Titus Study #3

“How to Spot Smoke-Blowers and Snake-Oil Salesmen”

Titus 1:10-16; 2:1

Study #3 in Titus Series

 

INTRODUCTION: 

Satan is a counterfeiter. He fakes whatever God does and twists whatever God says. He is most effective when he comes up with something really close to the original. One of his best techniques is to mix lies in with the truth (i.e., adulterating the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 4:2, like putting one tiny drop of strychnine into a glass of cool, fresh water). He has been doing this from the beginning.

·       Jesus repeatedly tangled with the Pharisees over their flawed OT interpretations

·       Paul debated the Gnostics and Judaizers, combating their heresies

·       We fend off the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other cults who twist God’s Word

 

Truth is powerful and compelling, with a strong flavor. The poison can easily be slipped in behind it so that it is not detected, the way poisoners slip antifreeze into a sweet drink, or politicians slip “pork” into nearly every House and Senate bill. It just slides through without people even noticing. 

 

TRANSITION: 

In this letter Paul advises Titus on what to watch out for with those who were stirring up trouble in the Christian churches on the Island of Crete. This comes in the flow of thought coming out of verse 9, that a leader of the church must “be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.”

 

NOTES on the Text:

Verses 10-11: 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.  

·       Note: There were “many” of these kinds of men in the churches in Crete. 

·       CHARACTER: What were they like?

Ø  “Rebellious men” = undisciplined, unruly; like disloyal soldiers who refuse to obey the word of command.

ü  They refused to accept the guidance of the leadership of the church.

ü  They refused to accept the teachings of the church.

ü  They refused to accept the control of the church.

Ø  “Empty talkers” = vain, profitless, producing nothing of value.

ü  They could talk glibly and fluently about religion but could not bring people closer to God.

ü  N.B. Being “spiritual” counts for nothing.

Ø  “Deceivers” = (lit. mind-deceivers)

ü  Instead of leading men to the Truth, they led them away from the Truth, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons of today who go from house to house selling magazines and offering “Bible studies.”

·       “…especially those of the circumcision”

Ø  Paul here refers to the people known as “Judaizers,” a 1^st Century cult that mixed Christian teaching, Greek Gnosticism, and Pharisaical Judaism.

Ø  They professed to be Christians but denied many of the fundamental truths.

Ø  They taught that Christ’s death on the cross was not sufficient to pay for all our sin. = Heresy! (N.B. Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others teach this.)

Ø  They taught that grace alone cannot save = Heresy! Any group or any preacher that tries to persuade people that they need more than Christ and more than grace to be saved is a CULT!

Ø  They thought that Paul’s message was too simple and too good to be true. They wanted to intellectualize everything (the Gnostic influence).

Ø  Paul had much to say about these people because they were showing up everywhere. (cf. Colossians, Galatians, and 1 John)

Ø  cf. verse 14 – They were teaching “Jewish myths” as though they were the Gospel truth. They were teaching the “oral traditions” that Jesus condemned in Mark 7:1-13. Paul accused them of teaching the commandments of men rather than those of God.

Ø  In doing this they had hundreds of rules and regulations about everything: clean vs unclean, circumcision, sabbath keeping, etc. 

·       ACTIONS: What were they doing? 

Ø  Paul says they were “upsetting whole families” (οἴκους, i.e., households) – Their teaching was fundamentally upsetting by its very nature. Teaching that ends in doubts, confusion, and questionings is BAD TEACHING. In GOOD TEACHING, outside of the mental disturbance which truth so often causes, there should come in the end a greater certainty than ever. A good and noble teacher seeks to shed light on the truth, not to obscure it or twist it for his own purposes.

Ø  “Teaching things they should not teach” – Not only was their teaching upsetting, but it was also just plain wrong! The truth can be upsetting enough without mixing in a bunch of rubbish.

·       MOTIVES: Why did they do what they did?

Ø  Cf. Verse 11 – “…for the sake of sordid gain.”

Ø  They were in it for what they could get out of it. Beware of information peddlers offering high-priced seminars to “help” you do anything. These guys were more concerned about what they could get out of the people, than what they could put into them. 

 

Question: What is the relationship between Character, Actions, and Motives? 

Answer: Your character is defined by your motivations; but your character is displayed by your actions.

 

Or in other words, the things that motivate you will shape your character, which in turn will be revealed by the things you do and the choices that you make. 

 

So, Paul’s conclusion in verse 11 is that these troublemakers “must be silenced” (lit. “whose mouths must be muzzled or stopped). N.B. The best way to combat false teaching is to offer the truth in such a way that people can see it clearly and act upon it. (cf. Matthew 5:16; 2 Cor. 4:4ff)

 

Verse 12: One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

·       Cretans had a bad reputation in the whole Roman Empire. Sometimes stereotypes are exaggerated but more often they have at least a grain of truth. In this verse Paul quotes Epimenides of Knossos, a Cretan poet and philosopher who lived about 600 BC and was considered to be one of the 7 wisest men of Greece.

·       The common view was that Cretans were liars, gluttons, drunks, cruel, untrustworthy, greedy, and rude. (This was a common stereotype of the same order as that Blacks are all musical, Mexicans are lazy, Russians steal cars, Arabs will always cheat you, etc.)

·       The Greeks coined a verb, kretídzein, which in English would be something like “to Cretanize.” It meant to act like a Cretan and was invented as a word synonymous with “to deceive,” and “to lie.” It was used in the same way as another 1^st Century pejorative, corínthiazein, which in English would be “to corínthianize,” and meant to take part in sordid, debauched, and immoral behavior. They also had a well-known phrase, “…to play the Cretan with a Cretan” meaning to out-swindle a swindler.

 

Verses 13-14: 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.

·       “This testimony is true.” Paul does not beat around the bush. Apparently, he had dealt with them enough to form a strong personal opinion, and it is obvious that even he did not have a very high view of the Cretans, but that is just the point. No one, no matter how bad they are or how misguided, is beyond the power of the Gospel and the help that Christ brings. Salvation transforms the very worst of men and turns them into true saints of God.

·       To this end Paul tells Titus to “reprove them sharply or severely” so that they will turn from their wicked, ignorant path and become “sound (i.e., healthy) in the faith” (cf. 2 Tim. 2:23-26). This is the goal of Biblical teaching (cf. Acts 26:18). God is in the business of Life Transformation, Character Development, and Attitude Adjustment.

·       “…not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the faith” – These were the same people Paul was talking about up in verse 10 (“…rebellious men, empty talkers, and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision”). The point of contention in the churches of Crete had to do with Jewish legalism. It was not centered on God’s Word, but on Jewish fables and the teachings of men who valued their own ideas and religious theories over the authoritative Word of God.

 

Verse 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.

·       Paul is referring to the Judaizers’ teachings about things clean and unclean, pure, and impure. Jesus taught about this in Mark 7:14-23. Here Paul echoes Christ’s words and says that the sin and impurity was within them, dirtying everything they touched (cf. Rom. 14:20).

·       “…but to those who are defiled and unbelieving” (lit. stained with dye) – N.B., A sick, impure heart and mind hears and sees impurity everywhere. A pure mind and heart see goodness, purity, and beauty. (e.g., Have you ever known someone who could turn any statement or any conversation into something dirty or sordid?)

·       Paul says, “…but both their mind (intellect) and their conscience (heart) are defiled” and therefore must be changed. Only God can do this! (cf. Rom. 12:1-2; Phil. 4:7-8) 

 

Verse 16: They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

·       In verse 16 Paul tells how you can spot these Spiritual Smoke-Blowers and Religious Snake-oil Salesmen.

·       FIRST, with their mouths they profess loud and long that they know God. They are good talkers, BUT

·       SECOND, by their deeds they deny Him (i.e., disown Him). They are good talkers but rotten livers.

·       And in their sinful condition, they are...

1.    “detestable” = They are repulsive, ugly, an abomination. N.B. Sin is ugly to God and should be to us as well, especially when worn by a professing Christian.

2.    “disobedient” = They cannot obey the will of God. They have a darkened conscience and a twisted mind and everything they touch gets polluted. This is from God’s viewpoint.

3.    “…worthless for any good deed” = They are reprobates, and sinful men cannot do righteous deeds.

a.    Paul here uses the Greek adjective ἀδόκιμος (adókimos). In biblical usage it is translated as unapproved, i.e., rejected; by implication it is worthless (literally or morally), and thus castaway like rubbish.  

b.    The word is used to describe counterfeit coins that are below the standard weight and therefore pulled out of circulation.

c.     It is used for soldiers who run away in battle.

d.    It is used for rejected candidates for office.

e.    It is used for a stone that the masons rejected. It was marked with a capital alpha (Α) and thrown to the side as unfit for use because of some flaw.

 

Chapter 2, Verse 1: But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.

·       Strangely, all our versions group this verse into chapter two. However, I believe that is a mistake. You must remember that Paul wrote this as a letter with no chapter or verse divisions, and contextually, this verse fits better as the conclusion of Paul’s argument in Chapter 1 than it does as the introduction to Chapter 2.

·       “But as for you” – Paul expected something different from Titus than what these troublesome legalistic Judaizers were dishing out. Titus knew the Word, he knew the truth, and Paul encouraged him to take his stand on sound doctrine and godly living and to raise up leaders who would do the same.

 

CONCLUSION: 

If we are to be useful to God in any way, we must first be changed at the core of our being through the New Birth. Without that heart transplant we cannot do anything to please God! Our good works are as “filthy rags” to Him (Isaiah 64:6).

 

But even as Christians we need to take a hard look at our character, our motives, and our actions. Is your motivation pure and unselfish and godly? Is your character Christlike and mature? And are your actions Spirit-controlled? Only then can we truly please God and accomplish His will.

 

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A personal note to my readers:

I love producing these studies and putting them online. While I am no longer in active full-time ministry since retiring, I still teach a weekly community Bible study here in Eastern Oregon where we now live. These study notes are what I am teaching each week. My prayer is always that they will be helpful to people seeking to know the Bible better. At the end of every study there is a comment box for people to weigh in with observations or questions but almost no one ever does that. I do not know why. Over the past few months, the number of people who are accessing the blog has risen and I am curious about who you are, how you found me, and how you are using the studies. Are you mostly using them in your personal devotions, or as source material for your teaching or preaching? Any way you use them is fine with me. I am just happy that you are finding them helpful. Please tell me a little about yourself – where in the world you live, what your life is like, how you are growing as a Christ follower – things like that. My email address is nosliwekim88@gmail.com. May God pour out His richest blessings on you and your ones. Mike