apostle Peter said that the Christians he wrote his first epistle possessed, as we read in 1 Peter 1:8:
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
This joy is not related to anything material. It is a joy that is related to the invisible God. It is a joy the Holy Spirit brings into your soul when you are focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter says that this joy is great and glorious and that you cannot find words to describe it. Can you honestly say that you have known this joy? Have you experienced the type of joy that you do not have words to describe it to another person, but you know something wonderful is happening inside of you. You know that you cannot contain yourself because of this overflowing inner satisfaction where nothing else matters on this planet? This is the joy that only filling of the Spirit will bring.
We singled out joy to focus regarding the filling of the Spirit but we should recognize that joy is a facet of the fruit of the Spirit. Therefore, when a person is filled of the Spirit, the undeniable evidence is the manifestation of the character of Christ that is described in terms of the fruit of the Spirit stated in Galatians 5:22–23:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
In any event, we have considered the doctrine of baptism with the Spirit because the fourth fact Apostle Paul states about salvation in the passage of Titus 3:3-7 that we are considering is that our salvation involves the gift of the Holy Spirit such that the Holy Spirit indwells the believer and the believer benefits from His presence.
In any case, before we get to the fifth and sixth facts the apostle presented regarding our salvation in the passage we are studying, we should state these two remaining facts are to be considered results that accompany our salvation or things that result from being saved. We say this because Titus 3:7 begins with the expression so that. This expression is translated from a Greek conjunction (hina) that may be used as a marker of purpose for events and states and so means “in order to, for the purpose of, so that.” It may also be used as a marker of result with the meaning “so as a result, that, so that.” Of course, sometimes, it is difficult to differentiate purpose from result so that some take the meaning here as reflecting either the purpose of salvation or purpose of out pouring of the Spirit. This notwithstanding, in our passage, it is used to state results that follow according to the purpose of God in salvation given in the rest of the verse, that is, for the fifth and sixth facts regarding our salvation. This is because what follow are better considered results that follow God’s purpose than merely God’s purpose in salvation.
A fifth fact the apostle states about our salvation is that it results in being put right with God resulting in being in good standing or relationship with Him as in the verbal phrase of Titus 3:7 having been justified by his grace. The Greek enables us to understand that the action expressed in our passage is that which is the result of being saved since it is more fitting to consider the participle in the Greek as stating result than purpose. Furthermore, the use of the aorist participle in the Greek implies the action takes place at the time of our salvation from God’s perspective although logically it is probably that the action specified here is one that follows salvation.
The action that results from our salvation is introduced in our passage with the word “justified.” It is translated from a Greek word (dikaioō) with several meanings. It may mean “to justify, vindicate, treat as just” as the word is used by a teacher of law to vindicate himself before Jesus in Luke 10:29:
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
The Greek word may mean “to prove to be right morally”, as in Romans 3:4:
Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”
When the word is used in relationship with God it may mean “to be found in the right, be free of charges” and so means “to be acquitted, be pronounced and treated as righteous.” It is in this sense that the word is used in Romans 3:20:
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
The Greek word may mean to cause someone to be in a proper or right relation with someone else, that is, “to put right with, to cause to be in a right relationship with.” It is this meaning that is intended in Romans 3:24:
and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
In this context, the apostle was concerned of believers having right relationship with God as He pronounces men acquitted or not guilty in His sight. The word may mean to cause someone to be released from personal or institutional claims that are no longer to be considered pertinent or valid hence means “to set free, to make pure” as it is used to indicate that believers in Christ are set free from sin in Romans 6:7:
because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
We have considered the various meanings of the Greek word translated “justified” in our passage, so the question is in what way did the apostle use it in our context? It is in the sense of being put right with God so that one is said to be in the right relationship with Him. Of course, this meaning implies that an individual has been acquitted of all wrong doing by God, that is, forgiven. Anyway, it makes sense that the apostle would be thinking of being in right relationship with God since he had referred to rebirth or regeneration. We were spiritually dead, meaning that we had no relationship with God in a spiritual sense. But when He saved us we became alive spiritually and so are now in right relationship with Him.
This right relationship we have with God is one that is attained because of the kindness or goodness of God. It is this truth that is conveyed in the phrase by his grace of Titus 3:7. This phrase is not concerned with the means of being put right or having the right relationship with God instead it is its basis. This means that the phrase by his grace could be translated because of or on the basis of His grace. It is because of the kindness or goodness of God that anyone is put in right relationship with Him since no human merits such a relationship because all have sinned and do not measure up to His standard of righteousness. Forgiveness by God is an act of kindness. This interpretation of grace being the basis of justification, removes the confusion that is found in the translations of the NIV and other English versions that imply several means of being put right with God. The apostle is clear that from human perspective being put right with God is that which is attained through faith in Christ in Romans 3:28:
For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
Here, being put right with God is said to be by faith so it creates confusion with our phrase by his grace. Likewise, being put right with God is said to be by the blood of Jesus Christ, that is, His death, in Romans 5:9:
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
In this passage of Romans 5:9 the blood of Christ, that is His death, is the mean of being put right with God from God’s perspective. Of course, it is possible to understand the passage as also giving the basis of being put right with God as the death of Christ on the cross. Nonetheless, unless we understand that the phrase of Titus 3:7 by his grace is concerned with the basis of being put right with God, it may cause confusion as to whether there are several means of being put right with God. The point is that it is because of the goodness or kindness of God that we are put in right relationship with Him. This understanding underscores the point the apostle has made previously in Titus 3:5 that our salvation is not based on our good works or deeds. We stand in good relationship with God because of His goodness or kindness since we as His enemies, we were incapable of restoring relationship with Him. Therefore, that we are in good relationship with Him must be because of His goodness or kindness that was extended to us by implementing His plan of salvation.
The basis of being put right with God is because of grace or goodness or kindness of God as we have stated. However, we should understand that it is the kindness of the Godhead and not a specific member of the Godhead that is indicated in the phrase by his grace. In other words, the pronoun his refers to God without specific reference to any member of the Godhead although some take it as a reference to God the Father. It is better to understand the apostle as having in his mind the Godhead since the pronoun his is literally from the Greek of that one that refers to the phrase God our Savior of Titus 3:4 that we interpreted as a reference to the Godhead. Furthermore, the apostle elsewhere indicated that putting us right with God is His work, as in Romans 8:33:
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
But then, the apostle also indicates the involvement of the Holy Spirit in putting us right with God since he described Him as the agent of such action in 1 Corinthians 6:11:
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The phrase by the Spirit of our God is more literally in the Spirit of our God as reflected in some English versions. The phrase conveys the sense that the Holy Spirit is the agent by whom God accomplishes His work of sanctification and justification. The point is that we should recognize that it is God, without distinction of the persons of Godhead, that is responsible for putting us in right relationship with Him. Hence, a fifth fact the apostle states about our salvation is that it results in being put right with God, resulting in being in good standing or relationship with Him.
A sixth fact the apostle states about our salvation is that it involves possession of eternal life. It is this fact that is given in the last clause of Titus 3:7 we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. The sentence on a surface reading implies uncertainty regarding being heirs. In other words, it may appear that the apostle was not certain that believers would become heirs of God but that is not what he meant to convey. Instead, the apostle used the sentence we might become heirs to describe something that is anticipated or expected in the future since he used a subjunctive mood in the Greek. As experts in the Greek tell us, it is a mood of anticipation that treats the future as it were present. So, the apostle states a result that is anticipated fully in the future. We know this because the apostle in other of his epistles asserted the reality of being heirs of God. In his epistle to the Romans, the Holy Spirit through the apostle assured those who are believers, that is, those described as children of God as being heirs of God in Romans 8:17:
Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Similar truth is conveyed to the Galatians in Galatians 4:7:
So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
Thus, the apostle was not in doubt as to the status of believers being God’s heir due to their salvation. No! He was merely recognizing that although we are heirs but it is still a position that will be fully realized in the future. He is saying that we will eventually be beneficiaries of God’s eternal blessing. This is something that is certain because of the grace of God revealed through the Lord Jesus Christ. Nonetheless, being heir or beneficiaries of God’s blessing while already being experienced by believers on this planet is still something that will be fully realized in the future in eternal state with God. This is in keeping with the future expectation of full realization of eternal life.
That the apostle is concerned with that which is expected in the future is conveyed in the last verbal phrase of Titus 3:7 having the hope of eternal life. Literally, the Greek reads in accordance with hope of eternal life. This is because we have a Greek preposition (kata) that here is used as a marker of correspondence so that it is better translated “in accordance with.” The idea being that what the apostle stated in the sentence we might become heirs corresponds with the reality of confident expectation of eternal life in the future. You see, the word “hope” is not used in the sense that we say, “I hope so” meaning that we are not certain but wishes it to be so. No! What we have is that of confident expectation. This is because the word “hope” is translated from a Greek word (elpis) that in our passage is concerned with looking forward to something with some reason for confidence respecting the fulfillment of what one looks forward to and so means “hope, expectation.”
The apostle implies that believers have confident expectation of the full realization of eternal life. In fact, the phrase hope of eternal life may be fully unpacked to read “we hope for eternal life,” that is, we are confidently expecting full realization of our eternal life. There is no uncertainty about the fact that our salvation means a present possession of eternal life. For after all, the apostle considers eternal life as a present possession of believers in his declaration that it is a gift of God in Romans 6:22–23:
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Receiving eternal life is at the heart of what it means to be saved but the apostle presents salvation as that which involves the past, the present, and the future. His declaration of salvation as that which is in the past is stated in Ephesians 2:8:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
The apostle’s declaration of salvation as a present reality or that which is taking place at the present, is given in 1 Corinthians 1:18:
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
The presentation of salvation as a future reality is given by the apostle in terms of future event in Romans 13:11:
And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
The various ways the apostle presents salvation in phases imply that the Holy Spirit meant for us to recognize that we already have eternal life but that there is yet a time when that will be fully realized, that is, when we will fully be beneficiaries of eternal life. The same Holy Spirit through Apostle John gives us the assurance of our present possession of eternal life in 1 John 5:13:
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
This assurance makes clear that we have eternal life as our present possession so there should be no doubt in any believer’s mind that he/she already possesses it. However, it is in the future that we will fully enjoy what it means to have eternal life. Anyway, as we end our consideration of Titus 3:3-7, let me remind you of its message which is that You are to be considerate to ruling authorities and others because you use to behave badly but now you are saved.