Daily Meditations on the Bible / We stand with Israel
He saved us … so that … we might become heirs …
Summary: There are specific rules of law that pertain to a last will and testament. Paul, knowing the law, uses this terminology to explain something very important.
Continue reading “Titus 3:7 (b) — Last Will and Testament”
… so that, having been justified by his grace …
Summary: Paul’s description of being saved arrives at the concept of justification. Do we need more than we already have? It turns out we do. We need to be justified before God.
Continue reading “Titus 3:7 (a) — Arrived”
He saved us … not because of righteous things we had done …
Summary: Knowing why God saves us is important. Knowing why he should not save us is also important.
Continue reading “Titus 3:5 (b) — The Laugh Test”
At one time we too were … disobedient …
Summary: Obedience is hard for humans. It requires us to submit to God’s authority and we tend not to like doing that. Yet God’s rules are not all that hard to comply with, if only we would.
Continue reading “Titus 3:3 (c) — God’s Rules”
Remind the people … to be obedient …
Summary: Obedience is a challenge. There are many people and rules that we are supposed to obey. We now have more rules in our country than any one person can know, let alone obey. Yet our willingness to obey still sets us apart from the worldly.
Continue reading “Titus 3:1 (c) — Stop and Go”
… and not to steal from them …
Summary: God commanded the Israelites not to steal, but that was a long time ago. Does faith in God still mean we cannot steal?
Continue reading “Titus 2:10 (a) — Works vs Works”
Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands … so that no one will malign the word of God.
Summary: How are we to understand the word “malign?” Using two pencils and a string, we can make a picture that illustrates both aligned and maligned.
Continue reading “Titus 2:5 (f) — Strung Out”
To the pure, all things are pure …
Summary: Paul needs a way to illustrate how impure the rebellious people are. To do so he gives us a glimpse of what it means to be pure.
Continue reading “Titus 1:15 (a) — Clean and Unclean”
… and will pay no attention to Jewish myths …
Summary: Paul draws our attention to Jewish myths so that we can avoid them. He does not go into detail, but it is clear that he wants us to focus on Jesus.
Continue reading “Titus 1:14 (a) — Myth Understanding”
… especially those of the circumcision group.
Summary: The case of the circumcision group offers us an example of disagreements in the early church. Some were resolved by discussion. Others festered and turned into open conflict.
Continue reading “Titus 1:10 (c) — That All May Be One”