Titus 3:3 3For we ourselves were also at one time foolish, disobedient, deceived, having been enslaved to various desires and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
Paul uses a common pattern of comparing the past and present, what we once were and what we have become in Christ (Romans 6:20-22; Galatians 1:23; 2 Timothy 1:9-10). This verse gives the past (at one time) and the next verse gives the present (but when). The Cretan believers should not show any characteristics of their old life because of the change God’s grace had made in them. Paul includes himself with Titus and all believers with the inclusive we. The shift from old way to the new way came when the “grace of God appeared” (2:11). Those who put their faith in Jesus as their Savior can experience this transition and change.
Paul gives three groups of descriptions of what life is like when God’s grace is rejected. The first group begins with foolishness (avoētoi). This word is used in the New Testament to show ignorance or a lack of understanding of God and God’s plan of salvation (Luke 24:25; Romans 1:21-32; Galatians 3:1, 3; Ephesians 4:17-18). Ignoring God shows up in disobeying (apeitheis) God’s commands, evidenced by the false teachers of 1:16. A lack of knowing God leads to being easily deceived or led astray (planōmenoi), a real danger for the Christians in Crete (1:10).
The second group moves deeper into the consequences of rejecting God, which will result in slavery to passions (epithymiais) and pleasures (hēdonais). Passions are desires that may be God-given, but when distorted and controlled by sin, lead to destruction (2:12). Pleasures replace love of God for love of things in the world (Romans 1:24; 2 Timothy 3:4). Both of these are distorting God’s plan for our best. When sin is master, it controls the members of our bodies, leading us further into disobedience and death. We become slaves to that which offers a false promise of happiness and fulfillment (Romans 6:19-23).
The last image describes the breakdown of relationships that happens when the grace of God (2:11) is rejected. Paul begins internally with an attitude of malice or bad intention (kakia), and with envy (phthonō), wanting something someone else has. These attitudes then move outward in hateful actions. Paul uses two different words for hatre. The first word (stygētos) is used only here in the New Testament and means the response others give to someone who is despicable or loathsome. The second (miseō) is the more common word for detest. These characteristics describe a life controlled by sin and lacking in love, where relationships break down because of selfishness. When God is ignored, hatred and brokenness result. These attributes are the opposite of what Paul urges in verse 2.
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