Titus 3:3 (DBY)

Passage

For we were once ourselves also without intelligence, disobedient, wandering in error, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, [and] hating one another.

Nearby Context

Titus 3:1 Put them in mind to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient to rule, to be ready to do every good work,

Titus 3:2 to speak evil of no one, not to be contentious, [to be] mild, shewing all meekness towards all men.

Titus 3:3 For we were once ourselves also without intelligence, disobedient, wandering in error, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, [and] hating one another.

Titus 3:4 But when the kindness and love to man of our Saviour God appeared,

Titus 3:5 not on the principle of works which [have been done] in righteousness which *we* had done, but according to his own mercy he saved us through [the] washing of regeneration and renewal of [the] Holy Spirit,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "once", "ourselves", "without", "intelligence", "disobedient", "wandering", "error", and "serving". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "once" and "ourselves", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "to speak evil of no one not..." into verse 4's "But when the kindness and love to...", so "once" and "ourselves" belong inside that flow. In Titus context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "once" and "ourselves" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.