For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.  (Titus 2:11-13)

Paul’s letter to Titus takes as one of its central themes “knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness” (Tit 1:1). The apostle is eager to show the relationship between the “grace of God that has appeared” in Jesus, and the “self-controlled, upright and godly lives” that are the fruit of God’s grace in the lives of those who “wait for the blessed hope”. 

Paul is crystal clear that God’s gracious salvation of sinners is “not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Tit 3:5). And yet, he is equally adamant that ‘those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good” (Tit 3:8).

In Titus 2:12 Paul shows these two realities – God’s saving grace and the transformed lives of believers – are causally related. It is precisely God’s grace that “teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness”. In the letter, Paul several times draws attention to the practice of self-control, for all Christians (Titus 2:2,5,6).

In the book of Acts, Luke summarises Paul’s gospel presentation to Felix in this way: 

Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid (Acts 24:24-25).

Here, it seems the work of Christ is summarised in the single word “righteousness”, and the life of sanctified discipleship is summarised also in one word: self-control.  

For most Christians, self-control is the daily battle to withstand the lies of the evil one and take hold instead of the glorious and liberating truth of God’s word; to put to death the old nature and ‘put on’ the new creation, the new person made in the image of Christ. We are too aware of our persistent sins and temptations, but rejoice to know God’s presence, help and power to cultivate new loves and new habits; to fix our eyes on Christ who is above and think on whatever is noble, pure, lovely and true. 

Recently, the NSW Government passed a Bill banning “conversion practices”. These are defined in the Act as “a practice, treatment or sustained effort that is directed to an individual on the basis of the individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, and directed to changing or suppressing the individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity” (s 3(1)).

The Synod of our Diocese expressed in 2018 our opposition to oppressive and violent practices designed to “convert” someone’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. It is worth recalling the full wording here:

31/18 Pastoral care in our churches

Synod -

(a) affirms that all people, regardless of gender and sexual orientation, are made in the image of God and deeply loved by him,

(b) recognises that all desire and sexuality in this world has been distorted by the Fall and awaits a re-ordering in the New Creation,

(c) recognises that psychological practices such as 'reparative therapy' or 'gay conversion therapy', which seek to re-orient sexual attraction to heterosexuality, have been highly ineffective for those who experience exclusive same-sex attraction, and have caused distress to many who have participated in such therapy,

(d) notes that the Anglican Church in the Diocese of Sydney does not practise, recommend or endorse 'gay conversion therapy',

(e) recognises that Christ's teaching in Matthew 19, which requires either faithfulness in marriage or abstinence in singleness, is a particular struggle for those with desires that cannot be faithfully expressed, and therefore

(f) calls upon our churches to be safe places for all people, and to provide appropriate pastoral care for all, and

(g) values prayer for same-sex attracted Christians who wish to live celibate lives, noting that prayer is not a form of "gay conversion therapy".

Coercive “conversion therapies”, while they may have occurred in the past in some settings, are no longer practiced. The Conversion Practices Ban Act goes far beyond these practices. 

When the Act was passed in 2024 I wrote in a newspaper opinion column that we continue to have significant concerns with the Act because, among other things, it contains an undefined concept of suppression that could interfere with the ordinary teaching of religious doctrines and life within families – the possibility that it illegitimately seeks to regulate what people can say and do in the ordinary course of living out their faith, and what faith groups may teach and promote. 

Jesus and his apostles repeatedly warn against sexual immorality. We believe it is right to suppress ungodly sexual impulses, and we seek the help of the Holy Spirit to exercise self-control. It is orthodox Christian teaching that God’s gift of sex finds its proper expression in the context of a loving, lifelong commitment of marriage between a man and woman. Single Christians, whether never married, divorced or widowed, or who experience exclusive attraction to people of the same sex, are called to fruitful, joyful and faithful lives including sexual abstinence. 

For Christians, self-control is a fruit of the Spirit that has application in every part of life, including in the area of sexuality. Technology, medicine and changed community standards make self-control in the area of sexuality either unnecessary or undesirable in the minds of many (with the notable exception of the #MeToo movement). But for those who have come to know the grace of God in Jesus, the gospel teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and to live “self-controlled, upright and godly lives”.