Titus 3:4-7 But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,… 1. The originating cause is the grace, the free, sovereign, undeserved, and spontaneous love of God towards fallen man (Titus 3:4, 5; Titus 2:11; Romans 3:24). 2. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the sole meritorious cause. All He did, and all He suffered, in His mediatorial character, may be said to have contributed to this great purpose. 3. The instrumental cause of justification. The merit of the blood of Jesus does not operate necessarily so as to produce our pardon as an immediate and unavoidable effect, but through the instrumentality of faith.Hence — 1. We are not justified, in whole or part, by the merit of our own works, whether past, present, or future. 2. Our repentance is neither the meritorious course, nor the immediate instrument of justification. 3. The Holy Spirit's work of regeneration and sanctification is not the previous condition of our free justification or the prerequisite qualification of it. 4. Our justification is not by the merit of faith itself; but only by faith, as that which embraces and appropriates the merit of Christ. (J. Bunting.) Parallel Verses KJV: But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,WEB: But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared, |
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