Titus 3

Titus 3 closes the letter the way the letter began: with practical pastoral instruction grounded in the gospel itself. The chapter opens with the church’s civic posture toward the Roman governing authorities (verses 1-2), grounds that posture in the once-was-us memory of the believer’s pre-Christian life and the kindness that appeared in the gospel (verses 3-7), encourages the maintenance of good works and the avoidance of useless controversies (verses 8-11), and closes with the working-network details that will move the delegate from Crete to Nicopolis for the apostle’s winter (verses 12-15). The chapter contains the letter’s second compressed gospel core (verses 4-7, parallel in structure and function to 2:11-14), built around the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. It is one of the New Testament’s most explicit baptismal-pneumatological statements and one of the clearest Trinitarian shapings of the salvation event in the Pauline corpus.

The chapter has three movements. The first (verses 1-7) joins the civic-ethics instruction (verses 1-2) to the once-was-us / kindness-appeared / Spirit-poured-out gospel core (verses 3-7). The second (verses 8-11) names the practical work of the church (the maintenance of good works) and the practical work of the delegate (the avoidance of useless controversies and the discipline of factious teachers). The third (verses 12-15) closes the letter with the working apostolic network’s travel arrangements and the benediction.

The chapter does in the civic register what chapter 2 did in the household register: it ties the church’s posture toward its surrounding world to the gospel itself. The church is gentle toward outsiders, ready for every good work, willing to live in subjection to rulers, because the kindness that appeared has remade these same believers from the people they once were. The civic ethics are not a compromise with empire; they are the practical expression of the Spirit poured out richly.

A · Titus 3:1-7 · Civic ethics, the once-was-us, and the kindness that appeared

¹ Remind them to be in subjection to rulers and to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, ² to speak evil of no one, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all humility toward all men. ³ For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared, ⁵ not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior; ⁷ that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:1-7, World English Bible)

1. Remind them to be in subjection to rulers and to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work (verse 1). The chapter opens with the church’s civic posture. Remind them (hypomimnēskein autous, “to put them in remembrance”) suggests this is familiar teaching the Cretan congregations need re-stated, not a fresh apostolic innovation. The reminder includes four behaviors. Be in subjection to rulers and to authorities (archais exousiais hypotassesthai) is the same vocabulary used at Rom 13:1-7 of the Christian’s posture toward Roman governing structures. Be obedient (peitharchein, “to submit to magistrate-authority”). Be ready for every good work (pros pan ergon agathon hetoimous einai). The good work phrase appears multiple times in this short letter (1:16, 2:7, 2:14, 3:1, 3:8, 3:14); it is the Pastorals’ signature term for the visible-public form of the Christian’s life. The civic instruction is of-a-piece with the rest of the letter’s good-works emphasis. The lane reads this passage with Christians and the state framework: the chapter’s instruction stands inside a broader New Testament conversation that includes Acts 5:29’s we must obey God rather than men and Revelation 13’s image of Rome-as-beast. The chapter is naming the default posture (peaceful subjection to civic authority) while presupposing the limit-cases (Acts 5, Rev 13) that allow conscientious resistance when civic authority demands what God forbids.
2. to speak evil of no one, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all humility toward all men (verse 2). The chapter expands the civic instruction with four interpersonal postures. Speak evil of no one (mēdena blasphēmein, with the same verb blasphēmeō that 2:5 used of the blaspheming-of-the-word-of-God the church’s life is to prevent; here applied to the believer’s own speech about others). Not contentious (amachous, “non-fighting, not eager for combat”). Gentle (epieikeis, “yielding, forbearing, equitable”). Showing all humility toward all men (pasan endeiknymenous prautēta pros pantas anthrōpous, “demonstrating all gentleness toward all human persons”). The verse is the chapter’s political-ethical claim: the church’s posture toward those outside the church (including its political opponents, civic neighbors, and cultural critics) is non-combative gentleness. The verse is a striking instruction for a Cretan church whose surrounding civic culture had a known reputation for contentiousness (the chapter 1 Epimenides slur included “evil beasts”). The Christians are to be the opposite of the cultural norm: gentle, peaceable, non-combative, humble toward all.
3. For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another (verse 3). The chapter pivots to the once-was-us memory. The verse functions as the grounding of verse 2’s gentleness: because we were once exactly the kind of people we are now to treat gently. Seven things are named about the pre-Christian state. Foolish (anoētoi, “without understanding”). Disobedient (apeitheis, the same word used of the false teachers at 1:16). Deceived (planōmenoi, “wandering, being led astray”). Serving various lusts and pleasures (douleuontes epithymiais kai hēdonais poikilais, with the same douleuō “to be enslaved” that names servitude). Living in malice and envy (en kakia kai phthonō diagontes). Hateful (stygētoi, “abominable, detestable”). Hating one another (misountes allēlous). The list is striking for its honesty: the Pauline tradition does not allow the Christian to remember his pre-Christian self with retrospective flattery. We were exactly the people the chapter has just described in 1:10-16 of the false teachers. The chapter’s gentleness toward outsiders is grounded in the memory of our own former life as outsiders.
4. But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared (verse 4). The pivot from the once-was-us to the but-when-grace-appeared is one of the New Testament’s signature transitions, structurally parallel to Eph 2:4’s but God, being rich in mercy. Kindness of God our Savior (chrēstotēs tou sōtēros hēmōn theou, with chrēstotēs meaning “useful goodness, generous favor”) names the disposition of God toward his people. Love toward mankind (philanthrōpia, literally “love-of-humans”, the same root as the English “philanthropy”) is striking; the term, in Greco-Roman civic religion, was sometimes used of the emperor’s benevolence toward his subjects. The chapter’s transfer of philanthrōpia to God-our-Savior makes the same political-theological move 1:3-4 made with Sōtēr: the real benefactor of humankind is not the emperor but the God our Savior whose kindness appeared in Christ. Appeared (epephanē, the same verb of 2:11) marks this as the second of the chapter-by-chapter epiphany-statements: grace appeared (2:11), kindness appeared (3:4). The two epiphanies of God in Christ structure both gospel cores.
5. not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit (verse 5). The verse contains four striking theological elements stacked into one sentence. First, not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves (ouk ex ergōn tōn en dikaiosynē ha epoiēsamen hēmeis) is the Pauline justification-by-grace commitment, in language that echoes Eph 2:9 (not of works, that no one would boast). Even in the Pastorals’ more good-works-emphatic register, the verse insists that the origin of salvation is not in the believer’s prior righteousness. Second, but according to his mercy (alla kata to autou eleos, “but according to his own mercy”) names the source: God’s mercy is what saves. Third, the washing of regeneration (loutrou palingenesias) introduces the verse’s baptismal imagery. The Greek loutron (“a washing, a bath”) is the term used elsewhere in early Christian writing for baptism (cf. Eph 5:26). Palingenesia (“rebirth, regeneration”) is the Pauline-Johannine vocabulary of new birth (cf. John 3:3-7’s born again, 1 Pet 1:3 and 23’s born again to a living hope). The verse joins the two terms: the washing is the regeneration; the regeneration happens at the washing. Fourth, renewing by the Holy Spirit (anakainōseōs Pneumatos Hagiou, “renewal of/by the Holy Spirit”) names the agent of the regeneration. The verse is one of the New Testament’s clearest statements of the baptismal-pneumatological link: baptism, regeneration, the Spirit’s renewing, all united in one saving event.
6. whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior (verse 6). The verse expands the pneumatology. Whom he poured out (hou execheen, ho execheen with the variant readings) uses the same verb (ekchō, “to pour out”) that Acts 2:17-18 uses (citing Joel 2:28-29) of the Pentecost outpouring of the Spirit. The verse is therefore making an explicitly Pentecost-connected claim: the Spirit poured out at Pentecost is the same Spirit poured out on us (each of us individually, the chapter’s pastoral we) at baptism. Richly (plousiōs, “in abundance, in generous measure”) emphasizes the fullness of the pouring. Through Jesus Christ our Savior (dia Iēsou Christou tou sōtēros hēmōn) names the means of the pouring: Christ is the channel through whom the Spirit comes to the believer. The verse’s Trinitarian structure is clear and explicit: God-our-Savior (the Father) pours out the Spirit through Jesus Christ our Savior. Three Persons, one saving act.
7. that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (verse 7). The verse closes the gospel core with the Pauline justification-and-inheritance terms. Being justified by his grace (dikaiōthentes tē ekeinou chariti, “having been justified by his grace”) is the classic Pauline justification vocabulary (Rom 3:24, 5:1; Gal 2:16; etc.) in compressed form. Made heirs (*klēronomoi genēthōmen, “we might become heirs”, with the klēronom- root of inheritance) picks up the Pauline sons-and-heirs theology of Rom 8:17 and Gal 4:7. According to the hope of eternal life (kat’ elpida zōēs aiōniou) names the future-oriented term of the inheritance. The verse pairs justification (the past-tense legal declaration) with inheritance (the future-tense promised possession) in one sentence, holding the two Pauline poles together.

Word study: palingenesia and the baptismal-pneumatological link (Titus 3:5)

The Greek term palingenesia in verse 5 (washing of regeneration) appears only twice in the New Testament: here, and at Matthew 19:28 (the regeneration in which the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, which there refers to the cosmic renewal at the end of the age). The double usage tells us something about the term’s theological scope. Palingenesia names renewal-of-the-original-state, re-becoming what one was meant to be. In Stoic philosophy, the term named the cosmic renewal at each new age; the Stoics held that the world was periodically renewed by fire and re-emerged from the renewal in its original state. In Second Temple Jewish usage, the term had been picked up to name the eschatological renewal of all things at the end of the age. The New Testament’s two usages bridge these: Matthew 19:28 names the cosmic renewal; Titus 3:5 names the personal renewal that anticipates the cosmic. The verse’s joining of loutrou (washing) and palingenesias (regeneration) is therefore making a striking claim: at baptism, the cosmic renewal of all things enters the believer’s life in advance. The believer’s baptism is not just a private religious rite; it is a foretaste of the cosmic renewal Christ will accomplish at his appearing. The chapter’s two gospel cores are linked: 2:13’s blessed hope and appearing of the glory anticipates the cosmic renewal; 3:5’s washing of regeneration names the personal in-breaking of that renewal now. The Pauline-Pastoral eschatology is already-and-not-yet in tightly compressed form. Baptism: not just a sign of cleansing, but a first installment of the new creation.

Influence callout: Philip H. Towner (NICNT Letters to Timothy and Titus)

Towner reads 3:4-7 as the letter’s baptismal-pneumatological climax, and his treatment shapes the lane’s reading at three points. First, Towner names the verse’s Trinitarian shape directly: the kindness-and-love-of-God-our-Savior (the Father) acts through Jesus Christ our Savior (the Son) by means of the Holy Spirit (the Spirit), and the threefold agency is intrinsic to the saving act, not an interpretive overlay. Second, Towner argues that the verse’s baptismal language (loutrou, “washing”) is ecclesial, not merely metaphorical: the verse presupposes the practice of Christian baptism in the early Pauline mission and reads the act of baptism as the site at which the regeneration-and-renewal-by-the-Spirit happens. The lane’s commentary follows Towner here while noting that the baptism in view is not automatic or mechanical; the saving act is God’s, and the washing is its visible covenant-sign. Third, Towner reads the grace-justification-inheritance sequence of verse 7 as the Pauline order of salvation in compressed form, with the hope of eternal life functioning as the eschatological horizon that draws the present-tense formation forward. Towner’s reading anchors the lane’s claim that the Pastorals are not a domestication of the Pauline gospel but a pastoral expression of the same gospel in settled-church conditions.

B · Titus 3:8-11 · Good works and the avoidance of useless controversies

⁸ This saying is faithful, and concerning these things I desire that you insist confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men; ⁹ but shun foolish questionings, genealogies, strife, and disputes about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. ¹⁰ Avoid a factious man after a first and second warning, ¹¹ knowing that such a one is perverted and sinful, being self-condemned. (Titus 3:8-11, World English Bible)

1. This saying is faithful, and concerning these things I desire that you insist confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men (verse 8). The verse closes the gospel core with the Pastorals’ signature formula the saying is faithful (pistos ho logos, the same formula at 1 Tim 1:15, 3:1, 4:9; 2 Tim 2:11). The formula functions as the authentication of the immediately preceding teaching: the gospel core of 3:4-7 is trustworthy. The verse then names the delegate’s task: insist confidently (peri toutōn boulomai se diabebaiousthai, “concerning these things I want you to strongly assert”) about the gospel core so that (hina, the purpose particle) those who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works (hina phrontizōsin kalōn ergōn proistasthai hoi pepisteukotes theō, “that those who have believed God may take thought to lead in good works”). The verse names the connection between the gospel core and the good-works emphasis: the good works the letter has been calling for flow from the believers’ grasp of the gospel itself. The delegate’s task is therefore not to moralize the church into good works directly but to strongly assert the gospel in such a way that good works become the natural result. Good and profitable to men (kala kai ōphelima tois anthrōpois, “noble and useful to human persons”) names the public benefit of the church’s good works: these works are good for the wider community, not just for the church itself.
2. but shun foolish questionings, genealogies, strife, and disputes about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain (verse 9). The verse names what the delegate should avoid. Foolish questionings (mōras zētēseis, “stupid investigations”) names the useless theological debates that consume time without producing edification. Genealogies (genealogias) probably refers to the Jewish-Christian mythological-genealogical elaborations the chapter 1 (Jewish fables) addressed; the same kinds of teachings 1 Tim 1:4 names. Strife (ereis, “quarrels”). Disputes about the law (machas nomikas, “law-fights”) names the Judaizing controversies. The four are contrasted with the good and profitable works of verse 8: those works benefit people; these controversies do not. Unprofitable and vain (anōphelē kai mataioi, “useless and empty”) names the verdict. The verse’s pastoral wisdom is direct: there is a kind of theological activity that feels important to its participants but produces nothing of value for the church’s actual life. The delegate’s task is to recognize the kind and refuse to engage.
3. Avoid a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a one is perverted and sinful, being self-condemned (verses 10-11). The chapter’s instruction on church discipline is brief and direct. Factious man (hairetikon anthrōpon, with hairetikos meaning “divisive, party-creating”, from the same root as hairesis, “faction, schism”, which later becomes the technical term for heresy). The verse’s factious refers primarily to behavior (creating factions) rather than to doctrinal error per se; the term names the person who splits the congregation. After a first and second warning (meta mian kai deuteran nouthesian, “after a first and second admonition”) establishes the procedure: the factious person is first warned, then warned again, then avoided. The two-warning procedure parallels Matthew 18:15-17’s church-discipline procedure in compressed form. Avoid (paraitou, “decline, refuse, dismiss”) is not the formal excommunication of 1 Cor 5; it is the lesser refusal-of-fellowship that aims at the factious person’s self-recognition of the harm being caused. Such a one is perverted and sinful, being self-condemned (eidōs hoti exestraptai ho toioutos kai hamartanei ōn autokatakritos, “knowing that such a one has been twisted and is sinning, being self-condemned”). The verb exestraptai (“has been turned out of, twisted”) names a displacement from the truth’s center. Self-condemned (autokatakritos, “self-judged”) names the internal verdict: the factious person’s own conscience knows the harm being caused. The chapter does not call for external judgment beyond the warning-and-avoidance; the factious person is already self-condemned.

Where this lands: the political posture of the church (Titus 3:1-2)

The chapter opens by asking the church to be in subjection to rulers and authorities. The verse has been carried in church history sometimes as a blanket endorsement of civic obedience and sometimes as a contested limit-case whose conditions deserve careful naming. The lane reads it within the broader New Testament’s conversation about Christians and political power, which includes Acts 5:29 (we must obey God rather than men, said by Peter to the Sanhedrin when commanded to stop preaching Jesus) and Revelation 13’s image of the beast (Rome as a satanic political beast worshipped by the unfaithful). Three things help. First, the chapter’s instruction names the default, not the limit-case. The default Christian posture is peaceable subjection, non-contentious civic life, gentleness, and humility toward all. This is the normal mode. Second, the limit-case arises when civic authority demands what God forbids (Acts 5:29’s we must obey God rather than men); at that point, the default yields to the conscientious refusal. Third, the posture in either mode is non-violent. Even when the limit-case requires refusal, the verse’s be gentle, showing all humility toward all men still applies; the Christian who refuses the magistrate’s command does so gently and accepts the legal consequences. The lane reads this with the Christians and the state framework, where the McCaulley reading of the political theology of the Black church shapes the modern application: the chapter’s default is real, the limit-case is real, and the posture in either is the cruciform gentleness the chapter names. Christians who treat civic obedience as the whole of the chapter’s teaching miss Acts 5 and Revelation 13. Christians who treat conscientious resistance as the default miss the chapter’s actual instruction. Both are needed; both are held together; both are shaped by the gospel’s gentleness toward all.

C · Titus 3:12-15 · The working network and the close

¹² When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me to Nicopolis, for I have determined to winter there. ¹³ Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey speedily, that nothing may be lacking for them. ¹⁴ Let our people also learn to maintain good works to meet necessary needs, that they may not be unfruitful. ¹⁵ All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in faith. Grace be with you all. Amen. (Titus 3:12-15, World English Bible)

1. When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me to Nicopolis, for I have determined to winter there (verse 12). The letter closes with the travel arrangements. Artemas is named only here in the New Testament; the verse implies he is a trusted Pauline coworker. Tychicus is the same Tychicus of Col 4:7-9 and Eph 6:21-22, the carrier of the Colossian and Philemon letters and a regular Pauline courier. Be diligent to come to me to Nicopolis (spoudason elthein pros me eis Nikopolin, “make haste to come to me to Nicopolis”) names the plan: when the replacement arrives on Crete (Artemas or Tychicus), Titus is to leave and join Paul at Nicopolis. The verse establishes that Titus’s Cretan mission is finite, not permanent; the delegate’s stationing is for the organization of the churches, after which he is recalled to the apostle’s working presence. Nicopolis (literally “Victory City”) is most likely the city in Epirus (modern Preveza, Greece) on the Adriatic coast, founded by Augustus to commemorate his victory at Actium in 31 BCE; the city was a major Roman administrative center and a plausible wintering location for Paul. For I have determined to winter there (ekei gar kekrika paracheimasai, “for I have decided to winter there”) names the apostle’s seasonal plan: shipping in the Mediterranean was suspended between November and March, so Paul’s stationary winter is the natural time for the delegate to join him.
2. Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey speedily, that nothing may be lacking for them (verse 13). The verse names two more coworkers. Zenas the lawyer (Zēnan ton nomikon) is named only here; the title nomikos (“lawyer”, “law-expert”) could refer to a Jewish Torah-scholar or to a Roman jurist. Apollos is the same Apollos of Acts 18:24-19:1 and 1 Cor 1-3 (the Alexandrian Jewish rhetor who taught at Corinth). The verse’s send them on their journey speedily, that nothing may be lacking for them (propempson, hina mēden autois leipē, “send them forward, that nothing may be lacking to them”) names the missional infrastructure: traveling Christian teachers are to be materially supported by the local churches they pass through. The verb propempō (“to send forward, to provision for a journey”) is the Pauline-mission term for outfitting a traveling worker with the supplies and accompaniment needed for the next stage of their work (cf. Rom 15:24; 1 Cor 16:6, 11; 2 Cor 1:16; 3 John 6-8). The Cretan church’s adornment-of-the-doctrine (2:10) is to include this practical financial-logistical support of the broader Pauline mission.
3. Let our people also learn to maintain good works to meet necessary needs, that they may not be unfruitful (verse 14). The verse generalizes the previous instruction. Our people (hoi hēmeteroi, “those of ours”, the Cretan Christians) are to learn (manthanetōsan, “let them be in the learning process”) to maintain good works to meet necessary needs (kalōn ergōn proistasthai eis tas anankaias chreias, “to lead in noble works for the necessary needs”). The verse names a catechetical dimension: the church’s good works are something the believers learn by participation. The necessary needs in view are most immediately Zenas and Apollos’s travel needs, but the principle extends to whatever legitimate need the church faces. That they may not be unfruitful (hina mē ōsin akarpoi, “that they may not be fruitless”) names the theological warning: a church that does not learn the practice of meeting needs becomes unfruitful, barren. The chapter’s good-works emphasis is not optional; it is the fruitfulness of the gospel in the church’s life.
4. All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in faith. Grace be with you all. Amen (verse 15). The letter closes with the standard Pauline greeting list and grace-benediction. All who are with me greet you names the apostle’s local network at the time of writing. Greet those who love us in faith (aspasai tous philountas hēmas en pistei, “greet those who love us in faith”) names the Cretan believers who are personally attached to the Pauline mission. Grace be with you all (hē charis meta pantōn hymōn) closes with the standard Pauline grace-benediction, with you all (pantōn hymōn, plural) addressing the whole Cretan church, not just Titus. Amen closes the letter.

Pre-modern callout: John Calvin (Commentary on Titus, 1556)

Calvin’s commentary on Titus, completed in his Geneva ministry, is one of the most careful Reformation-era readings of the letter, and his treatment of 3:4-7 deserves a hearing. Calvin reads the gospel core as the letter’s theological heart, with the washing of regeneration understood as the visible sign of the invisible grace at work. Calvin’s reading is striking for its time in holding together the baptismal reference (the verse’s washing language) and the purely-by-grace claim (not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves); against the automatic sacramental reading that risked making baptism the mechanical cause of salvation, Calvin insists that baptism is the sign and seal of God’s prior gracious action. The Spirit’s renewal, on Calvin’s reading, is the agent of the regeneration; the baptismal water is the sign of what the Spirit accomplishes. Calvin’s reading shapes much of the lane’s Reformed-but-not-mechanical approach to the verse: baptism is a real covenantal sign, not a mere symbol, and yet the saving is the Spirit’s, not the water’s. On the verse 1’s civic-obedience instruction, Calvin reads the verse inside the broader Christian-political conversation, including the Acts 5 limit-case; Calvin does not collapse Titus 3:1 into an unqualified obedience that would override the conscience. The pre-modern voice here grounds the lane’s reading in the Reformation’s careful theological framing.

What Titus is for

Titus closes by gathering the three chapters into one coherent pastoral arc. Chapter 1 organized the church’s leadership (appoint elders, confront the false teachers, set the household in order). Chapter 2 organized the church’s household life (instruct the various groups, ground the instruction in the grace that has appeared). Chapter 3 has organized the church’s civic and missional life (peaceable subjection to authority, the once-was-us memory, the kindness that appeared, the practical works of meeting needs and supporting the traveling mission, the closing relational network).

The letter’s logic runs all the way through. Leadership is for the household; the household is for the church; the church is for the world; and at every level, the gospel itself (the grace that has appeared, the kindness that appeared, the Spirit poured out) is the engine of the practical instruction. Titus does not separate the gospel from the practical. The practical is the gospel’s form in the world.

Read it slowly. Three short chapters. Forty-six verses. The grace that trains. The kindness that appeared. The Spirit poured out. The household instructed. The civic posture gentle. The delegate sent on his way. The everyday work of the church under the empire, grounded in the gospel that has appeared.

Reflection prompts

1. The chapter’s civic instruction (be in subjection to rulers, gentle, humble toward all, verses 1-2) is grounded in the once-was-us memory (verse 3). Where in your political-civic life is your current gentleness toward those you disagree with grounded in active memory of who you yourself once were? Where is the memory faint, and the gentleness therefore harder to sustain?
2. The washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit (verse 5) names baptism as the site of the Spirit’s renewing work. Whether your own baptism is in the past or anticipated, what would it mean to take it seriously as a first installment of the new creation rather than as a one-time ceremony complete in itself?
3. Avoid a factious man after a first and second warning (verses 10-11). Who, in your current church, work, or family setting, is making divisions that the chapter’s procedure could address? Have you given the first and second warnings, or have you skipped to avoidance without the prior step? What would it look like to follow the chapter’s actual order?
4. Verse 14’s let our people learn to maintain good works to meet necessary needs, that they may not be unfruitful. Name a necessary need in your immediate circle that your participation in the church’s good-works practice could meet. What is keeping you from acting? What would it look like to learn the practice of meeting needs as the chapter intends?

Frameworks at play in this chapter

• Christians and the state
• in Christ: participation and union
• gospel allegiance
• the cruciform hermeneutic