{"id":8122,"date":"2021-12-14T00:00:54","date_gmt":"2021-12-13T14:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/?p=8122"},"modified":"2021-12-14T15:01:01","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T05:01:01","slug":"our-rich-inheritance-of-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/2021\/12\/14\/our-rich-inheritance-of-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Rich Inheritance of Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Titus 3:6-7\u00a0<sup><i>6<\/i><\/sup><i>whom he\u00a0richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior,\u00a0<\/i><sup style=\"font-style: italic;\">7<\/sup><i>in order that through being justified by the grace of that one we might become\u00a0heirs\u00a0according to\u00a0the\u00a0hope of eternal life.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Several important concepts converge in this verse. The first is the prophetic vision of God pouring out his Spirit in the new covenant. Ezekiel prophesied that the coming of the Spirit would change and sanctify the human heart (Ezek. 36:25-27). <em>Pour out<\/em> suggests a washing (v. 5) but Paul adds the word <em>generously<\/em> to imply a saturation with water. To be washed by the Spirit of God is to fully experience God\u2019s promises given in Scripture. In Ezekiel 39:29 and Joel 2:28 look forward to when God would overflow his people with his Spirit, purifying them from sin and empowering them for new life. This prophetic vision was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came with cleansing power upon the gathered disciples in the upper room (Acts 2:1-4). Peter quotes the prophet Joel, recognizing the significance of that day (Acts 2:16-21). Paul may be reflecting back on that event but personalizes it and brings it to the present moment for Titus and the believers in Crete. The promise of Pentecost was not just a one-time event but a present possibility for all who trust in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The promise and experience of the coming of the Spirit is only possible <em>through Jesus Christ<\/em>. Paul refers to all three persons of the Trinity in this passage. All three are involved in salvation. Out of his love and kindness, the saving God (verse 4) sent Jesus the Savior who gave himself for us (2:14), making it possible for the Holy Spirit to save us through rebirth and renewal (Acts 2:33). In verse 6, Paul emphasizes again Jesus as <em>our Savior<\/em>. It is only through his personal sacrifice on the cross that we can be redeemed from the power and penalty of sin.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Verse 7 gives the purpose (<em>hina<\/em>) of this salvation: <em>in order that . . . we might become heirs<\/em>. What we inherit as God\u2019s children is the gift of eternal life (Matthew 19:29; Luke 18:18; 1 Peter 1:3-4). The way we receive this inheritance is through being <em>justified<\/em> <em>by his grace<\/em> (<em>dikai<\/em><em>\u014d<\/em><em>thentes<\/em>, an instrumental participle; Romans 3:23-24). Justification refers to God\u2019s forgiveness of our sins, resulting in our having a right standing before him. It is not deserved, nor can it be earned but is a gift of God\u2019s grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). The result of this justifying experience is the gift and assurance of <em>eternal life<\/em>. This <em>hope<\/em> should drive everything we do each day. It is our motivation in good times and bad. Our great existential need is hope.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For older posts, click\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/blog\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/feedburner.google.com\/fb\/a\/mailverify?uri=DavidAckermanDailyDevotions&amp;loc=en_US\">Subscribe to Daily Devotions by Email<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Titus 3:6-7\u00a06whom he\u00a0richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior,\u00a07in order that through being justified by the grace of that one we might become\u00a0heirs\u00a0according to\u00a0the\u00a0hope of eternal life.\u00a0 Several important concepts converge in this verse. The first is the prophetic vision of God pouring out his Spirit in the new covenant. Ezekiel prophesied [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotions","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8122"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8146,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8122\/revisions\/8146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}