As Paul finishes the first chapter of this letter to Titus, he adds a final comment to his description of the false teachers active in Crete. And his opinion is not a good one in the slightest.

You can read his remarks in Titus 1:15-16:

Paul does regard the false teachers very highly at all, and that is apparent as he finishes his description of them to Titus in this chapter. We must remember, the context for this passage is the false teachers. But others have used this passage to justify sinful behavior by ripping it out of its proper context.

Much of the false teachers’ doctrines apparently were centered around the ideas of Jewish ceremonial cleanliness. In the context in which Paul writes this, Paul seems to connect this back to the human commands and Jewish myths mentioned in verse 14. What Paul is definitely not saying is that those who have been purified can engage in sinful behavior and justify it. This is not a license to sin.

In fact, Paul’s point is in the next portion of the very same sentence: “To those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.” Here Paul is making a clear distinction between those who have allowed Jesus to make them pure and those who claim to have purity through the Jewish rituals, but actually live sinful and disbelieving lives. This includes both the false teachers and those who have been led astray by their teachings.

Paul has been instructing Titus to address the false teachers on Crete, and he leaves little doubt that these “rebellious people” are some of the very Cretans themselves.

You can see his statements about the people of Crete in Titus 1:12-14:

Paul does not paint a very good picture of the people on the island of Crete, but he does so by their very own words. He quotes a Cretan philosopher and prophet by the name of Epimenides, who lived around 600 BC. According to tradition, Epimenides predicted the Persian War ten years early, and may have been responsible for the Greeks to sacrifice to “the appropriate gods.” According to a Greek historian, this led the Athenians to create an altar “to an unknown god,” giving Paul the opportunity to address the Greeks in Acts 17:23.

The irony here is that Epimenides was a Cretan himself. Therefore, if he states that all Cretans are liars, then he is a liar, and his statement is a lie, making the opposite claim, that he is speaking the truth.

Paul, however, states that his statement is actually true, that Cretans have a reputation for being dishonest for the purpose of selfish gain. They were known as being “evil brutes,” or wild beasts, who would do whatever it took to get ahead, regardless of what it took. Since Crete has no wild animals, the native population took on that role, according to Epimenides. Pushing others out of the way to gain an advantage for themselves is characteristic of wild animals.

In contrast to the description of the strong character of elders, Paul turns to the rebellious, the false teachers, and instructs Titus on how best to counter them.

Take a look for yourself in Titus 1:10-11:

Paul quickly shifts from describing the qualities of the men that Titus needs to install in positions of church leadership to those who form the opposite character. These rebellious individuals were a primary reason that solid spiritual leaders were needed. Someone needs to silence these men with solid doctrine.

These people are rebellious. This is the same word used in verse 6, translated as “disobedient.” The idea conveyed here is insubordination and an attitude that rebels against God’s Word and its authority. They reject the truth. Their teaching has no value, it is simply meaningless talk, leading nowhere. In fact, these false teachers are doing nothing more than leading people stray and deceiving them. There is no useful purpose to their teachings.

Unlike the two letters to Timothy, where Paul is somewhat vague about just who these false teachers are, even though he names a couple of them, in this letter, he plainly states that these false teachers are members of the “circumcision group.” That means they are of Jewish background. This does not necessarily imply that they were members of the church, or even believers. They may not have been at all. Early historians have placed a sizable Jewish population on the island of Crete.

Paul’s letter to Titus begins right away with a description of what a godly church leader looks like. His letter is a brief one, so he wastes no time getting right to the heart of the matter. As mentioned last week, the letter to Titus can be broken into three sections: Godliness when it comes to church leaders, godliness when it comes to church life, and godliness in the life of the individual believer.

You can see the continuing description of the elder in Titus 1:7-9:

At first glance, it seems like Paul is repeating himself here; he tells Titus that an elder must be blameless twice within the span of two sentences. Paul’s writing is usually very intentional. Why would he carelessly repeat what he just stated in the previous sentence?

The answer is that it was not a careless repetition. Here is a rule to live by when reading Paul’s letters, or any of the rest of the New Testament: When something is repeated, that means it is being emphasized. We need to pay closer attention. If Paul feels it bears stating twice, then we need to hear it. In this case, he is going to describe what being blameless looks like for the elder.

It’s worth noting that Paul switches words here from elder (presbuteros) in verse 5 to overseer (episkopos) in verse 7, however, the meaning behind both is the same. These words are both used to describe the same office in the church.