For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all lawlessness, and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good works.
Titus 2:11-14 Legacy Standard Version
This passage is key because it teaches us that first, “the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men.” This is the Gospel we have received, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. It is the truth that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again the third day. That is the good news, the only good news, due to how it solves the most important human dilemma. It is the truth that there is a substitute for our sins in the person and work of Jesus. The very fact that we don’t have to go to Hell in the first place, but also get offered the amazing blessing of dwelling with God in His presence forever is so captivating that it should inspire all that is involved in sanctification.
The grace of God that offers salvation to all…instructs us to deny ungodliness and worldly passions. Dr. John Street, in his book called, Passions of the Heart, is addressing primarily sexual sins in the following quote, but it applies to everything in our lives as a whole. He writes,
Grace does more than impart knowledge. It serves to train the believer in godly living. The original word for training (παιδεύουσα) means to prepare by discipline, which carries four connotations: instruction, correction, training, and encouragement. Like a good parent, grace will discipline its children to deny the wrong lifestyle (ungodliness) and cravings (worldly desires), and it will strengthen its children to lead godly (self-controlled, upright) lives. When you fail to submit to the discipline of grace, you will assume that sexual purity is attained through personal effort, stubborn willpower, and dutiful performance. But when you learn by grace, your heart is instructed about your sinful motivations, corrected through confession and repentance, trained through renouncing sinful habits, and encouraged in new righteous habits of life.
The verb for instruct seen above is actually based on a noun that designates a slave, servant, or child. It can actually refer to the raising or rearing of a child. It can also signify instruction in a way of life.
παιδεύω (paideuō). vb. train, educate. Used to describe the process of instructing someone to adopt a certain way of life.
While paideuō can be used to describe the act of punishment or discipline, in other cases it is used positively in the sense of training or educating. By contrast to the more common verb διδάσκω (didaskō, “to teach”), the focus of paideuō is on the behavior and customs resulting from the education. Stephen speaks of Moses being educated (paideuō) in the culture of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22), and when Paul describes his upbringing as a Pharisee, he mentions how he was trained (paideuō) at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).
Chris Byrley, “Discipleship,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
All this to say that grace not only brings salvation to all men (which is what we think of first), but it instructs us to deny the wrong lifestyle, in the words of Dr. Street, as well as cravings, and in a positive sense, grace will also strengthen its children to lead godly lives. It is true that so often we fail to surrender our lives to the grace of God that enables these things. Instead we work through sheer effort to conform ourselves. When this is successful it results in pride or self-righteousness like that of the Pharisees. When we fail at this, it results in frustration or self-pity. But in order to be truly godly, we must surrender to the discipline of grace.
In order to begin to do this, you must be aware and well-tuned to the sins and idols of your heart. John Calvin said that our hearts are a factory of idols, and this is true. There are whole books on just this topic alone. I suggest Idols of the Heart by Elyze Fitzpatrick or We Become what We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry by G.K. Beale. It is critical that we first see the spiritual anatomy of our inner man and are able from that to feel the burden of the depths of that rebellion and rest in knowing that not only are we forgiven so great a debt, but we are able to turn away from those sins.
This alone will bring relief and joy to our troubled hearts. From out of that sense of relief at the profundity of grace and the severe debt we owe the Lord for His grace, we are taught out of a heart of gratitude to worship Him for it. It is not that we have to in order to earn His favor, but because we are grateful that He has already taken the full extent of this burden on Himself. This is what it means to live in grace.
My suggestion to you is to become an expert on the sins that you struggle with, whether it’s anxiety, depression, sexual sin, pride, shame, greed, love of money, or love of your career. Find the things that you love that you put in place of God habitually, and study how you can understand those things in light of the Bible and the Gospel. Read good Biblical Counseling books on these topics.
Begin to read and to study your Bible and pray daily. Fellowship with others, confess to God, but also to someone who can guide you through the process of change. That is what you need to do to move into the discipline of living in grace. It takes your whole heart and a genuine renouncing of self. But turning to God is the best relief possible. This is living in God’s grace. It is your teacher. It is dynamic and active. It doesn’t just forgive you, it trains you.
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