The world is hopelessly lost. There is nothing we can do to redeem the human condition at large, even on a small scale. What we can do is show God’s mercy and compassion for humans in their fallen situation. We don’t seek to change the world; we seek to draw God’s Elect to disconnect from it.
Persuading Cretans to become harmless would be a miracle in itself. But the Lord’s work in our lives is to redeem us and transform us into His kind of people. That means we cooperate with human government authorities as much as possible, and avoid provoking anyone else, for that matter. The same mercy has changed all of us; everyone started out as a moral degenerate in one way or another. All of us were born as self-centered predators.
Our salvation in Christ was not the result of our efforts, because we could do nothing other than evil. Rather, He chose to redeem us for His own personal motives. He sent His Spirit to clean us up and make us presentable to His Father. By His own initiative we have become heirs of His divine realm. Notice how Paul points out that works do not get us there, but they follow us out into the world afterward. They are His works.
We know where we are going. This sense of assurance is what drives us. We invest time and effort just dreaming up ways to glorify His name by how we act in a fallen world. We do things that bless others; this is what marks us as His children. It is not based on complicated rules of inheritance, silly legalism, or anything else promoted by mere men to curry God’s favor. If someone gets wrapped up in promoting Judaizer nonsense, warn him once or twice, then ostracize him as an outsider. They are in it only for themselves, still a swindling Cretan.
The letter ends with some administrative details, but Paul notes in passing that helping missionaries along the way was of critical importance in demonstrating what really matters to God’s people.
