Titus 1:10-14

¹⁰For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. ¹¹They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach--and that for the sake of dishonest gain. ¹²Even one of their own prophets has said, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons." ¹³This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith ¹⁴and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth.

Paul gives a general rule regarding elders: who they are to be and what they are to do. But now he shows specifically why they are necessary. People are rebellious – unruly, obstinate, or incorrigible. The idea is that people want autonomy; they despise subjection, even when for their own good. These are the tares growing in with the wheat; they are also called “mere talkers and deceivers,” which is to be contrasted with useful and solid doctrine. It’s the vanity of hollow and deceptive manmade philosophy (Colossians 2:8); according to Calvin, it “includes all trivial and frivolous speculations, which contain nothing but empty bombast, because they contribute nothing to piety and the fear of God.” Paul notes that these folks are primarily of Jewish-Christian background; they’re mixing faiths and coming up empty. Paul has a no-tolerance policy when it comes to mixing anything with Christ and the word of God. He does not believe in “freedom of speech” in the local church; only edifying truth must be spoken. When it comes to sound doctrine, the opinion of the masses doesn’t matter. Truth matters.

In v11, we hear about false teachers, especially those from Jewish-Christian backgrounds mingling forms of Judaism and pagan piety in with Christianity, like the false teachers in Colosse, “ruining whole households.” The many house churches on the island of Crete lacked organization and leadership, and were therefore especially vulnerable to these smooth-talking, deceitfully vain, empty false teachers. Paul will later address older men and women to teach younger men and women perhaps for this very purpose, to withstand false teachings in the home.

Paul tells Titus that “they must be silenced.” They were teaching what ought not be taught, and they were doing so to profit financially. Now, the method for silencing these false teachers is not with use of physical force, but with sharp rebuke, as v13 declares. By refuting error – through teaching what ought to be taught – a false teacher may continue to blabber words, but they will be meaningless, worthless to the audience who has been instructed by one with authority in the truth of God’s word. Thus Paul implies here that nothing is profitable in terms of what comes out of a person’s mouth except holy words that evangelize and edify.

In v12, Paul quotes Epimenides, a sixth century BC poet and religious reformer from the town of Knossos on the island of Crete. He’s essentially using their prophet’s logic against them, to show that even if wicked teachers speak truth, it comes ultimately from God. All truth is from God alone; nothing is true apart from God. Paul favors sharp rebukes (v13) against not only these Cretan false teachers, but the nation as a whole! What about words “full of grace and seasoned with salt,” words of “gentleness and respect” (Colossians 4:5-6; 1 Peter 3:15)? Harsh rebukes show the depths of sin and the importance of remaining inline with sound doctrine according to God’s word, and perhaps would earn a surprising response, as v14 declares, “so that they will be sound in the faith.” Commanding counter-cultural thinking results in counter-cultural living, and Paul wants both to be realities for the believer. If someone said, “All people from Kentucky are hypocrites.” You might say, and Paul would hope you would say, “You know, that quote is true, but I don’t want to be like that, so I’m going to do something about it.”

Calvin says, “The Apostle, who is wont to reprove mildly those who deserved to be treated with extreme severity, would never have spoken so harshly of the Cretans, if he had not been moved by very strong reasons. What term more reproachful than these opprobrious epithets can be imagined; that they were ‘lazy, devoted to the belly, destitute of truth, evil beasts?’ Nor are these vices charged against one or a few persons, but he condemns the whole nation. It was truly a wonderful purpose of God, that he called a nation so depraved, and so infamous on account of its vices, to be among the first who should partake of the gospel; but his goodness is not less worthy of admiration, in having bestowed heavenly grace on those who did not even deserve to live in this world. In that country so corrupt, as if in the midst of hell, the Church of Christ held a position, and did not cease to be extended, though it was infected by the corruption of the evils which prevailed there; for here Paul not only reproves those who were strangers to the faith, but expressly reproves those who had made a profession of Christianity. Perceiving that these vices so hateful have already taken root, and are spreading far and wide, he does not spare the reputation of the whole nation, that he may attempt the care of those whom there was some hope of healing.”

Finally, in v14, Paul tells Titus to rebuke them sharply so that they will be sound in the faith, paying no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. Jewish myths were likely superstitious ceremonies and rituals that dabbled in the worship of cosmic powers. Accompanying those myths would have been commands of asceticism – rules that mixed with and went beyond Scriptural mandates, thus wrongly adding to the sufficiency of God’s word and His Savior – Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:20-23). False teaching can’t bring about true godliness, so sound doctrine and harsh rebukes are essential for making a believer exhibit “sound in the faith” behavior.