Titus 1:14-16

Titus 1:14-16

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

Verse 14

not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 

not paying attention

Here is the command: “Don’t pay attention to…”  In the Greek grammar we find that this is a participle, which is well translated here.  The present participle gives the idea of continuing present action.  We could view it as a weak imperative.  Not weak in the sense that we may disregard it if we want, but weak in the sense that it lacks the force of the imperative mood.  It is a command that says, to some degree, I assume you are doing this, or will be if you follow the other instructions given. 

Notice that the exhortation here is to “not pay attention.”  Notice that there is a distinction from our culture here.  There is an understanding that everyone should get a say, that every viewpoint should be considered.  The point that is being made here is that believers in Crete were NOT to give these false teachers an audience, and that the Jewish myths (which we will examine next) should be simply ignored, not searched through for some “hidden value” as we see many doing today.

Jewish myths

The Jewish myths that Paul was talking about are well known to us these days.  The books of the Apocrypha (that are still found in the Catholic Bible) are not regarded as Scripture at all.  The books involved in that body of literature are mostly fictional accounts written long after the facts.  They are not regarded by Jews as sacred, or inspired, but only the Catholic Church.  The Catholic Church seems to cleave to them because they support the idea of being able to give money to forgive sin (a practice of the Catholic Church, historically).  However, they are fictional accounts posing as Biblical history.  There is also a great deal of “apocalyptic” literature around this time.  These were long drawn out Jewish accounts of what Hell would be like and what would happen to people in Hell.  They were made to scare people, but they were not inspired literature.  They were the Jewish Myths that are very attractive to people because  they are “mystical” and “secret” and people love feeling like they have a bit of “secret” knowledge that no one else has. 

It should be noted that this heresy is in current circulation today.  Many are working to try to include the Apocrypha in protestant Bibles and study bibles.  One example of this is “The Spiritual Formation Study Bible.”  While there are a number of cautions and reasons not to even consider this work, one is that they place these “Jewish myths” on par with scripture by placing them directly in the middle of the text. 

commandments of men

These are extra laws or legalism as given by men.  These kind of commandments were probably dietary commandments.  Like the Judiaizers (those of the circumcision party) who would tell the Gentile Christians that they should not eat the foods that are forbidden by the Old Testament Law.  It would also be people who went around claiming that they should not eat meat, or drink wine.  This legalism has been plaguing the church since her birth in Acts 2.  It manifests itself in those who say “Christians don’t go to movies.” Or make such judgments about any other non-moral issue.  Getting caught up in the commandments of men takes our eyes off of our Savior and inevitably brings only destruction and the urging of Scripture is to ignore these extra, unbiblical rules.

turn away from the truth

These men (or people) who give these types of commandments are of the type that turn away from the truth.  Their character is that of turning from the truth.  They are not seeking after the truth and clinging to it, but they are turned away from it, making a legalism of their own for their own sinful reasons. 

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.

the pure

This declaration of the believer as “pure” comes from the position that Christ has put us in.  When you believed in Jesus Christ, trusting Him alone for your salvation, you were put “in Christ.”  (Romans 6:3-11) God put you in Christ, it is God’s will, not yours that put you there, and there has equipped you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3-14).  That is your position, that is how you are regarded, the believer is not pure because of what he or she has done, the believer is pure because of what Christ did. 

all things are pure

This verse is NOT telling us that anything a Christian does is pure.  This verse makes perfect sense in relation to the last phrase.  There are going to be those saying, “don’t do this, don’t eat that, don’t drink this, don’t use that.”  There were even some early Gnostic cults that claimed that the physical universe was ALL unclean and evil, that matter itself was evil, which is not the teaching of scripture.  To the person whom God has declared physically clean the material world contains nothing that is impure.  Not food, nor drink, nor any other legalism that someone may want to add to scripture.  This is giving the theological basis as to why legalism is silly: it is inconsistent with the truth that God has revealed in relation to our identity and position in Christ.

defiled and unbelieving

Defile means to be stained with color, like glass, or a fabric.  So this means those who are stained and morally polluted and corrupted.  The verb tense here suggests that Paul is saying that they have been polluted in the past and they are continuing to be more polluted to this day.  This is the unsaved person. The sin nature can do nothing pure.  The unsaved person can provide no good work.  Even with the best tools and most righteous starting place they are stained and defiled.

nothing is pure

So to these people nothing is pure at all.  Nothing good is going to come out of them.  They are too defiled, they should not be listened to.  We might say “Garbage in, Garbage out!”  We could imagine a dirty baking dish.  I mean really dirty, motor oil, filth, mud, is what was pictured in the last phrase.  Anything you cook in that dish will wind up being nothing but dirty!  Sure the chicken, potatoes and cheese were clean going in…but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure.

mind and their conscience

Paul is clear that even their minds and their consciences are seared.  They’re consciences still bear witness that they are not in the right, but they have been ruined and beaten into submission by their defiled and unbelieving actions.  The mind is, of course, the seat of intellect and where judgments are made based on incoming facts.  The conscience is the decider of right and wrong.  Thus, both faculties are not functioning as they are supposed to.  Neither is doing what it should.  They are stained, ruined, no longer useful.

Verse 16

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

profess

This word for “profess” is a compound word.  It combines the words for “same” and “word.”  So these people are “same wording” that they know God.  They are claiming, saying to those around them that they know God.  Here is the great irony in the life of the legalist: he THINKS he knows God better because of his good works and his abstinence from this or that non-moral issue.  The sad irony continues in that the world and most of “Christendom” has decided that this is correct.  Christianity looks at the one who has given up this, that or the other thing and lives his life by these or those laws and says, “My!  Isn’t he holy?”  When the reality is that none could be further from the heart of God!

know

This word for “know.”  Focuses on a kind of knowing that is personal, intuitive knowledge that has come by perception.  These people are claiming to know God in a very intuitive way, a very personal way, they are not just claiming to know about God.

deeds they deny

So by their works and their actions they are denying God.  They say one thing about who God is and what he demands of us, but then they deny him by what they actually do.  They deny him by the way they live their lives.  It is important to realize that there should be a deep connection in the life of any elder between what he teaches and how he lives out his life.  Keep in mind the legalist is trying to save or sanctify himself by his good works.  Paul is saying that these very good works deny Christ.  By their attempts to earn or preserve their salvation they deny that he needed to go to the cross: “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” (Galatians 2:10)

detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed

Paul is filled with disgust for these people who were ruining the churches all over Crete.  Disgusted with their lies and their hypocrisy he declares then absolutely horrid; saying that they are detestable (which could also be translated “sickening”) disobedient, and WORTHLESS for good work.  This means that they are incapably of doing any truly good deed. It does not mean that they can’t do kind things, or right things like giving to the poor, or helping the sick, but it means that everything that comes out of them is defiled and cannot be called “good” because it is not from God.  Their works are NOT those of Eph. 2:10.