Christmas Season · Nativity of the Lord - Christmas Dawn Proper 2 · Year A
Titus 3:4-7
Doing What is Good
December 25, 2025
Overview & Insights
“He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy.” (Titus 3:5)
Instructions for Living in State and Society: After a brief exhortation to Titus (2:15) to “teach these things” (at least 2:1–14), Paul returns in this section to the major concern of the letter—“good works” (i.e., genuinely Christian behavior) for the sake of the outsider (3:1–8) and in contrast to the false teachers (3:9–11). This section, however, makes a decided turn in the argument. In
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Commentary
Titus 3:4-7 Working Preacher
A commentary drawing out how the appearing of God's goodness and loving-kindness, the Spirit, and adoption as heirs speak to Christmas.
Titus 3 Center for Excellence in Preaching
A Reformed preaching archive for Titus 3, exploring salvation not by works but by God's mercy and the washing of rebirth.
Titus 3 Word on Fire · Bishop Barron
A Catholic scripture resource collecting reflections on Titus 3 and its language of God our Savior appearing in kindness.
Titus 3 Enduring Word · David Guzik
An evangelical verse-by-verse study careful on justification by grace and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Background & Word Study
Titus 3 Enter the Bible
Background notes on Titus, its Cretan setting, and the pastoral shape of the letter's gospel summary.
Overview: Titus BibleProject
An animated overview showing how grace transforms a community, the frame around 3:4-7's baptismal gospel.
Titus 3:4 Interlinear BibleHub
The Greek of the passage word by word with parsing and lexical helps.
Enter the Bible: Titus Enter the Bible
Luther Seminary's book introduction to the pastoral letter's setting and argument.
The Church Fathers
Questions preachers ask
What is ‘the water of rebirth’ in Titus 3:5?
The phrase has been read since the early church as baptism, paired here with renewal by the Holy Spirit. The passage’s force is in what it denies: the saving is credited to God’s goodness and loving-kindness appearing, and to nothing done by those it saves.
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