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This section, the last section in
chapter 1, has 4 verses.
To set the stage, let us read the previous four
verses.
Titus 1:9-12
9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been
taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both
to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and
deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole
houses, teaching things which they ought not, for
filthy lucre's sake.
12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own,
said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts,
slow bellies.
Now to the last four verses of the chapter
Titus 1:13-16
13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them
sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and
commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them
that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure;
but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
16 They profess that they know God; but in works
they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient,
and unto every good work reprobate.
We will begin with the Barclay. This commentary
covering all four verses [13-16]. The first
three sentences are verses 13-16 paraphrased.
THE PURE IN HEART
For that very reason correct them with severity,
that they may grow healthy in the faith and not pay
attention to Jewish fables and to rules and
regulations made by men who persist in turning their
backs on the truth.
‘To the pure, all things are pure.’
But, to those who are defiled and who do not
believe, nothing is pure, because their mind and
conscience are defiled. They profess to know God,
but they deny their profession by their deeds,
because they are repulsive and disobedient and
useless for any good work.
THE great characteristic of the Jewish faith was its
thousands of rules and regulations. Many things were
branded as unclean; many kinds of food were
classified as forbidden. When Judaism and Gnosticism
joined hands, even the body became unclean, and the
natural instincts of the body were held to be evil.
The inevitable result was that long lists of sins
were constantly being created. It became a sin to
touch certain things; it became a sin to eat certain
foods; it even became a sin to marry and to have
children. Things which were either good in
themselves or quite natural were considered unclean.
It is the heart which makes all the difference. If
someone is pure in heart, all things are pure to
that person. If someone is unclean in heart, then
everything that person thinks about or speaks about
or touches becomes unclean. This was a principle
which the great classical writers had often stated.
‘Unless the vessel is pure,’ said Horace,
‘everything you pour into it grows bitter.’ Seneca
said: ‘Just as a diseased stomach alters the food
which it receives, so the darkened mind turns
everything you commit to it to its own burden and
ruin. Nothing can come to evil men which is of any
good to them, nay nothing can come to them which
does not actually harm them. They change whatever
touches them into their own nature. And even things
which would be of profit to others become pernicious
[harmful] to them.’ The person with a dirty mind
makes everything dirty, taking even the loveliest
things and covering them with smut. But the person
whose mind is pure finds purity in everything.
It is said of these people that both their minds and
their consciences are contaminated. We come to
decisions and form conclusions by using two
faculties. We use intellect to think things out; we
use conscience to listen to the voice of God. But if
the intellect is warped in such a way that it sees
the unclean everywhere and in all things, and if the
conscience is darkened and numbed by continual
consent to what is evil, it becomes impossible to
take any good decision at all.
If we allow impurity to infect the mind, we will see
all things through a mist of uncleanness. The
infected mind soils every thought that enters into
it; the imagination turns every picture which it
forms into a source of lust. Every motive is
misinterpreted. Every statement is given a double
meaning. To escape that uncleanness, we must walk in
the cleansing presence of Jesus Christ.
THE UGLY AND THE USELESS LIFE
WHEN people get into this state of impurity, they
may know God intellectually but their lives are a
denial of that knowledge. Three things are singled
out here about such people.
(1) They are repulsive. The word (bdeluktos) is the
word particularly used of idols and images. It is
the word from which the noun bdelugma, an
abomination, comes. There is something repulsive
about someone with an obscene mind, who makes
sniggering jokes and whose comments are full of
innuendo.
(2) They are disobedient. Such people cannot obey
the will of God. Their consciences are darkened.
They have made it almost impossible for themselves
to hear the voice of God, let alone obey it. People
like that cannot be anything but an evil influence
and are therefore unfit to be instruments in the
hand of God.
(3) That is just another way of saying that they
have become useless to God and to others. The word
used for useless (adokimos) is interesting. It is
used to describe a counterfeit coin which is below
standard weight. It is used to describe a cowardly
soldier who fails in the testing hour of battle. It
is used of a candidate rejected for public office,
someone whom the citizens regarded as useless. It is
used of a stone which the builders rejected. (If
a stone had a flaw in it, it was marked with a
capital A, for adokimos, and left to one side, as
being unfit to have any place in the building.)
The ultimate test of life is usefulness, and those
who are a bad influence and who have a contaminating
effect are of no use to God or to other people.
Instead of helping God’s work in the world, they
hinder it; and uselessness always invites disaster.
~Barclay Commentary
Now to the other commentaries, beginning with the
general and going to the specific.
We will begin with the Matthew Henry Main where it
is speaking to verse 14. I am extracting this from a
commentary covering verses 6-16
5. Here is the end of it noted: That they may be
sound in the faith (Titus 1:14), not giving heed to
Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn
from the truth; that is, that they may be and show
themselves truly and effectually changed from such
evil tempers and manners as those Cretans in their
natural state lived in, and may not adhere to nor
regard (as some who were converted might be too
ready to do) the Jewish traditions and the
superstitions of the Pharisees, which would be apt
to make them disrelish the gospel, and the sound and
wholesome truths of it. Observe,
(1.) The sharpest reproofs must aim at the good of
the reproved: they must not be of malice, nor
hatred, nor ill-will, but of love; not to gratify
pride, passion, nor any evil affection in the
reprover, but to reclaim and reform the erroneous
and the guilty.
(2.) Soundness in the faith is most desirable and
necessary. This is the soul's health and vigor,
pleasing to God, comfortable to the Christian, and
what makes ready to be cheerful and constant in
duty.
(3.) A special means to soundness in the faith is to
turn away the ear from fables and the fancies of men
(1 Timothy 1:4): Neither give heed to fables and
endless genealogies, that minister questions rather
than godly edifying, which is in faith. So 1 Timothy
4:7, Refuse profane and old wives' fables, and
exercise thyself rather to godliness. Fancies and
devices of men in the worship of God are contrary to
truth and piety. Jewish ceremonies and rites, that
were at first divine appointments, the substance
having come and their season and use being over, are
now but unwarranted commands of men, which not only
stand not with, but turn from. the truth, the pure
gospel truth and spiritual worship, set up by Christ
instead of that bodily service under the law.
Quoted verses:
1 Timothy 1:4 [see
Lesson]
Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies,
which minister questions, rather than godly edifying
which is in faith: so do.
1 Timothy 4:7 [see
Lesson]
But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and
exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
(4.) A fearful judgment it is to be turned away from
the truth, to leave Christ for Moses, the spiritual
worship of the gospel for the carnal ordinances of
the law, or the true divine institutions and
precepts for human inventions and appointments. Who
hath bewitched you (said Paul to the Galatians,
Galatians 3:1, Galatians 3:3) that you should
not obey the truth? Having begun in the Spirit, are
you made perfect by the flesh? Thus having shown the
end of sharply reproving the corrupt and vicious
Cretans, that they might be sound in the faith, and
not heed Jewish fables and commands of men.
~Matthew Henry Main
Quoted verses:
Galatians 3:1
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye
should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus
Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified
among you?
Galatians 3:3
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are
ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Now to the Matthew Henry Concise which covers verses
10-16,
False teachers are described. Faithful ministers
must oppose such in good time, that their folly
being made manifest, they may go no further They had
a base end in what they did; serving a worldly
interest under pretence of religion: for the love of
money is the root of all evil. Such should be
resisted, and put to shame, by sound doctrine from
the Scriptures. Shameful actions, the reproach of
heathens, should be far from Christians; falsehood
and lying, envious craft and cruelty, brutal and
sensual practices, and idleness and sloth, are sins
condemned even by the light of nature. But Christian
meekness is as far from cowardly passing over sin
and error, as from anger and impatience. And though
there may be national differences of character, yet
the heart of man in every age and place is deceitful
and desperately wicked. But the sharpest reproofs
must aim at the good of the reproved; and soundness
in the faith is most desirable and necessary. To
those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is
pure; they abuse, and turn things lawful and good
into sin. Many profess to know God, yet in their
lives deny and reject him. See the miserable state
of hypocrites, such as have a form of godliness, but
are without the power; yet let us not be so ready to
fix this charge on others, as careful that it does
not apply to ourselves. ~Matthew Henry Concise
Now something from The Biblical
Illustrator.
Not giving heed to Jewish fables - The perverting
power of trivialities
Trivialities, and mere human conceptions, exert a
perverting power
(1) by distracting attention from the essentials of
religion;
(2) by dissipating the strength of the mind;
(3) by attributing to the human an authority
belonging only to the Divine.
Truth, in its essence, always of more importance
than the form in which it is clothed. The “spirit”
is greater than the “letter.” ~The Biblical
Illustrator
Now to the specific commentaries.
This verse is easily seen to be in three parts:
1] Not giving heed to Jewish fables.
2] And commandments of men.
3] That turn from the truth.
1] Not giving
heed to Jewish fables.
For this phrase, the Barnes Notes says to see their
commentary at 1 Timothy 1:4
1 Timothy 1:4 [see
Lesson]
Neither give heed to fables and endless
genealogies, which minister questions,
rather than godly edifying which is in
faith: so do.
Neither give heed to fables - That is, that
they should not bestow their attention on
fables, or regard such trifles as of
importance. The “fables” here referred to
were probably the idle and puerile
superstitions and conceits of the Jewish
rabbis. The word rendered “fable” (μῦθος
muthos) means properly “speech” or
“discourse,” and then fable or fiction, or a
mystic discourse. Such things abounded among
the Greeks as well as the Jews, but it is
probable that the latter here are
particularly intended. These were composed
of frivolous and unfounded stories, which
they regarded as of great importance, and
which they seem to have desired to
incorporate with the teachings of
Christianity. Paul, who had been brought up
amidst these superstitions, saw at once how
they would tend to draw off the mind from
the truth, and would corrupt the true
religion. One of the most successful arts of
the adversary of souls has been to mingle
fable with truth; and when he cannot
overthrow the truth by direct opposition, to
neutralize it by mingling with it much that
is false and frivolous.
And endless genealogies - This also refers
to Jewish teaching. The Hebrews kept careful
genealogical records, for this was necessary
in order that the distinction of their
tribes might be kept up. Of course, in the
lapse of centuries these tables would become
very numerous, complicated, and extended -
so that they might without much exaggeration
be called “endless.” The Jews attached great
importance to them, and insisted on their
being carefully preserved. As the Messiah,
however, had now come - as the Jewish polity
was to cease - as the separation between
them and the pagan was no longer necessary,
and the distinction of tribes was now
useless, there was no propriety that these
distinctions should be regarded by
Christians. The whole system was, moreover,
contrary to the genius of Christianity, for
it served to keep up the pride of blood and
of birth.
Which minister questions - Which afford
matter for troublesome and angry debates. It
was often difficult to settle or understand
them. They became complicated and
perplexing. Nothing is more difficult than
to unravel an extensive genealogical table.
To do this, therefore, would often give rise
to contentions, and when settled, would give
rise still further to questions about rank
and precedence.
Rather than godly edifying which is in faith
- These inquiries do nothing to promote true
religion in the soul. They settle no
permanent principle of truth; they determine
nothing that is really concerned in the
salvation of people. They might be pursued
through life, and not one soul be converted
by them; they might be settled with the
greatest accuracy, and yet not one heart be
made better. Is not this still true of many
controversies and logomachies in the church?
No point of controversy is worth much
trouble, which, if it were settled one way
or the other, would not tend to convert the
soul from sin, or to establish some
important principle in promoting true
religion. “So do.” These words are supplied
by our translators, but they are necessary
to the sense. The meaning is, that Timothy
was to remain at Ephesus, and faithfully
perform the duty which he had been left
there to discharge. ~Barnes Notes
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For this phrase, the Adam Clarke says to see their
commentary on 1 Timothy 4:7
1 Timothy 4:7 [see
Lesson]
But refuse profane and old wives' fables,
and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
But refuse profane and old wives’ fables -
This seems to refer particularly to the
Jews, whose Talmudical writings are stuffed
with the most ridiculous and profane fables
that ever disgraced the human intellect. It
may with equal propriety be applied to the
legends of the Romish Church. Let any man
read the Aurea Legenda, and he will find of
profane and old wives’ fables what may
stand, with considerable propriety, column
for column with the Talmud. See Joseline’s
Life of Patrick for miracles, without rhyme
or reason, abundantly more numerous and more
stupendous than all the necessary ones
wrought by Jesus Christ and his apostles.
This is enough to persuade a man that the
Spirit of God had these very corruptions and
this corrupt Church particularly in view.
~Adam Clarke
Exercise thyself rather unto godliness - To
understand this expression it is necessary to know
that the apostle alludes here to the gymnastic
exercises among the Greeks, which were intended as a
preparation for, their contests at the public games.
They did this in order to obtain a corruptible or
fading crown, i. e, a chaplet of leaves, which was
the reward of those who conquered in those games;
Timothy was to exercise himself unto godliness, that
he might be prepared for the kingdom of heaven, and
there receive a crown that fadeth not away. ~Adam
Clarke
Not giving heed to Jewish fables - Concerning God
himself, the angels, and the creation of man;
concerning the giving of the law at Mount Sinai;
concerning the Messiah and his earthly kingdom, and
the feast that will be made for the righteous in his
days, which will consist of flesh, fish, and fowl,
Behemoth, Leviathan, and Zuz, and of wine kept in
the grape from the foundation of the world; and
concerning the rolling of the dead through the
caverns of the earth at the resurrection, with a
multitude of other things which were traditionally
received. ~John Gill |
Jewish fables - These formed the transition stage to
subsequent Gnosticism; as yet the error was but
profitless, and not tending to godliness, rather
than openly opposed to the faith. ~Jamieson,
Fausset & Brown
2] And commandments of men.
Commandments of men - Commandments which are only
the traditions of men, additions to God's
ordinances. ~People's New Testament commentary
Commandments of men - The Jewish or other teachers,
whoever they were that turned from the truth.
~John Wesley
Commandments of men - The injunctions of the scribes
and Pharisees, which they added to the law of God.
~Adam Clarke
Commandments of men - the traditions of the
elders, which the Jews charged the disciples of
Christ with the transgression of; and he, on the
other hand, very justly reproached them with
breaking the commands of God, by attending to them,
Matthew 15:1. These were the laws and traditions of
the fathers, which the Apostle Paul was brought up
in, and was zealous of, before his conversion, Acts
22:3 and which these judaizing preachers and
professors, he here has respect to, were fond of,
though they were made by men,. ~John Gill
Quoted verses:
Matthew 15:1-3 ...giving you more context
1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which
were of Jerusalem, saying,
2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of
the elders? for they wash not their hands when they
eat bread.
3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also
transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
Acts 22:3
I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a
city in Cilicia, [suh-LISH-ee-uh] yet brought
up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel [guh-MAY-lee-uhl],
and taught according to the perfect manner of the
law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as
ye all are this day.
Commandments of men — as to ascetic abstinence (Mark
7:7-9; Colossians 2:16, Colossians 2:20-23; 1
Timothy 4:3). ~Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Quoted verses:
Mark 7:7-9
7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men.
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold
the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and
cups: and many other such like things ye do.
9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the
commandment of God, that ye may keep your own
tradition.
Colossians 2:16
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink,
or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or
of the sabbath days:
Colossians 2:20-23
20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the
rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the
world, are ye subject to ordinances,
21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after
the commandments and doctrines of men?
23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will
worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body;
not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
1 Timothy 4:3 [see
Lesson]
Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from
meats, which God hath created to be received with
thanksgiving of them which believe and know the
truth.
3] That turn from the truth.
That turn from the truth - For such persons made the
word of God of none effect by their traditions.
Sometimes the verb αποστρεφομαι signifies to be
averse from, slight, or despise. So, here, the
persons in question despised the truth, and taught
others to do the same. ~Adam Clarke
That turn from the truth - or "hate it", as the
Syriac version renders it; who were enemies unto it,
as Hillell [HIL-el*, -uhl] and Shammai
[shah-mahy], the heads of the traditional doctors,
and as the Jews, and their Rabbins in general were;
and therefore their commandments, of all men, should
not be given heed to, by those that bear the
Christian name [firstfruits]. ~John Gill
That turn from the truth — whose characteristic is
that they turn away from the truth (2 Timothy 4:4).
~Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Quoted verse:
2 Timothy 4:4 [see
Lesson]
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth,
and shall be turned unto fables.
Avoid false doctrines. Avoid false teachers.
Understand that these things will turn you from
truth. This is the lesson of verse 14
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