In context, our passage reads,
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 14 He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.” (Titus 2:11-14, CSB)
According to good hermeneutical principles, that is, how best to interpret God’s word, where Paul uses language like we find in Titus 2:14, “to purify for himself a people for his own possession…”, we have learned that this need not and indeed should not be interpreted as Calvinists do. Calvinists co-opt the phrase “a people” as referring to those God has unconditionally elected to salvation. But, hermeneutically, we have learned that we cannot interpret Paul in one text as inconsistent with what Paul clearly states elsewhere. And since Paul elsewhere, including here in v. 11, clearly teaches the universal intention of God in salvation, we cannot interpret this passage as if Paul is affirming the exclusive and limited nature of Calvinist soteriology.
By the words, “a people,” Paul is referring to present believers in light of the Old Testament promise and working of God to establish Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the Israelite nation, who were “the people of God” (Deut. 7:6, 14:2, 27:9, et al.). As Israel constituted God’s “chosen” or “elect” people in the Old Testament, so now believers in Christ are spoken of in this way, highlighting their special, intimate relationship with God. They, too, are now the “chosen” or “elect” people of God. James D. G. Dunn writes,
“The language of v. 14a is that of already well-established summaries of the gospel and is very similar to that of 1 Tim 2:6 (see the Commentary on 1 Tim 2:6). There is a strong echo of Ps 130:8: The Lord “will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” That the echo is deliberate is confirmed by the talk of God’s cleansing “a chosen people, a people of his own” (the phrase used of Israel in Exod 19:5; Deut 7:6; 14:2; note also the echo of the great vision of Israel’s restoration in Ezek 37:23). Clearly then, the thought is of these little Christian communities in Crete fulfilling God’s purpose for Israel. As Israel was pledged to live as God’s people, so these Christians should be “zealous for good works.” Given the hostility to “those of the circumcision” and to “Jewish myths” (1:10, 14), this positive assertion of the continuity of Israel in the Christian churches of Crete should be noted. And since the thought is of a piece with that of God as Savior of all (2:11), the implication presumably is that the churches, like Israel, formed a representative people, chosen with a view to benefit all, to be a light to the nations (Isa 49:1-16).”1
And we know that the overwhelming testimony of Scripture is that trust or faith in God is what marks “God’s people,” and it is what God seeks from “his people” (Heb. 11:6). Therefore, those who trust in Christ are also called “his elect” or “the people of God.”
It is also made clear that faith is the responsibility of the sinner, not “a gift” granted to a predetermined, limited number of people divinely preordained to salvation based on the Calvinist’s (mis)interpretation of Eph. 2:8 and 9. Rather, Paul takes the divine establishment of “the people of God” in the Old Testament and applies the fulfillment and extension of that gracious action of God to those who now believe in Christ, both Jew and Gentile. God now considers those who put their faith and trust in Christ to be his elect or chosen people, based on the history of the Old Testament covenant with Israel. God’s grace and mercy are found in the full revelation of his universal saving purposes with Israel “in Christ.” Furthermore, his relationship with Israel throughout the Old Testament was always one based on faith. (See Rom. 4 and 5) That there would be a universal salvation based on faith alone in Christ alone was what was eternally decreed or predetermined by God. Those who believe “in him” are “the people of God.” They are now “the elect,” so Paul can speak about the benefits that these believers have been predestined to receive – adoption and an inheritance (Eph. 1:5,11,14). Christians are predestined in the sense that they have come by faith into God’s eternal plans for the salvation of mankind. They are not “predestined” as in an exclusive decree that has ordained a limited number of people to salvation. They have been predestined by virtue of God’s inclusive decree that established “a people” – the church – by the revelation of the grace of God in Christ Jesus through faith. “In Christ” alone is found salvation for both Jew and Gentile. Those who believe can now be described as “chosen” in accord with Israel in the Old Testament; only now it is believers in Christ who are chosen “in him” (Eph. 1) who are in the sight of God “chosen and precious.” (1 Pet. 2:1-10) New Testament believers, both Jew and Gentile, are now considered “a people for his own possession.” (Deut. 14:2; 1 Pet. 2:9)
Finally, note verse 11. “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.” (NIV). The CSB reads, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,” and Phillips translates it as “For the grace of God, which can save every man, has now become known.” That grace is found in Jesus Christ. God has made him known. It knows no boundaries. He has appeared, and as such, God brought salvation to all people and to every man. These are Paul’s words. And as he also already confirmed in 1 Timothy 2:4-6 and 10, Paul certainly understands God’s salvation in Jesus Christ as universal; that is, it is not only for all people without distinction, but also for all people without exception. No one is excluded. We are all included. Praise the Lord!
Back to Chapter 16 – The Doctrine of Election According to Scripture
Footnotes
- James D. G. Dunn, “Titus,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, vol. 10, ed. Leander E. Keck (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015), 453. ↩︎
The Truth of the Gospel 