Faith vs. Works - Titus 3

3:1 - As Paul continues teaching about the character traits of Disciples of Christ, he brings up a few interesting points. First is that believers are “to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates.” I’ve always been a fighter and looking back at history when I was younger, I would always think, “why didn’t those people stand up for themselves? Why didn’t they start a revolution?” And it wasn’t until I started studying the scriptures more that I realized “revolution” and “overthrow” and “standing up for yourself” isn’t usually the way to resolve issues. We see many examples of how going to war, being the instigator, usually results in your defeat and significant loss of life. I think about the contrasting examples of Limhi and Alma, both of which were leaders of enslaved peoples and how they both ended up leading their people to freedom, but the differences. There’s a lot that goes into it, but basically the lesson that I got was that we are to be obedient to the laws of the land, even when they are oppressive, and that God will free us when the time comes. Now it’s easy for me to live in America and say, “just be obedient, God will provide,” and I’ve thought about that quite a bit, but I think it’s a concept that works in many different situations. In this book that I’m listening to about Paul by N.T. Wright, he talks about just how divergent Paul’s message was to both the religious and political establishments at the time. Rome was the occupying force then, and usually considered their emperors to be gods along with a host of other entities. So for Paul to come out and say, “there is only one God and he’s the true king and Savior,” was just about as treasonous as it gets. It’s interesting too that apparently Rome offered it’s occupied people “salvation,” salvation from war, poverty, etc. It was really interesting to me that Paul was competing for the opportunity to “save” people through Jesus because the predominant force for relief came from Rome. So it’s possible that Paul’s statement here to Titus is an effort to keep the movement away from the Roman government’s attention. 3:2-3 - The characteristics continue, “to speak evil of no man.” This is an interesting concept because we were just talking about this is Relief Society or something and that is that what is said about us to others can be absolutely devastating, and there was a whole discussion about gossiping. When I was younger, I was all about the gossip, and that’s because I had so many issues that I thought that if I was talking to someone about someone else, that meant that I was more important to that other person then the person we were talking about. I didn’t know about the whole “if they’ll do it with you, they’ll do it to you” concept, and I’ve gotten myself into some pretty serious trouble before because of my talking about people behind their backs. It can be absolutely devastating and it’s one of the most insidious characteristics out there. But on the other hand, we can “talk” about people behind their back and be uplifting and this accomplishes two goals. First, when it gets back to the person you were talking about, they will feel uplifted hopefully and know how special they are to you that you feel that way about them. The other goal it accomplishes is that the person that you are having that initial conversation with might soften their heart towards that person. Maybe see them in a light that they hadn’t before, maybe make less of an effort to view them negatively and more of an effort to rethink their negative position. I guess a third bonus on only speaking positively about people is that it sets the example for others to follow. When someone brings something to me that is negative about someone else, I like to respond with “oh that’s none of my business.” It lets them know that you are not going to be an participant in the gossiping activity and also that maybe they should mind their own business too but tells them in a way that isn’t aggressive. Paul calls for saints to be “gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.” Again, it’s interesting because in this book today the author talked about Paul’s falling out with Barnabas and Mark and how there were some screaming matches between Paul and some other church leaders. The author said that maybe Paul’s teachings about calm and meekness might have been him talking to himself about his own personal struggles as well. In fact, in the following verses, Paul discusses how “we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.” Maybe this is an instance of “let’s not be too harsh on others because we ourselves have been that guy before too.” 3:4-8 - Ultimately though, it is “the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man” that saves us. We are saved “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” There is no amount of good that we can do that would save us without the atonement. Here of course, the “washing of regeneration” is referring to baptism, and I would even say that the “renewing of the Holy Ghost” is confirmation when we receive the Spirit to be with us. There was some discussion in the book today about Paul’s teachings of faith vs. works, but the quote that I just read today that I found to be the most profound commentary on faith vs. works comes from the IM which quotes Elder Christoffel Golden Jr. as saying, “One the Atonement can rid man of sin, making one justified in the sight of God. Afterward comes the gift of sanctification- being made clean, pure, and spotless- which can only be dispensed through the power of the Holy Ghost on conditions of obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Legit, there is no other way for us to be saved except by the atonement, but without our “good works” or trying to keep the commandments, then we won’t be holy enough to want to be saved. 3:9-11 - Paul continues to warn Titus against “foolish questions,” etc where people will try to divert the attention of the saints away from the gospel and onto whatever distraction they have at the time. This probably goes hand in hand with our discussion of “teaching true doctrine” that we talked about yesterday. It’s also important to keep the membership with true believers. The article on this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com quotes Gordon B. Hinckley as teaching, “Every individual in the Church is free to think as he pleases, but when an individual speaks openly and actively and takes measures to enlist others in opposition to the Church and its programs and doctrines, then we feel there is a cause for action.” This might be a tough concept for a lot of people, but I believe that some people just aren’t ready for a lot of different reasons, and when they aren’t ready to the point that it is detracting from other people’s journey, then yeah I guess it makes sense that some distance is necessary. But again, it’s important to remember that excommunication is the first step toward repentance in a lot of circumstances. 3:12-15 – Finally, Paul signs off with some instructions for Titus to travel and welcome certain people and that is the end of the book of Titus.