Home Topics Index Download
Transcript 416A — Titus 2:11 Explained
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Mr. Camping, I have one question on Titus 2:11. Can this be isolated to mean that at one time in life God does appear to all men? I'll take the answer on the air.
HC: The question is raised, and it's the kind of a question that you face as you're studying the Word. I'm very grateful for questions because it indicates those who are raising the questions are puzzling about this verse or that verse.
Now in Titus 2:11 we read, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and Godly in this present world." What is God saying here? Is God saying that the Gospel of salvation has at one time or another appeared to every human being on the face of the earth? Or does it mean something else?
Actually, the Gospel is proclaimed of course as the written Word of God. In other words, we have the Bible as the written Word of God, and we know that that is the Gospel. But the Gospel is also spoken of in another sense in the Bible. We read in Romans 10, where it says in verse 13, "Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved." And then it goes on, "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the Gospel, for Isaiah sayeth, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." Now notice, "But I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily. Their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."
Now in some sense God is saying that the Gospel has been sent to the whole world. Now this quotation of Romans 10, which I have just read, "Verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world," is a quotation from Psalm 19. And so let's go back to Psalm 19 and see how that relates to the question at hand.
And you'll see how similar that is to the question of Titus 2:11, where it says, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." Now in Psalm 19 we read in verse 1: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day after day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out to all the earth and their words to the end of the world."
You see, God is indicating, just by virtue of the fact that He is the Creator God and has created such a beautiful universe in which man can live, in this creation God has presented information concerning Himself. Now it's not the written Word. It's not the articulated, verbalized Word that we call the Bible. It is not the Bible. But nevertheless it is a manifestation of the love of God. It is a manifestation of the nature of God. It is a manifestation of the care of God for His creation. It is the manifestation that there is a God.
Now, within the heart of man, God has put a sense of right and wrong. Man knows intuitively, without ever reading the Bible or hearing of the Bible that it's wrong to kill. He knows intuitively that it's wrong to commit adultery. He knows intuitively that it's wrong to steal. Because he does these things, and because through creation he recognizes that there is a God, He ought to repent. That's why Romans 1:18 indicates that the wrath of God comes upon all men because that which could have been known about God has not been recognized by them. That is, they did not repent of their sins.
So in that sense the Gospel has gone to all men – in the sense that all men should recognize there is a God through creation, should recognize that they have to do something to correct their sinful relationship with God. Of course actually, the Bible gives us a whole lot more information. Once we start reading the Bible, we can get a much better description of the essential sinfulness of man. We can begin to get a real look, in very precise language, of how God looks upon our sins. He spells out that His wrath is upon us and that we are subject to hell because of our sins.
And of course it is through the Bible that we can get a detailed knowledge of how God can save us, how He can satisfy His justice, because the Bible discloses to us the information concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. However, in the broad sense the Gospel has gone out to all the world. It has appeared to all men in every generation, throughout time, from Adam on, in the sense that man lives in this world that has been created by God. And I think that is the sense that we have in view here (at least one of them) in Titus 2:11.
Now notice it says, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men." I started quoting from Romans 1. And let's just look at that a tiny bit more. Verse 18: "for the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because that when they knew God they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful."
God's grace is first of all manifested in His loving care for us in creation. This grace ought to bring salvation. That is, it ought to cause men to cry out to God, "Oh God, have mercy on me." And if anyone ever did, you can depend upon it, before he died God would also bring the rest of the Gospel to him, the written Word of God. Many missionaries will testify of the fact that they have come to a village where the written Gospel had never been preached before, and there they found those who had been uneasy, who were seeking for a better answer. And it wasn't long at all before they were responding to the Gospel. God had been preparing their hearts through the fact that in creation they saw that there was a God and that they must answer to this God.