3. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
4. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
It is no secret — and often said — that we live in a fallen world. There is no better proof of this than our natural attraction to what harms us and our resistance to what is good. Why is it that good girls like bad boys? Why do boys want to be “bad” in the first place? Why do we associate pleasure with the very things we come to regret, even though as children we were warned against them. There are many examples that show our pleasure principle leads to pure vanity. So why do most of us spend our youthful peak years feeding our flesh?
It may surprise many, but God’s perfect order for mankind is that we begin life in our natural, before we come to understand who we are spiritually. Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 15:46: “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.” What Paul is saying is, our spirits first dwell in earthly, natural bodies before we receive our eternal, spiritual bodies. The natural comes first — and with it, all the impulses, desires, and weaknesses that Titus 3:3 describes so honestly,.
But there are other examples in Scripture that show it is God’s will for the natural to precede the spiritual. Ishmael — born of the flesh — came before Isaac, the child of promise. Cain, who thought he could choose how to please God and rejected God’s instruction, came before Abel, whose obedience pleased God. Esau, who sold his birthright to satisfy a momentary craving, preceded Jacob, who God later named Israel — the father of the twelve patriarchs from whom the twelve tribes of Irael came. Scripture continually shows us this pattern: first comes the natural, revealing the weakness of the flesh, and then the spiritual follows, revealing the power and purpose of God.
This natural-then-sprititual order is unique to mankind. Scripture shows that before God created humanity and earthly creatures, He had already created spiritual beings that dwelled in the heavenlies — angels who could observe mankind and even walk the earth. Job 38:7 tells us that “the morning Stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” when God laid the foundations of the earth. Genesis 6:2 speaks of the angels who abandoned their proper place in Heaven, saying, “the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took to them wives, of all which they choose.” But even these were not the first to rebel against the spiritual order God established.
God’s will for the natural to come before becoming spiritual only makes sense when we consider the fall of Lucifer. Ezekial 28 gives a vivid description of who Lucifer was before iniquity was found in him. Verse 12 describes him as “full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.” Verse 13 reveals “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering,” showing the honor and splendor God had given him. Verse 14 goes even further: “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so.” These verses reveal the extrodinary trust and authority God placed in Lucifer. And verse 15 tells the tragedy of his fall: “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquitie was found in thee.”
Most people say the first sin in the world was the partaking of the forbidden tree. But few recognize that the first sin in the universe was the pride of Lucifer. Pride is the same sin he used on Eve when he told her in Genesis 3:5, “you will be like God.” The exact words Lucifer said in his own heart that led him to oppose God. This is why God hates pride in man. Pride corrupted a perfect spiritual being, and pride led humanity into rebellion. Yet it was also Lucifer’s fall that led God to create mankind in His own image — lower than the angels, yet possessing something the angels do not have: free will.
It wasn’t a curse, and we did not have a choice about being born into this world already marked by spiritual decline and moral depravity. But we do have a choice about whether we stay in that natural state of mind or embrace the spiritual life that God breathed into us from the beginning. Before mankind, all of God’s creations were spoken into existence. But with Adam, God did something different — He breathed His own breath into Adam giving him life, and that same breath gave life to each of us.
Adam and Eve were made glorious, clothed in a heavenly countenance that covered their nakedness. But when sin entered, their glory was lost. Their fleshly eyes were opened, their nakedness exposed, and spiritual blindness took hold. Sin had become woven into the human DNA.
Not only do we have free will — we also have redemption, another attribute the angels do not receive. As Titus 3:3 says, we all begin life “foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” This is our “before Christ” condition, inherited through the tainted bloodline of sin. But once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, His shed blood cleanses us of our sins and all unrighteousness. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us, making our bodies the temple of God. From that moment, the Holy Spirit begins His work of regeneration — the renewing of our minds and the transformation of our hearts. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” This is the true definition of being born again.
And this is a beautiful thing, because we begin to form an intimate relationship with our Father God. His Spirit begins to reveal truths not only about who He is, but about who He created each of us to be. His kindness and love, shed abroad in our hearts, begins to manifest in our daily lives. Instead of fear-laden thoughts filled with worst-case scenarios, our minds become courage-filled with the expectation of God’s best. Not because we deserve anything good, but because we are now right with God. He blesses the believer so that we can become a blessing to others — and in doing so, our lives bring glory to Him.
This is how we know that God loves us — because He does not give us what our rebellion deserves. He did not turn His back when Adam and Eve fell to the influence of the evil one. Instead, He appeared asking Adam, “Where are you” (Genesis 3:9) God knew exactly where Adam was physically, but He also knew Adam had been lost spiritually. This same heart of God is revealed again when Jesus says in Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
We begin as lost sheep, wandering the earth in the natural condition described in Titus 3:3. But God, in His mercy, reaches out to each and every one of us, calling us by name. And for those of us who truly answer His call, He restores, He renews, and He brings us back into fellowship with Himself. Not because He is obligated to, but because He has watched His perfect creation rebell against Him, and go on to bring down His weaker creation. But through Christ Jesus, we the fallen are raised from the natural to the spiritual, from death to eternal life.
Amen.