Titus 3

A little late in the day for a post, but I committed to do this daily, and after a day of studying Greek, my head needs an outlet. First things, first! As you read Titus 3:1, it's important to remember who Paul is speaking to. So often we read the Bible as if it is speaking directly to us, and we forget how important the context is. So when Paul gives the instruction to "remind them," our first question should be, "Who is he speaking to," and our second question should be "Who is 'them'".

Paul is writing to Titus, who is one of Paul's "sons in the faith," as we read in Titus 1:4. But who is "them"? When you have a pronoun, you want to find the antecedent. In this case it is not as easy. It means perusing the entire letter up to this point. In most cases, it would be fairly simple to detect the people "them" is referring to, but here, it's almost as if Paul has a secondary audience he is writing to. If you move read the first three verses, Paul says he is writing this letter for the sake of the faith of God's people. If you read chapter 2, it is all directed toward God's people in Crete, where Titus is shepherd of the church there. So the beginning of chapter 3 could read, "Titus, remind God's people to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work."

Why would I take the time to point this out to anyone? Well, beside the fact that I have been studying grammar all day, if we are God's people, this directly relates to us. We are to submit to those who have been put in authority over us. We are to be obedient, and we are to be ready to do every good work. I love that both Paul and Peter connect submission to authorities with good works.

You know, what it all comes down to is a desire to continue ushering God's Kingdom into this world. We are to do the things that are common in His Kingdom. What are those things? Well, perhaps we need to explore that more, but for sure they are not: quarreling, speaking evil of others, malice, envy, foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, quarrels about the law, and anything divisive.

When I think of the things we are supposed to be doing here on earth, it all boils down to restoring relationships. Way back in the garden, relationships were broken. Relationships between God and people, God and creation, people and people, people and creation, etc. They were all broken. But now that Christ has come, submitted himself to death on the cross, and was raised from the dead, we have a new day. We are living in an age where relationships between people and God are being restored everyday. Notice I said being restored, not restored. It's not a full restoration, but an ongoing restoration.

The point of all that is to say this: submit to authorities because it is an example of what a restored relationship looks like. Every good work is a work that brings a broken relationship closer to being restored. What are you doing to help restore the relationship between someone and God? Between people (maybe even yourself and someone else? Between us and the rest of God's Creation? Christ has paid the price of restoration, so how do we become agents of such restoration as citizens of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom Restored?