In the middle of a pagan world

The letter from Paul to Titus is one of Paul's shorter letters, but he sure packed a lot into it! First, let's look at the first point he makes about holy living in a pagan world: we can't live holy lives unless we are saved. We Christians are saved by grace. 

but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, (Romans 5:20b)

The wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God for salvation! I guess when we think about it, salvation is a pretty radical concept. "Saving" someone is not helping a person who's in pretty good shape. It's not reaching out to someone who just needs a bit of assistance. We are saved because we are helplessly, hopelessly lost without God's help! We humans are dead in sin and only He has the power to raise us. 

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,  (Ephesians 2:4-6, NIV)

After identifying himself in the first two verses, Paul then talks about how God is our Savior, and how Jesus Christ is on the same level as God. Also, over in the third chapter, Paul writes that we are renewed by the Holy Spirit. In Paul's mind, Jesus is fully God, and the triune God is our only Savior. He is laying out a case for the readers of the Trinity - three in One - that is so hard for us to get our human minds wrapped around! 

Paul seems to be helping Titus, a newer pastor, with truths that his congregation might need explanations for. Not only does he write about the Trinity, but he also discusses something that our churches today often reject: salvation is not rooted in us, but in God. Dead sinners come to life because of God's grace - He offers them salvation that is not based on how good or bad they are, but based instead on His mercy.

Paul says in verse one that saving faith must rest on the truths revealed in God's Word. We must understand what Scripture teaches about God as absolutely holy and about us as absolutely sinful. We must understand that Jesus took the penalty that we deserved; He died on the cross. We must understand that God grants salvation as a free gift to us, not because of any goodness in us. And that only Christ can save us.

This is foolishness to natural men and women. Those who are not in tune with spiritual things and guided by the Holy Spirit.

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. (I Corinthians 2:14) 

You and I can only understand God's truth in His Word when the Spirit guides us:

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (II Corinthians 4:4-6)

Lord, open our eyes to your truth so that we may understand more of your Word and your ways.