Who Did What
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us . . . Titus 3:4-5a NASB
Kindness – Syntax, syntax, syntax. You see, the Greek sentence doesn’t actually read the same way as the English translation. In Greek, the literal reading is: “When but the kindness and love for mankind appeared of our savior our God . . .” In fact, the following verse adds a great deal of clarification before we get to the words “He saved” (esōzen). This is what comes before the aorist verb: “not on the basis of deeds in righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy.” So, in the Greek syntax we should read:
“When but the kindness and love for mankind appeared of our savior our God not on the basis of deeds in righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy, He saved . . .”
Changing the syntax changes the meaning, doesn’t it? Who is merciful? Who doesn’t judge us according to our righteousness? Who shows kindness toward us? The answer to all these questions is the same: “our savior our God.” Both Greek terms are genitive nouns. This God is our God. And who is “our God”? Well, if you’re Paul, there is only one God, YHVH. He is the one who shows kindness. He is the one who sent the Messiah to demonstrate His love for us. He is the one who doesn’t judge us according to our deeds. He is the one who is merciful. And He is the one who saves. All of Paul’s terms and the clarification point to the fact that Paul did not consider Yeshua to be God in any sense of the term. God is the active, responsible party in this human drama—and Yeshua is His messenger. Paul is consistently Jewish. God is in control. God manages the plan. God initiates and completes.
Of course, we could read this with a Trinitarian paradigm. We could rearrange the syntax so that the intervening explanations come after the salvation claim. We could make it seem as if all those Jewish ideas about righteousness, mercy, and judgment follow “He saved;” as though they don’t indicate who this savior really is. But Paul doesn’t do this. He wants his readers to know precisely who this God is. He is “our God,” you know, the One who is characterized by all these Jewish terms. I wonder how I missed the point. Oh, now I know. I read it in English, according to the translator’s assumptions. The doctrine determined the syntax, not the author.
Makes me wonder how many other verses have been rearranged to fit the theology.
Topical Index: syntax, kindness, save, sṓzō, Trinity, Titus 3:4-5a
Details, details, details. It is said that “the devil is in the details”; but the expression likely derives from a German proverb – “Der liebe Gott steckt im detail”, which translates as “God is in the detail’. The fact is, that which is spirit is largely hidden from us in this time/space/physical realm— to such extent that revelation is the actual means the true reality of that of spirit is made known to us. Thus, God reveals himself of his own free will by those means he alone determines are sufficient means for the active self-revelatory process. These means include speaking, physical manifestation via various forms (eg. a burning bush that is not consumed, a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire), utilizing messengers (aka “angels”) who are His agents/representatives/ambassadors (and who may include both human and spirit beings)… prophets and Sons of the Most High, the panim-presence, the Angel of the Lord, the Holy Spirit [see Isaiah 63:10 in context], etc., etc..
The testimony of Israel’s witness, both the OT and NT testimony, also presents the figure who is God’s Messianic Warrior King, a descendant of David, who is to reign and rule over God’s people and mete out a just and righteous judgement and vanquish all enemies of God. Don’t be tempted to put too much emphasis on the exact nature and details of the determined means God has chosen to enact his own predetermined grace and benevolence… He alone provides those details that are necessary for his people to live in knowledge of the truth, the things given to us freely by God, things which we, as ambassadors of God in Christ also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things in spiritual words to spiritual people, borne along as it were by the Spirit (and that may include some Trinitarian language).
The challenge is to hold fast to the truth of reality as it actually is, while attempting to explain spiritual things in words that convey such spiritual realities sensibly to the hearer… Thus, as an example, however the “gift of tongues” may actually manifest in God’s “temple”—the Body of Christ—in its manifestation(s), it is the Spirit that searches out and meets that necessity of “speaking spiritual things in spiritual words” through those who are spiritual.
Who did what to whom?… The testimony of Israel’s witness, both the OT and NT testimony, presents the figure who is God’s Messianic Warrior King, a descendant of David, who is to reign and rule over God’s people and mete out just and righteous judgement and vanquish all enemies of God. This One is the Word made flesh who dwelt among humankind as a human, yet in whom all the fullness of the God dwells bodily, who served as the atonement for the sin of mankind so as to enact redemption from sin and death. “But he was wounded because of our transgressions, he was crushed because of our iniquities: the chastisement of our welfare was upon him, and with his stripes we were healed. All we like sheep did go astray, we turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath made to light on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6)