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Titus 3:3

in Titus 3

For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

For we also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

KJV

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

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This verse in Titus 3

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
For we ourselves - We who are Christians. There is no reason for supposing, as Benson does, that this is to be understood as confined to Paul himself. There are some things mentioned here which were not probably true of him before his conversion, and the connection does not require us to suppose that he referred particularly to himself. He is stating a reason why those to whom Titus was appointed to preach should be urged to lead holy lives, and especially to manifest a spirit of order, peace, kindness, and due subordination to law.

This site's exposition

For we ourselves also

The reason for gentleness toward the unbelieving world is memory: for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. The list matches the vice catalogues of Romans 1 and Ephesians 2, the same darkness Paul assigns to every unconverted life, his own included, we rather than they. The verse is the hinge the chapter turns on: a Christian who forgets what he was has no ground left for contempt of what others still are.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

For we - And as God hath dealt with us, so ought we to deal with our neighbour. Were without understanding - Wholly ignorant of God. And disobedient - When he was declared to us.

The words behind it

21 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Ephesians 2:1–3And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,23 worksEphesians 2:3All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.23 worksGalatians 5:19The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;22 worksColossians 1:21Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.20 worksEphesians 4:22to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;20 worksRomans 6:17But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.19 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Colossians 3:7When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways.17 worksGenesis 6:5Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.16 works1 Corinthians 6:9–11Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,15 worksRomans 3:10As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.15 worksJames 4:1What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?14 worksRomans 1:29–31They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,12 works1 John 2:16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.12 works1 Peter 1:14As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance.11 worksRomans 6:22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.11 worksIsaiah 64:6Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.11 worksJohn 8:34Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.10 worksTitus 2:12It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age,10 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Colossians 1:21

    Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.

    it leads to

    • Ephesians 2:12

      remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

    • Titus 3:3–7

      For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

    • Ephesians 2:1–3

      And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

    • Ephesians 4:18

      They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

    • Romans 5:9–10

      Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!

  • Through

    Colossians 3:7

    When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways.

    it leads to

    • Ephesians 2:2

      in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the…

    • 1 Peter 4:3–4

      For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.

  • Through

    Romans 6:17

    But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.

    it leads to

    • 1 Peter 2:9

      But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Where this verse is studied

About Titus

Preaching in the Wilderness — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)
Preaching in the Wilderness — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)
Titus: the study guide →Read Titus 3 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament.

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