It did not take long for false teachers to arise in the early church. Wherever God sows the truth, Satan quickly shows up to sow lies. Titus faced an enemy similar to that described in 1 Timothy—a mixture of Jewish legalism, man-made traditions, and mysticism. Paul gave three facts about these false teachers.
What they were personally. Paul had nothing good to say about them! They would not submit to God’s Word or to the authority of God’s servant, for they were unruly. “Rebellious” would be a good translation. Beware of teachers who will not put themselves under authority.
They were vain talkers. What they said impressed people, but it had no content or substance. When you boiled it down, it was just so much hot air. Furthermore, they excelled in talking, not in doing. They could tell others what to do, but they did not do it themselves. Note especially Titus 1:16.
The great tragedy was that they deceived people by their false doctrines. They claimed to be teaching truth, but they were peddlers of error. Because they themselves were deceived by Satan, they deceived others, “teaching things they ought not to teach” (Titus 1: niv).
They were carnal and worldly: “liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons” (Titus 1: niv). What an indictment! Instead of living for the beautiful things of the spiritual life, they lived for their own appetites. Paul’s adjectives are arresting. These men were not just “beasts,” but “evil beasts”; they were not just “gluttons,” but “lazy gluttons.” They were celebrities, not servants. They “lived it up” at the expense of their followers, and (true to human nature), their followers loved it!
Paul summed up their character in Titus 1:16. They were “abominable,” which means “detestable, disgusting.” Christians with good spiritual sense would be completely disgusted with the character and conduct of these teachers, and would never follow them. “Disobedient” means “they cannot and will not be persuaded. “ Their minds have been made up and they will not face the truth. “Reprobate” literally means “not able to pass the test.” God does not use them because they have been proved unfit. This same Greek word is translated “castaway” in 1 Corinthians 9:27. There it is in an athletic context and means “disqualified.”
Having described what these teachers were, Paul then shared a second fact.
What they did. The picture was clear: These false teachers told lies from house to house and thus upset the faith of the people. Whole families were affected by their unhealthy doctrines. For one thing, they were teaching Jewish legalism (“they of the circumcision,” Titus 1:10; see 3:9) which Paul rejected. They were also teaching “Jewish fables” (Titus 1:14), which probably described their fanciful interpretations of the genealogies in the Old Testament (1 Tim. 1:4).
It never ceases to amaze me what some people get out of the Scriptures! I was once on a telephone talk program on a Chicago radio station, discussing Bible prophecy. A man phoned in and tried to take over the program by proclaiming his strange interpretations of Daniel’s prophecies. He rejected the clear explanation given in the Bible and was very upset with me when I refused to agree with his fanciful ideas.
Dr. David Cooper used to say, “When the plain sense of Scripture makes good sense, seek no other sense.” There is no need to find “deeper meanings” to the plain teachings of the Word of God. Such an approach to the Bible enables a “student” to find anything he is looking for!
Since the early church assemblies usually met in private homes, it is easy to understand how “whole houses” (Titus 1:11) could be upset by false teachers. People today who have Bible study classes in their homes must be careful lest visitors come in with strange doctrines. There are sects and cults that look for these classes and plant their agents just for the purpose of winning converts, so we must be careful.
Why they did it. Their main motive was to make money “for filthy lucre’s sake” (Titus 1:11). They were not ministering to the church; they were using religion to fill their own pockets. This explains why Paul said that “not given to filthy lucre” was one requirement for an elder. A true servant of God does not minister for personal gain; he ministers to help others grow in the faith.
But behind this covetousness was another problem: Their minds and consciences had been defiled (Titus 1:15). This is what happens when a person lives a double life: Outwardly, he commands respect, but inwardly, he deteriorates. No one can serve two masters. These deceivers’ love for money caused them to teach false doctrine and live false lives, and the result was a defiled conscience that did not convict them. This is one step closer to that “seared conscience” that Paul wrote about (1 Tim. 4:2).
Titus 1: is one of those verses that some ignorant people try to use to defend their ungodly practices. “To the pure, all things are pure” is used to excuse all sorts of sin. I recall warning a teenager about the kind of literature he was reading, and his defense was, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Your heart must be filthy if you see sin in what I’m reading. After all, ‘To the pure, all things are pure.’”
To begin with, Paul was refuting the false teaching of these legalists with reference to foods. They were teaching that Jewish dietary laws still applied to Christian believers (see 1 Tim. 4:3–5). If you ate forbidden food, you defiled yourself, but if you refused that food, you became holier.
“It is just the opposite,” Paul argued. “These teachers have defiled minds and consciences. Therefore, when they look at these innocent foods, they see sin, because sin has defiled their vision. But those of us who have pure minds and consciences know that all foods are clean. It is not the foods that are defiling the teachers; it is the teachers who are defiling the foods!”
But this principle must not be applied to things that we know are evil. The difference, for example, between great art and pornography is more than “in the eye of the beholder.” A great artist does not exploit the human body for base gain. For a believer to indulge in sinful, erotic experiences and claim that they were pure because his heart was pure, is to use the Word of God to excuse sin. The application Paul made was to food, and we must be careful to keep it there.
Having shared these three facts about these false teachers, Paul added one further matter.
What Titus was to do. He was not to stand quietly by and let them take over! First, he was to “exhort and to convince” them by means of “sound doctrine” (Titus 1:9). The only weapon against Satan’s lies is God’s truth. “Thus saith the Lord!” is the end of every argument.
Titus was to stop their mouths (Titus 1:11) and prevent them from teaching and spreading false doctrines. He was to “rebuke them sharply” (Titus 1:13). Paul would give this same counsel to Timothy in his final letter “Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Tim. 4:2).
Paul’s purpose, of course, was to convince these teachers and get them to be “sound in the faith” (Titus 1:13). But while he was doing this, he needed to protect the church from their false teachings. False doctrine is like yeast: it enters secretly, it grows quickly, and permeates completely (Gal. 5:9). The best time to attack false doctrine is at the beginning, before it has a chance to spread.
The attitude of some church members is, “It makes no difference what you believe, just as long as you believe something.” Paul would not agree with that foolish philosophy. It makes all the difference between life and death whether or not you believe the truth of the Word or believe lies. You can choose what you want to believe, but you cannot change the consequences.
“And ye shall know the truth,” said Jesus Christ, “and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).