Titus 3:3-7 - The Well Intentioned Heretic

Meet Pelagius, a really nice heretic with good intentions.

Heretics are often really nice people who pull your attention away from scripture towards something 'even better.'

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Titus 3:3-7 (NIV)

3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

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Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election

Point 2 - Limited Atonement

Point 3 - Total Depravity

Article 2: The Spread of Corruption

1. Human beings brought forth children 

   1. of the same nature as themselves after the fall. 

   2. That is to say, being corrupt they brought forth corrupt children. 
      

2. The corruption spread, by God’s just judgment, 

   1. from Adam and Eve to all their descendants—

   2. except for Christ alone—

   3. not by way of imitation 

      1. as in former times the Pelagians would have it 

      2. but by way of the propagation of their perverted nature.

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Summary

Today's Summary & Dig Deeper posts are a repost from May 10, 2024

Enslaved. That's what Paul says that at one time we all were (v3). For most of us, this concept is tough to identify with, since, by God's grace, we've had the blessing of knowing Jesus our whole lives. But even those who came to know the Lord later in life likely wouldn't describe their life prior to Christ as living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

Thankfully, God restrains people's sinful natures so that most people don't fully experience a life filled with total malice and hatred (a doctrine we call common grace). Yet Paul here accurately describes what life is like apart from God's grace.

So if God has brought us to new life through the Holy Spirit, and He even holds in check the behavior of those who haven't been regenerated, why is it so important to continually remind ourselves of this ugliness? The answer comes in the very next verse. If you don't realize the effect that original sin has had on you - that it's sapped you of any ability to do any sort of good on your own - you'll end up chalking the good relationship you currently have with God up to the righteous things you've done, as if God owes you salvation because you're such a good person (or at least better than most).

Paul here corrects this sinful instinct, writing that Christ saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

  Dig Deeper  

Pelagius was a British monk, and a really nice guy. He moved to Rome around the end of the 4th century. He was appalled by the moral laxity of society and advocated for more personal responsibility in the Christian life. This sounds like a good thing, so it might be surprising to find out Pelagius' efforts sparked one of the biggest theological controversies of all times and ended with him branded as a heretic.

Pelagius' teachings revolved around the idea that human beings were created with the inherent capacity to choose good or evil without the necessity of regenerating grace. He argued that the essential nature of humanity was not corrupted by original sin, and therefore, each person was born morally neutral with the ability to live a sinless life by their own efforts.

In other words, he taught that people are not born in sin, but end up sinning simply by imitating those who came before them. So the key to defeating sin is to just stop imitating it. Through sheer willpower, people can set themselves on the straight and narrow. God's grace was only necessary to forgive past sins, but wasn't necessary for a person to repent in the first place or even live Godly lives moving forward. Those things can and must be done by us independently.

This may sound really good, and even freeing! It's easy to see why it's attractive to think that the Church has been holding humanity under its thumb by telling them that on their own they're totally depraved, and how much better everything would be with some softer theology.

But not only does this never work out in reality, it flies in the face of all that God has told us is true as we've read what the Bible says about original sin. But worst of all, and the reason that Pelagianism is deemed a heresy, is because it points people away from their need of Christ and leaves them clinging to nothing but their corrupted, sinful selves.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who saved us because of His unfailing covenant love;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for the wisdom to live into the new identity given to you in your Spiritual rebirth;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Colossians 4