Titus 3 Overview
Paul tells believers to be subject to lawful authority, ready for good works, gentle, and humble because they too were once foolish and enslaved to lusts. Salvation came not by works of righteousness they had done, but according to God’s mercy through washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Good works then follow as profitable Christian conduct.
Before you read Titus 3
Coming from
Paul tells Titus what conduct fits sound doctrine among aged men, aged women, younger women, younger men, and servants. Titus himself must model good works and sound speech. The chapter then grounds Christian living in grace: the grace of God that brings salvation teaches believers to deny ungodliness, live soberly, and look for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of Jesus Christ.
In this chapter
Paul tells believers to be subject to lawful authority, ready for good works, gentle, and humble because they too were once foolish and enslaved to lusts. Salvation came not by works of righteousness they had done, but according to God’s mercy through washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Good works then follow as profitable Christian conduct.
Leads into
The canonical sequence continues into Philemon.
Key understandingExplore deeper
Titus 3:5 is one of the clearest salvation-by-mercy texts in the New Testament: ‘Not by works of righteousness which we have done.’
The ‘washing of regeneration’ is tied to the Holy Ghost’s renewing work. It should not be turned into a contradiction of Paul’s explicit denial that human works save.
Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper
Salvation rests on mercy, not our righteous works
Paul explicitly excludes works from the cause of salvation.
The Holy Ghost renews believers
Regeneration is divine action richly poured out through Jesus Christ.
Good works belong after justification
Those who have believed God should be careful to maintain good works because they are profitable.
Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper
Ephesians 2:8–10
Grace through faith saves apart from works, while good works follow.
John 3:5–8
Jesus describes new birth as the Spirit’s work.
Romans 3:24–28
Justification is freely by grace apart from deeds of law.
What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper
Do not make good works the cause of eternal life
Paul explicitly says salvation is not by works of righteousness we have done.
Do not make baptism a human work that overrides verse 5’s explicit denial
The passage centers regeneration and renewing in divine mercy and the Holy Ghost.
Do not use avoidance of foolish questions to reject serious Bible study
Paul condemns unprofitable quarrels, not careful doctrine.
Read Titus 3 watching for…
The before-and-after contrast in verses 3–7.
The phrase ‘not by works of righteousness.’
God’s mercy and the Holy Ghost’s renewing work.
Where justification appears in the sequence.
Why believers should maintain good works.