John Calvin Commentary Titus 3:7

"that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." — Titus 3:7 (ASV)

That being justified by his grace. If we understand “regeneration” in its strict and ordinary meaning, it might be thought that the Apostle uses the word “justified” instead of “regenerated.” This is sometimes its meaning, though very seldom, yet there is no necessity that compels us to depart from its strict and more natural meaning. The design of Paul is to ascribe to the grace of God all that we are, and all that we have, so that we may not exalt ourselves proudly against others. Thus he now extols the mercy of God, by ascribing to it entirely the cause of our salvation. But because he had spoken of the vices of unbelievers, it would have been improper to leave out the grace of regeneration, which is the medicine for curing them.

Still, this does not prevent him from returning immediately to praise divine mercy, and he even mingles both blessings together—that our sins have been freely pardoned, and that we have been renewed so as to obey God. This, at least, is evident: Paul maintains that “justification” is the free gift of God, and the only question is what he means by the word “justified.” The argument seems to demand that its meaning be extended further than to the imputation of righteousness. In this larger sense, it is seldom (as I have said) used by Paul. Yet, there is nothing that prevents its meaning from being limited to the forgiveness of sins.

When he says, by his grace, this applies both to Christ and to the Father, and we ought not to contend for either of these interpretations, because it will always remain true that, by the grace of God, we have obtained righteousness through Christ.

Heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This clause is added by way of explanation. He had said that we have been saved through the mercy of God. But our salvation is still hidden, and therefore he now says that we are heirs of life—not because we have arrived at the present possession of it, but because hope brings to us full and complete certainty of it. The meaning may be summarized as follows: “Having been dead, we were restored to life through the grace of Christ, when God the Father bestowed on us His Spirit, by whose power we have been purified and renewed. Our salvation consists in this; but, because we are still in the world, we do not yet enjoy ‘eternal life,’ but only obtain it by ‘hoping.’”