Passage

Titus 2.11-12

Book: Titus · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

9. Exhort servants to be in subjection to their own masters, and to be well-pleasing to them in all things; not gainsaying; 10. not purloining, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

11. For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12. instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world;

looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14. who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:9-14, ASV)

WEB

9. Exhort servants to be in subjection to their own masters, and to be well-pleasing in all things; not contradicting; 10. not stealing, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things.

11. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12. instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world;

looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ; 14. who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works. (Titus 2:9-14, WEB)

KJV

9. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; ^{answering: or, gainsaying} 10. Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, ^{hath: or, to all men, hath appeared} 12. Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; ^{glorious: Gr. the appearance of the glory of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ} 14. 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 2:9-14, KJV)

YLT

9. Servants, to their own masters [are] to be subject, in all things to be well-pleasing, not gainsaying, 10. not purloining, but showing all good stedfastness, that the teaching of God our Saviour they may adorn in all things.

11. For the saving grace of God was manifested to all men, 12. teaching us, that denying the impiety and the worldly desires, soberly and righteously and piously we may live in the present age,

waiting for the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, 14. who did give himself for us, that he might ransom us from all lawlessness, and might purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works; (Titus 2:9-14, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul, who names himself "a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ" in the opening verse. The phrase doulos theou, servant of God, is unusual for him; he normally writes servant of Christ.
Audience: Titus, a Gentile co-worker whom Paul had declined to have circumcised (Galatians 2:1-3), addressed as "my true child after a common faith."
Location: Written to Titus on Crete, where Paul had left him "that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city." Paul's own location is not stated; he mentions only an intention to winter at Nicopolis (Titus 3:12).
Time period: Traditionally dated to about AD 62 to 66, after a first Roman imprisonment. Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles is disputed in critical scholarship, on vocabulary and church-order grounds; the letter presents itself as Paul's.

Theological reading

Grace is the subject and the verbs are active: it appeared, and it is paideuousa, training or disciplining us. The word is educational and belongs to the raising of a child. Grace is therefore not presented as the alternative to moral formation but as its agent, which is why denial of ungodliness and worldly lusts is described as grace's own work rather than as a condition placed alongside it.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G0165 - aion, aion, Strong's G0165
G2198 - zao, zao, Strong's G2198
G5485 - charis, charis, Strong's G5485
G3956 - pas, pas, Strong's G3956
G2316 - theos, theos, Strong's G2316

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

God Created Me Knowing I Would Reject Him Objection Defeater, via Titus 2.11

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.