My Thoughts on Titus 2.11

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While reading through Keith Giles’ exceptional book, Jesus Unbound: Liberating the Word of God from the Bible, he quoted Titus 2.11 in a section about “sound doctrine” from the New International Version[1] —

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.

The word “offers” jumped out of the page to me. I’ve never seen that before — God offering salvation. So I did what I’ve been doing lately and that’s looking up passages someone quotes or references in my new favorite translation, The Inclusive Bible (hereafter TIB). The TIB[2] translates Titus 2.11 as — 

The grace of God has appeared, offering salvation to all.

Hmm… How have I not seen this before?

Since the TIB is similar to the NIV, I thought I’d look up Titus 2.11 in other translations to see how they translated it. Here are a few of them:

CEB[3] — The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.
ESV[4] — For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
GNT[5] — For God has revealed his grace for the salvation of all people.
NKJV[6] — For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
NRSV[7] — For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all,

As we can see from these different translations — and all of these other ones, too — the idea seems to be that God, through Christ, has brought or offered salvation “to (or “for”) all people.” That is to say, according to most English translations of the Bible, God hasn’t actually saved anyone but only offered to save people.

I find this … troubling … because in other places of the Bible God’s purpose seems to be about actually saving people through Christ. For example — 

Matthew 1.21 (TIB): [Mary] is to have a son, and you are to name his Jesus — “Salvation” — because he will save the people from their sins (emphasis added).

Luke 19.10 (TIB): The Promised One has come to search out and save what was lost (emphasis added).

John 4.42b (TIB): We’ve heard for ourselves, and we know that this really is the savior of the world. (Not the one who puts the world in a savable state but actually saves it.)

John 12.47b (TIB): I’ve come not to condemn the world but to save it. (Jesus literally said, “I’ve come … to save [the world].”)

1 Timothy 1.15 (TIB): Here’s a saying that can be trusted and is worthy of your complete acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

So there seems to be a contradiction here: Did God put the choice to be saved before the world or did God actually save the world?

To answer that question, I did a little more digging. I looked up the word translated as “offering” or “bringing” in Titus 2.11 and was I surprised by what I found.

The Greek word is σωτήριος (sótérios). It’s an adjective that means “applied salvation, saving.” That is, the “direct application of God’s salvation.”[8] Therefore, “offering salvation” would better be stated as “applying salvation” to all people or “saving” all people. Once more we see that what scripture actually teaches is too much for us to take and we have to water it down — 

“Wait … what?! Paul didn’t really mean that! Surely. He must have meant that God offered salvation to all people. Right? I mean, we know there are some people who aren’t saved and will never be saved. Right? That must be what Paul meant.”

The Bible translation that gets closest to the Greek is the New American Bible (Revised Edition).[9] If you haven’t heard of this Bible, it’s probably because of the stream of the Christian family you’re in. The NABRE is used primarily by Roman Catholics and it translates Titus 2.11 as — 

For the grace of God has appeared, saving all.

There we go! This lines up perfectly with God’s intention — God sent the Only Begotten into the world to save it (John 3.17; NIV). God reconciled all things to Godself through Christ and brought peace through Christ’s blood on the cross (Colossians 1.19-20; CEB). “This means that through Christ, the world was fully reconciled again to God, who didn’t hold our transgressions against us” (2 Corinthians 5.19; TIB).[10]



~~~
In the Love of the Three in One,

Br. Jack+, LC

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[1] Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

[2] Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations and references — and scripture quotations marked (TIB) — are taken from The Inclusive Bible. Copyright © 2007 by Priests for Equality. Used by permission.

[3] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.

[4] Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

[5] Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from The Good News Translation (Today’s English Version, Second Edition). Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. All rights preserved.

[6] Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[7] Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[8] See HELPS Word-studies here.

[9] Scripture quotations marked (NABRE) are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved.

[10] It’s quite unsettling how much one’s own theological lenses affect the translation of the Bible. And, by extension, one’s reading of the text. I have no hesitation in admitting that I read the Bible with my own particular glasses; we all do it. But this seems to go beyond that.

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