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From: Titus 3:1-7
Respect for Lawful Authority
Renewal of the Christian Life in the Holy Spirit
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Commentary:
1-8. In the last part of the epistle St Paul deals with the way believers conduct
themselves in society at large (vv. 1-8); he warns Titus to see that the Church
does not become a place where people argue (vv. 9-11); and finally he gives him
some little personal commissions and messages (vv. 12-14) and ends with the
usual words of farewell (v. 15).
The scheme of the first section (vv. 1-8), like the previous chapter, is as follows:
first he describes the requirements of Christian living, specifically the attitude to-
wards civil authority and one’s fellow-citizens (vv. 1-2); then he gives the theologi-
cal reasoning behind it (vv. 3-8): for a Christian, moral behavior is a consequence
of faith.
1-2. Respect for lawful authority (cf. Roman 13:1-7; Tim 2:2; 1 Pet 2: 13-14) was
particularly difficult and meritorious in the situation in Crete, where the local po-
pulation (many of them Jews) were not at all happy with their Roman overlords.
However, the freedom of the children of God (cf. Rom 8:21) which the Christian
acquires at Baptism does not mean he has to be opposed to existing structures:
the main thing it leads him to is personal improvement: “The acute need for radi-
cal reforms of the structures which conceal poverty and which are themselves
forms of violence, should not let us lose sight of the fact that the source of injus-
tice is in the hearts of men. Therefore it is only by making an appeal to the moral
potential of the person and to the constant need for inner conversion, that social
change will be brought about which will truly be in the service of man. For it will
only be in the measure that they collaborate freely in these necessary changes
through their own initiative and solidarity, that people, awakened to a sense of
their responsibility, will grow in humanity” (SCDF, “Libertatis Nuntius”, 11, 8).
Gentleness and courtesy are expressions of the new commandment of love;
they show that a person is spiritually mature, and they are very effective in draw-
ing souls closer to Christ. “To criticize, to destroy, is not difficult; any unskilled
laborer knows how to drive his pick into the noble and finely-hewn stone of a ca-
thedral. To construct: that is what requires the skill of a master” (St. J. Escriva,
“The Way”, 456).
3-7. The main subject of the chapter is the theological basis of social obligations
(vv. 1-2); every Christian should bear witness to salvation history, to the change
from sin to grace, and the change from an era of slavery and error to the era of
freedom and rebirth ushered in by Christ.
The “old regime” is sketched out in a very vivid way (v. 3), showing the effects of
sin on man in his three dimensions: in relation to himself, sin makes a person
foolish, rebellious, wayward, a slave; in respect of God, he becomes hateful in
his rebellious pride; and as far as others are concerned he becomes their enemy
— “hating one another”.
However, the coming of Christ has opened up a new panorama (vv. 4-7). As else-
where in these letters (cf. 1 Tim 3:15; Tit 2:11-14), we have here a hymn to Christ
which may well have come from primitive Christian liturgy or from a confession of
faith. It summarizes Christian teaching on the Incarnation, the Redemption and
the application of salvation to the individual.
According to this text, the Incarnation is the revelation of God our Savior, who
makes known his goodness (”benignity”, a word which often occurs in the Old
Testament and sometimes in the New: cf. Rom 2:4; 11: 22; Gal 5:22; Eph 2:7)
and “loving goodness” (literally “philanthropy”, a word taken from Greek). The
Redemption is referred to in Old Testament language: “he saved us in virtue of
his own mercy.”
Finally, the Christian’s access to salvation is something gratuitous: without any
prior merit on our part, God’s mercy has sought us out (v. 5; cf. note on Rom 3:
27-31); Baptism is the door to salvation, for it is the sacrament of “regeneration
and renewal” (cf. Eph 5:26); the Holy Spirit sent by Christ (cf. Jn 14:26) makes
the waters of Baptism effective; his grace gives life to the soul and entitles it to
eternal life (cf. Gal 4:7; Rom 8:16-17). The Council of Trent specified that “justi-
fication is not only the remission of sins, but sanctification and renovation of the
interior man through the voluntary reception of grace and gifts whereby a man
becomes just instead of unjust and a friend instead of an enemy, that he may
be an heir in the hope of life everlasting” (”De Iustificatione”, chap. 7).
The magnificent resume of faith in Christ contained in Titus 3:3-7 also helps Chris-
tians see how to approach their work and social involvement; the Second Vatican
Council has reminded us once again that “the promised and hoped-for restoration
has already begun in Christ. It is carried forward in the sending of the Holy Spirit
and through him continues in the Church in which, through our faith, we learn the
meaning of our earthly life, while we bring to term, with hope of future good, the
task allotted to us in the world by the Father, and so work out our salvation” (”Lu-
men Gentium”, 48).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.