¹⁵ Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.

¹⁵ Speak these things,

Titus was to speak continually about the grace of God and its effects on godly living.

exhort,

Titus was to urge people to orient themselves to the grace of God. Exhortation uses doctrine to edify believers, creating strong Christians with a full grasp of grace.

and rebuke with all authority.

“Rebuke” implies correction. The idea is to bring wayward believers back to fellowship with God. This is especially true with deceitful doctrine current in Crete at the time of writing. There was a negative aspect to Titus’s role about grace. He was to rebuke legalism with all authority.

Let no one despise you.

Titus was to command respect from his people. Paul gave this same challenge to Timothy. No one can lead properly without authority. There are people who will attempt to by-pass authority.

1 Ti 4: ¹² Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

PRINCIPLE:

The pastor’s authority today is in the Word of God.

APPLICATION:

Just because someone claims that God spoke to him (“I feel God is leading me to do this”) does not make him an authority. Authority does not come from self-proclamation. Neither do people have authority over the Bible. Education gives no one that privilege.

On the other hand, the pastor is to preach the Word of God with authority. He is to teach the Bible as if it is God speaking when he clearly expounds what God has said.

1 Pe 4: ¹¹ If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.