Titus 3:5 According to His mercy

Yet when the kindness and fondness for humanity of our Saviour, God, made its advent, not for works which are wrought in righteousness which we do, but according to his mercy…

As before in 2:11, we also find a wonderful reference to the essence of the Gospel. God loves mankind and from the first human couple He has promised the coming of “the Savior of the world”. The Gospel is the glad tidings that God has now fulfilled this promise.

To emphasize that the salvation that God accomplishes is based entirely on His kindness and philanthropy, Paul further explains in verse 5: It is not “for works which are wrought in righteousness which we do.” In that case, humanity would be partly self-sufficient in salvation. Not ‘gratuitously’  but deserved. Paul does everything he can to completely rule out that suggestion. This is black and white. The Gospel is based entirely on what GOD promises and on what He realizes in Christ. “YAHWEH saves”, that is the meaning of the name JESUS/JESHUA. Make this message an offer for man to accept, and the Gospel is no longer the Gospel. For salvation would depend on man’s response. None of that! It is 100% “according to His mercy”.

Delen: