Titus Chapter One(part c)

by Lane



The Task at hand for the Eldership

10For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. 12One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." 13This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, 14not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15To 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 Cretan Prophet

Epimenidēs, semi-legendary Cretan poet, prophet, and wonder-worker, variously dated to between 600 and 500 BC, and credited with remarkable longevity, with wandering out of the body and with a miraculous sleep of 57 years (compare ARISTEAS). He is supposed to have visited Athens in about 600 BC to purify the city after the murder of Cylon's associates (see ALCMAEONIDAE). Tradition ascribed to him a theogony and other poems of a mystical nature. The quotation in St Paul's Epistle to Titus 1: 12, ‘Cretans are always liars’, is said to be from his work.



I. Until this point in our lessons we have talked about elders and the qualification of elders. Now we finally get to the point. The task of the elders is to refute false doctrine. As we have discussed, the elder has other duties and other qualifications but in Titus he more closely mirrors the image of the OT elder in respect to being the person who is the discerner of right and wrong concerning the law/gospel.

A. The purpose of the eldership is to reprove false doctrine. Now, how is that possible if we have elders who do not have an adequate education and particularly in light of what we know about the concept of the elder from the OT. Shouldn't the first thing we examine when seeking elders is those individuals' Bible knowledge? (OT Qualifications for Elder)

B. There is a difference in the emphasis comparing Titus chapter 1 to 1 Timothy 3. The emphasis in Titus is "Elder" and the emphasis in Timothy is "Overseers" (1 Tim.3:1).



Titus puts the emphasis on knowledge and learning and Timothy puts the emphasis on administration. The qualifications in Titus and Timothy are a little different at least in the way they are stated but the situation in the congregations are probably somewhat different.


II. And now to examine the text! Vs. 10-16

A. Our writer uses the word gar to link this section with the former section. Paul "demands" that the elders rebuke the false teachers (v.9).

a. There are many opponents and their actions are morally out of line (v.10)

b . Their impact on families is devastating (11b)

c . Their teachings are erroneous (v. 11c)

d . Their motivation mercenary (v.11b)

e . To emphasize the seriousness of the problem, Paul quotes a Cretan prophet who describes the evil that characterizes the Cretan people (v.12)

f . Paul says that the Cretan prophet was accurate in-so-far as the prophecy was fulfilled in the current situation and this calls for a sharp rebuke!

g. They are to call those away from practices and false teachings (.v 13-14).

g . In the concluding two verses we have an even more radical view.

(1) These people are not pure and to these people nothing can be pure!

(2) Then on this background, Paul says that they "profess to know God but their actions deny Him."


III. Who are the false teachers?

A. "those of the circumcision" (v.10)

B. "they pay attention to Jewish myths"(v.14)

C. "those who turn away from the truth" (v.14)

D. The implications are that these are Jewish Christians who have turned and gone back to their former ways.

E. There are several parallels here with Timothy.

Titus One

1 Timothy One

v.10

v.6

v.14

v.4

v.14

v.4

v.15

v.5

v.15

v.5


So here we have it. We have false teachers at Crete doing and teaching about the same thing that the false teachers were doing at Ephesus.