This verse gives a further elaboration of the role and function of Christ Jesus, focusing primarily on his first appearance in history.
As Revised Standard Version shows, this verse is still part of the long sentence that began at verse 11. As in similar cases, this long sentence may need to be subdivided into shorter and more manageable sentences, depending of course on the receptor language and the intended audience for the translation.
The first part is a general statement that Christ gave himself for us, which is a reference to his vicarious suffering and death (compare Revised English Bible “He it is who sacrificed himself for us”). A similar statement occurs in 1 Tim 2.6. Us here refers to all believers, including Titus, and should be translated as inclusive throughout this passage.
The purpose of Christ giving himself for us is to redeem us from all iniquity. The verb for to redeem appears only here, in Luke 24.21, and in 1 Peter 1.18. In non-biblical writings it refers to the payment of a certain amount of money to secure the freedom of slaves or of prisoners of war. In the Old Testament it is used to describe God’s powerful act of setting the Israelites free from their slavery in Egypt. This meaning seems to have been the immediate background of the usage of this term in the New Testament, so that it refers to God’s (or Christ’s) powerful way of setting people free from the power of sin. This meaning is also central in the present passage, where redeem can be accurately rendered as “set free” or “rescue” (Good News Translation). In some languages the repetition of the pronoun us in the first part of the verse will be unnatural style. In such a case one may say “He gave (or, sacrificed) himself to rescue us from….”
Iniquity is literally “lawlessness,” that is, living in complete disregard of moral and ethical laws, and by implication living in wickedness.
Positively, Christ’s giving up of himself has for its purpose to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds. Purify is a ritual term referring to the act of making something or someone free from ritual contamination, and therefore acceptable as an instrument for worship. An extended meaning of this word is to make someone morally clean, that is, free from all moral impurity or from any act that is not worthy of God’s people. A people is equivalent to us in the first part of this verse, and this may be made clear in the translation (for example, Good News Translation “to make us a pure people,” Revised English Bible “to make us his own people”). Of his own translates a Greek word that means “special,” hence Good News Translation “who belong to him alone.” Thus purified we are then enabled to become zealous for good deeds, that is, “eager to do good.”
An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• He sacrificed himself to rescue us [inclusive] from every wicked thing (or, all evil ways) and free us from all impurity so that we may be his own people who are eager to do good.
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to Titus. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .