Titus Outline
B1 Chapter 1
C1 Titus 1:1-4 Salutation
C2 Titus 1:5-9 Church leaders
C3 Titus 1:10-16 Rebuke
B2 Chapter 2
C1 Titus 2:1-2 Older Men
C2 Titus 2:3-5 Older Women
C3 Titus 2:6-8 Young Men
C4 Titus 2:9-10 Slaves and Masters
C5 Titus 2:11 God Wants All to Be Saved
C6 Titus 2:12-15 Preach Godliness
B3 Chapter 3
C1 Titus 3:1-2 Dealing with non-Christians
C2 Titus 3:3-8 What We Were, and How God Changed Us
C3 Titus 3:9-11 Avoid
C4 Titus 3:12-15 Final Greetings
Philemon Outline
B1 Salutation Chapter 1:1-3
B2 Thankfulness for Philemon’s Faith Chapter 1:4-7
B3 Paul’s Appeal for Onesimus Chapter 1:8-22
B4 Final Greetings Chapter 1:23-25
Titus and 1&2 Timothy are similar. Both are written to pastors. Both are instructions to young pastors. Both give qualifications of church leaders.
The first chapter of Titus has this:
B1 Titus 1:16 ESV They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
B2 We learn
C1 There are fake believers
C2 There are fake church leaders
C3 There is a test. Do their words and live in private and public match?
C4 These fakes are describes as detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.
D1 The Greek word for detestable is βδελυκτός bdelyktós. It means something hated, loathing something, entirely disgusting. God has a poor view of these creeps.
D2 God says this about these people: Isaiah 65:5 GW They said, "Stay away! Don't touch me! I'm holier than you are." They have become like smoke in my nose, like a smoldering fire all day long.
D3 The Greek word for disobedient is ἀπειθής apeithḗs. It means impersuasible, uncompliant, contumacious [A. V. disobedient] (Source is Strong’s). It has the idea of being obstinate and rebellious.
D4 The Greek word for unfit is ἀδόκιμος adókimos. It means worthless after being tested. It does not meet the standard. God is the one who does the testing. His standard is what is used to judge. These fail the test.
D5 Hebrews 6:8 GNB But if it grows thorns and weeds, it is worth nothing; it is in danger of being cursed by God and will be destroyed by fire.
C5 The Greek word for deny is ἀρνέομαι arnéomai. It means contradict, reject, disavow.
D1 Peter did repent and restored, but he did deny (same word) Christ. Peter spoke his denial. These in our passage speak correctly but what they do shows their denial.
D2 Mark 14:69-71 NIV When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, "This fellow is one of them." 70 Again he denied it. After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean." 71 He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, "I don't know this man you're talking about."
D3 Matthew 23:2-3 NIV The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
C6 We must not imitate them. God help us.
The second chapter of Titus has this
B1 Teach sound doctrine
C1 Sound doctrine is the teachings of Jesus and His Apostles.
C2 Consider the opposite: 2 Timothy 4:3 GNB The time will come when people will not listen to sound doctrine, but will follow their own desires and will collect for themselves more and more teachers who will tell them what they are itching to hear.
B2 Sound rules for our actions in society
B3 Salvation is offered to all people: Titus 2:11 WEL For the saving grace of God has appeared to all people,
B4 Titus 2:13-14 GNB as we wait for the blessed Day we hope for, when the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ will appear. 14 He gave himself for us, to rescue us from all wickedness and to make us a pure people who belong to him alone and are eager to do good.
C1 Jesus is going to return.
C2 We are to be excited that He will. We are to look forward to seeing Him.
C3 He gave Himself. He did not have to do this.
C4 He rescued us from our wickedness, the wickedness of society and the world, and the sin nature.
C5 His desire is that we be pure Christians, that is, Christians who believe what He taught and live the way He instructed us.
The third chapter of Titus teaches us
B1 The contrast between who and what we were to who and what we are.
C1 What and who we were: Titus 3:3 ESV For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
C2 What and who we are: Titus 3:4-7 ESV But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
D1 The Greek word for kindness (goodness) is χρηστότης chrēstótēs. It means 1. moral goodness, integrity 2. benignity, kindness (Source is Thayer’s).
D2 The Greek work for loving kindness is φιλανθρωπία (philanthrōpía. It means benevolence, kind-heartedness, humane feeling, or, in a weaker sense, kindliness, courtesy (Source is Liddell/Scott/Jones Greek-English Lexicon).
D3 Note: these are characteristics of God, so they must be our characteristics, too.
D4 The washing of regeneration might refer to baptism but only in the sense of
E1 Probably in both cases there is a reference to baptism, but, as in Romans 6:3-6, the immersion is the picture or the symbol of the new birth, not the means of securing it. (Source is Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament).
E2 Conversion is really a new creation (2Corinthians 5:17), and here that new creation is presented under the figure of a bath. It is the same figure used by the Lord Jesus when He taught the disciples that there is only one bath of regeneration but many necessary cleansings from defilement (John 13:10). That bath of regeneration has nothing to do with baptism. It is not a bodily cleansing by water, but a moral cleansing by the word of God (John 15:3). Baptism is not even a symbol of this bath; it rather depicts burial with Christ into death (Romans 6:4). (Source is Believer's Bible Commentary by MacDonald).
E3 Also note Titus 3:7 ESV so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. [Emphasis is mine]. We are not justified by baptism.
D5 Titus 3:9-11 teach us
E1 To avoid arguments in stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law (NRSV).
E2 MacDonald (Believer’s Bible Commentary) gives good advice:
The man who majors on these minors is a divisive heretic. He usually has one note on his violin and plays it to death. Soon he gathers around himself a coterie of people with a negative outlook, and the rest he drives away. He will divide an assembly rather than abandon his doctrinal hobbyhorse. No church should put up with such nonsense. If after one or two warnings, he refuses to desist, he should be expelled from the fellowship of the local church and the Christians should refrain from having social contact with him. Hopefully, this ostracism will bring him to repentance and to a more balanced handling of the word of God.
Philemon is a personal letter to an owner of servants/slaves. Onesimus, a slave, ran away, became a Christian, and is helping Paul in the ministry. Paul makes an appeal to Philemon to forgive Onesimus and if willing release him to help me (Paul). We learn how to make an appeal, a reason for making an appeal, helping our brother/sister, and how to forgive.
Psalms 13:5 GW But I trust your mercy. My heart finds joy in your salvation.
Psalms 31:7 GW I will rejoice and be glad because of your mercy. You have seen my misery. You have known the troubles in my soul.
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