NOTES for Tit 2:1-15

Reading in Paul's letters about the life he proposes Christians should lead, one cannot help recalling wisdom writings, examples of which are easy to find, for instance, in the Book of Proverbs. The call to chastity, to responsibility in household matters, and to respect for elders (vv. 1-6) was by no means something new. In a certain sense, the call for slaves to obey their masters not out of fear but for conscience's sake (vv. 9-10), which in the letter to Titus is not heard for the first time, could be considered new. This, however, is not surprising: ancient Israel never knew the mass slaveholding that characterized Egypt, Greece, or Rome. But the apostle, it is clear, applies the principles of social relations reflected in the tradition of wisdom writing to the realities of the Greco-Roman world. He evidently considers, if not the recommendations of the ancient sages themselves, then at least the logic that produced them to be universal enough.

Of course, such calls and exhortations were connected not least with political messianism, which at that time was widely spread in the Synagogue and was probably also entering church circles, above all, of course, the Judeo-Christian milieu, which then largely determined the life of the Church as a whole. Paul was a determined opponent of such ideas and views. And, as is clear, not only because political messianism was for him an obviously false messianism that could lead to nothing but senseless uprisings and subsequent reprisals. The main point was elsewhere: the apostle never forgot the Savior's words that His Kingdom is "not of this world." Social reforms, political struggle, or uprisings by themselves could not bring the triumph of the Kingdom nearer, as the apostle knew perfectly well. For Paul, society was only a means and an environment: a means for witness to the Kingdom and an environment in which witnesses must live temporarily, until the complete transfiguration of the world. And he wants this environment to hinder as little as possible the main task for Christians: their own spiritual formation and witness (vv. 11-14), in which the meaning of the Christian life consists.

Paul sets against the strict religious formalism on which some church "teachers" insisted something that can look like simple rules of morality. Yet in these simple rules lies the essence of the Torah, and above all of the external Torah. The issue is the most ordinary keeping of the commandments, without any special religiosity, without the many norms and rules of ritual purity that lose their relevance for a resident of the Kingdom: in the Kingdom even the traditional Yahwistic and Jewish division into clean and unclean turns out to be irrelevant - everything there is clean.

But if we go further, it turns out that keeping the commandments, even purely externally, presupposes a certain dynamic of relationships with very different people, and these relationships must be built consciously, not merely by following socially conditioned automatic patterns. It is no accident that the apostle goes on to mention not only the most problematic church communities, the "older men" and "older women," but also slaves in their relationship to their masters. What they have in common is a kind of "naturalness" in the status of both the church "older men" and "older women" and the slaves. Indeed, many of those "older men" and "older women" whom Paul mentions treated their position in the Church not as a consciously chosen service, but as a situation that had taken shape by itself.

Many of them became "older men" and "older women" not because they had recognized their calling to the corresponding ministries, but because in old age there was nowhere else to go, and their whole life had become bound up with the Church - so let it be; the direct path was into the ranks of the "older men" or "older women." Much as in the Middle Ages people, especially girls and women, went to a monastery not because they had recognized a monastic calling, but because life had not worked out and no other alternative was visible.

Such automatism spiritually destroys a person: the place where he has found himself presupposes precisely conscious service, and when awareness, and therefore full service, is absent, the inevitable spiritual degradation of such a "servant" begins. But in the same way, though more slowly, a person also degrades in society if he is not aware of himself and of his relationships with the people with whom he has to interact. Social automatism is no better than "spiritual" automatism, though at first glance it looks less dangerous. It is against such automatisms that Paul warns Titus, considering them a much greater problem than the absence of religiosity among church members.

Every person wants to receive something good from God, and usually asks for that. That is, he asks for grace, because the word "grace" means a "good gift." The apostle Paul writes that God has already given this good gift of His: He gave His Son, the best thing He has! And the Son accomplished the chief good that we need, even if we do not realize it: salvation. This is liberation from the inertia of evil and sin in our life; it is the filling of life with goodness and love. And this good has been extended to "all people." Why, then, for all two thousand years after Christ's coming has there been so much darkness, pain, and horror in the world? Has the grace of God appeared or not?

It did indeed appear, but how fully was it received... The Light came into the world, but people loved darkness. All people? Thank God, no! And these two thousand years have given stunning examples of holiness. And our task is not to look at how other people are doing, but to receive again and again the grace offered to us, the outstretched hand of Christ, who desires and is ready to pull us out of the swamp of sin and death that is sucking us in.

Grace is already here, with everyone; all that remains is to agree to receive it. This is the first and hardest step, because by taking it we agree to acknowledge several inconvenient facts. First, God came to us Himself. He is already near us, and in recognizing the reality of His presence we recognize that we have spent an impermissibly long time deceiving ourselves, trying not to notice it. Second, we acknowledge our weakness and infirmity, our inability to leave the shadow of death by ourselves. We acknowledge our dependence on the Source of Life, God's primacy in everything and over everyone. Third, we have to acknowledge that salvation is given to everyone, without any exceptions. Even if we have our own list of those who should be refused or given first place, we have to acknowledge that everyone is offered the choice of salvation. These three facts make life very inconvenient and unpleasant if we want to ignore them. We do have that possibility, but is there any desire to return to an existence where there is no place for grace and mercy?

Every person wants to receive something good from God, and we usually ask of it. That is asking for the grace, because the word "grace" means "good gift". The apostle Paul writes that God has already given this good present, He gave His Son – the best thing He ever had! And the Son accomplished the main good, which is necessary for us, even if we don’t realize it - salvation. It is liberation from the inertness of evil and sin in our life; it is the filling of our life with good and love. And this good is stretched out to "every man ". Why then all the two thousand years after the coming of Christ there is so much darkness, pains, horrors in the world? The grace of God has been manifested or not?

Yes it has manifested itself, but to what extent was it accepted... The Light came into the world, but people liked more the darkness. All people? Thank God, no! And these two thousand years gave fabulous examples of holiness. And our task is not to look how other people do, but to accept ourselves, accept the grace which is proposed to us, by the outstretched hand of Christ wishing and ready to drag us out of the swamps of sins and death.

We love Christ very much, and often because of this love we feel so sorry for Him in His sufferings that we want so badly for Him to avoid them by some miracle. In a way, we become like Peter when he said, "This shall never happen to You" (Matt. 16:22), only we cry out: if only You could avoid such suffering. And in those moments it seems to us that if Judas had been stopped, nothing would have happened. Judas becomes the object of our involuntary desire for revenge.

But we must not forget the main thing. Christ's suffering was voluntary. In the whole drama, Judas played no decisive role; he was simply a victim, a victim of his own weakness. Therefore it is wrong to see him as the embodiment of world evil or anything of the kind. If Judas had not been there, everything would have happened according to another scenario, but the meaning of the Redemption, as the greatest event in human history, would not have changed.

Another question that often arises in connection with Judas concerns his free will. Was he merely an instrument in the hands of providence? After all, Christ says that he was the "son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled" (John 17:12). Of course, this is not so either. A person is never merely an instrument in God's hands; each person whom He created "in His image and likeness" is too precious to Him. Some exegetes believe that when Christ dipped the morsel and gave it to Judas, He did so not in order to amaze the disciples with His omniscience, but to give Judas a chance to come to his senses, since the conversation was quiet, as we can see if we read the text carefully (John 13:26).

Besides, Judas could have repented as Peter did. But he would have had to repent exactly as Peter did, by bearing worthy fruit of repentance. Judas does not manage to do this. And that makes him deeply pitiful. Pity is the feeling that should arise in us toward this man.