Titus 2:11-15 – Living in between the two comings of Christ

In these five verses, Paul summarized what he had said earlier. He was calling for believers to live rightly so that they would commend the Gospel to the world. To spur believers on and live triumphantly according to all that he had instructed, Paul now gave two compelling reasons as their motivation: the first and second appearance of Christ. His First Coming was to offer the grace of God and the second appearance serves as a hope for all believers to look forward to. One had already taken place and the other is still to come.

Paul explained the first appearance in later part of verse 13 and also verse 14. The grace of God was offered at Christ’s First Coming when He gave Himself to redeem believers from every lawless deed and to purify or sanctify us. Those who believed in Him become His own possession and should possess the zeal for every good work. 

The second appearance is the hope of all who believe. Christ is coming again in glory. This future event should give hope to believers who expect His coming and are looking forward to it. In the light of this, Paul’s rationale was for Christians to live not just for the now; but also for the future. Believers should live an upright life because of what God had done for them in the past. They should also live their lives uprightly for the future because of the great hope of Christ’s Second Coming.

How to accomplish all these in a practical sense? Paul asserted that believers have moral obligations. He began by stating the negative that they should avoid and then went on to the positive that they should engage in. Believers must first learn to say no to ungodliness and worldly passion. They must also be godly, living sensibly and uprightly in this present age. This is how they should live in between the two appearances of Christ.

Paul urged Titus to teach these things. What things was he referring to? They are all that he had said so far. It appears as if Paul was about to conclude the letter at this point. He did not because he had some other thoughts he wanted to share with them. What did he intend to say? We shall discover them later.

As recipient of His grace, we must live expectantly because of the hope we have in Him. Let’s strive to be godly, sensible and upright in conduct. We must deny all actin that would lead to ungodliness and refuse to embrace worldly passion. Let’s live to glorify Him!