Titus 1:10-14 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:… For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision, etc. In the preceding verses Paul stated one purpose for which he left Titus in Crete, viz. to set in order "the things that are wanting," and to ordain elders in every city. He recognized at once, not only the importance of order in the new community, but also the importance of appointing men who, intellectually and morally, were qualified for its establishment and continuance., In these verses he gives Titus directions as to his aggressive work in Crete. He was to do battle with sin. "For there are many unruly [men] and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert [overthrow] whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake." The great work of the gospel minister is to do battle with sin. In the text, sin is referred to as appearing in two aspects, in religious sect and in national character. I. IN RELIGIOUS SECT. "Specially they of the circumcision." These, undoubtedly, are Judaizing Christians, men who pretended to be converted to Christianity, men who sought not only to mingle Judaic elements with the new religion, but to inculcate and disseminate it in that form. Observe the description of sin as it appeared in this religious sect - these men of the circumcision. Here is: 1. Factiousness. "Unruly." Not only would they not bow to the established order of the Church, but not to the spirit and principles of the new religion. They would not yield to the masterhood of Christ, the Author and Substance of the gospel; they were stir-willed. They would have a sect of their own. 2. Ostentation. "Vain talkers." Vain, not merely in the sense of proud, but in the sense of emptiness. In truth, as a rule, the emptiest men, intellectually, are at once the most conceited and loquacious. They talk, not for the edification of others, but for the gratification of themselves. Their fluency, whilst it wins the admiration of fools, deludes the ignorant, and disgusts the thoughtful. 3. Falsehood. "Deceivers." All merely nominal Christians are deceivers. They practically misrepresent the doctrines they profess to hold. 4. Mischievousness. "Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert [overthrow] whole houses." "The translation should ran, 'seeing they subvert,' etc. There was, indeed, grave cause why these men should be put to silence: the mischief they were doing in Crete to the Christian cause was incalculable. It was no longer individuals that their poisonous teaching affected, but they were undermining the faith of whole families. For an example how Titus and his presbyters were to stop the mouths of these teachers of what was false, comp. Matthew 22:34-46, where the Lord, by his wise, powerful, yet gentle words, first put the Sadducees to silence, and then so answered the Pharisees ' that neither durst any man from that day ask him any more questions'" (Dr. Ellicott). 5. Greed. "Teaching things which they ought not, ton filthy lucre's sake." All the speeches they made, all the influence they exerted, sprang from sordid motives. Sin has a thousand branches and but one root, and that root is selfishness. How many, in what we call the religious world, are found teaching things which they ought not, for "filthy lucre's sake" - things that gratify popular taste, that agree with popular prejudice, chime in with the popular thought! All this to fill their pews and to enrich their coffers. Now, these sins which are discovered, in the religious sect are prevalent outside of all religions; but they receive a peculiar color, shape, enormity, and mischievousness when we find them in the religious realm. The devil is less hideous amongst his fellows in hell than he is amongst the sons of God. Hence, to do battle with sin in these religious forms is the grand work of a true preacher; and truly, in this age, and here in England, he will find these sins on every hand. He will see factiousness building up sects, and little sects within sects; ostentation - vain speaking, braggardism, sometimes cooing and sometimes bawling, everywhere; falsehood - rogues robing themselves in the garb of sainthood, wolves in sheep's clothing; mischievousness - by their empty words and pernicious example subverting "whole houses," filling the domestic air with poisonous cant; greed - the gospel itself made a trade, and vested interests created in connection with doctrines and doings antagonistic to the life and spirit of him whom they call Master. Ah me! conventional religion is a calumny on the religion of Christ. Never was a Luther wanted in Christendom more than now. He is wanted to substitute the pure gospel of Christ for the denominationalized gospel. II. IN NATIONAL CHARACTER. "One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies [idle gluttons]." There are three sins mentioned here which seem to have prevailed amongst the Cretans as a race. 1. Lying. "The Cretans are always liars." Who made this charge against the Cretans? Paul says, "One of themselves, even a prophet of their own." The quotation is from a poem on 'Oracles,' by Epimenides, of Phoestus, who flourished b.c. 600, lived to the age of a hundred and fifty, and was supposed to have been a sleeper in a cave for fifty-seven years. He appears to have deserved the title prophet in the fullest sense. Plato speaks of him as a Divine man. The Cretans were characterized by the sin of lying - "always liars." This expression was quoted by Callimachus in his ' Hymn to Zeus,' and well known in antiquity. "The very word 'to Cretize' (Kretizein), or to play the part of a Cretan, was invented as a word synonymous with 'to deceive,' 'to utter a lie; 'just as Corinthiazein, 'to play the part of a Corinthian,' signified 'to commit a still darker moral offence.' Some writers suggest that this despicable vice of lying was received as a bequest from the early Phoenician colonists." 2. Sensuality. "Evil beasts." Not only liars, but gross and sensual, living in animalism and for it. All men may be called "beasts" who attend to their animal appetites as means of gratification rather than of relief. He who seeks happiness from his senses rather than from his soul is a beast; he who seeks it from without rather than from within is not better than a beast. The happiness of a true man cannot stream into him from without; it must well up from the depths of his own high thinkings and pure affections. Gluttony. "Slow bellies [idle gluttons]." Their gluttony made them dull, heavy, and indolent. Such are what may be called tribal or national sins. They were not confined to the Cretans, but for them the Cretans were notorious. These are national. But are these sins extinct in England? Have we no lying here? Our social air is impregnated with falsehood. Have we no sensuality and gluttony? Yes, alas! tens of thousands are every day pampering themselves with luxuries, whilst millions are being starved to death. Here, then, are common sins with which the preacher has to do battle. He has to "rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith." CONCLUSION. A true preacher, then, has no easy task. He has to wage fierce battle with the sins that are around him - the sins of the sect and. the sins of the tribe. He is not to pander to men's tastes, nor to battle with mere opinions and theories, but with sins; he must "resist unto blood, striving against sin." "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." - D.T. Parallel Verses KJV: For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: |
    |