Titus 3:7

That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.—Here appears the glorious design of God’s salvation. We were in a hopeless and lost state, from which God’s love for man saved us by the laver of regeneration and renovation; and this was the end for which He saved us—that we should be heirs of eternal life. “Being justified,” that is, freed from the future punishment and consequences of sin, and received into the favour and friendship of God, which favour and friendship had been, through sin, forfeited. “By His grace,” by the favour and kindness of God the Father are we restored to His love and friendship. “Heirs,” see Romans 8:17, where this thought of our heirship of heaven is enlarged. “According to the hope of eternal life;” this life eternal is still for us in the future, though ever present in respect of hope; children of God we indeed are, and sharers in many a good gift of our Father, but eternal life, that glorious inheritance, is still in the far future, and as yet can only be enjoyed by us in hope, but it is a sure hope—eternal life—the hope of which is the mainspring of all Christian work and activity—though it includes it, of course, is something far more than merely endless existence. A veil, impenetrable to mortal eye, hangs between us and the many mansions of the Father’s house. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be;” we only know that then, we, in company with an innumerable host of blessed beings, shall share in the beatific vision; we only know that then “we shall ever be with the Lord;” and that with this thought and with these words are we to comfort one another. (See 1Thessalonians 4:17-18.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-7 Spiritual privileges do not make void or weaken, but confirm civil duties. Mere good words and good meanings are not enough without good works. They were not to be quarrelsome, but to show meekness on all occasions, not toward friends only, but to all men, though with wisdom, Jas 3:13. And let this text teach us how wrong it is for a Christian to be churlish to the worst, weakest, and most abject. The servants of sin have many masters, their lusts hurry them different ways; pride commands one thing, covetousness another. Thus they are hateful, deserving to be hated. It is the misery of sinners, that they hate one another; and it is the duty and happiness of saints to love one another. And we are delivered out of our miserable condition, only by the mercy and free grace of God, the merit and sufferings of Christ, and the working of his Spirit. God the Father is God our Saviour. He is the fountain from which the Holy Spirit flows, to teach, regenerate, and save his fallen creatures; and this blessing comes to mankind through Christ. The spring and rise of it, is the kindness and love of God to man. Love and grace have, through the Spirit, great power to change and turn the heart to God. Works must be in the saved, but are not among the causes of their salvation. A new principle of grace and holiness is wrought, which sways, and governs, and makes the man a new creature. Most pretend they would have heaven at last, yet they care not for holiness now; they would have the end without the beginning. Here is the outward sign and seal thereof in baptism, called therefore the washing of regeneration. The work is inward and spiritual; this is outwardly signified and sealed in this ordinance. Slight not this outward sign and seal; yet rest not in the outward washing, but look to the answer of a good conscience, without which the outward washing will avail nothing. The worker therein is the Spirit of God; it is the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Through him we mortify sin, perform duty, walk in God's ways; all the working of the Divine life in us, and the fruits of righteousness without, are through this blessed and holy Spirit. The Spirit and his saving gifts and graces, come through Christ, as a Saviour, whose undertaking and work are to bring to grace and glory. Justification, in the gospel sense, is the free forgiveness of a sinner; accepting him as righteous through the righteousness of Christ received by faith. God, in justifying a sinner in the way of the gospel, is gracious to him, yet just to himself and his law. As forgiveness is through a perfect righteousness, and satisfaction is made to justice by Christ, it cannot be merited by the sinner himself. Eternal life is set before us in the promise; the Spirit works faith in us, and hope of that life; faith and hope bring it near, and fill with joy in expectation of it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That being justified by his grace - Not by our own works, but by his favor or mercy; see the notes at Romans 3:24.

We should be made heirs - See the notes at Romans 8:15, Romans 8:17.

According to the hope of eternal life - In reference to the hope of eternal life; that is, we have that hope in virtue of our being adopted with the family of God, and being made heirs. He has received us as his children, and permits us to hope that we shall live with him forever.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. That, &c.—the purpose which He aimed at in having "saved us" (Tit 3:5), namely, "That being (having been) justified (accounted righteous through faith at our 'regeneration,' and made righteous by the daily 'renewing of the Holy Ghost') by His grace (as opposed to works, Tit 3:5) we should be made heirs."

his grace—Greek, "the grace of the former," that is, God (Tit 3:4; Ro 5:15).

heirs—(Ga 3:29).

according to the hope of eternal life—Tit 1:2, and also the position of the Greek words, confirm English Version, that is, agreeably to the hope of eternal life; the eternal inheritance fully satisfying the hope. Bengel and Ellicott explain it, "heirs of eternal life, in the way of hope," that is, not yet in actual possession. Such a blessed hope, which once was not possessed, will lead a Christian to practice holiness and meekness toward others, the lesson especially needed by the Cretans.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

That being justified by his grace; that, through the free love of God, having the guilt of our sins removed, and the righteousness of Christ reckoned to us for righteousness,

we should be made heirs; should, through adoption, be made children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, Romans 8:17.

According to the hope of eternal life: some think that the words should be read thus: That we, according to hope, should be made heirs of eternal life; because otherwise, the text hath no object to relate to heirs. But what should we be heirs of, but the kingdom mentioned Matthew 25:34? Though it be true, we are no more than heirs according to hope, nor is any man otherwise an heir of an inheritance, as heir stands distinguished from an owner or proprietor.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

That being justified by his grace,.... This is another way and means, as well as regeneration, by which God saves his people; for he saves no unjustified ones; no unrighteous persons shall inherit the kingdom of heaven; such as are without the wedding garment, and robe of Christ's righteousness, shall be cast into outer darkness: whom God saves, he justifies by the righteousness of his Son; and whomsoever he justifies, them he saves. The justification here spoken of is a declarative one, which takes place in regeneration; and which that is in order to, as here expressed, "that being justified": regeneration does not justify any, but makes the justified to appear to be such; justification is an act of God's gracious will conceived in his mind from eternity, by which he wills not to impute sin to his people, but to Christ their surety; and that they should be accounted righteous through the righteousness of his Son; in which act of his will the whole essence of justification in his sight lies: this was pronounced on Christ, as their head and representative at his resurrection, when he, as such, was justified, acquitted, and discharged, and they in him; and this is declared in the conscience of a sinner, by the Spirit of God, at his regeneration, when he passes from death to life; and this declaration is here intended, and which is the same with justification by faith; and is here said to be by the grace of God, as justification in every view is, and stands opposed to works of righteousness done by men, by which no man can be justified in the sight of God; in what sense justification is by the free grace of God; see Gill on Romans 3:24.

We should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life; or "according to hope we should be made heirs of eternal life". Eternal life is an inheritance, and so is not acquired by labour and industry, nor purchased, but is a free gift; it is a bequest of God the Father to his children, of his own free good will and pleasure; and it belongs only to children; they only are heirs, and they become such by adopting grace; neither regeneration, nor justification, make them the children of God, and heirs of the grace of life, but make them appear to be so: God, by his gracious act of adoption puts them among the children, and gives them the goodly heritage; and this adoption lies in eternal predestination in Christ, in whom the inheritance is obtained on that account, Ephesians 1:5. Regeneration shows them to be the adopted ones, and gives them the nature of children, and a meetness for the inheritance; and justification gives them a right unto it, upon the foot of justice, and opens a way for their enjoyment of it, consistent with the justice and holiness of God; see Galatians 4:4, wherefore such as are washed with the washing of regeneration, and are renewed in the spirit of their minds, and justified by the grace of God; these are manifestly heirs of eternal life, of salvation, of a kingdom and glory, of all things, even of God himself, who is their portion, and exceeding great reward; and such in regeneration are begotten to a lively hope of it, and by this they are saved, Romans 8:24. And thus the apostle makes regeneration by the free mercy of God, and justification by his grace, and special adoption, and heirship, with a good hope through grace, the way and means in which God saves his people, who were like others by nature, and brings them to the enjoyment of eternal happiness.

Geneva Study Bible

That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Titus 3:7. Ἵνα declares the purpose, not the consequence. It is doubtful whether it belongs to ἐξέχεεν (Heydenreich, Wiesinger, van Oosterzee, Plitt, Hofmann) or to ἔσωσεν as defined by διὰ τοῦ λουτροῦ … τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν (Bengel, de Wette, and others). The thought is substantially the same with both constructions, since the σωτηρία is necessarily brought about by the outpouring of the Spirit. Still the structure of the sentence is in favour of the reference to ἐξέχεεν. Wiesinger rightly considers the other view “to be unnecessarily harsh, ignoring the explanatory relation of Titus 3:6-7 to Titus 3:5, and depriving ἐξέχεεν of its necessary definition.”

δικαιωθέντες] not “found righteous” (Matthies), still less “sanctified,” but “justified,” i.e. “acquitted of the guilt, and with it, of the punishment.” Hofmann rightly says that this justification means the same thing as in Romans 3:24; that it does not mean the change of our conduct towards God, but of our relations to Him.1[18]

Τῇ ἘΚΕΊΝΟΥ ΧΆΡΙΤΙ] does not belong to what follows, but to what precedes. Justification is an act of grace. Ἐκείνου does not refer to God as the subject of ἘΞΈΧΕΕΝ (van Oosterzee, Plitt, and formerly in this commentary), but to ἸΗΣΟῦ ΧΡΙΣΤΟῦ (Hofmann), according to the usage of the N. T., for which see Acts 3:13; John 7:45. Comp. Winer, p. 148 [E. T. p. 196]; Buttmann, p. 91. Heydenreich and Wiesinger are wrong in referring it to ΠΝΕΎΜΑΤΟς; for, on the one hand, this would involve the wrong conception that justification is a work of the Spirit; and, on the other hand, there is no mention in the N. T. of a ΧΆΡΙς ΤΟῦ ΠΝΕΎΜΑΤΟς.

Τῇ ΧΆΡΙΤΙ points us back to ΟὐΚ ἘΞ ἜΡΓΩΝ; Chrysostom: ΠΆΛΙΝ ΧΆΡΙΤΙ, ΟὐΚ ὈΦΕΙΛῇ.

ΚΛΗΡΟΝΌΜΟΙ ΓΕΝΗΘῶΜΕΝ [ΓΕΝΏΜΕΘΑ] ΚΑΤʼ ἘΛΠΊΔΑ ΖΩῆς ΑἸΩΝΊΟΥ] ΚΑΤʼ ἘΛΠΊΔΑ cannot, as Heydenreich thinks probable, be construed with ΖΩῆς ΑἸΩΝΊΟΥ as one conception, so as to be equivalent to ΖΩῆς ΑἸΩΝΊΟΥ ἘΛΠΙΖΟΜΈΝΗς. On the other hand, it is also unsuitable to take ΚΑΤʼ ἘΛΠ. Ζ. ΑἸΩΝ. together: “in accordance with the hope of eternal life” (Matthies), because in that case ΚΛΗΡ. would not be defined. ΚΑΤʼ ἘΛΠΊΔΑ should rather be joined with ΚΛΗΡ. ΓΕΝΗΘ., and then the genit. ΖΩῆς ΑἸΩΝΊΟΥ belongs to the latter. Chrysostom has two interpretations: ΚΑΤʼ ἘΛΠΊΔΑ, ΤΟΥΤΈΣΤΙ· ΚΑΘῺς ἨΛΠΊΣΑΜΕΝ, ΟὝΤΩς ἈΠΟΛΑΎΣΟΜΕΝ, Ἢ, ὍΤΙ ἬΔΗ ΚΑῚ ΚΛΗΡΟΝΌΜΟΙ ἘΣΤΈ. According to the former view, the words would have to be translated: “in order that we, in proportion to our hope (i.e. as we hope), may become heirs of eternal life;” according to the latter, it would be: “that we, according to hope, might become heirs of eternal life.” The latter view is the correct one. The apostle is speaking not of the future, but of the present condition of believers. They are heirs of eternal life; but they are so in hope, not yet in actual possession; for ζωὴ αἰώνιος in its full meaning is something future, Romans 6:22-23.

ΚΑΤʼ ἘΛΠΊΔΑ stands here as Τῇ ἘΛΠΊΔΙ in Romans 8:24; see Meyer on the passage.[19]

[18] 1 The apostle says nothing here regarding the relation of justification to the ἀνακαίνωσις wrought by the Holy Spirit. It is wrong at any rate to regard the latter as the ground of the former, so that God justifies man because he is renewed. Nor, on the other hand, can the renewing be regarded as a later consequence of the justification, in the sense that God imparts to man the Holy Spirit after man has been justified. The two things are very closely connected. Justification is to be regarded as the ground of renewing, while renewing is the actual completion of justification. God justifies man so as to renew him, to make him His child born of the Spirit.

[19] This passage, vv. 4–7, is substantially different from that in Titus 2:11-14. While in the latter the chief point is the paedagogic aim of the work of redemption, and the apostle accordingly is thinking how Christians are pledged to a holy life, in the former the chief point is the undeserved love of God made manifest in the work of redemption. Hence in this passage also much emphasis is laid on the idea of regeneration, which is granted to the Christian by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Titus 3:7. ἵνα, κ.τ.λ.: It is not quite certain, whether this expresses the object of ἐξέχεεν or of ἔσωσεν. The former connexion brings out best the climax of the passage. κληρονόμοι marks the highest point to which man can attain in this life. See reff. The two preceding stages are marked by λουτρὸν παλινγενεσίας and ἀνακαίνωσις, while δικαιωθέντες … χάριτι is an expression in theological language of the simpler κατὰ τὸ αὐτοῦ ἔλεος ἔσωσεν ἡμᾶς. The grace by which man is justified is usually spoken of as that of God the Father, Romans 3:24; and so ἐκείνου, not αὐτοῦ, is used as referring to the remoter antecedent.

κληρονόμοι: According to the analogy of the other passages where it occurs, this word is best taken absolutely; or, if the notion must be completed, we may understand θεοῦ. The term would not need any elucidation to one of St. Paul’s company. It is also an argument against connecting κληρ. ζωῆς αἰωνίου (R.V.m) that ἔλπις ζωῆς αἰωνίου occurs in Titus 1:2; and Galatians 3:29, κατʼ ἐπαγγελίαν κληρ., is parallel.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. being justified … be made heirs] The word ‘justifying’ and ‘justification’ occur 25 times in the great group of Epistles, written 10 years before this to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, whose subject is ‘Christ the Redeemer,’ ‘Christ for us.’ It has not been used in the next great group written five years before this, to the Ephesians, Colossians and Philippians, whose subject is ‘Christ the Life,’ ‘Christ in us,’ ‘Christ our Sanctification.’ ‘Righteousness,’ however, that right relation between God and man, the restoration to which is justification, occurs seven times against 50 times in the former group. So in Ephesians 5:26 (already quoted as parallel in form and sense to our present passage), ‘the cleansing’ is the justifying, and the ‘sanctifying’ follows, as here ‘being heirs’ follows. This verse then, in its two clauses, repeats, with reference to God the Son, what in Titus 3:5 was said with reference to God the Father as to the twofold saving mercy; just as in the former ‘Gospel’ passage, Titus 2:11-14, ‘renunciation’ and ‘obedience’ are both spoken of, first as the work of God the Father’s grace (11, 12), and then as the result of God the Son’s gift of Himself (14). The justification by God the Father’s grace—the regeneration—effected potentially once for all by Christ through His death, resurrection and outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and appropriated individually by Faith (expressed or implied) in Baptism, is to be followed by a ‘life of heirship’ or ‘sanctification’; so the Latin translation of Theod. Mops. ‘ut heredes efficiamur,’ and the comment, ‘at segregavit nos in ditissimam quam nobis bonorum praestitit fruitionem,’—the third of the Baptismal Blessings, ‘inheritors of the kingdom of heaven,’ with a right and title to receive now ‘the fruits of the Spirit.’

according to the hope of eternal life] (1) In A.V. and R.V. it is implied that these words are to be taken together and ‘made heirs’ left absolute; then this last clause finds an eloquent expansion in Ephesians 5:27 (see above), and ‘glorification’ crowns ‘sanctification,’ as sanctification followed justification. (2) The R.V. margin gives ‘heirs, according to hope, of eternal life.’ in this case ‘eternal life’ must most fittingly be interpreted as usually in St John, and 1 Timothy 4:8; 1 Timothy 6:12; 1 Timothy 6:19, ‘the spiritual life that is and is to come;’ ‘according to hope,’ will be as Ephesians 4:4, ‘called in one hope of your calling,’ and 1 Timothy 1:1, ‘Christ Jesus our hope,’ where this life’s state of salvation must be included in the object of hope; and ‘justification’ and ‘sanctification’ will be the only two objects named of the Spirit’s outpouring. But the phrase in Titus 1:2, as there interpreted, favours (1).

Bengel's Gnomen

Titus 3:7. Ἵνα, that) This depends on He saved.—δικαιωθέντες, being justified) For formerly we were without righteousness, Titus 3:5.—ἐκείνου, His) God’s, Titus 3:4-5. ἐκεῖνος, He, or that person, points often to something remote. That which is more remote (as expressed by ἐκεῖνος) is estimated from the position of the words, not exactly from the thought itself. The grace of God is an ordinary phrase; and it is of that grace that the kindness and love to men have appeared, to which all things are here attributed. God is supremely good, we are exceedingly evil.—χάριτι, by grace) An antithesis to works.—κατʼ ἐλπίδα, according to the hope) which we did not formerly possess. [This hope truly softens the mind, 1 Peter 3:9.—V. g.]—ζωῆς, of life) Construed with heirs.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - Might for should, A.V. Being justified by his grace; showing very clearly that righteousness in man did not precede and cause the saving mercy of God, but that mercy went before and provided the justification which is altogether of grace, and which issues in the possession of eternal life. Heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This seems to be the right rendering rather than that in the margin, heirs, according to hope, of eternal life, making "eternal life" depend upon "heirs." The passage in Titus 1:2, "In hope of eternal life," is a very strong reason for taking the same construction here. The answer in the Church Catechism, "Wherein I was made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven," follows very closely St. Paul's teaching in the text (see Romans 4:13, 14; Romans 8:17; Galatians 3:29, 4:7). Titus 3:7

Vincent's Word Studies

Being justified (δικαιωθέντες)

In Pastorals only here and 1 Timothy 3:16 (note). See Introd. VI. Justification is conceived as taking place before the outpouring of the Spirit.

By his grace (τῇ ἐκείνου χάριτι)

By the grace of Jesus Christ. See Acts 15:11; 2 Corinthians 8:9; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Romans 5:6; Galatians 1:6.

We should be made heirs (κληρονόμοι γενηθῶμεν)

Κληρονόμος heir only here in Pastorals. A favorite idea of Paul. See Romans 4:13; Romans 8:17; Galatians 3:29. Heirship of eternal life is the result of justification. So, clearly, Romans 5. It is attested and confirmed by the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:14.

According to the hope of eternal life (κατ' ἐλπίδα ζωῆς αἰωνίου)

Const. of eternal life with heirs, and rend. heirs of eternal life according to hope. Comp. Romans 4:18; Romans 5:2; Romans 8:24; Galatians 5:5; Colossians 1:5, Colossians 1:27; Titus 1:2; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 John 3:2, 1 John 3:3.