A Three Person Job

“Whom He poured on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:6)

Some jobs take more than one person. Some jobs can’t be done solo. Some jobs require a team. Here in his letter to his boy Titus, the Apostle Paul tells him that God’s work of salvation is a three person job. The entire Trinity rolls up its sleeves and gets busy in our rescue. God the Father. God the Son. God the Spirit. Take a close look at these verses and you’ll see all divine hands are on deck. You’ve heard the expression that it takes a village to raise a child. Well, we see here that it takes a Trinity to save a sinner. 

Salvation is a Three Person job.

Paul wants Titus to make sure the new believers on Crete have a clear view of what it means to follow Jesus. We’re to be good citizens (Titus 3:1). We’re to use our mouths to build folks up and not tear them down (Titus 3:2). Despite being fools, rebels, dupes, slaves, bullies, and haters (Titus 3:3), God the Father came to our rescue as an act of His overflowing love (Titus 3:4). We brought absolutely nothing to the table when it comes to our salvation except the desperate need to be saved from our own sin (Titus 3:5). At the end of verse 5, the apostle brings God the Spirit out on stage to explain His role in our rescue. He washes perfectly clean. He makes us completely new. Then we see how God the Son is the one who unleashes the supernatural firehose, pouring out the Holy Spirit on new believers. When God’s Spirit drenched us, He was “poured on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (v6). 

When it comes to giving out His Spirit, Jesus isn’t stingy. He doesn’t carefully ration the Spirit. He doesn’t measure Him out in a quota. Nope. Christ turns on the holy hydrant and lets the Spirit surge onto His people. Paul writes how God’s Spirit is “poured out on us” (v6). He uses the Greek verb ekcheo, which means to generously provide or give in abundance. Many times, the writers of the New Testament use this word to describe something messy. Liquids slosh and slop. They splash and gush. When He teaches about how old wineskins can’t handle being filled with the latest vintage of Merlot, Jesus says, “The skins burst and the wine is spilled (Gr. ekcheo)” (Mt 9:17). Dr. Luke paints a pretty nasty picture of Judas Iscariot’s body after his suicide when “he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out (Gr. ekcheo)” (Acts 1:18). Change went flying when Christ cleaned the crooks from the temple courts. “He poured out (Gr. ekcheo) the coins of the money-changers” (Jn 2:15). In the same way, God is so generous with His love and grace that things get messy when He saves us. When He passes the disciples a glass of wine, Jesus tells His posse the night before His execution, “This is My blood of the covenant which is poured out (Gr. ekcheo) for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:28). 

God is especially generous and lavish when it comes to pouring out His Holy Spirit. Before He headed back home to heaven, the resurrected Jesus told His crew to hang in Jerusalem until the Spirit drenches them like they’ve never been drenched before (Acts 1:8). Once Jesus turns on His firehose, things get REALLY crazy and REALLY messy! People think His followers are hammered. At that point, the Apostle Peter delivers his first-ever sermon. He says what’s going on is what God promised through the prophet Joel. “I will pour out (Gr. ekcheo) My Spirit on all flesh…in those days I will pour out (Gr. ekcheo) My Spirit” (Acts 2:17-18). Pete goes on to explain that all Three Persons of the Trinity are involved with what’s going on. “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out (Gr. ekcheo) this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing” (Acts 2:33). Later, Pete and other Jewish believers jaws hit the floor when God starts saving non-Jews as “the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out (Gr. ekcheo) even on the Gentiles” (Acts 10:45). You see, things get messy when the Godhead gets going. REALLY messy!

Like I said, Jesus isn’t stingy when it comes to giving out God’s Spirit. He sloshes Him out on us “richly” (v6). This is the Greek term plousios, and it describes something in abundance, full measure, and something of great value given in large amount. It carries with it the idea of great wealth. This makes perfect sense since God is incredibly generous and the greatest Giver the universe has ever seen. God “richly (Gr. plousios) provides us with everything to enjoy” (1Tim 6:17). The Lord is “rich (Gr. plousios) in mercy” (Eph 2:4). He loves the world so much that “He gave His only Son” (Jn 3:16). So it’s only logical that God the Son would also be an abundant giver. Jesus fills us to overflowing with His Spirit. He maxes us out. Our gauges red line with the Comforter. And once God gives us His Spirit, He fills our hearts with His unfailing love like the spigot fills your bathtub. “God’s love has been poured (Gr. ekcheo) into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given us” (Rom 5:5). When the Trinity gets busy, things get messy. 

Salvation is a Three Person job.

Am I so stinking sinful that it takes all the resources of the Trinity to come to my rescue? Before the Godhead saved me, I certainly was, in the words of Ulysses Everett McGill, “in a tight spot.” I couldn’t even dream of saving myself. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit all get involved in this great rescue mission because they WANT to be involved! There’s no greater friendship and fellowship in history than what They experience. I’m not even going to try and explain how and what the Trinity is. Think of Them this way: three Who’s and one What. Because They enjoy the perfect relationship, the Godhead does everything together. That includes saving you and me. Maybe this is sacrilege, but I see Dad, Son, and Spirit so stoked about what They’re doing that things get crazy. They’re excited. They’re generous. They’re messy. 

Salvation is a Three Person job.