“Liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons”
Chapter 1:10-2:1
Introduction:
In Proverbs 11:14 we read; “Where there is no guidance the people fall, But in abundance of counsellors there is victory.” In the Body of Messiah there is plurality in leadership and accountability. Paul and Barnabas were sent out on a missionary task from the assembly at Antioch and after they had successfully completed the task given to them by the Holy Spirit had to report back to the assembly and its elders to give an account for their work (Acts 13:1-3; 14:26-28). Likewise we see the apostles Peter and John working together in their ministry (Acts 3:1-4:1-22). Later we see Peter giving accountability to the other apostles at Jerusalem for his ministry to the Gentiles in the household of Cornelius at Caesarea (Acts 11:1-18). Leadership in the local assembly of New Covenant believers was never “a one-man show.” There are leadership gifts of the Spirit which are individuals gifted for leadership within the wider Body of Messiah to equip the congregations for works of ministry (Ephesians 4:11-13).
In every assembly Paul established he ordained elders to have spiritual oversight. Corporate leadership is an advantage when the individual leaders are united in their understanding of God’s Word and open to the voice of the Spirit, especially when there are problems that need addressing (Acts 15:1-21). Elders then have the primary responsibility to exercise spiritual oversight and the qualifications for this ministry are very clear as we have seen in our last study in Titus and also affirmed in Paul’s first letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 3:1-7). Now in this study we see how Paul instructed Titus to put to silence the false teachers. These were not in submission to those having spiritual oversight; neither were these false teachers subject to the authority of the Holy Spirit. Paul As an apostle now deals with this situation on Crete. Let’s look at our text…
Chapter 1:10-2:1
(Vs.10-2:1) “For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. “You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.”
Exposition:
“For there are many rebellious people;”
These were men were rebellious. The word for “rebellious” describes “one who cannot be made to subject to those who have legitimate authority who cannot be subjected to control, who are disobedient and unruly, obstinate and difficult to work with opposed to correction.” These were many that sought to infiltrate the wider corporate Body of Messiah and it seems there were quite a number of them on the Island of Crete seeking through false teaching to cause strife and division in the assemblies located on the island.
“…full of meaningless talk and deception;”
These men were filled up to the brim with meaningless talk. The words “meaningless talk’ describes “one who is an idle talker, armed with senseless words that have no spiritual depth in them or based of the Word of God.” They in fact “utter senseless things.” They can talk and persuade others with their rhetoric and displays of oratory, especially those believers in the assemblies who are not used to solid spiritual doctrine but are still babes in Messiah. Just as a wolf circles the flock of sheep seeking to snatch a young lamb that strays from the fold, so these rebellious talkers seek to snatch away those who are not established in sound doctrine. At the very root of their talk lies spiritual deception. These are “the wolves in sheep’s clothing” the Lord Jesus warned us about (Matthew 7:15-23).
As it is also written; “When words are many, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19). This is not referring to a talkative person but one who is always talking nonsense without giving adequate thought to their words or how it might be affecting others. In the case of these false teachers on Crete they were not only espousing meaningless words empty of any genuine spiritual virtue, but behind their words lurked spiritual deception. The word “deception” can be translated as “a deceiver or seducer of the mind,” or we could say “a mind-misleader.” The thought life is involved in this spiritual seduction which seeks to turn the mind away from sound thinking and doctrine. All of us need to watch how we talk to others especially those who are young in the faith and exercise restraint in order to avoid speech that does not edify anyone.
“…especially those of the circumcision group”
This clearly is a reference to those who were Jewish believers who were teaching and insisting that New Covenant believers must be circumcised and keep or observe ceremonial law. This was a denial of the complete sufficiency of the finished atoning and redeeming work of the Messiah our Lord Jesus fully accomplished at the cross. In his letter to the Galatians Paul addressed the seriousness of this matter in no uncertain terms. Paul knew the futility of seeking to maintain a works-based righteousness which was at the very core of Judaism at that time. In fact Paul became quite angry about these religious Jews who could not accept that salvation was by grace through faith and not by observing the law with its religious rules and regulations (Ephesians 2:8-10). This subject comes up later in this letter (3:5-7).
“They must be silenced”
Literally they must be “muzzled” as you would muzzle a wild and uncontrollable dog that bites or “bridles” a wild horse that needs to be broken. The fact that this “must” be done is a command, not an option for Titus and the faithful elders who assisted him. False doctrine must be muzzled because it spreads like gangrene.
“…because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.”
The word “disrupting’ describes those who are “overthrowing, overturning, destroying and subverting” whole households or families. Today over the internet and through live streaming many false doctrines are being peddled being beamed into the living rooms of millions and those propagating them are teaching things they ought not to be teaching and that for money. These false teachers on Crete were just like the hyper faith teachers today that are teaching doctrines that promote and mask covetousness and godliness as a means to financial gain (1 Timothy 6:5).
Possibly in the time of Titus these false teachers had been going from door to door of believer’s homes seeking to turn those living there from the faith once delivered to the saints and entice them to embrace another gospel. While the man of the house might be at work his wife and children would be at home and be influenced by these connivers peddling their wares for profit. These wolves in sheep’s clothing are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak willed women loaded down with sins and open to be persuaded and swayed by all kinds of evil desires. These false teachers may be skilled in their pernicious doctrines and always learning and developing their so called ‘theology’ but never able to acknowledge the truth (2 Timothy 3:6-7). Such men must be muzzled!
“Even one of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This saying is true.”
Paul quotes one of Crete’s sages or poetic spokesman who lived around 600BC. Paul equates these false teachers with the same character traits that Cretan’s were known for in the ancient world. It would seem that the Cretans excelled in their depravity. The behaviour of these false teachers Paul it seems equates with the character and behaviour of the unsaved Cretans. Paul describes the Cretans as perpetual “liars” describing them as those “who breaks faith with others, who are false and faithless men.” They were “evil brutes, of a bad nature, not such that should be living in this way, an evil way or mode of thinking, feeling and acting, base, wrong, wicked, unprincipled, troublesome, injurious, pernicious, destructive and baneful.”
They were evil “brutes” describing them as “wild animals or beasts, as brutal, bestial men, savage and ferocious in character.” They were also “lazy gluttons” describing “those who do not do an honest day’s work and are at leisure to pursue their own pernicious course of meddling in the lives and the affairs of others.” Wild beasts tear and rip up their victims in their frenzy to satiate their own appetites, and that without restraint. This is how Paul describes the pagan lifestyles of the Cretans who were “Liars, evil brutes and lazy gluttons.” These religious legalistic Jews, though believers in Messiah, were teaching things in the assemblies on Crete that ought not to be taught and to continue in this course they were in danger of becoming just like the pagan Cretans in God’s sight. Having said this, Paul now instructs Titus to deal with these legalistic Jewish believers in the hope that they will repent and once again embrace sound apostolic doctrine and the faith once delivered to the saints.
“Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth.”
Paul does not tell Titus to reject these teachers in the hope that they might repent of their ways as they were not as yet living on the level as the unsaved pagans on Crete. The word “rebuke” is a very strong and stern warning. It means; “to convict, to refute, to shame, to bring to light to expose to find fault with, to correct” and by word “to reprehend severely, to chide, admonish to reprove, to call to account, to show one his fault and demand an explanation.” By deed the word also describes; “to chasten and to punish.” False teaching is not treated lightly or tolerated in any shape or form in the Word of God. In both Testaments false teachers and prophets were severely judged by the LORD as false doctrine leads to false belief and behaviour. In fact what we believe will determine how we speak and act and think. These men who had been unsettling the assemblies on Crete with their false teaching were to be rebuked “sharply.” The word describes “an abrupt manner, sharply, severely and curtly.”
The reason for the stern and sharp rebuke was not to reject them as believers but to make them “sound in the faith.” The word “sound” from the spiritual perspective conveys the idea of “keeping spiritually healthy, whose opinions are free from any mixture of error who keeps the graces of the character of the Lord Jesus and is strong in their convictions of the truth.” The rebuke was in the expectancy of making these religious legalists become exemplary believers, whose convictions were based on the solid foundation of apostolic teaching and not on the foundation of Jewish myths and the commands of those who reject the truth. In fact they were told not to even pay attention to them.
The Judaizers lived in a world of religious fantasies and rules and regulations around clean and unclean foods, the observance of days, and the avoidance of ceremonial defilement. Paul wrote about these matters in Colossians when he said; “These things have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and the neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the fleshly fallen nature” (Colossians 2:23).
“To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.”
The word “pure” has three applications. Firstly; “to something physically that is clean and purified by fire” or in a similitude “like a vine cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit.” Secondly; It is used in a Levitical sense of something “clean, the use of which is not forbidden and imparts no uncleanliness.” Thirdly; it is used in an ethical sense denoting; “Something or someone free from corrupt desire, from sin and guilt, free from every admixture of what is false, sincere genuine, blameless, innocent and unstained with the guilt of anything.” This purity is not one of perfection, but more so purity of motive; that purity based on adherence to the Word of God by faith rather than adding to that faith man made traditions, religious rules and regulations and ceremonies and myths that have no spiritual power in themselves to restrain the indulgence of the fleshly fallen nature.
In writing to Titus about these Judaizers Paul had not been speaking about matters of clear cut morality, of things that are inherently right or wrong. Rather, he had been discussing matters of moral indifference, things that were ceremonially defiling for a Jew living under the law but that are perfectly legitimate for a New Covenant believer in Messiah living under grace by faith. As we also read; “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
An obvious example concerning a matter of moral indifference would be the eating of pork. It was forbidden by God in the Old Testament for His people Israel, however, the Lord Jesus changed all that when He said that nothing entering into a man such as food can defile him (Mark 7:15). In saying this He pronounced all foods in themselves clean (Mark 7:19). Paul echoed this truth when he said; “But food does not commend us to God; neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse” (1 Corinthians 8:8). When Paul says “to the pure all things are pure,” he meant that to a born again New Covenant believer in Messiah all foods are clean. It is not what a person eats physically that defiles him but what comes out of his heart, the centre of his affections (Mark 7:20-23).
As for us as New Covenant believers in the Messiah our Lord Jesus the Law of God has been written deep down on the inside of us on our hearts by the Spirit of God and through the Spirit we are empowered to keep the moral laws of scripture (Jeremiah 31:33-34) (Romans 8:2). Apart from the indwelling Holy Spirit no man can keep God’s laws and commandments and this is why insisting on religious rules, ceremonies and regulations as additives to faith nullifies the truth that the just shall live by faith and not by religious additives to faith or by good works alone. We do good works because we have been saved, not to get saved! (Ephesians 2:8-10).This subject comes up later in this letter (3:3-7).
“…but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.”
The word “corrupted” describes “to dye one colour with another colour, to stain a garment, to defile and pollute, to sully, to soil or to contaminate.” From the spiritual perspective it is “to defile with sins.” The only thing that can remove the deep stain of sin is the blood of Messiah (1 John 1:7-9). Religious rules, regulations, traditions and adherence to ceremonial Jewish law cannot get deep down on the inside to cleanse the soul from sin. Even the sacrificial blood of bulls and goats required in the Old Testament sacrifices could only temporarily atone or cover for sin (Hebrews 10:4). It is only the blood of Messiah the Passover lamb sacrificed for us that has fully and forever atoned for sin and when applied by the Holy Spirit to our heart and life the Messiah’s blood has the power to go down deep inside of us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and empower us to keep ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting sanctification in the fear of God. (1 John 1:9) (Hebrews 9:14) (2 Corinthians 7:1).
These Judaizers were teaching another gospel as it were. Paul deals with this matter at length in the letter of Galatians. This corruption of the gospel involves unbelief and to those who do not believe, nothing is pure. “Those who do not believe” are those “who are unfaithful, without faith, not to be trusted, treacherous, sceptical and disbelieving.” If a man is spiritually impure deep down on the inside, and one who does not have faith in the Lord Jesus, then nothing is pure to him that God calls pure. The observance of religious dietary laws as well as other religious laws and regulations, such as the Judaizers on Crete would have stipulated for all who believe, would do nothing spiritually for the one who needed to become a new spiritual creation in Messiah (2 Corinthians 5:17). In fact Paul also writes…
“…In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.”
What we allow our thoughts to focus on directly connects to our conscience. It is so important to be aware of the thoughts we entertain as it affects our conscience and if our thought life is not pure then our conscience will be spiritually defiled. We must not ignore our conscience as it can make shipwreck of our faith. As Paul writing to Timothy states; “Cling to your faith in Messiah, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked” (1 Timothy 1:19).
Religious rules and regulations cannot deal with a guilty conscience defiled by unconfessed sin. Salvation is a free gift due to God’s favour towards sinners as all of us are. It is His favour we can never earn or merit by good works or by keeping religious rules, regulations and observances of man-made religious traditions. The very minds and consciences of spiritually defiled people are corrupted. Their mental processes and their moral powers are defiled. It is not a question of external, ceremonial defilement, but of inward corruption and depravity. As Jeremiah the prophet writes; “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (beyond cure by human standards). Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
“They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him.”
Just claiming to know God does not mean that we really know Him. One may be very skilled in scripture and in Biblical doctrine and know all about Him and be very eloquent and persuasive in speech and even doing good works, however if their actions run contrary to their profession of Him then they in fact deny Him. The word “deny” describes “one who denies another, to be false to ones confession of fidelity to God, to not accept, to reject and to refuse something offered.” Such are those who lay claim to heaven but are not in subjection to Him who inhabits the entire universe and eternity itself, and the only one who can offer a salvation that saves the sinner from the power of sin through the Blood of Messiah (Revelation 1:5b). He saves as sinner from the power of sin, not in their sin (Matthew 1:21) (1 John 1:7-9).
As we also read; “Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:7-9). One cannot make a practice of living righteously by faith while making a practice of living a sinful life at the same time. A salvation that leaves a sinner wallowing around in the miry pit of living a perpetually sinful life is not Biblical salvation.
These false teachers or Judaizers by their insistence of keeping religious rules and regulations did not understand that trying to keep the law and religious ordinances and ceremonies by human standards and ability only increases the propensity to sin. For example if you tell a young child who loves trains not to look at trains, not to read picture books about trains, and not to even consider riding on a train the thing he will want to do the most is ride on a train. Now there is nothing wrong of course with a little child wanting to ride on a train or look at picture books about trains. The point of the illustration is that there is something deep within all of us, being our sinful nature, that wants to violate God’s laws and fulfil the lusts of that fallen human nature, and the more we seek to supress this by self-will or even by religious observances, or by trying to subdue our passions by harsh and rigorous physical treatment of our bodily appetites, the more those desires for what is pleasing to the flesh manifest themselves.
The only solution is to be born again deep down on the inside and become a new creation in Messiah where the old life of perpetual sin has gone and the new life of righteousness has begun and continuously sustained through the power of the Messiah’s blood and the Holy Spirit (Romans 7:10-25; 8:1-15) (2 Corinthians 5:17) (Revelation 1:5-6; 7:14; 12:11).
Now it also needs to be said that even though we have become partakers of God’s nature, that new divine nature down deep on the inside of us we received when we were born again (2 Peter 1:3-4), we still have to contend with those sins that can so easily beset us and if we do not walk in the Spirit by faith, and walk in step with Him, and constantly claim the keeping power of the Messiah’s blood over our daily lives, then we will never have the power to overcome Satan or the sinful passions that wrestle against the spiritual desires of the new divine nature.
However, when we testify to what the Word of God says the blood of Jesus does for us we will overcome Satan at every turn. Only in this way can the passions of our fallen nature be supressed and made inoperative and enable us to love not our lives in this world with God’s power not to shrink from death because we belong to the Lord Jesus (Galatians 5:16-25) (Revelation 12:11). When we happen to commit an individual sin, as we all do, know that we have an advocate with the Father the Messiah our Lord Jesus our Great High Priest, the righteous one sitting at the right hand of God the Father in heaven’s court (Hebrews 7:24-25), where He ever lives to intercede for us (1 John 2:1-2) and that His blood has power to cleanse us from all sin when we confess it and claim its power by faith (1 John 1:7-9).
When you consider this so great a salvation provided for us through the blood and merit of the Messiah our Lord Jesus and received by faith any other so called way of salvation is an abomination before God and those who perpetrate it are cursed! (Galatians 1:8). So these Judaizers on Crete disturbing the assemblies with another gospel were on very slippery ground and needed to silenced and repent big time! Paul pulled no punches where they were concerned.
They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.”
There are three things Paul says about these false teachers peddling another gospel. Firstly; they are “detestable” or those “deserving to be disgusting, loathsome, or repellent or scorned, or odious.” Secondly; Paul says they are “disobedient” or those “unable to be persuaded, not compliant, obstinate, rebellious and insubordinate, perverse, stubborn and wilfully disobedient to a summons to attend court.” Thirdly Paul says they are “unfit” or those “not approved, not standing the test, that which does not prove itself such as it ought, unfit for, unproved, spurious and reprobate.” Doing good is doing those things that spring from a cleansed heart and life that is seeking to walk according to the Word of God and in step with the Holy Spirit of God. When we look at Paul’s writing concerning these Judaizers preaching another gospel it shows us how serious it is in God’s sight when one teaches unsound and unbiblical doctrines. Paul then gives an instruction to Titus that is imperative.
“You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.”
Titus was to speak clearly and boldly, to stand out, to be conspicuous, not in relation to himself of course, but to the things he was teaching with nothing added or taken away from the centrality of his message. It had to be in accord or aligned with “sound doctrine” that which was “free from any mixture or error of one that keeps the graces of Jesus character and is strong in those graces.” The “doctrine” that was taught by the apostles which we have today in the completed canon of scripture. Today in wider Christendom there is a lack of sound doctrine and expository preaching is a dying spiritual discipline in many pulpits today. C.H. Spurgeon that great 19th century expositor of sound Biblical truth said a sadly prophetic thing. “A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats!” How sadly prophetic!
