What is the context?
Paul moves from relationships within households to conduct in the wider community. Believers are to respect rulers and authorities, be ready for good work, avoid slander and quarrels, and show gentleness to everyone.
The reason begins with remembering their own past. They too were once deceived, disobedient and ruled by destructive desires. God’s kindness met them there. They have no basis for treating other people as though they had earned a superior standing.
God saved them by mercy, not by righteous deeds they had already done. Paul describes the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, poured out through Jesus Christ. By His grace they are put right with Him and become heirs who look forward to eternal life.
Good deeds return at the end of the paragraph as the result to cultivate. They are not the reason God first showed mercy; they are part of the useful, fruitful life believers are now called to live.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley reads the civil instructions as obedience within the bounds of conscience, joined to gentleness toward people who need the mercy believers themselves received. He and Calvin both distinguish salvation by God’s mercy from the good works that follow it.
Traditions differ over the washing in verse 5. The Catholic Church identifies it with baptism as God’s means of bringing about new birth (Catechism 1215). Luther’s Small Catechism, Holy Baptism, also applies Titus 3 to baptism, stressing God’s word with the water and the faith that trusts His promise.
The Reformed Westminster Confession 28.1, 5–6 describes baptism as a sign and assurance of new birth through which the Spirit truly gives grace, while denying that every baptized person is renewed or that its effect is confined to the moment of administration. The Baptist 1689 Confession 29.1–2 describes baptism as a sign of union with Christ, forgiveness and new life for those already professing repentance and faith. These accounts differ over the relationship between the outward act and the Spirit’s renewing work; none describes water acting independently of God as a payment for salvation.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Ezekiel 36:25–27 promises cleansing, a new heart and God’s Spirit dwelling within His people so they can walk in His ways. It provides a biblical parallel for the washing, renewal and changed life described here.
Acts 2:14–18, 32–33 connects the promised outpouring of the Spirit with the risen and exalted Jesus. Paul likewise says the Spirit is poured out abundantly through Jesus Christ. God’s saving mercy forms a renewed people with an inheritance of life and a calling to do good.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.