Read with Me
Titus 1:10-16 (HCSB)
For there are also many rebellious people, full of empty talk and deception, especially those from Judaism. It is necessary to silence them; they overthrow whole households by teaching what they shouldn’t in order to get money dishonestly. One of their very own prophets said,
Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.
This testimony is true. So, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith and may not pay attention to Jewish myths and the commands of men who reject the truth.
To the pure, everything is pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; in fact, both their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified for any good work.
Listen with Me
Here Paul outlines some of the issues that the Church in Crete was facing. These issues were not limited to Crete, but they existed to some extent in the broader Church across Europe and Asia.
One of the large problems facing the Church was the faction known by some as the Judaizers, and by others as “the circumcision group”. Many of these were Pharisees (Acts 15:5), and they believed that Jesus had come as the Jewish Messiah. So, they taught that in order to be saved, one first had to become Jewish through circumcision and adherence to all the fine points of the Jewish law, including all the dietary laws. This issue had already been decided by the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:22-29), but that had not stopped some of the Judaizers from continuing to push their own doctrines.
They were causing a lot of distress among the believers, persuading many that, even though they had believed in Jesus, even though they had been baptized, and even though they had received the Holy Spirit, they were not truly saved. And many of them had set themselves up in business, promising to fill in the gaps and ensure true salvation for a fee. Paul wanted this practice to be stopped immediately.
Paul had tried many methods for both silencing the Judaizers and helping others to avoid their corruption during his own ministry. He had found that gentle persuasion was not effective. Therefore, he recommended that stern public rebuke be used in these cases. And this process was not to be used only for the Judaizers, but for all who were trying to corrupt the pure teachings of the gospel with their own slant, their own “personal philosophies”.
Paul’s goal in this was not the ejection of these people, but their repentance and restoration to the right path (Luke 17:3; 1 Timothy 5:20). Only if they refused to repent would stronger measures be needed or taken.
But Paul also warned that continued rebellion was more than just a sign of lack of knowledge or of being “set in one’s ways”. It was the sign of a heart that was in rebellion against God and His commands. It was the fruit of a bad tree that would continue to spread its corruption to others in the Church, and for that reason, it must be dealt with quickly and strongly.
Pray with Me
Father, it seems like many today are reluctant to deal strongly with those who not only have wandered far from the clear truth of Your word, but who have also set themselves up as enlightened teachers and are spreading their doctrine of error widely throughout the Church. Often, they clothe themselves in the garments of tolerance or advanced spirituality that feels free to twist or even disregard what You clearly wrote in Your word, claiming that those restrictions or teachings are from a more primitive, less enlightened time. But in the process, they end up literally preaching a different gospel that is to be completely condemned by those who know the truth (Galatians 1:8-9). Paul understood that unless those false teachers were actively opposed and publicly rebuked, their false teachings would continue to grow and to corrupt the faith of many. Help us, Lord, to have eyes that see the truth, and hearts that are strong enough to stand for the truth of Your word against all who would corrupt it. Amen.