Titus 2:11 Commentary and Bible Study

Then the great verse: ‘For the grace of God that bringeth salvation.’ You could shorten that: ‘[For saving grace] has appeared to all men.’ It has appeared to the rich and the educated; it has appeared to the people Paul has just spoken about: the slaves who had nothing and were nothing. They were regarded as inferior. They weren't, of course, but that was how society chose to regard them: as inferior beings, who were entitled to anything, who were fit only for manual labour and to be kicked around. ‘For the grace of God’, the mighty favour of God, bestowing forgiveness and salvation and new life and eternal glory, has appeared to them, just as much as to the educated and to the cultured. ‘For’ – the slave is proving to his master that the treasures of God, and the mighty intellectual emancipation of a child of God has been given to a slave, just as much as to a cultured man. There is no other explanation that makes any sense to the master, than that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared in the life of this slave. Nothing else can explain the transformation. So how is salvation appearing to all the masters and slaveowners of Rome? Through their slaves. ‘Appeared’ is a great word. We get the English word ‘epiphany’ from it. It’s a sudden appearance, a sudden manifestation of something wonderful. An illustration of it is the sun coming up, perhaps into a cloudless sky, and suddenly everything is illuminated and warm. The grace of God is like that. It appears in evidence, as well as in appearance. It's not just proclaimed; it is seen in lives. The grace of God, the mighty favour and kindness of God, that brings salvation has suddenly arisen like a great sun to all men. That is your obedience, brother slave, Paul says. That is what it accomplishes; your manner, your deportment. It communicates the grace that is in you.