God's Evaluation of False Teachers

Titus 1:15-16

Sunday, March 21, 2010

 

 

Titus 1:15-16 ESV  To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.  16  They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

 

In this section, Titus 1:10-16, Paul describes an alarming problem that the churches on the island of Crete faced. It was alarming because of the following reasons:

·           There were many false teachers

·           they have influenced many Christian families, and

·           looking back to Titus 1:5, they seem to have infiltrated many churches.

 

The different ways the English translations render Titus 1:11 more or less give us an idea of the destructive impact of these false teachers on Christian families:

·            (ESV) they are upsetting whole families

·            (AMP) they are mentally distressing and subverting whole families

·            (NET)  they mislead whole families

·            (NIV)  they are ruining whole households

·            (NLT)  they have already turned whole families away from the truth.

·            (WNT) they overthrow the faith of whole families

 

Such was the influence of these false teachers that Paul instructed Titus to appoint elders in every town to address this. The men to be appointed as elders had to meet certain qualifications so that they can effectively silence and rebuke the false teachers.

 

Based on the data we have in Titus, the false teachers promoted teachings that included at least four aspects:

 

1.         Their teaching was composed of "Jewish myths" (1:14).

 

Paul does not identify the particular Jewish myths. But perhaps they included the following:

 

J. Hampton Keathley, III: These were legends or fictitious tales added to Old Testament history-tales about Adam, Moses, Elijah, and other Old Testament saints that were characteristic of the false teachers in Ephesus and Crete. Many of these tales were found in the apocryphal and pseudepigraphical writings of Judaism. (1Ti 1:4,7; 2Ti 4:4).

 

John MacArthur gives more details to this:

Some insight can be gained by remembering that ancient Hebrew had no numerals as such, but instead used a complex system that assigned a numerical value to each letter in the alphabet and to various combinations of letters, which, until the eighth or ninth century a.d., included no written vowels. The first Hebrew word (brshth, "in the beginning") in Genesis 1:1, for example, had the numerical value of 913. Brm ("Abram") had the value of 318. A century or so after the Babylonian Captivity, many rabbis began adapting gnostic Greek numerology-the practice of assigning mystical meanings to numbers-to the Hebrew language. Under one such scheme (and there were many), it was believed that the secret in the letter-numbers in Abram's name meant that he had 318 servants.

Hebrew numerology was applied not only to the Hebrew Scriptures but also to the Talmud, a collection of authorized rabbinical interpretations of Scripture, especially the Mosaic Law, that began during the time of Ezra (ca. 450 b.c.) and continued until about a.d. 500. By New Testament times, many rabbis and other learned Jews-especially those who lived in areas where Greek philosophy was still dominant (as it was on Crete)-mixed ideas from Hebrew and Greek numerology and added their own allegorical fancies, making the resulting interpretations more bizarre than ever.

 

Perhaps this also included the myths and endless genealogies that Paul mentions in 1 Timothy 1:4 ESV  nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

 

Barnes: 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.

These [things] 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.

 

2.         False teaching included "commands of people"

 

The phrase "commands of people" is similar to the "commands" or Pharisaic regulations which Jesus opposed (Mark 7:5-9 ESV  And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?"  6  And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, "'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;  7  in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'  8  You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men."  9  And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!).

 

These are the various legalistic and ascetic rules that concerned food or drink, matters of a feast, a new moon, or Sabbath days that false teachers were trying people try to add to the gospel of grace and our liberty in Christ.

·            (Colossians 2:16-23 ESV  Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.  17  These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.  18  Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,  19  and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.  20  If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations--  21  "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch"  22  (referring to things that all perish as they are used)--according to human precepts and teachings?  23  These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

·            1 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV  Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,  2  through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,  3  who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.  4  For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,  5  for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.).

These were "commands" that false teachers were seeking to load the people down with (cf. Matthew 23:4 ESV  They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.). As a result, like the Pharisees, they were externalists who, with their excessive concerns over outer circumstance and appearance, sought to conform and judge others on the basis of their own external do's and don'ts.

J. Hampton Keathley, III: In some cases they were Old Testament regulations that were no longer valid for the Christian with the coming of Christ, like circumcision or observing the Passover. In other cases they could be New Testament practices like baptism or the Lord's supper, but presented as a means of salvation or sanctification rather than as pictures and testimonies of the work of Christ and a result of His grace operating within the heart of the believer. But they could also include lists of do's and don'ts-especially the don'ts-things not spelled out in Scripture, in order to gain God's favor.

MacArthur: Paul probably did not specify particular heresies because there were so many varieties. Had he failed to mention a certain heresy, some immature and undiscerning believers might have concluded that it was therefore excluded from this warning.

 

3.         The false teaching was a rejection of the truth. In the Pastoral Epistles "those who reject the truth" are those who reject the gospel and salvation by grace.

 

God's Evaluation of False Teachers (1:15-16)

After Paul exposes the evil character, the erroneous teachings, and the devastating influence of these false teachers, he gives a God-inspired evaluation of them in vv. 15 and 16.

 

Paul gives divinely inspired evaluations of false teachers in the Cretan churches.

·           God's evaluation of their character.

·           God's evaluation of the way they look at things

·           God's evaluation of their inner lives (v.15)

·           God's evaluation of their profession.

·           God's evaluation of their outer lives.

These evaluations can also apply to false teachers in any age.

 

1. God's evaluation of their character

In contrast to the pure, they are "defiled and unbelieving"

 

a.    They are not "pure."

 

The "pure" refers to Christians, who have been purified or cleansed from their sins by believing in the substitutionary and atoning sacrifice of Christ. They do not rely on their merits, their external rituals, eating or not eating of certain kinds of foods for justification or sanctification. In contrast to them, the false teachers rely in external observances, rituals, and their ability to fulfill their lists of dos and donts for salvation and thus, they remain in their sins and are not pure.

 

b.    They are "defiled."

 

·            The word defiled comes from a Greek word that also mean polluted, corrupted, defiled or contaminated with sins. This is a fitting contrast to the pure.

·            These false teachers, like the rest of mankind, were conceived and born defiled (Psalms 51:5 ESV  Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.). As they mature, they add to their original defilement by their actual sins (Ro 3:9-18). And since they do not know the way of genuine salvation, they remain defiled, corrupt and contaminated by sin.

 

c.     They are unbelieving.

They do not put their trust in the saving work of Christ for salvation. Instead, in the words of MacArthur:

 

"They presumed that a person can make himself acceptable to God by meticulously observing certain ceremonies and traditions that were considered good and obligatory and by just as meticulously avoiding those that were considered evil. The idea that, by doing or not doing certain things, a person is able, by his own power and merit, to please and reconcile himself to God has always been the basic heresy of sacramental, sacerdotal, or ritualistic religion, whatever its form-Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Islamic, or other. The basic heresy of every false religious system is works righteousness. Paul describes those who promote that foundational heresy in his letter to the church at Rome, saying of them, " For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God" (Rom. 10:3).

In every age of human history since the Fall, men have been made right with God only through saving faith in Him. And, on the other hand, those who are not accepted by Him remain unsaved because they are unbelieving. Such things as lighting candles, burning incense, genuflecting, counting beads, repeating prescribed prayers, facing a certain direction when praying, having visions or mystical experiences, and even being baptized or partaking of the Lord's Supper have absolutely no saving power.

 

2. God's evaluation of the way they look at things

To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure;

 

To the false teachers, "nothing is pure."

 

·            Paul begins with a positive statement "to the pure, all things are pure." Paul does this so that by the contrast he will present, the readers could see more clearly the error of the false teachers.

·            "To the pure" - as I mentioned a while ago, the pure refers to Christians who have been cleansed, justified, and sanctified because they trusted in Christ rather than adherence to a set of dos and donts or because of some ritual or ceremony. People who are cleansed and purified by God's grace alone will see things differently. They are going to appreciate the gifts of God such as food and drink, days, sex, marriage, etc and see them as pure.

 

For example

·            Food? Jesus himself declared all food to be clean. Mark 7:14-19 ESV  And he called the people to him again and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand:  15  There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him."  17  And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.  18  And he said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him,  19  since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

·            Paul reiterated that in Romans 14:14,20 ESV  I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. ... 20 Everything is indeed clean...

·            Days? Romans 14:5 ESV  One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. / Galatians 4:10 ESV  You observe days and months and seasons and years! / Colossians 2:16-17 ESV  Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.  17  These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

·            Marriage. 1 Timothy 4:1-3 ESV  Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,  2  through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,  3  who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

 

·            In contrast to the pure who view all things as pure, for the false teachers "nothing is pure."

 

William Barclay: The great characteristic of the Jewish faith was its thousands of rules and regulations. This, that and the next thing were branded as unclean; this, that and the next food were held to be taboo. 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 this or that; it became a sin to eat this or that food; it even became a sin to marry and to beget children. Things which were either good in themselves or quite natural became defiled.

 

3. God's evaluation of their inner lives (v.15)

but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

 

People who reject the truth of salvation by grace alone and in Christ alone received by faith alone will have defiled "mind" (their thinking and attitudes) and their "conscience" (their standards and norms, their view of what was right and wrong). To have a defiled mind and conscience means that one has lost the capacity to think properly and to distinguish between good and evil.

 

4. God's evaluation of their profession.

They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.

 

·           To "profess to know God" could mean simply to profess to have a personal relationship with God as Savior. But it could also refer to "the special boast of Jews who saw themselves as being more spiritually privileged than the Gentiles. (Ro 2:17-24). Or to know God could mean to know God more intimately than others. The word order is literally, "God, they profess to know."

However this profession is useless because it is nullified by their evil deeds. The exact nature of the actions is uncertain. It likely refers to all of the characteristics Paul has indicated: their insubordination, their empty talk, their deception, their greed, their upsetting of the faith of Christians, their lying, their gluttony, etc.

They hold "to a form of godliness, [but] they have denied its power." 2 Timothy 3:2-5 ESV  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,  3  heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,  4  treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  5  having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

 

They preached one thing, but privately did another, As a result, they denied God by not living consistently and in accord with the truth of grace. Amazingly, Peter, in one instance in his life, became an illustration of this (Gal 2:11-14).

 

5. God's evaluation of their outer lives.

They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

 

a.    They are detestable.

"Detestable" is bdeluktos. It carries the idea of "disgusting, loathsome or abominable, causing horror and disgust because of their hypocrisy."

 

b.    Disobedient.

J. Hampton Keathley, III: "Disobedient." Failure to trust or rest in the person and work of Christ as Savior as an unbeliever or to rest in the sufficiency of death and resurrected life as a Christian leads to disobedience to the will of God.

 

c.     unfit for any good work.

J. Hampton Keathley, III: "And unfit for any good deed" points us to the fruit, the result of what happens when people turn their backs on the truth of grace and the sufficiency of the finished work of Christ, not only for salvation or eternal life, but for sanctification or the experience of a Christ-exchanged life. "Unfit" is adokimos, "rejected, not standing the test," and then "unqualified, worthless, unfit." It is the a negative of dokimos, "approved or accepted" having passed the test. Thus, adokimos was used in some very interesting ways: This word 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 rejected candidate for office, a man whom the citizens regarded as useless and of no value. 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 aside, as being unfit to have any place in the building...⁸²

This shows us that a person who does not rely on the grace of Christ for justification and sanctification will produce works that are entirely useless in the eyes of God. Their good works will only result in pride. They will think that this is going to be their passport to heaven.

 

Summary

Those who rely on Jewish myths, commands of people, and reject the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus, God says that they are from his point of view:

·           They are not "pure."

·            They remain "defiled," polluted, corrupted, and contaminated with sins.

·           They are unbelieving.

·           their view of things is defiled. "nothing is pure."

·           their minds and their consciences are defiled.

·           Their profession is useless.

·           They are detestable. "disgusting, loathsome or abominable.

·           They are disobedient.

·           They are unfit for any good work.

 

Lessons

1.    Ignorance or rejection of the gospel is dangerous. It will cause deeper defilement and blindness.

2.    Flattery of false teachers is not helpful. It will only make permanent their lostness.

3.    We need to know the gospel and be faithful in declaring the gospel.

·        No wonder Paul said in Galatians 1:8-9 ESV  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.  9  As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.