Titus 1:1–16

"Bondman of God" is unusual. In the letter to the Romans Paul calls himself "bondman of Jesus Christ." He does the same in the letter to the Philippians, where he joins Timothy with himself. Only here is it "bondman of God and apostle of Jesus Christ." No Christian should doubt that this relationship to God fits this letter in a special way.

To be an overseer is a good work. But Titus was called, among other things, to appoint overseers: clearly a far more delicate and responsible service. Self-importance can slip in here, as it often has even with excellent men. Paul had authorised and directed Titus in that high service. So he begins with that firm statement: "Paul, bondman of God." All was worthless if the will of God was not done.

Two of the ablest recent commentators have dropped "according to" and adopted "for." But that loses the special force of the scripture before us... People tend to treat Christianity as a continuation of Judaism, and more or less an improvement on it. But the whole system of legal rules and ceremonies has come to its end; Christ had wiped it out and taken it away, nailing it to the cross... It is now a question of what God has done and given, as revealed in the person of Christ, and so of faith on the part of God's elect. The elect nation is no longer the platform of His ways.

So faith was found, not in the confession of the Jews, but in the elect brought by grace to the knowledge of the truth. It was the faith of the elect: this is an important truth, and it is what marks out faith in the world. Others may indeed adopt it as a system; but faith is in itself the faith of the elect.

The sovereignty of God comes before us here. Long before God created Adam, or the corrupt sons of Japheth disgraced the island of Crete, God had chosen His own. He has chosen certain people for life, and He did it in His own absolute and unsearchable counsel.

The knowledge of the truth which is "after godliness" goes with this faith. The word should not be translated "acknowledging," but "full knowledge." It makes the previous phrase clearer, for this truth puts everything in its place and brings the soul into contact with God. When someone knows God like this, true piety follows. That is very different from making a show of being good.

We must not hide the faith of God's elect away. We must own it before men and before the enemy, as well as learn it from God. We must confess it without compromise, no matter what the difficulty. We must never give up the acknowledgment of the truth — not just the belief of it.

Notice too that godliness marks the truth. Here is a very good test, and you can use it in either direction. People press certain things on us as the very truth of God. We may not be up to the task of analysing them, comparing them with Scripture and proving them false. Yet we can see without difficulty that accepting them as truth leads to throwing off godliness. That is enough. These things are not the truth of God.

These two, truth and godliness, belong together. If someone gives up the truth or fails to hold it, godliness goes too. The truth must show itself in godliness.

I understand that before the ages of time refers to that eternal purpose which was in the secret of God's mind, or to which He was committed, unknown to the creature. It was there before God brought any revealed age into existence, and to Him there is no time. … God has given many promises in time, to encourage His people on their way. But this was a counsel and promise before any of the ages in which His government is displayed on earth.

If the purpose itself was eternal, the promise given to us is no doubt in the words of God to the woman in the Garden of Eden, that her seed would crush the serpent's head. God gave that promise before He sent man out of the garden to be tested under His different ways of dealing with him. These ages clearly only began in connection with man estranged from God.

It is almost impossible for man, who is naturally false, to take in the idea of absolute truthfulness. … The Cretans were strongly marked by this devilish characteristic; they were "always liars." They had been raised in an atmosphere of falsehood, and they had never met truth until the gospel came to them. … It was a change for men who until then had dealt only with liars, now to have to do with One to whom lying was an impossibility.

In Titus 1 the Holy Spirit adds, about the promise of eternal life, that the One who made the promise could not fail to carry it out for the elect, for He says, God "cannot lie."

This does not in any way deny that the believer now has eternal life as a living reality in his soul. But in the future he will also enter into those outward circumstances that are vibrant with the same life. There will be nothing around him then that is subject to death and decay.

Eternal life is truly given to the believer now, and this revelation is by no means uncommon in our apostle's writings. John's writings make its present possession stand out, whether the Gospel or his First Epistle. But Paul often treats it according to its future display. … He looks on to life in glory.

The counsel of God — what was in God's mind connecting us with Christ, and existed before the world did — came out in the gospel, and never came out until after Christ came and died and made atonement.

Between the promise and the realisation of eternal life there has been the proclamation of it in the testimony of God. In that testimony the Apostle Paul had a special part, as minister of the Gospel and minister of the church.

Far from God giving up His glorious counsels, the truth of eternal life comes out far more fully in the decay of Christian profession. A sad flood of evils had swept over Christendom. That was just the moment when the Holy Spirit drew attention to something more than the grace of God saving sinners and the faithfulness of God keeping His own children. He pointed to the character of the life that was their portion in Christ.

There was a certain time chosen by God for making His mind known — when all man's failure had been exposed, his history run out, and his utter ruin proved. Crete was without doubt a glaring example of this. Paul had the great work of preaching the word committed to him by our Saviour-God.

It was God's counsel before the foundation of the world, but it was never brought out until the cross... All this glorious purpose, glorious for us and for God, was never brought out — never hinted at — until Christ laid a righteous ground for it in the cross. Then God brought it out and said, "That is what I am going to do."

It was there before the world began, no doubt. But at the proper time God manifested His word through the preaching. This lets us see the very special place Christianity has in the ways of God. We do not often notice a very striking and obvious fact. For by far the largest part of this world's history, no such thing as preaching was known. We are so used to thinking of preaching that we do not always weigh what it means, or what light it casts on the character of God.

Verse 2 of our chapter looks on into a coming eternity, when the promise made in a past eternity will be fulfilled. Verse 3 speaks of the present, in which God is making His word known through preaching... It would be good if everyone who shares in this great work today felt its dignity and importance deeply. It will go badly for us if we make the preaching a platform for showing off our own cleverness or importance! It is for the manifestation of the word of God.

The truth shown in the word has come to us through the "preaching" which God specially committed to the apostle, with all His authority, for the Gentiles. As we know, that preaching was to continue through "faithful men, who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:2).

We now see that eternal life only in the word of God. What God has made known "at the proper time" is of course the full truth of Christianity, preached publicly and specially entrusted to Paul. "The command of God our Saviour" had decided this — not any special ability or energy on Paul's part.

"God our Saviour" is a wonderful title. It is found only in the letters to Timothy and Titus. That He should Himself seek to save rebels against His own majesty is a marvel indeed... He was under no obligation to save any of His rebellious creatures. He might have declared Himself "God our Judge"... "God our Saviour" is not so familiar a thought to some as "Jesus our Saviour." The popular idea is a severe God and a gracious Jesus... "God our Saviour" means that the very One we have sinned against has Himself, in His great love, provided everything His throne required. Who would distrust such a God?

It is even more striking how the term Saviour is applied to both God and the Lord Jesus in such a way as to assure us that Jesus is God. In Titus 1 it is "God our Saviour" in verse 3 and "Christ our Saviour" in verse 4. In Titus 3 it is "God our Saviour" in verse 4 and "Christ our Saviour" in verse 6. In Titus 2 it is "our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ" in verse 13.

A Greek convert, Paul's "own son after the common faith." The apostle took him to Jerusalem, but because he was a Greek he was not circumcised. Gal. 2:1-3. Paul describes him to the Corinthian church as "my partner and fellow-helper" on their behalf.

So the apostle gives Titus the same title he gave Timothy in his first letter. There it is simply "in faith"; here it is "according to common faith." Both men believed the same truth of Christ — Paul the Jew and Titus the Gentile. There is not only one body, the church; there is also a faith shared by all Christians. The highest in spiritual place, power and authority shares it with the least believer, even a Scythian or a slave, who calls on the same Lord — the Lord who is rich in grace toward all who call on His name.

He is writing to Titus, his true child, as he says — his child just as Timothy was, his child in the faith, since God used him to pass that faith on... Each soul must stand before God for itself. We are not saved in a crowd; we are saved one by one. And all through life, the more simply we deal with God Himself, for ourselves, as if no one else existed, the more fit we will be for fellowship with others.

Paul calls Titus his "own child after the common faith," because Titus was converted through him. He wishes him grace — the favour of God that lifts a person above all circumstances. Mercy — God's compassion while he is in those circumstances. And peace — the calm of soul to carry him through them.

He wishes the believers in Rome, as in all his letters, grace and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ... When he writes to one person, something else comes in: that person's own weakness and frailty. So the writers of Scripture add "mercy" when they write to a single person. (See the letters to Timothy and Titus, and the Second Letter of John.)

It is hard, though, to resist the weight of the manuscript evidence. The conclusion would be that the apostle's heart went out to desire "mercy" for Timothy in particular, while he was content to wish Titus "grace and peace," as he usually did when writing to believers at large... But if "mercy" is not stated here, "grace" implies it. Grace is the spring from which mercy flows, and peace is the result always to be desired.

God saves us to make us His heirs, and it is striking how this letter presents Him as Saviour. It is even more striking that the letter gives the title Saviour to both God and the Lord Jesus, in a way that assures us Jesus is God. In Titus 1, it is "God our Saviour" in verse 3, and "Christ our Saviour" in verse 4. In Titus 3, it is "God our Saviour" in verse 4, and "Christ our Saviour" in verse 6. In Titus 2, it is "our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ" in verse 13.

Here, in Titus, the apostle says plainly that he had left him in Crete to set in order things that were still lacking, and to establish elders in every city... The subject of this book is the walk that suits Christians, in keeping order in their relationships with each other. It is also the great principles on which this walk is founded.

The apostle's stay was short, so some things were still lacking that it could not complete. There was also the need to appoint elders, and that regularly came after the saints were gathered — sometimes long after. This implies that several cities, perhaps many, had assemblies in them, and that elders were appointed in each one later... we know from elsewhere in the New Testament that more than one elder in any given assembly was the rule, and so no doubt it was at Crete.

Then the apostle states the qualifications needed for anyone who would fill such an office. Here we see that the office of elder and the office of overseer are the same. (Compare verse 5 with verse 7.) The term elder was the title of respect; the term overseer was the one that described the work.

The apostle had committed this task to the proven faithfulness of Titus. He gave Titus his own authority by word of mouth and here in writing. So to reject Titus was to reject the apostle, and therefore the Lord who had sent him. Authority in the assembly of God is a serious thing — a thing that comes from God Himself. It can be exercised through influence by the gift of God, and by officeholders, when God establishes them through instruments He has chosen and sent for this purpose.

Notice a matter of the greatest importance. The apostle does not specify a particular gift as needed for these local charges. Scripture takes marked care to guard against that dangerous confusion, which soon marked Christendom and formed the separation of clergy from laity... A gift and a charge may well be combined in the same person. But in themselves, and for most people who have only one of the two, they are completely different. The gift was one given by Christ to the church, from the greatest to the least, without any human involvement. The charge of "elders" or "overseers" needed more than fitness. It also needed choice or appointment by a competent authority that Scripture defines.

Scripture makes no provision for such appointments to continue. We can only see them as a way of establishing the church in its earliest state. Of course, there is no authority now for appointing elders. Yet the saints should still recognise men with the qualifications seen here and in 1 Timothy, valuing their wisdom and experience. Then order can be kept easily, without official appointment.

"If anyone is blameless (or unaccused)." How can he correct others if he is open to blame himself? "Husband of one wife." If married, he must have only one wife. Many people outside Israel had several at the same time, and Jews divorced a wife easily when they preferred another. "Having children faithful, not accused of excess (or loose living), or unruly." Having several wives would bar a man, whatever his fitness in other ways; disreputable children would bar him too.

The overseer had to be blameless, "the husband of one wife." In that day a man could have several wives at once, so the rule for anyone holding office in the Church of God was to have only one wife. It clearly does not mean that a man whose wife had died would be unfit for office if he married again.

He must be the husband of one wife. This requirement had special force for those coming out of a pagan background where a man could have several wives. A converted man with more than one wife was not to be rejected, but he was not fit for oversight.

The office of elder and overseer, we see here, is the same. The term elder was the title of respect; the term overseer described the work… The qualifications listed here are much the same as those given in the instructions to Timothy. But here, where dealing with people who contradict the truth is the prominent thought, Paul reminds Titus that the children of such a man should be believers (v. 6).

If a man is to help keep order, he must be a proper example of order in his own life and in his family life. His children were to show that they were subject to order.

Anyone who would keep order in the house of God must first show that he can keep order in his own house. He must be blameless in his family life — the husband of one wife, with no charge of wild living or defiance against his household.

Perhaps this neglect happened before he was converted. Perhaps, after his conversion, he took up the evil idea of leaving the children to themselves, on the faithless excuse that God would convert them sometime if He saw fit… For such an office it was not so much a question of gifts as of moral weight. A man might be a prophet, a teacher, an evangelist — a disorderly wife or children would not cancel his gifts. But he should not be an elder unless he brought up his children with godliness and seriousness.

The qualities required in an elder are much the same as in Timothy, above all the family qualities; for the elder is to be a father in the local assembly.

As to elders, an apostle chooses them (Acts 14:23), or leaves a representative for a time to appoint them (Titus 1:5-9)… The church is never invited to select them… Paul left Titus in Crete specifically to set in order what he had left undone, and to appoint elders in every city, as the apostle had appointed Titus and no one else.

"Elder" expresses the dignity of the person, drawn from the respect due to age. The elder need not be an aged man, but a man of experience. So people used the title even where there was no great age, wherever a man suited the position. "Bishop," or overseer, expresses instead the nature of the office: to take moral account of the saints and to maintain godly order. Oversight, in short, was the constant duty, privately and publicly.

The expression "steward of God" is a remarkable one. Even in this world, a sensible man of property will not employ a steward unless he has an irreproachable character. The charge is one of great responsibility and honour.

He must be "not self-willed," or headstrong. It is the grossest mistake to think that self-will implies courage, though it may lead to rashness or even recklessness. Nothing gives such quiet firmness as knowing you are doing the will of God. Then a man can be lowly and patient, but uncompromising… Self-will haughtily disregards both God and man. How shameful in an overseer!

Again, he must be "not soon angry," not irascible. Scarcely anything weakens authority more than a tendency to explosions of anger. The weight of a rebuke, however just it may be, is easily lost when a man is overcome with angry heat. Calmness gives weight and force to a needed rebuke. The next negation is perhaps figurative. Literally it means not staying long over wine, or being disorderly through it. So it generally comes to mean "not a brawler." Being addicted to wine is certainly ruled out. But even a Christian free from that suspicion is unfit to be God's steward if he is easily heated, noisy and quarrelsome.

Men in authority are quite apt to fall into another fault, but it is unworthy of an overseer. He must not seek gain by base means. He must stand firm against greed for dishonest money. The man called to rule before God among the saints must guard against this debasing evil at least as much as against the sins of violence. If he were faulty here, with what face could he rebuke those sins, as it is his duty to do?

Self-will is the strong intention of having one's own way, a most destructive element in the assembly of God. An elder is not to indulge in wine, nor to be a striker — that is, striking back against what he considers injustice. Nor is he to have the sort of character that seeks earthly gain by questionable means. Notice in all of these the necessity of controlling himself: his desires, his temper, his appetite, his resentment against wrongs, his selfishness. In other words, if he is to keep the assembly in order for God, he must certainly know how to control himself.

Evangelists and teachers have their place. But we should also value those who work in a simpler, less obvious way. Day by day they devote themselves to strengthen the links of affection and to check the sources of disorder that keep springing up in Christian assemblies. These are the people whom competent authority once appointed as elders, or overseers… And if we see men of such ways and gifts working now, we should respect and acknowledge them. They have the qualities and do the work of elders, though circumstances make their formal appointment no longer possible.

The absence of evil qualities is not enough. The assembly of God is the only sphere on earth for the exercise and display of what is divine. To steer clear of the ordinary snares of men in office could never satisfy the mind of God. The overseer was called to be hospitable, without a thought of invitation or repayment in return... It is plain, then, that it was not in the least on the ground of previous acquaintance, or of social equality.

Hospitality has a large place in the Scriptures. Peter gives a striking instruction: "Show hospitality to one another without grumbling" (1 Peter 4:9). Why "without grumbling"? Perhaps the apostle, as a married man, knew that hospitality costs money, work and self-sacrifice. Extra food must be bought, sleeping space provided, and extra plates, knives, forks and spoons have to be washed up. So "without grumbling" is a very happy exhortation.

Nor is this all. We read next that the elder was to be "a lover of good" — not merely of good men, but of goodness. This is an important safeguard in far more than hospitality. Self-pleasing might easily creep in otherwise; and indulging self is always the service of Satan. Christ alone shows us truly and fully what good is.

The seven positives of verse 8 are precious... A lover of goodness will be so occupied with good that he will have little time for evil, even in fighting against it. To be sober is to use wise discretion in discernment and action. And "just" is added to this, a righteous, fair character in dealing with others. "Holy" is the character of separation to God, hating evil and loving good. "Temperate" is necessary too — the avoiding of extremes by a well-balanced moderation.

The overseer, it is added in due course as a higher call, must be "pious," or "holy" in that sense. It is not separateness from evil. It means gracious and upright, and it is used this way of Christ in particular, in the Old Testament as well as in the New. It is that character of piety which appreciates God's mercy, and is itself merciful.

Further, he was to be "temperate" — an expression much narrowed, and so far misapplied, in our day. Self-control not in one respect but in all is its real meaning. It means that every feeling and inclination is checked in the Christian by his sense of God's presence, grace, and fear.

We cannot appoint elders now, because we are not apostles, or even apostolic delegates... Evangelists and teachers have their place. But we should also value those who work in a simpler and less prominent way. Day by day they strengthen the links of affection, and hold back the sources of disorder which, as we all know, keep springing up in Christian gatherings... And if we see men with such ways and gifts working now, we should respect and acknowledge them. They have the qualities of elders and do the work of elders, even though circumstances make their formal appointment no longer possible.

But there is more. Verse 9 insists on a firm grip on the faithful word, according to the teaching received. This is so that he may exhort by sound doctrine and refute those who contradict it. Notice this trait, because not everyone holds fast to true teaching, even after receiving it. It is the crowning virtue in the overseer's list. The list had already described his moral worth and weight. To complete the picture, there is the keeping of the faithful word. It helps the saints by stirring them up to good, and it stops evil.

Those older men whom Titus was to appoint as overseers were to be men who held fast the faithful word. They were to be lovers of the truth. What is more, they were to hold it fast as they had been taught. That is, they were to recognise the authority with which it was first given. They were to respect that authority carefully and be subject to it.

Such a man must stick firmly to the faithful word. Uncertainty in his own grasp of it, and uncertainty in handling it for others, would weaken to that same degree the task laid on him to carry out. The elder was not to act on his own wisdom. His authority did not come from himself, and not from the people who made up the assembly either. He was God's steward. The Holy Spirit made him an overseer — not over a flock of his own ("my people," as men say, or "my church"), but in "the flock of God."

The overseer will always meet a clash of circumstances. Two needs then claim his care: the need to encourage some, and no less the need to reprove those who contradict. Both tasks need a single eye. But the faithful word is the weapon that matters most. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, and it can divide as well as wound. The faithful word alone enables the overseer to encourage with the healthful teaching, and to expose those who seek their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ.

The word translated "sound" occurs again and again. It is worth noting that it is the word from which we get "hygienic," so often on people's lips today. It means healthful. Sound doctrine is truly doctrine that makes for spiritual health.

Also, the one who would instruct others in the word must himself hold fast "the faithful word" as he has been taught through "faithful men." It is not the knowledge of error that will enable us to meet it, but the knowledge of the truth — "holding fast the faithful word."

They were, moreover, to be "able to teach" — not necessarily as public expounders of the truth, but "holding fast the faithful word."

And if we see men of such ways and gifts working now, we should surely respect them and acknowledge them as the men who have the qualities and do the work of elders. This holds even though circumstances make their formal appointment no longer possible.

Here, where dealing with those who contradict is the prominent thought, Paul reminds Titus that the bishop himself should hold fast the faithful word according to the teaching. Then he can both encourage with sound doctrine and convict those who contradict it. This was most needed in Crete; for there were many unruly, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths should be stopped.

We see this even before the apostle's service closed. There were already "many" of these disorderly men... It was a bitter sorrow for the heart of one who was soon to depart and be with Christ. It hurt all the more when he thought of the church, the beloved of Christ, so exposed to the attacks and schemes of the enemy. If grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, there were many now who bore His name whose speech was empty and built no one up. Their aim was their own appetite, not to serve the Lord Jesus. And they did not merely foam out their own shame — they deceived people's minds.

No doubt the ways of these troublemakers were unruly. But evil teaching is still more damaging, because it habitually dresses itself in thoughts that flatter human nature. Christ is not in it, and He is the life and nourishment of all who are born again.

The Jewish element made this all the more needed, even for these Gentile minds among the Cretans and elsewhere. It was the constant and fruitful cause of trouble... I do not mean necessarily Jews when I speak of the Jewish element. Sadly, the evil of Judaism infects Gentiles. The spirit of tradition fills some, and legalism soaks deeply into others. These are the people who give special trouble.

Law was their theme, but law degenerated into human commandments. They bound law on other people, yet a fine stroke of irony brands them as unruly themselves.

Even in that day there were many mere "talkers." They were not subject themselves, and empty in what they had to say, yet they deceived others. Their number has multiplied today, though by no means limited to those professing Judaism... These of course were not in the assembly, but always active in attacking the truth the assembly held, and seeking to deceive souls. Elders therefore were to be always on guard.

These Cretan Jews who claimed to have accepted Christianity worked evil in the assembly.

While this may especially refer to men outside of the Assembly, it gives instruction for within the Church as well. Unruly and vain talkers must have their mouths stopped, especially in God's Assembly. Pride, empty boasting, and self-will may prompt someone to speak. But if there is no power in his words, and souls get no help, we may well ask whether he speaks for the glory of God and the building up of the hearers.

Even then there were many who were only "talkers." They were not under authority themselves, and they had nothing real to say, yet they deceived others. This was especially true of those of the circumcision — the ones eager for the merely formal religion of Judaism. Their numbers have multiplied today, though they are by no means limited to people who profess Judaism. Yet it is the same mold: it would drag Christianity down to an earthly level, with legal rules and forms.

When I speak of the Jewish element, I do not necessarily mean Jews. Sadly, the evil of Judaism infects non-Jews as well. The spirit of tradition fills some; legalism soaks deep into others. These are the people who cause the most trouble — the ones "whose mouths," we are told, "must be stopped."

Paul tells Titus that their mouths must be stopped. Of course, no outward authority could do this. Only the power of the word, used in the Spirit, could… Taking evil lightly may look like grace, but it is grace's shame and utter ruin. Grace holds to the truth and cannot be separated from it. Otherwise it is no longer grace, but a pretence of good that is really evil — and it breaks down morals, corrupts, and destroys. God is dishonoured, and whole houses are ruined as well. That phrase matters morally: "whole houses." The ruin might come through the head of the house, whose faith was undermined and whose ways grew loose. What damage to the family!

The way to stop the mouths of such men was, of course, the sound teaching of the Word of God. That would keep honest souls safe from their deceptions.

No doubt these troublemakers behaved in an unruly way. But evil teaching does even more harm, because it usually dresses itself in ideas that flatter human nature. Christ is not in it — and He is the life and food of all who are born again.

The corruption in the world comes through lust. At the bottom of all this convincing twisting of what God had given, there was a spirit craving what it counted as gain.

Their motive is exposed here too: they were seeking money for themselves. That is far too common a feature of much that passes for Christianity.

This may refer mainly to men outside the assembly, but it also gives instruction for inside the church. Unruly, empty talkers must have their mouths stopped, especially in God's assembly. Pride, empty self-display, and self-will may push a person to speak. But if there is no power in his words, and souls gain nothing, we may well ask whether his motive is the glory of God and the building up of the hearers.

The Cretans had a bad name as a people, as one of their own showed when he called them always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. The words come from Epimenides, a poet of the sixth century B.C. People quoted his sayings as oracles, which may explain the title "prophet." They needed a sharp rebuke, so that they might be sound in the faith.

Paul had sent Titus to Crete to appoint elders in every city. In Titus 1:12 we find that the Cretans, though they were not believers, had what passed for a prophet of their own. He got stirred up about something and turned blunt. He told the Cretan people a thing or two about themselves… They could not stick to the truth. They rampaged about and injured one another like wild animals. They did not want to work, but they wanted to eat a lot.

The apostle here quotes a moral poet, Epimenides of Crete, to press home the known dangers of those concerned. We are not to suppose that he endorses this Gentile author as a prophet of God. So he had to add, "This testimony is true." But it does show how grace stoops to use whatever is true, though the source may be impure. In the same spirit the apostle quoted a famous comic writer to convict the Corinthians more sharply: "Evil communications corrupt good manners."

Conditions in Crete differed from those at Ephesus. Both places faced similar dangers from rebellious people, empty talkers and deceivers. But the natural character of the Cretan people was unusually bad. It was so bad that one of their own prophets, a pagan seer, felt driven to denounce them in strong terms as "always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." That was the old nature of the Cretans who had believed, and it stayed in them after they believed. Sadly, it was showing itself.

"What bad material!" a person would say — and it is all too true. The law could do nothing with it. That is one of the main reasons why the apostle speaks so severely in this letter about those who were pushing people back under the law of Moses. But grace has done what the law could not do. The material was utterly bad, yet grace has set the flesh aside for ever.

A believer today may try to excuse an outburst of temper or some display of the flesh. He says, "Oh well, that's my make-up; that's the kind of person I am." "No doubt it is," we may well reply, "but have you not been washed and so saved from such things?" Godliness is to mark us. That means displaying the divine nature and not our own deformities.

Where watchfulness fails, a fall follows. So the evil nature is a constant danger. When we truly lean on Christ and look to Him, the Holy Spirit gives complete superiority over evil. Here the question is about people who are walking after the flesh. So the apostle applies this humbling testimony with full force. Titus did well to keep it in mind. And no Cretan could easily complain that the apostle was harsh, when a well-known man of their own nation had long ago admitted what their people were like.

Crete and Ephesus both faced similar dangers from rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers. But the natural character of the Cretans was especially bad. It was so bad that one of their own prophets, himself a pagan, was stirred to denounce them in strong terms as "always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." That was the old nature of the Cretans who believed, and it stayed in them after they believed. Sadly it was showing itself, so in verse 13 Titus is told to rebuke them sharply.

But it matters greatly to the enemy. He works skilfully on the old nature when we leave it unjudged, and that dishonours the Lord. Where there is no watchfulness, a fall follows. So the evil nature is a constant danger. When we truly lean on Christ and look to Him, the Holy Spirit gives complete victory over evil. Here Paul is dealing with people who are living by the old nature, so he applies the humbling testimony with all its force. Titus did well to keep it in mind. And no Cretan could easily complain that the apostle was too severe, when a well-known countryman of theirs had admitted their national character long ago.

Because of teachings that undermined the faith, and of corrupt influences, Titus was to press the truth home to believers, so that they might be found sound in the faith. True believers today need the good — the positive Truth of God! Being done with the bad — the unsound — is necessary, but it is not enough. Yes, "refuse the evil," but feed on "that which is good."

Wrong conduct constantly flows from something unsound creeping into the spirit. To be unsound in the faith is the high road to unholy ways. Here too we find the twisted nature of Jewish fables. It had appeared even then, and no doubt long before. Religious imagination has done untold harm ever since to those who bear the Lord's name. But there is more than fable to watch against. There are also the "commands of people who turn away from the truth." Never trust the practical advice or the moral ways of those who once professed the truth and then turned aside from it. God's word will never mix with man's commandments. Where people try it, in the long run the human element wins, and the divine becomes a powerless form.

So what is left for us to do? We must watch against the particular tendency and habit of our own mind. We must rebuke our nature sharply, so that we may be sound, or morally healthy, in the faith. We should not excuse it because it is our nature. We should suspect it all the more for that very reason, and put it to death for the sake of Him who has given us another nature.

This witness, says the apostle, is true. Therefore Titus was to rebuke them sharply. What sin and folly it is to brand care for their souls as a lack of love or a love of domination! Let us remember the whole case for our own profit and guidance.

The decisiveness and steadiness of true love are mistaken for harshness and unwillingness to forgive. It is love alone which will not tolerate evil in the one it loves.

These Cretan Jews claimed to have accepted Christianity, yet they worked evil in the assembly. The apostle demands that these men be silenced, because they were ruining whole households. They taught what they ought not to teach, and they did it for shameful gain... These teachers who pressed the Jewish law lived by strict self-denial. They banned certain things and made rules for outward behaviour. Their own orders and commands forbade certain things. Yet although they fasted and kept themselves in check, they had never been born again, so inside they were defiled and unbelieving.

The Greek word means literally 'a word, a speech.' The English word 'fable' is not used in the New Testament the way we often use it now, for a made-up incident that teaches a moral lesson. It carries instead the sense of myths, false stories — as later Greek writers used the word. One passage calls them "irreverent, silly myths."

The law does more than breed habits of tradition and slavish obedience to human rules in the things of God. Those habits soon tend to rise up and destroy practical faith. Along with them goes something you might not suspect at first — imagination; Jewish fables, as he says. It is remarkable how the famous storehouse of Rabbinic teaching still carries this double character today. On one side is the most slavish clinging to the letter, with no insight at all into the spirit of Holy Scripture. On the other side are the wildest fictions, made to feed the fancies of women and children.

There is more to watch against than "fable" — even the "commandments of men turning away as they do from the truth." Never trust the practical advice or the moral ways of people who once professed the truth and then turned aside from it. There is usually no greater evil in the Christian world. It has the character of a falling away from the faith. God's word will never mix with man's commandments. Where anyone tries it, in the long run the human element wins, and the divine becomes a form without power.

Law was their theme, but law sank into human commandments. They bound law on other people, and a fine stroke of irony brands them as the unruly ones. The genuine law had once appeared, but now it is the grace of God that has appeared.

One writer of admirable judgment gathers, from the way the phrase is built, that because they have already turned aside to fables, they turn their ear away from the truth.

Faced with teaching that undermined people, and with corrupt influences, Titus was to press the Truth home on believers so that they would be found SOUND IN THE FAITH. True believers today need the good — the positive Truth of God! Being done with the bad, the unsound, is necessary, but it is not enough. Certainly "refuse the evil," but feed upon "that which is good."

To the pure all things are pure: everything in creation has a proper place and function. To be pure is to have unmixed motives and character. Such a person sees things in their proper perspective, with a simplicity that nothing has corrupted. But sin's corruption has defiled and tainted those who have no faith, and they think nothing is pure.

We were all once like that. Not all of us were coarse, and not all of us were openly shameful, as some were. But now, through grace, we were washed, we were sanctified, we were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. This is where Christian purity comes from, and it is all the more truly ours because it comes from God... To such people all things are pure, because they themselves are pure. It is no longer a question of going without this or that.

"To the pure all things are pure." How plain and assuring to those who are subject to the Lord! How useless it is, when such a statement stands, to say that "the church" forbids eating meat on a Friday or in Lent! This does not deny the value of a real fast. A fast is truly of grace when there is a fitting occasion for it. But the New Testament never makes it a general law, and it is certainly not the sham of eating fish and eggs.

One thing was called impure, another was banned by a rule. God claims the heart. To the pure all things are pure. The person whose heart is defiled does not need to look outside himself to find what is impure. But looking outside is convenient, because it lets him forget what is inside. The mind and conscience are already corrupt.

Nothing is pure to the defiled and unbelieving. Both their mind and their conscience are defiled. That is a terrible moral verdict, but a true one. Their lower nature is corrupt, and that is not all. The highest part of them is just as defiled — the very part that ought to delight in good, and that dares to discuss divine things and God Himself. Religion in such a condition is at least as impure and loathsome as anything else.

Here we do well to watch against a very common misunderstanding of the opening words of verse 15. They do not mean "to, or in, the mind of the pure," but for their use. How many victims of passion and lust have tried to squeeze an excuse and a cover for their sins out of this holy saying! They tried in vain — and this happens especially among men and women who are accepted as holding a sacred position. May we be kept from every illusion of the flesh and every deception of our subtle enemy.

Someone will say, no doubt, that such people do not know God. That is certainly true. They know neither the Father nor Jesus Christ whom He sent. Yet they may, and even do, claim to own God. Men in the Christian world do the same today — all except the openly hostile and unbelieving. This is surely not religious progress. The seed of it was already there in the days of the apostles. The fruit is everywhere in our day, and it will go on advancing to greater ungodliness.

The evil of their works plainly refutes their claim to know God. God's works are the complete opposite of theirs. His are unmixed, true, and fruitful. Theirs are abominable, sunk to a depth like the lowest idol worship — for it is idols that God calls "abominations." They are disobedient, with no concern at all for submission to their Creator. And as regards every good work, they are rejected as worthless. Someone may trifle with the things of God, his heart never honestly turned to the Lord Himself. How low he may sink without seeing the horror of his condition!

Knowledge without affection. Men have ideas about Christ, but are not warmed with love for Christ. Their knowledge is like the moon — it has light in it, but no heat. The knowledge that hypocrites have of Christ has no saving influence. It does not make them more holy. It is one thing to have a notion of Christ, another to draw strength from Christ. The knowledge of hypocrites is a dead, barren knowledge: it informs, but does not transform.

To turn back to false teaching, and to use religion as a way to make dishonest money, opens the door to every natural tendency of the flesh. It leads to ungodliness. In this way souls become defiled in "mind and conscience." The end is a terrible condition: people profess God while their works deny Him in practice. In God's sight such people are "detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work."

Open apostasy is not the question here, for they profess to know God while in works they deny Him. They are guilty in their contempt for any revelation from God, and even more so when they scorn the fullest and final one. For, as men admit, the corruption of the best thing is the worst corruption. Such a state paves the way for apostasy.

The apostle would have Titus press readiness for every good work. God calls the believer to be not only a righteous man in practice, but a good man. So our Lord went about doing good here below. If we cannot heal those oppressed by the devil as He did, the apostle still urges us here to be ready for every good work. Where people hold and confess the truth, and are busy doing good, that is a real and effective testimony to Christ.