{"id":23,"date":"2013-04-23T04:27:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-23T04:27:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2018-09-09T03:28:36","modified_gmt":"2018-09-09T03:28:36","slug":"epiphany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/2013\/04\/23\/epiphany\/","title":{"rendered":"Epiphany"},"content":{"rendered":"

But \u201cwhen the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.\u201d<\/p>\n

This saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on such truths, so that those who have placed their faith in God may be intent on engaging in good works. These things are good and beneficial for all people.
\nTitus 3:4-8 (NET)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Our Bible study group was in Titus 3 this week, and I was struck by the conciseness and completeness of this little passage. In just four short verses, Paul lays out the whole of the Gospel and provides the context for Christian living. Let me unpack it with you.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when the kindness of God \u2026 appeared\u2026\u201d First, let me disclaim that I am not a Greek scholar. I\u2019ve never even studied Greek. But I do know how to use a concordance. The Greek word for \u201cappeared\u201d here is \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c6\u03b1\u03af\u03bd\u03c9 (epiphain\u014d<\/a>). Since I\u2019m not a scholar, don\u2019t read too much into this. But the idea is like stars that become visible as the darkness grows. In other words, it\u2019s something that was always there, but not always known, or visible.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s kindness and love for mankind have existed since before the creation. It was in his kindness that he placed the man and the woman in an ideal environment, in perfect fellowship with him, even though they chose to sin. It was in his kindness that he killed an animal and covered their nakedness. It was even his kindness that caused them to die as a result of their sin (can you imagine living forever in this fallen state?). It was his kindness that engaged a man named Abram and unilaterally made a covenant with him to bless the whole world through him. But as Hebrews says of the Old Testament saints, \u201cThey did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth\u201d (Hebrews 11:13<\/a>). What was promised had not been revealed.<\/p>\n

We also noted that the root of the Greek word is the same as the English word \u201cepiphany<\/a>\u201d. In English, \u201cepiphany\u201d has a more powerful context than just the appearing of the stars, it\u2019s a revelation of life-changing proportions. Whether the Greek supports this or not, I think it is fair to say that the appearing of God\u2019s kindness and love for mankind through Christ is life-changing. At least, it certainly changed my life. I pray that you will let it change your life as well.<\/p>\n

So how was God\u2019s love revealed? \u201cHe saved us.\u201d That is certainly good news. Every religion on the face of the earth prescribes rules by which man may somehow hope to become acceptable to God. And every religion falls short. The truth, which all of us know in the depths of our souls, is that nothing we can do can fix our relationship with God. We are sinful people. We do sinful things. We don\u2019t deserve love and kindness.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the mystery. God was the initiator. He<\/u> saved us. And just to make sure the point is clear, Paul continues, \u201cnot because of righteous things we had done\u201d (NIV). Nothing you can do will make a difference in your relationship with God. Your religion will not get you closer to God. Most people, if you ask them about their eternal destiny will give an answer along the lines of \u201cI hope I\u2019ve been good enough. I try to be a good person.\u201d But your good works have nothing to do with God revealing his kindness and love to you.<\/p>\n

Instead, he has done everything that is necessary, and you have nothing to add. It\u2019s by his mercy. Because he wanted to, he provided the atonement (payment) for your evil and offered you the opportunity to be born into his kingdom. His kindness and love are revealed through \u201cthe washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.\u201d Once someone comes to him through faith in Jesus, they become something totally new. The new birth speaks of the radical transition from being enemies of God to being beloved children. The renewing of the Holy Spirit speaks the the daily transformation that occurs as the Christian continues to walk in fellowship with him.<\/p>\n

This is such a radical departure from what we expected, and what we know that we deserve that many people have a hard time accepting it. \u201cWell, maybe I will go to heaven, but God can\u2019t use me. I\u2019m not even sure he really likes me.\u201d So just to make clear the magnitude of God\u2019s kindness and love, Paul goes on to say about the Holy Spirit, \u201cwhom he poured out on us in full measure\u201d. The English is a little weak here. Other translations say \u201crichly\u201d or \u201cabundantly\u201d. It\u2019s the same word used to describe rich people, who shouldn\u2019t trust in their wealth. In other words, in God\u2019s economy, you are the 1%. Whether you feel like it or not, you are a prince or princess, a child of the King. Everything he has is yours. Not because you deserve it. Not because you earned it. Just because of his kindness and love.<\/p>\n

Now, I want to make a clear stand here, because there are many voices who would agree with (most of) what I\u2019ve said and yet try to water down the message of the Gospel through universalism. The clear message is that this has been done \u201cthrough Jesus Christ our Savior\u201d. The Bible is consistent and clear that there is only one way to fellowship with the Father and that is through the Son. The context of this passage is that Paul is writing to Titus, whom he has commissioned to establish order in the young church at Crete. The \u201cus\u201d who were saved are those who trust in Jesus as savior and messiah. The gift is available to all, but it must be accepted on God\u2019s terms, not yours.<\/p>\n

The final bit of good news is in the last verse, \u201cso that those who have placed their faith in God may be intent on engaging in good works.\u201d Wait a minute, I thought we just established that good works have nothing to do with salvation? That\u2019s true, and that\u2019s the good news. Since we have nothing to prove, no favor to gain, no ladders to climb, we are free to rejoice and revel in our restored relationship with God. And out of that will flow good works.<\/p>\n

My favorite analogy on the Christian life is this: Why does a dog bark? Does he bark to be more of a dog, or to gain greater dog acceptance? No, a dog barks because that\u2019s what dogs do. It\u2019s in his nature. So why does a Christian do good works? Is it to earn salvation or to gain greater approval from God? No, these things already belong to the child of God. Rather, doing good works is what Christians do. It\u2019s in their (heavenly) nature.<\/p>\n

Now, to be true to the text, there is a bit more urgency than that. Paul is exhorting us to devote intentional and concerted effort towards good works. The word translated \u201cbe intent\u201d means<\/a> \u201cto be thoughtful, or anxious\u201d. In other words, doing good works should preoccupy our thoughts. Interestingly, the word translated<\/a> \u201cengaging\u201d is elsewhere translated \u201cto rule\u201d. So still, the idea is not that we dig down deep and pull up our bootstraps and force out some good works. Rather, it suggests just that we participate with God in these good works; that good works flow out of our (new) nature. Our attention need to be that nothing gets in the way of this nature expressing itself through good works.<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s not good news, I don\u2019t know what is. I pray your eyes are opened and you experience the epiphany of God\u2019s kindness and love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But \u201cwhen the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us in full … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Epiphany”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions\/175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}