Titus 02.11-15 | The Gospel of Grace (01. The Appearance of God's Grace)

Titus 02.11-15

Paul tells Titus 04 aspects of the Gospel of Grace…01. The Appearance of God’s Grace (Titus 02.11a); 02. Saving Grace (Titus 02.11b); 03. The Transformation of Saving Grace (Titus 02.12-14) & 04. The Preacher’s Authority (Titus 02.15).

The main purpose for all the exhortations throughout the Bible for followers of Christ to live holy lives is to honor & glorify God, which can lead to the salvation of more sinners.

Paul begins where we should always begin, w/the grace of God.

01. The Appearance of God’s Grace (Titus 02.11a)

Titus 02.11a “11 For the grace of God has appeared...”

God’s grace can be defined as God’s undeserved favor toward the wicked unworthy sinners, by which He delivers them from eternal condemnation & death through the death & resurrection of His Son Jesus.

Psalms 84.11

“11 has appeared” G2014. epiphaino ep-ee-fah’-ee-no; from 1909 & 5316; to shine upon, i.e. become (literally) visible or (figuratively) known:-- appear, give light.

Thayer-to show to or upon; to bring to a light

Jesus brought God’s saving grace out of the shadows of the Old Testament, for though grace was mentioned in the Old Testament such as when its talking about Noah in Genesis 06.08,

(“But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”), it wasn’t as prominently displayed as it is in the New Testament.

Another example is in the book of Psalms, specifically in Psalm 103.08.

The common misperception is that the Old Testament is all about a God of wrath & not of grace, like you see in Hebrews 04.16.

There are many other passages throughout the Old Testament that talk about the grace of God.

Isaiah records for us what the LORD said to him about the coming Mashiach (the Messiah), the birth & reign of the coming Prince of Peace in Isaiah 09.01-07, especially in Isaiah 09.02.

This prophecy was quoted some 700 years later when Zacharias prophesied about the Mashiach (the Messiah) after the miraculous birth of his son, John the Baptist in Luke 01.68-79. John the Baptist of course was the forerunner of the Mashiach, & the last of the Old Testament prophets.

It was through Jesus that God personified grace. For until then, God had sent prophets to speak to the nation of Israel (Matthew 21.33-46), & after 400 years of silence from Malachi to the time of Jesus, He Himself came as a man so that the gap between God & man can be closed (Philippians 02.05-08).

Paul then tells us in Galatians 04.04 that the time of our Saviors’ birth was God’s selected preordained time, the exact moment for which God had foretold since man’s sin in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 03.15).

 

John tells us that the Word (Jesus) was God & w/Him came grace in John 01.01-17.

Paul declared his life mission to declare the gospel of grace in Acts 20.24.

Every time in these previous verses, the Greek word for “grace” is G5485. cariv charis khar’-ec, God’s undeserved favor toward the wicked unworthy sinners, by which He delivers them from eternal condemnation & death through the death & resurrection of His Son Jesus.