Titus 3:4-5 (NKJV)

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit

Here is a fundamental and succinct review of the good news of salvation. There are a number of profound doctrinal truths in this short passage. God is kind, He loves us. It not because of our works but because of his mercy that He saves us. The way He saves us is by regeneration and renewal. We call it the new birth.

The Deity of Christ

Occasionally, I'll hear from a member of our church who was visited by the Jehovah's witnesses and he will typically ask "how should I have responded to them?" The only point of correction I will make is to refer to several places in the Bible that make it undisputable that Jesus Christ is God. One of these places is right here in this verse. The major premise of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ is our Savior. In this verse we have a minor premise (logically speaking) that God is our Savior. The logical conclusion then is that Jesus Christ is God. However, my favorite statements on this issue are by Jesus himself: His "Before Abraham was, I AM" in John 8 and the "I and my Father are one." And then there is Thomas' exclamation of "My Lord and My God!" upon seeing the risen Christ in which Jesus did not rebuke him for calling Him God. There are many hundreds of other examples as well. The sad truth is that every cult has a distinguishing characteristic, that of attacking the deity of Christ.

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