But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: that
the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in
patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh
holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; that
they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love
their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to
their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise
exhort to be sober minded. In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good
works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech,
that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed,
having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their
own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; not
purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of
God our Saviour in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly,
in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ (Titus 2:1-13).
COMMON GRACE ARGUMENT:
This passage sometimes has been appealed to as proof for “common grace”—that is, the notion that the infinitely holy and righteous God ‘loves’ the reprobate wicked.
The key words of the passage are “all men” and the
suggestion is that this refers to “the whole of the number of men that ever
lived or live and shall live on earth.”
(I)
Rev. Carl Haak
[Source: The Reformed Witness Hour: “Epiphany: (1) The Appearance of God’s Grace” (Titus 2:11-12)]
The word epiphany [the word rendered in our text as “appeared” {Greek: Ἐπεφάνη}] means “appearing,” “to bring to light,” “to become fully known” …
The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath “appeared.” God’s wonderful grace became visible. It shined out of the gloom; it burst out of the pitch black of sin and death. The wonderful saving grace of Almighty God appeared ... the night in which Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.
What is God’s grace? The word grace is literally “beauty,” and it means “beautiful.” That God is gracious means that God is beautiful. He is attractive. But more specifically, God’s grace, as it comes to us, refers to His unmerited favour toward those whom He has chosen unto salvation [Eph. 2:8; Deut. 7:7-8] … The grace of God refers to His saving power—for the apostle says, “the grace of God … bringeth salvation”. God’s grace brings salvation. Salvation is the deliverance from the greatest of all evils—sin—and it is deliverance unto the highest of all conceivable goods—the fellowship of God … When God is being gracious, when God shows forth His grace, that grace brings salvation. God’s grace is not His mere desire to bring salvation—and then He backs off and says, “I don’t want to violate your will; so I might desire to save you, but I won’t unless you first want to be saved.” That is not God’s grace; that is not biblical teaching. What says the Bible? “The grace of God that bringeth salvation.” God’s grace is His irresistible power; His glorious power to save the object of His choosing. That grace has appeared, in Bethlehem, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, as He is swaddled in rags and is in a manger.
The idea of “all” here means “all kinds” of men or “all classes” of men, as Paul has explained to Titus that his ministry must not be bound to any class of men but to all ages of men, both male and female. So also, the gospel goes forth to all kinds: to children, to rich, to poor, to male, to female. The word is sounded out to the end of the earth, no matter who you are or your station of life. Business man, in the work-a-day world where the truth and honesty are thrown to the wind, the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto you. College and high school student in that classroom lead by a witty, inciteful professor, who either outrightly denies or cunningly questions the truth of the living God … God’s grace in Jesus Christ hath appeared to you. Young people, as you live in a day of fornication and drunkenness and disrespect as part of the culture, God’s grace hath appeared to you. Housewife, when influences come upon you and you’re at your wits end and you’re ready to walk out; aged men and aged women; no matter who you be, I can say with absolute confidence, with absolute certainty, you know this: the grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared when Jesus Christ was born in our flesh in Bethlehem as the only Saviour; the one sent of the Father to bare all the sins of His chosen.
Rev. Angus Stewart
It refers to all sorts of men, as the context proves. Just
read the previous 10 verses which speak of old men, old women, young men and
young women, etc.
---------------------------------------------
(III)
Robert L. Reymond (1932-2013)
[Source: A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (1998), pp. 693-694]
With regard to Titus 2:11, scholars disagree over whether the dative “to all men” (πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, pasin anthrōpois) should be connected syntactically to the verb “has appeared” or to the adjectival noun “saving,” that is to say, whether Paul meant to say that “the grace … [that is] saving has appeared to all men” or “the grace … has appeared [that is] saving all men.” The latter construction precedes the dative “all men.” But for the present purpose it makes little substantive difference which construction one prefers since it is evident from Scripture, history, and Christian experience that the grace that has appeared in Jesus Christ is not, in fact, actually saving all men without exception nor has salvific grace even appeared to all men without exception, much less saved them. It is true, of course, that salvific grace did appear in a very special way when Christ came “for us men and for our salvation,” and holds out the prospect of salvation to all who believe. In this respect there is surely a universality about the saving grace of God in Christ. But beyond this sense of universality, for the reasons already stated, most likely not even the Arminian would insist upon pressing the literalness of the “all men” expression here so as to encompass all men without exception. As a matter of fact, as we have already seen elsewhere, because Paul refers in the immediately preceding context to “older men” (2:2) and “older women” (2:3), to “young women” (2:4) and “young men” (2:6), and to “slaves” and “masters” (2:9), most likely he again is thinking in terms of all categories of men (including even slaves) and not of everyone without exception** (note the connecting (γὰρ, gar, in 2:11). And it is not an insignificant feature of the passage that the emphasis in the context moves immediately from the “all men” to the redeemed community (see the immediately following “teaching us” and “we should live”), giving again virtually the sense that the “all men” to whom grace has savingly appeared are to be defined in terms of the redeemed community, the church (note: “all men, teaching us …”). And of that community envisaged by the “us” and “we,” Paul declares that Jesus Christ “gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all lawlessness are to purify for himself a special [περιούσιον, periousion] people, eager to do what is good” (2:14). So in the very context where some would urge a distributive universality for Christ’s atoning work, the particularity of the intention behind Christ’s cross work and the speciality of the redeemed community resulting from that cross work receive the emphasis.
[** underlining added]
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(IV)
Herman Hoeksema (1886-1965)
(a)
[Source: The Protestant Reformed Churches in America [1947], pp. 345-346]
(2) [The phrase, “all men,”] may also mean: “all kinds of men.”** This is plainly the meaning in Titus 2:11: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” That “all men” cannot mean every individual of the human race, nor every man then living, ought to be evident from the meaning of the text. The apostle writes that the grace of God that bringeth salvation had, in his day, already appeared to all men. It is a fact, however, that comparatively few had as yet heard the gospel, so that “all men” cannot possibly signify every living man in the world of that time. And that it does mean “all kinds of men” is evident from the fact, that the text states a reason for sundry exhortations that occur in the context. In that context, the apostle mentions aged men and aged women, young men and young women, servants and masters, i.e., different classes of people; “for,” he continues, “the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,” that is, to men of every station in life. This is also the meaning of “all men” in I Tim. 2:4, as the context plainly shows.
** On pages 345-347, Rev. Hoeksema demonstrates that, in Scripture,
“all” or “all men” can mean (1) “all of us [i.e. of the church]” (I Pet.
3:9), (2) “all kinds of men” (Tit. 2:11;
I Tim. 2:4), (3) “all believers or all
the elect” (I Cor. 15:22; John 12:31) (4) “‘all of one group,’ in distinction
from ‘all of another group’” (Rom. 5:18).
(b)
[Source: The Gospel, Or, The Most Recent Attack Against the Truth of Sovereign Grace, p. 40; emphasis added]
If this would be understood in the sense of everyone head
for head, then the work of the preaching of the gospel would have been finished
at that time, and everyone would have heard it. But the context shows very
plainly that the apostle means all
kinds of men from all ranks and positions.
-------------------------------------------------
(V)
Rev. Martyn McGeown
Below is a link to a sermon preached on this text by Rev. Martyn McGeown, minister of the Limerick Reformed Fellowship in Ireland,
http://www.cprc.co.uk/teachinggodlyliving.mp3
(VI)
More to come! (DV)
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