God’s Saving Grace Has Appeared!
Titus 2:11-14
Everyone loves a good story. Everyone loves a good storyteller. Back in the days before television we were entertained by stories. Our imaginations were left to paint the picture. A good storyteller makes you feel that you are part of the story. The storyteller paints a picture with words. A person who gets really absorbed into the story is said to be “spellbound.” “Spell” is the Old English word for “story.”
God has a story. When we put “God” and “story” together we get “God spell” or “Gospel. We are gathered here together tonight to remember one of the gospel stories. We remember the shepherds abiding in the fields watching over their flocks in the dark of night. And suddenly the Angel of the LORD appeared with glad tidings (gospel) of great joy. We can imagine what that must have been like. We can see the sheer terror when the angel appeared. We then think of the wonder they must have felt as though we were there. We look in amazement at the singing of the heavenly host. Then we accept the invitation to “Come to Bethlehem and see.” We re-enact this story in our Christmas plays and see the joy on the children’s faces. Perhaps we think back to our childhood when we were the actors.
Stories are used to explain truth. Jesus, who was the greatest storyteller of all time, explained truth in stories called “parables.” Storytelling was common in the Middle East. The shepherds themselves probably broke the monotony of the cold nights in the field with a good story. The really good news is that the Christmas story is true. It is not just that it teaches us truth. The very Truth had come in Jesus Christ.
We read the Christmas Eve selection this evening from the Book of Titus. However, we see at once that these verses are not in story form. Truth can also be conveyed by making a statement and then explaining it. This is the Greek way of revealing truth. Paul is writing to a mostly Greek congregation on the island of Crete. So he tells here the Christmas story in the way the Greeks processed truth. It is not that the Greeks did not use stories also. We can think of the fables of King Midas and the golden touch, for example. But the Holy Spirit used Paul to use a statement known as a “proposition” in which the truth is stated and then explained. Even though the method is different, the truth is the same. Herman Ridderbos compared the teaching of Jesus and Paul and concluded that they were saying the same thing in different ways. Everyone learns a little differently. So God in His wisdom uses different methods to convey the truths of the Gospel.
I went with this extended introduction to put the Christmas story in mind before we examine this text. I hope that will shed some light as we explore what God is teaching us here. Paul’s thought can be very complex. He uses very long Greek sentences. It takes a lot of work to unpack them. You might have had to diagram sentences when you were in school. That is hard work, and few took much delight in it. However, once the task is complete, we can see how much better we understand. The text we read tonight of three verses is actually one sentence in Greek. It will take some work to decode it.
Every sentence, by definition, makes one main point. The simplest sentence consists of a noun which is called the “subject” and a verb which describes the subject which usually says what the subject is doing or what is being done to the subject. So what we need to do is to find the subject and main verb. In Greek this is easy. The subject is “grace” and the action is “appeared.” Everything else in this long sentence says something related to either “grace” or “appeared.”
The Greek sentence actually starts with the verb “appeared.” Greek is not dependent upon word order like English. However, Greek tends to use word order similar to English. When a word is put out of place, it makes the word emphatic. So “appeared” is put in the spotlight. Grace “APPEARED.” The actual Greek word here is the verb form of “Epiphany.” We can think of a Sunday coming up in two weeks called “Epiphany Sunday.” On that Sunday, we remember the Word of God going out to the Gentiles. We thing of the Wise Men coming from the East because of the appearance of a special star which guided them to Bethlehem. The simple past tense tells us about a specific event. And that event is that Jesus came to earth. We are brought back to the story of Jesus whose earthly journey started in Bethlehem.
Now we need to look at the other main word in the sentence, “grace,” What does this long sentence says about grace? The first thing is that we see that it is “the grace of God.” It defines what kind of grace we are talking about. It is God’s grace and not someone else’s grace. Also it is “the grace.” God’s character is to be gracious. He has shown grace to some degree to all. He brings rain to the just and the unjust. What is said here with he little word “the” is a specific act of grace which is related to the word “appeared.” This Grace of God is none other than the Word becoming flesh. It is the appearance of Jesus Christ.
We have another word in the sentence which describes grace. It is usually translated “bringing salvation.” I have simplified this somewhat to “saving” and placed it closer to the word for grace in Greek. So now we read “The saving grace of God APPEARED. Now we have to deal with what is called a prepositional phrase. The word order of the sentence in Greek makes two possible understandings. Does it say something about “grace” or something about “appeared.” The King James and some other versions say “appeared to all men” which answers the question “To whom did this grace appear?” Other versions noticing that “bringing salvation” is separated from “grace” in the word order and put it with “grace.” This gives us the reading “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to “every/all man/mankind.” There is a problem in the first statement in that He only appeared to Mary, Joseph, and a few shepherds and not to everyone. The problem with the second is that “bringing salvation to every person” or mankind could be understood as meaning everyone will be saved which Scripture elsewhere certainly does not affirm. Not every one will be saved, only those who believe on Jesus. But the Gospel is to be preached to “all mankind.” Everyone is to hear about why the Lord Jesus appeared. It is to the potential benefit of any person, but one still has to believe.
I am at this point going to skip to verse 13 which reads: “Eagerly expecting the blessed hope and glorious epiphany of our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Hear we have that word “epiphany” again. It is usually translated “appearing” in English. The Saving Grace of God will make another appearance at the end of time. And it will be glorious. The first time, he came as a baby in Bethlehem from the womb of the Virgin Mary. That was glorious for those whose eyes were opened to the brilliance of the Angel and the heavenly host. It was glorious for the Magi who saw the star. But the Bible states that He shall return. This time He will appear to all, for good or ill. He is not only Savior, but judge. He will come with his army, the host of heaven and ten thousands of His saints. He returns as “The Great God and Savior.” One should note that there is only one article “the” which covers “Great God as well as “Our Savior.” This means that they are one and the same. This is proof that Jesus, the Son of God, is fully divine as is the Father and Holy Spirit. Not as a baby in which the godhead is veiled but as our Great God and Savior.
A story from the Jewish historian Josephus is helpful here that we might see who Jesus is. He records a Greek king named Antiochus Epiphanes who ruled about 170 years before the birth of Christ. Do you see that word “epiphany” there in his title? He demanded the Jews worship him as the very manifestation of God. There were other kings with the title “Soter” which is the Greek word for “Savior.” These titles were wrongfully attributed to mere men. They were not God, but mere human beings. But these titles rightfully belong to Jesus.
The rest of this long sentence tells us that we live between two great epiphanies of Christ. Seeing this is true, “How shall we then live?” as Francis Schaeffer puts it. We first look at the little word “for” which is at the beginning of the English sentence. It is a small word, but “for” is an important word. In connects us back to what Paul had previously said which is rules of conduct for elders, young men, women, and slaves. The truth affects our behavior. Where the story in Luke tells us to “Come to Bethlehem and see,” Paul is telling us to “Come to Jesus and live for Him.” The truth of Christmas is to be reflected in our lives. It is not a once-a-year holiday in which we are lifted up by the Christmas story. Jesus was named that name because He came to save people from their sins. He did not come to deliver Israel from Roman bondage. The same Rome still ruled in Palestine as well as Crete. What is more important is our sins which have enslaved us. We must then live our Christian freedom and deny that which once enslaved us.
One of the words which appears several times is the word translated “sober.” This is much deeper than telling people not to get drunk. Enough of this happens at Christmas anyway. It instead refers to taking the Gospel thoughtfully and seriously. This does not mean that we should not have outbursts of joy. Paul could not contain himself in the Book of Romans. When he reflected on who God is and what great things God had done for him personally and for believers, he had to interrupt his message for a doxology to God. What God did for us is not frivolous, it was costly. He redeemed us at a great price for Himself. In return, he expects us to be a thankful people who live their life accordingly. He wants our work as well as our attitude to reflect upon who He is, what He has done and why, and who and whose we are. One of the fruits of this is obedience to the Gospel. God has established rule and order in his church. This is what God inspired Paul to tell Titus. All authority flows from the head of the church. And God has set a hierarchy to maintain order and to properly teach His people.
So when we come to Christmas this year, let us realize that we are to live the message of Christmas all year round. So take some time to reflect upon the glory of Christmas this night. Tomorrow, let us walk in the light.
Closing Hymn: I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light, p.206 in the United Methodist Hymnal
