Passage

Titus 3.8

Book: Titus · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

6. which he poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7. that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

8. Faithful is the saying, and concerning these things I desire that thou affirm confidently, to the end that they who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men:

but shun foolish questionings, and genealogies, and strifes, and fightings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. 10. A factious man after a first and second admonition refuse; (Titus 3:6-10, ASV)

WEB

6. whom he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior; 7. that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

8. This saying is faithful, and concerning these things I desire that you affirm confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men;

but shun foolish questionings, genealogies, strife, and disputes about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. 10. Avoid a factious man after a first and second warning, (Titus 3:6-10, WEB)

KJV

6. Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; ^{abundantly: Gr. richly} 7. That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

8. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. 10. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; (Titus 3:6-10, KJV)

YLT

6. which He poured upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, 7. that having been declared righteous by His grace, heirs we may become according to the hope of life age-during.

8. Stedfast [is] the word; and concerning these things I counsel thee to affirm fully, that they may be thoughtful, to be leading in good works, who have believed God; these are the good and profitable things to men,

and foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about law, stand away from, for they are unprofitable and vain. 10. A sectarian man, after a first and second admonition be rejecting, (Titus 3:6-10, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul, who opens the letter as "a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ" (1:1). Authorship of the three Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus) is disputed. Many critical scholars hold that a later follower wrote them in Paul's name, pointing to differences of vocabulary and style from the undisputed letters and to a more settled church order. Others defend Paul's authorship, among them William Mounce (Word Biblical Commentary, 2000) and Philip Towner (NICNT, 2006), citing the letter's personal details and travel plans (3:12-13).
Audience: Titus, "my true child after a common faith" (1:4). He was a Greek convert whom Paul took up to Jerusalem and who, "being a Greek", was not "compelled to be circumcised" (Galatians 2:1-3), and later Paul's envoy to Corinth, "my partner and my fellow-worker to you-ward" (2 Corinthians 8:23). Acts never names him. Paul had left him on Crete "that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city" (1:5).
Location: addressed to Titus on Crete. Paul's own location is not stated; he says only that he has decided to winter at Nicopolis (3:12). The note at the end of the letter in the KJV, naming "Nicopolis of Macedonia", is a later scribal subscription, not part of the original text.
Time period: on Pauline authorship, usually c. AD 62-66, after Paul's release from the Roman imprisonment that ends Acts. Acts records no mission on Crete; Paul passes the island only as a prisoner bound for Rome (Acts 27:7-13). Scholars who regard the letter as pseudonymous usually place it late in the first century or early in the second. The reading below does not depend on the choice.
Literary context: the last of the five "faithful sayings" of the Pastoral Epistles. It closes the summary of salvation in 3:4-7 and introduces the final warnings (3:9-11).

Theological reading

"Faithful is the saying, and concerning these things I desire that thou affirm confidently, to the end that they who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men:" (Titus 3:8, ASV)

Which saying? Most commentators take "Faithful is the saying" to point back to the compact statement of the gospel just given (3:4-7): when God's kindness appeared, "not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (3:5), so that, "being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (3:7). The formula appears five times in the Pastorals (1 Timothy 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Timothy 2:11; Titus 3:8).

Grace, then works. The paragraph that denies works any part in the ground of salvation (3:5) ends by insisting that believers "be careful to maintain good works". The order matters. Works do not earn the mercy; they are what those "who have believed God" do. Paul makes the same connection in Ephesians 2:8-10: saved by grace through faith, "not of works", yet "created in Christ Jesus for good works". See Justification by Faith.

Good and profitable. "These things are good and profitable unto men" sets up the contrast of the next verse, where foolish questionings and fightings about the law are "unprofitable and vain" (3:9). Sound teaching is measured partly by what it produces. See Titus 3.5, Titus 3.9 and 2 Timothy 2.11.

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.

None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet.

Quoted in

Passages:

Titus 3.9

Notes

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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.