Titus 3:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

How so? “He saved us, not by works of righteousness which we had done, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Tit 3:5).

Every help is given to souls by the Savior, and for each kind of care a certain distinctive name has been devised.

When He presents to Himself a blameless soul, having neither spot nor wrinkle (Eph 5:27), as a pure virgin, He is called Bridegroom.

When He receives a soul wounded by the devil with cruel wounds, and heals it from the grievous sickness of sin, He is called Physician.

Do such acts of care for us lead our thought to anything low? Or do they not rather produce in us wonder at the great power, and at the same time the love for mankind, of the One who saves?

For He both willed to suffer with our infirmities (Heb 4:15), and was able to descend to our very weakness.

The Master, says the Apostle, showed love for mankind and through the Only-begotten freed us from our former evils. By saving Baptism He granted us remission of sins, recreated and renewed us, counted us worthy of the gift of the Spirit, and showed us the path of righteousness. To those who walk in it He promised the Kingdom of Heaven. And since it is invisible, for “hope that is seen is not hope” (Rom 8:24), the Apostle necessarily adds:

“But when the grace and love for mankind of God our Savior appeared.” Previously, he says, we were doers of every sin. But when the goodness and “love for mankind of God appeared” to men through the Incarnation of His Son, then hear what happened.

By this delay in the saving work, He made us more receptive to His calling. Thus what had been announced through so many ages, by many signs, many voices, and many mysteries, would not be doubtful in these days of the Gospel. So the birth of the Savior, which surpassed all wonders and every measure of human reason, would engender faith in us with a constancy equal to the frequency and antiquity of its proclamation.

These words form a supplement and explanation to the words of Tit 2:11-14. There it was said that Christ "gave Himself for us," and here it is explained why this was necessary.

It was necessary because men themselves have no works of righteousness. They can be saved only by the mercy of Christ, which was revealed precisely in Christ's giving Himself to God's justice as a sacrifice for men.

When it says, "not by works of righteousness which we had done," it means that we lack works that, apart from Christ's merits, could acquire justification for us.

There in chapter 2 it was said: "that He might redeem us from every iniquity and purify for Himself a chosen people." It remained unclear how deliverance and purification are accomplished in each of us.

Here the holy Apostle indicates the foundation or reason why Christians, while meek and condescending toward unbelieving impious people, must themselves shine with virtues and surpass the rest of mankind.

It is because they are not only called to a holy life in Christianity. In Christianity, sufficient means of grace are also mystically given for the acquisition of holiness.

After all this, it would be unnatural and inexcusable for Christians to remain hardened in their former moral oldness.

By "the laver of regeneration" the holy Apostle plainly points to the mystery of water baptism. By the abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit after this laver, he points to the mystery of the descent of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, or Chrismation.

He speaks a second time about the appearing of grace and the renewal of men, in order to rouse them again to a worthy life and to hopes of future goods in eternal life.

"If we examine more carefully," writes Blessed Jerome, "we shall find the Most Holy Trinity most clearly in this small section.

The goodness, that is, grace, and love for mankind of God our Savior, none other than God the Father, made us righteous for the inheritance of eternal life through the laver of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

He poured out this Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ."

"Alas," cries St. John Chrysostom, "we were so deeply immersed in evil that we could no longer be cleansed, but had need of regeneration.

Then Christians should be moved to condescend toward unbelievers by God's immeasurable love for mankind toward Christians themselves.

For when divine goodness, χρηστότης, and love for mankind were revealed, God saved us not by virtue of our merits, but solely according to His mercy.

Therefore we too, imitating God, must show goodwill toward pagans even when they do not deserve it at all.

At the same time, to make an even greater impression on Christian souls, the Apostle commands Titus to remind them that through baptism, the water laver, cf. Eph 5:26, they were cleansed from sins and renewed.

They became a new creation. Then, through another mystery, Chrismation, they received the gifts of the Holy Spirit in abundance.

Thus they became de jure, according to hope, heirs of eternal life, to receive it into their possession.

Thus this is what we were like before faith and grace, when we lived in slavery to passions and pleasures. Now we are different, and must be different.

Grace delivered us from that slavery by renewing our nature in the laver of baptism. It bound us to a life according to the spirit and power of that renewal.

Grace, χρηστοτης, goodness, and the love for mankind of God our Savior appeared in the incarnate divine economy.

This occurred "through the becoming man of the Only-begotten, when the Only-begotten Son of God became incarnate and became like us in all things" (Oecumenius and Blessed Theophylact).

He accomplished and ordered everything needful for our salvation. "Appeared" points to the ordering of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.