May 3, 2025 - Titus 2:12 - "Godly Living"

Titus 2:12

“Teaching us, that, denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”

We often hear some speaking of others as being such Godly people. The question is, ‘Who is truly Godly or what is Godly living according to God’s Word’?  

    1. What Godly living isn’t. We know that it does not mean sinless living or even ‘sinning-less’ living. The apostle Paul declared in Romans 7:18, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” Our depraved flesh cannot ever be sinless, nor can it be anything less than sinful. The apostle John stated in 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 

    2. What Godly living is. There are four elements to consider. The first put negatively is described as ‘denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts.’ This is the work of the Spirit in God’s chosen, redeemed children that causes them to stand against anything that opposes God’s glory and honor (Godliness), Anything or anyone that contradicts God’s revelation of Himself in His Word and the glory that He has purposed to honor and exalt His Son exclusively, is to be renounced. Positively, the other three elements of godly living are to live soberly, righteously, and Godly, in this present evil world. In these three terms we have all that describes the Grace of God in His children and how they are distinguished from the rest of the condemned (ungodly) world, "to execute judgement upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 1:15).  

    The first, “soberly,” means living by the wisdom of God in Christ, “...wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) It means that, by the Grace of God, we exercise restraint in our passions and propensities toward anything other than the glory of Christ alone, "that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;" (Titus 2:2-4). 

    The second, “righteously” means to live to the honor and glory of God’s justice satisfied in the death of the LORD Jesus alone. We have no other righteousness than that, nor do we acknowledge any other but Him, as children of Grace who have no justice of their own but glorify the righteousness of God imputed to them at the cross. 

    The third, “Godly”, being ever mindful that our only ‘Godlikeness’ is in Christ alone as our Hope of eternal life through the redemption by His blood, "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:13-14). 

Godly living is to live wholly under God’s Grace, by His free and unmerited favor in Christ. Nothing we do entitles us to God’s favor but everything we do is by His free grace in Christ alone, having been perfectly reconciled to God the Father by His death and thereby declared Godly (God-like) by imputed righteousness, "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life" (Romans 5:10). This Grace of God not only affects how we deal with others in this world, but how we live before God, acknowledging Him in thought. word, and deed, to the glory of His Son alone! 

This Scripture reveals that the Grace of God that brings salvation not only redeems but also teaches and enables the believer to live a life that manifests the transforming power of His sovereign grace. It is not by human will, effort, or decision that one attains to godliness, but by God’s effectual and irresistible grace, which instructs His elect to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts—everything contrary to the glory of God revealed in Christ Jesus.

This Grace works true repentance and a godly walk, not as a means to earn salvation, or even maintain it, but as the fruit and evidence of it, flowing entirely from the One Righteousness that the Lord Jesus Christ established on behalf of His people. That righteousness, earned by His obedience unto death, is imputed by God to every chosen sinner for whom Christ laid down His life and paid the full ransom.

The ungodly are they for whom no redemption was made, who remain under the bondage of self-righteousness, trusting in their works—works which can never satisfy the demands of God’s holy law or divine justice. But the godly are those whom God hath justified by the death of His Son (Romans 5:8-11). They rest wholly in Christ’s righteousness as their sole standing before God and as the sum of all true Godliness.

Therefore, being taught by the Grace of God (Christ), they live soberly (concerning themselves), righteously (concerning others), and Godly (toward God) in this present evil world—all through Christ who died for them and now lives in them (Romans 10:1–4).