A Few Thoughts on the Epistle of Titus Part 3

Titus 1:10-16 Rebuke

Titus 1:10-16 WEL For there are many unruly, mouthy talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who sabotage whole families teaching things which they should not for the sake of shameful personal profit. 12 One of themselves, a prophet of their own said, “Cretans are always liars, wicked beasts, and lazy bellies.” 13 This witness is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith, 14 Not paying attention to Jewish fables and laws from men that turn [people] from the truth. 15 To the pure everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, and even their mind and conscience is defiled. 16 They profess that they know God, but in [their] actions they disown him. They are repulsive, disobedient, and useless for any good work.

Notes

B1 False teachers in Crete

C1 Described as

D1 Unruly

E1 The Greek word is ἀνυπότακτος anypótaktos. It means uncontrollable and disobedient. This word is also used to describe the unruly children in Titus 1:6.

E2 They are just like their ancestors: Hosea 7:13 NLT What sorrow awaits those who have deserted me! Let them die, for they have rebelled against me. I wanted to redeem them, but they have told lies about me.

E3 This group is described: Acts 15:1 NLT While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: "Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved."

E4 They believe their own teaching, but they will not believe the teaching of the Lord Jesus despite His 3.5 years of teaching.

E5 It is impossible to reason with such people who believe they are right and you are wrong, no matter how much you show that they are wrong. They also like to use any method possible to win an argument.

D2 Mouthy

E1 They have a lot to say, but it is only to impress people, so they can enslave them to their false religion.

E2 The Greek word for mouthy means they speak a lot of words but actually communicate little.

E3 They same type exist day using reams of paper to prove their interpretation some one word is correct.

E4 Romans 16:18 CSB because such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites. They deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting with smooth talk and flattering words.

D3 Deceivers

E1 Instead of truth (reality), they express their personal opinion as truth.

E2 They lie.

E3 Some other verses describing these deceivers:

F1 Matthew 24:24 CSB For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

F2 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 CSB For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works.

F3 2 Peter 2:18 CSB For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error.

D4 The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges comments on this verse: many unruly] Add men, leaving the pair of attributes to go together, as in the Pauline usage, empty talkers and deceivers of the mind. Both compounds occur only here in N.T.; but the substantive, meaning vaniloquentia, has occurred 1Ti 1:6, where the meaning is defined in what follows, ‘though they understand neither what they say, nor whereof they confidently affirm;’ and the verb, meaning seducit, is used Gal 6:3 and defined by the context ‘if a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing.’ Peile translates ‘self-deceivers,’ i.e. visionary enthusiasts, comparing Isa 44:20 and Jas 1:26.

D5 Ignatius (Fathers Volume 1.04.04 Ignatius Epistle to the Trallians Chapter 6) has this comment about false teachers:

I therefore, yet not I, out the love of Jesus Christ, “entreat you that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment.” (1Co 1:10) For there are some vain talkers (Tit 1:10) and deceivers, not Christians, but Christ-betrayers,24 bearing about the name of Christ in deceit, and “corrupting the word” (2Co 2:17) of the Gospel; while they intermix the poison of their deceit with their persuasive talk,26 as if they mingled aconite with sweet wine, that so he who drinks, being deceived in his taste by the very great sweetness of the draught, may incautiously meet with his death. One of the ancients gives us this advice, “Let no man be called good who mixes good with evil.”29 For they speak of Christ, not that they may preach Christ, but that they may reject Christ; and they speak30 of the law, not that they may establish the law, but that they may proclaim things contrary to it. For they alienate Christ from the Father, and the law from Christ. They also calumniate His being born of the Virgin; they are ashamed of His cross; they deny His passion; and they do not believe His resurrection. They introduce God as a Being unknown; they suppose Christ to be unbegotten; and as to the Spirit, they do not admit that He exists. Some of them say that the Son is a mere man, and that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but the same person, and that the creation is the work of God, not by Christ, but by some other strange power.

D6 Schaff writes (Schaff History 1/Vol 1 Chap 12 § 097-099):

The question arises, which of the many types of this many-sided error is opposed? Evidently the Judaizing type, which resembled that at Colossae, but was more advanced and malignant, and hence is more sternly denounced. The heretics were of “the circumcision” (Tit 1:10); they are called “teachers of the law” (νομοδιδάσκαλοι, 1Ti 1:7, the very reverse of antinomians), “given to Jewish fables” (Ἰουδαΐκοί μῦθοι, Tit 1:14), and “disputes connected with the law” (μάχαι νομικαί, Tit 3:9), and fond of foolish and ignorant questionings (2Ti 2:23). They were, moreover, extravagant ascetics, like the Essenes, forbidding to marry and abstaining from meat (1Ti 4:3, 1Ti 4:8; Tit 1:14, Tit 1:15). They denied the resurrection and overthrew the faith of some (2Ti 2:18).

C2 Verse 11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who sabotage whole families teaching things which they should not for the sake of shameful personal profit.

D1 This is the effect they are having on the church: Whose mouths must be stopped, who sabotage whole families teaching things which they should not for the sake of shameful personal profit.

D2 Selfish profit as money, fame, power, influence, followers, control, abuse, etc.

D3 The Greek words have the idea of shameful (dishonorable and filthy) personal profit (usually in the sense of money).

C3 12 One of themselves, a prophet of their own said, “Cretans are always liars, wicked beasts, and lazy bellies.” 13 This witness is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith, 14 Not paying attention to Jewish fables and laws from men that turn [people] from the truth.

D1 These are ungodly character traits.

D2 Since they are ungodly, these false teachers must be rebuked.

D3 False teachers don’t like rebuke when caught in something. They cover-up. They excuse. They lie.

D4 God hates liars: Proverbs 12:22 NET The LORD abhors a person who lies, but those who deal truthfully are his delight.

D5 God identifies those who lie and doing the devil’s work. The devil’s chief character trait is lying: John 8:43-47 NET Why don't you understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot accept my teaching. You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I am telling you the truth, you do not believe me. Who among you can prove me guilty of any sin? If I am telling you the truth, why don't you believe me? The one who belongs to God listens and responds to God's words. You don't listen and respond, because you don't belong to God.

D6 It is not good for a person to be a liar: Proverbs 6:16-19 NET There are six things that the LORD hates, even seven things that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift to run to evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who spreads discord among family members.

D7 The fearful thing here is their lies sound so convincing that people are turning away from the truth to follow the lie. We must know truth (reality). The Bible is the only source of 100% truth.

C4 15 To the pure everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, and even their mind and conscience is defiled.

D1 Pure according to God’s standard. Pure as God is pure. It is the character of God’s kingdom.

D2 Lies contaminate and defile. To a Jew outward defilement is abhorred but the inward defilement is much, much worse. Let us be careful what we think and do. Matthew 15:2, 11, 14, 17-20 NET Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don't wash their hands when they eat." ... What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person." ... Leave them! They are blind guides. If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit." ... Don't you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person. For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person."

D3 It affects the mind by addiction to lying, and affects the conscience by searing it, that is, hardening it.

D4 We are to be renewed to truth, not lies: Romans 12:1-2 NET Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice - alive, holy, and pleasing to God - which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God - what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

C5 16 They profess that they know God, but in [their] actions they disown him. They are repulsive, disobedient, and useless for any good work.

D1 What one says is important, but we need to watch what one does.

D2 What a person does is what they really believe. (James 2:14-26).

D3 God is not fooled. What we do will be judged. Galatians 6:7-8 GW Make no mistake about this: You can never make a fool out of God. Whatever you plant is what you'll harvest. 8 If you plant in the soil of your corrupt nature, you will harvest destruction. But if you plant in the soil of your spiritual nature, you will harvest everlasting life.

D4 They do not know God (His character, His ways, His fellowship, His salvation, etc.). They show that they do not know God by what they do, not what they say. They disown God (apostates), are repulsive (to God and Christians), disobedient (to the rules of Jesus Christ), and thus are useless to all people.

C6 F. B. Meyer commenting on this verse writes:

The Judaizing teachers, who insisted that men must become Jews before they could be Christians, were always on Paul’s heels, visiting his churches and diverting his converts from the simplicity of the faith. Their motive in many cases was very largely self-aggrandizement. Such men were to be resisted to the uttermost and sharply rebuked. Where the work of grace is really commenced in the heart, a sharp rebuke will often turn the soul back to God. The gardener must not hesitate to use a pruning-knife, if the well-being of the tree is at stake.

Note the marvelous power we possess of viewing things in the light or gloom cast upon them from our own temperament. We see life and the world in a glass colored from within. Oh, that we might possess that pure and untarnished nature that passes through the world like a beam of sunshine, irradiating all but contaminated by none! The true test of the knowledge of God is a holy life. These act and react. The better you know God, the more you will resemble Him; compare Psa 111:1-10; Psa 112:1-10. The more you are like God, the better you will know Him. [Emphasis is mine]