In Titus 2:13-14 Christ is revealed as our great God and Savior.
In verse 14 Paul says that Christ “gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify to Himself a particular people as His unique possession, zealous of good works.” The words for us here mean “on our behalf”; they do not mean “instead of us.” To redeem means to buy with a price (1 Cor. 6:20; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 Tim. 2:6). Christ gave Himself for us not only that He might redeem us from all lawlessness but also purify to Himself a particular people for His unique possession. A people for His possession are a peculiar people. This expression is borrowed from the Old Testament (Deut. 7:6; 14:2; 26:18) and denotes a people possessed by God as His unique, peculiar treasure (Exo. 19:5), His own possession (1 Pet. 2:9).
A particular people is a special term in the New Testament. We should be particular not only in the inner life but also in our church practice. We should not follow the system of the world, and we should not make the practice of the church life a common thing that fits our human concept. Both our Christian walk and our practice of the church must be particular.
To be particular is to be different from the common way. Because we are a particular people living on the earth, our walk, our worship, and our service to God must not be common, according to the common system, or on the common course. Of course, there is no need to be purposely peculiar, but if we go on not according to the traditional teachings but according to the Lord’s inner, living guidance, we will automatically be different from the common, worldly system. No matter how good the worldly system may seem to be, it is still according to the course of this age, and therefore it is no doubt of Satan. Our walk and our church practice, however, must be out from God. God must be the source, the nature, and the origin of our particular walk, life, and practice. Whatever we have must be something of God, absolutely different from the worldly system and contrary to the course of this age. The worldly system and the course of the age are of the devil (1 John 5:19), but we are following the inner leading of the Lord; therefore, we are spontaneously different.
In Titus 2:13 Paul speaks of the “appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” The glory of our great God is the glory of the Father (Matt. 16:27), which has been given to the Son (John 17:24) and into which we, as the many sons of God, will be brought (Heb. 2:10). By His wisdom God ordained us before the ages unto this glory (1 Cor. 2:7), and the God of all grace called us and saved us into this eternal glory (1 Pet. 5:10; 2 Tim. 2:10). The weight of this glory is exceedingly surpassing and eternal (2 Cor. 4:17), and with this glory we will be glorified (Rom. 8:17, 30). The appearing of this glory of Christ, our great God and Savior, is the blessed hope that we are awaiting.
In Titus 2:13 Paul says to Timothy, “Awaiting the blessed hope, even the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” According to this verse, the blessed hope is the appearing of Christ in His glory. The appearing of Christ will bring us into full sonship, that is, the redemption of our body, that we may enjoy the freedom of the glory of the children of God, for which we were saved (Rom. 8:21-25). This is the hope of eternal life (Titus 1:2), a hope of eternal blessing, a blessed hope in the eternal life of the Triune God, based on which Paul became an apostle.
Paul also speaks of “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Through the centuries there have been two schools of interpretation regarding this remarkable, marvelous, and excellent sacred and divine title: (1) that two persons are indicated, God and Christ; (2) that there is but one person, Jesus Christ being our great God and Savior, the deity of Christ thus being asserted. We prefer the second interpretation, with a comma after Savior. This corresponds with the two sacred titles revealed at the birth of Christ: Jesus—Jehovah the Savior—and Emmanuel—God with us (Matt. 1:21-23). Our Lord not only is our Savior but also is God, and not merely God but the great God, the God who is great in nature, in glory, in authority, in power, in deed, in love, in grace, and in every divine attribute. In 1 Timothy 2:5 our Lord is revealed as a man; in Titus 2:13, as the great God. He is both man and God. His appearing in His divine glory will be not only for saving His people into His eternal kingdom, but also for bringing them into God’s eternal glory (Heb. 2:10; 1 Pet. 5:10). Hence, His appearing in His glory is our blessed hope.