“To the Pure, all things are Pure!”

"To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled."  (Titus 1:15 ESV)

This letter from the Apostle Paul seems to have been written between his first and second letters to Pastor Timothy, who was ministering in Ephesus. Pastor Titus was ministering on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea. 

Titus proved himself to be a faithful servant of our Lord through his ministries with the Apostle Paul, learned the fundamentals of the faith, and became fully equipped to defend the true gospel and fundamental doctrines. It does seem that Paul’s Pastoral Epistles (1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus) differ from his other letters in that they do not give detailed doctrinal instruction but provide encouragement to young pastors in how to organize local church leadership and to be wary of false teachers that constantly attack the fundamentals of the faith.

In the middle of his introduction to his letter, after Paul has given the qualification for elders and local church leadership, which seems to parallel 1 Timothy Chapter 3, it is apparent that leading the local assemblies of Christ’s followers is a challenging task. Because of this, the “elders or overseers” must be of sound character and be able to defend the core doctrines of God’s glorious Grace. But in verse 15, Paul states, “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled."  This is so true, is it not? It is well worth remembering as we interface with those “who are now as we were” before we came to Christ.     

The gospel of grace is foolishness to the world. They can’t comprehend how a “loving God” could “ignore all of their efforts and send anyone to hell.” It just doesn’t make sense to them. To them, “nothing is pure”! To an unbelieving world, the pure, loving grace of our God doesn’t make sense. To an unbelieving world, the love that God has demonstrated to the world by sending his only Son to take the punishment for their sins just \does not make sense either.

Sadly, to them, the gospel of grace is not pure. There must be a catch, some motive behind God’s grace that we are not telling them. There must be more to salvation than simply believing in their hearts and confessing with their mouths that Jesus is Lord, and His death is sufficient for Salvation. They think, “God’s grace cannot be that pure, that powerful, that free to all who would believe.”

To those of us who have been made spiritually pure by the shed blood of Jesus, by the glorious grace of our loving God, we understand the “pure” message of the gospel of Grace. Let’s remember that it is God who has made us pure and enabled us to see the pure truth of His Word.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"