Justin Houtz

Joshua 16, Titus 3

DateVersionReading Plan
July 22, 2025ESV (2016)OT/NT Plan 2025 – 2027

Joshua 16

Observation & Interpretation

Josh. 16:10 – The chapter ends similarly to ch. 15 in describing that th Canaanites who lived in Gezer were not driven out

  • Failure to drive out the Canaanites brought grief to the Israelites in their later history (BBC)

Titus 3

Observation & Interpretation

Titus 1:1 – Titus was also to remind believers in the Cretan assemblies responsibility toward their government. The Christian approach is that all governments are ordained by God (Rom. 13:1) (BBC)

Titus 3:4 (Titus 1:13; 2:10; 2:13) – “God our Savior” is repeated by Paul 3x in this letter (as “God and Savior” in TItus 2:13).

  • The title “God our Savior” refers to God the Father — our Savior in the sense that He sent His Son into the world as our sacrifice for sin. The Lord Jesus is also called God our Savior (Titus 2:13) because He paid the necessary penalty in order that we might be pardoned and forgiven. (BBC)

Titus 1:1 – When Paul tells Titus to “reminde them,” he is referring to the ones who have experienced the “grace of God” in Titus 2:11. Thus this reminder is for all the believers in Crete. (ESVEC – Comment)

Titus 1:3 – Paul depicts the pre-conversion state of Christians as one of utter darkness and corruption. Because Christians come from such fallenness, they must exercise humility toward their neighbors who now are what they themselves were. (ESVEC – Comment)

Titus 1:6 – The Holy Spirit is “poured out” on sinners “through Jesus Christ” (cf. Acts 2:33). To say that the Holy Spirit is “poured out” on sinners “richly” means that the sinner experiences the Holy Spirit fully. The salvation Jesus provides leaves nothing lacking as far as the Spirit is concerned. Every Christian receives a full measure of the Spirit’s saving and sanctifying presence. (ESVEC – Comment)

  • This seems to override the notion of a separate and subsequent endowment of the Holy Spirit per the Pentecostal understanding

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