Tit 2:11-13 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Titus 2:11-15: 2:11-15 For: The commands of 2:1-10 are here grounded in the past and future coming of Christ. God’s grace is a model for the church’s own conduct, even as salvation by grace makes a good life possible and creates people devoted to good works (see also 3:3-7 ). 2:11 has been revealed (literally has appeared ): See study note on 1 Tim 6:14. • salvation to all people: Paul intends that God’s grace will fully accomplish its ends among the Cretans and that, in doing so, it will enlist them into God’s saving work of evangelism (Titus 2:12 ; see 1 Tim 2:1-7 ; 4:10 ).

Summary for Titus 2:11-15: 2:11-15 ^a For: The commands of 2:1-10 ^b are here grounded in the past and future coming of Christ. God’s grace is a model for the church’s own conduct, even as salvation by grace makes a good life possible and creates people devoted to good works (see also 3:3-7 ^c). 2:11 ^d has been revealed (literally has appeared): See study note on 1 Tim 6:14.

• salvation to all people: Paul intends that God’s grace will fully accomplish its ends among the Cretans and that, in doing so, it will enlist them into God’s saving work of evangelism (Titus 2:12 ^e; see 1 Tim 2:1-7 ^f; 4:10 ^g).
2:12 ^h we are instructed: The emphasis of this instruction falls on the positive virtues: wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God. In Greco-Roman writings, these three virtues represent virtuous conduct in general. These virtues counter the Cretan vices listed in 1:12 ⁱ and are transformed into thoroughly Christian qualities (see 2:13 ^j).

• Paul exhorts the Cretans to bring these virtues to life, in order to make plain to their compatriots that a virtuous life derives only from God’s grace in Jesus Christ.
2:13 ^k we look forward: This implies hope as well as future accountability, both of which stimulate godly conduct in the present.

• will be revealed: This phrase translates a prominent Greek word in the letters to Timothy and Titus (“epiphany” or “appearing”; also 2:11 ^l; see study note on 1 Tim 6:14).

• great God and Savior: This is one of the few places in the New Testament where Jesus Christ is called “God” outright (see also John 1:1 ^m; 20:28 ⁿ; Rom 9:5 ^o; Heb 1:8 ^p; 2 Pet 1:1 ^q; possibly John 1:18 ^r). Yet this claim is entirely consistent with the roles and attributes of Christ and the worship that he receives. Possibly this designation is used here to insist that Christ is not a mere human promoted to membership in the pantheon of gods (see study note on Titus 1:12). At the time of this letter, Christians were insisting more and more that Christ alone, rather than rulers and emperors, should be called divine.