Titus 1:10-16

10: For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,
11: who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.
12: One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
13: This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, 14: not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.
15: To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
16: They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

*** 

The reason it was important to appoint those who held fast to, and taught, sound doctrine was because there were “many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers” who had to be silenced. Especially the Jews who converted, or at least presented themselves as Christian, but compromised the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gentile converts to Christianity had no knowledge of Jewish tradition, but of course the Jewish converts did. Both were coming together to learn the Gospel of Jesus Christ—the new covenant of God. Yet there were many Jews who erroneously or manipulatively taught false doctrine, upsetting families for personal gain.

Paul quoted a famous Cretan, Epimenides, who was considered a prophet or poet. “Cretans are always liars” were well known words of his. The Cretans had a reputation of being deceivers and liars and to “Cretize” was a word used to describe lying or deceiving. They were also known as cruel and gluttonous.1 Paul agreed that this was true of the Cretans, which is why he said Titus should reprove them severely. They were not to be abandoned for their prior lifestyle, but taught the ways of the Lord.

Paul told Titus to reprove them so they would not listen to the Jewish myths and commandments which turned people away from the truth. Anyone who presented themselves as one who knew God, yet whose actions proved they didn’t, were not to be listened to. The goal was teaching the Word of God accurately so they would be sound in the faith.

Paul made the statement, “To the pure, all things are pure.” Meaning that the defining characteristic of purity or impurity is in the heart. Purity is not solely defined by an outward act or expression. To those whose hearts are not pure, nothing is pure, their mind and conscience is defiled. When one is pure in heart, it extends to their mind and conscience, and their outward deeds are pure as well. It comes from the inside out. Jesus said what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart and that is what defiles a person, not what he puts into his mouth (Matthew 15:15-20).




1 Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, retrieved from BibleHub.com July 16, 2021

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians 1:1-10

1: Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), 2: and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4: who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5: to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. 6: I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7: which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8: But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9: As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10: For am I now see...
Read more

2 Corinthians 7:8-16

8: For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— 9: I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10: For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11: For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. 12: So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you i...
Read more

2 Corinthians 10:1-11

1: Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent! 2: I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4: for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5: We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 6: and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. 7: You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we. 8: For even if I boast somewh...
Read more