Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Titus 2:11-3:8, Grace has appeared, be subject to rulers, and the washing of rebirth
God's grace has appeared, training believers to live with self-control now while they wait for Christ's glorious appearing; they are to respect rulers and be gentle to all, because God saved them by his mercy, giving them new birth and new life by the Holy Spirit.
Titus 2:11-3:8, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul grounds his instructions in what God has done: his grace has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone and training believers to turn from godless living while they wait for Christ's glorious appearing. Titus is to remind the church to respect rulers, be ready for good work and be gentle with everyone. Paul recalls that they too once lived foolishly, but God in his kindness saved them by his mercy, not their good deeds, giving them new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit so they might inherit eternal life.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/present-age-and-age-to-come\/","n":"This age and the age to come","s":"Jews divided history into the present age, under the rule of evil nations, and the age to come, when God would rule unchallenged. The sufferings expected before the change were called birth pangs.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/imperial-cult\/","n":"Caesar worshiped as savior and lord","s":"Augustus and the emperors after him were hailed as savior, lord and son of a god, and in the eastern provinces they were worshiped. The titles the Gospels give Jesus were already being used for Caesar.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/rome-in-charge\/","n":"Rome in charge","s":"Rome ruled through client princes, local elites and governors. It kept the power to execute, and its soldiers, coins and taxes were everywhere.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/zeal\/","n":"Zeal for God and the law","s":"Zeal meant burning loyalty to God and his law, and its heroes, Phinehas, Elijah and the Maccabees, had used force against those who betrayed it. Saul the persecutor saw himself in that line.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/proselyte-baptism\/","n":"Ritual washing and convert immersion","s":"Jews washed often for purity, but one immersion happened only once: the bath a Gentile took on becoming a Jew. John's baptism and the church's took that shape.","r":""}
Many Jews contrasted this age with the age to come (Keener and his notes). Greeks spoke of the appearing of gods, Jewish texts of God's glorious appearings, and Diaspora Jews called God the great God and Savior (Keener and his notes); Wright notes that in these letters Paul "regularly refers to Jesus with a title the Roman world used for Caesar". The likeliest grammar gives the title to Jesus (Keener; the ESV Study Bible). Eager is the word for zealous; Keener doubts any allusion to the Zealots, and Wright takes the good works as generous public help. Submission to rulers belonged with household duties, and with Judea moving toward revolt Paul keeps the movement clear of sedition (Keener and his notes); Wright calls the stance toward Caesar careful, not yet confrontational. God promised to cleanse his people and give his Spirit (Ezekiel 36:25-27), and some Jewish teachers spoke of converts reborn through immersion (the cultural backgrounds notes). The word for rebirth occurs only here and in Matthew 19:28 (the dictionary), "the one place in all Paul's letters" with new birth (Wright). The washing is baptism for Keener and Wright, a spiritual washing that baptism signifies for the ESV Study Bible.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to Titus 2:15-3:8, and on Titus 2:12, 2:13, 2:14, 3:1 and 3:5
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Titus 2:12, 2:13, 2:14, 3:1 and 3:5
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Titus 2:13 and 3:5
- N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters, comments on Titus 1:1-4, 2:1-10, 2:11-15 and 3:1-8a
- J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry regeneration
