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| Titus 1:16 |
| They profess that they know God; but
in works they deny him, being abominable, and
disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. |
This section, the last section in
chapter 1, has 4 verses.
To set the stage, let us read the previous four
verses.
Titus 1:9-12
9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been
taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both
to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and
deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole
houses, teaching things which they ought not, for
filthy lucre's sake.
12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own,
said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts,
slow bellies.
Now to the last four verses of the chapter
Titus 1:13-16
13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them
sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and
commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them
that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure;
but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
16 They profess that they know God; but in works
they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient,
and unto every good work reprobate.
We will begin with the Barclay. This commentary
covering all four verses [13-16]. The first
three sentences are verses 13-16 paraphrased.
THE PURE IN HEART
For that very reason correct them with severity,
that they may grow healthy in the faith and not pay
attention to Jewish fables and to rules and
regulations made by men who persist in turning their
backs on the truth.
‘To the pure, all things are pure.’
But, to those who are defiled and who do not
believe, nothing is pure, because their mind and
conscience are defiled. They profess to know God,
but they deny their profession by their deeds,
because they are repulsive and disobedient and
useless for any good work.
THE great characteristic of the Jewish faith was its
thousands of rules and regulations. Many things were
branded as unclean; many kinds of food were
classified as forbidden. 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 certain things; it became a sin to eat certain
foods; it even became a sin to marry and to have
children. Things which were either good in
themselves or quite natural were considered unclean.
It is the heart which makes all the difference. If
someone is pure in heart, all things are pure to
that person. If someone is unclean in heart, then
everything that person thinks about or speaks about
or touches becomes unclean. This was a principle
which the great classical writers had often stated.
‘Unless the vessel is pure,’ said Horace,
‘everything you pour into it grows bitter.’ Seneca
said: ‘Just as a diseased stomach alters the food
which it receives, so the darkened mind turns
everything you commit to it to its own burden and
ruin. Nothing can come to evil men which is of any
good to them, nay nothing can come to them which
does not actually harm them. They change whatever
touches them into their own nature. And even things
which would be of profit to others become pernicious
[harmful] to them.’ The person with a dirty mind
makes everything dirty, taking even the loveliest
things and covering them with smut. But the person
whose mind is pure finds purity in everything.
It is said of these people that both their minds and
their consciences are contaminated. We come to
decisions and form conclusions by using two
faculties. We use intellect to think things out; we
use conscience to listen to the voice of God. But if
the intellect is warped in such a way that it sees
the unclean everywhere and in all things, and if the
conscience is darkened and numbed by continual
consent to what is evil, it becomes impossible to
take any good decision at all.
If we allow impurity to infect the mind, we will see
all things through a mist of uncleanness. The
infected mind soils every thought that enters into
it; the imagination turns every picture which it
forms into a source of lust. Every motive is
misinterpreted. Every statement is given a double
meaning. To escape that uncleanness, we must walk in
the cleansing presence of Jesus Christ.
THE UGLY AND THE USELESS LIFE
WHEN people get into this state of impurity, they
may know God intellectually but their lives are a
denial of that knowledge. Three things are singled
out here about such people.
(1) They are repulsive. The word (bdeluktos) is the
word particularly used of idols and images. It is
the word from which the noun bdelugma, an
abomination, comes. There is something repulsive
about someone with an obscene mind, who makes
sniggering jokes and whose comments are full of
innuendo.
(2) They are disobedient. Such people cannot obey
the will of God. Their consciences are darkened.
They have made it almost impossible for themselves
to hear the voice of God, let alone obey it. People
like that cannot be anything but an evil influence
and are therefore unfit to be instruments in the
hand of God.
(3) That is just another way of saying that they
have become useless to God and to others. The word
used for useless (adokimos) is interesting. It 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 candidate rejected for public office,
someone whom the citizens regarded as useless. 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 to one side, as
being unfit to have any place in the building.)
The ultimate test of life is usefulness, and those
who are a bad influence and who have a contaminating
effect are of no use to God or to other people.
Instead of helping God’s work in the world, they
hinder it; and uselessness always invites disaster.
~Barclay Commentary
Now to the other commentaries.
This from the Matthew Henry Main where I am breaking
in to a long commentary covering verses 6-16.
Objection. But are not these judaizers (as you
call them) men who profess religion, and speak
well of God, and Christ, and righteousness of life,
and should they be so severely taxed? Answer, They
profess that they know God; but in works they deny
him, being abominable, and disobedient, and to every
good work reprobate, Titus 1:16. There are many who
in word and tongue profess to know God, and yet in
their lives and conversations deny and reject him;
their practice is a contradiction to their
profession. They come unto thee as the people
cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and
they hear thy words, but they will not do them: with
their mouth they show much love, but their heart
goeth after their covetousness, Ezekiel 33:31.
Quoted verse:
Ezekiel 33:31
And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and
they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy
words, but they will not do them: for with their
mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth
after their covetousness.
Being abominable, and disobedient, and to every good
work reprobate. The apostle, instructing Titus to
rebuke sharply, does himself rebuke sharply; he
gives them very hard words, yet doubtless no harder
than their case warranted and their need required.
Being abominable - bdeluktoi, deserving that God and
good men should turn away their eyes from them as
nauseous and offensive. And disobedient - apeitheis,
unpersuadable and unbelieving. They might do divers
things; but it was not the obedience of faith, nor
what was commanded, or short of the command. To
every good work reprobate, without skill or judgment
to do any thing aright. See the miserable condition
of hypocrites, such as have a form of godliness, but
without the power; yet let us not be so ready to fix
this charge on others as careful that it agree not
to ourselves, that there be not in us an evil heart
of unbelief, in departing from the living God; but
that we be sincere and without offence till the day
of Christ, being filled with the fruits of
righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the
glory and praise of God, Philippians 1:10-11.
Quoted verse
Philippians 1:10-11
10 That ye may approve things that are excellent;
that ye may be sincere and without offence till the
day of Christ;
11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness,
which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise
of God.
~Matthew Henry Main
Now to the Matthew Henry Concise which covers verses
10-16,
False teachers are described. Faithful ministers
must oppose such in good time, that their folly
being made manifest, they may go no further. They had
a base end in what they did; serving a worldly
interest under pretence of religion: for the love of
money is the root of all evil. Such should be
resisted, and put to shame, by sound doctrine from
the Scriptures. Shameful actions, the reproach of
heathens, should be far from Christians; falsehood
and lying, envious craft and cruelty, brutal and
sensual practices, and idleness and sloth, are sins
condemned even by the light of nature. But Christian
meekness is as far from cowardly passing over sin
and error, as from anger and impatience. And though
there may be national differences of character, yet
the heart of man in every age and place is deceitful
and desperately wicked. But the sharpest reproofs
must aim at the good of the reproved; and soundness
in the faith is most desirable and necessary. To
those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is
pure; they abuse, and turn things lawful and good
into sin. Many profess to know God, yet in their
lives deny and reject him. See the miserable state
of hypocrites, such as have a form of godliness, but
are without the power; yet let us not be so ready to
fix this charge on others, as careful that it does
not apply to ourselves.
~Matthew Henry Concise
Here is something from the Biblical Illustrator:
They profess that they know God
Conventional Christians
I. Conventional Christians are professional
atheists.
II. Conventional Christians are practical atheists.
1. They deny God’s authority in everyday life;
ignore the claims He has upon their existence,
powers, possessions.
2. They deny His teaching, He teaches that spiritual
interests are supreme. They declare in their daily
life that temporal interest are paramount. He
teaches that no man should live to himself, but
should be inspired by that benevolence that will
promote the common weal. But they practically
declare that self-interests are supreme, that every
man should work for himself, regardless of the
common good. He teaches to honour all men on account
of what they are. They declare that those only are
to be honoured who are endowed with wealth, and move
in the pageantry of worldly pomp and power.
~Biblical Illustrator
Another item from the Biblical Illustrator:
Professing God, but denying Him
Here learn
1. That hypocrites are generally great professors:
they profess great knowledge of God, and great zeal
for Him.
2. That to deny God is a very heinous sin, and an
abominable wickedness: there is a twofold denial of
God; first in words, expressly and openly; secondly,
in practice, closely and consequentially; “They
profess that they know God; but in words they deny
Him.” There may be at once a professing of God, and
a denial of Him; many a man’s practice speaks loud,
that there is no God, when he makes a fair
confession and profession of Him with his mouth and
tongue.
3. That no sorts of persons are so odious to God,
and abominable in His sight as those who make a
profession of His holy name and truth, but walk
contrary in their lives to that profession.
~Biblical Illustrator
Now to the specific commentaries.
The verse is broken out in five parts in most
commentaries.
1] They profess that they know God.
2] But in works they deny him.
3] Being abominable.
4] And disobedient.
5] And unto every good work reprobate.
1] They profess that they know
God.
They profess that they know God - That there is a
God; that there is but one, only, true, and living
God, the God of Israel, as professed by the Jews;
and that this God is Father, Son, and Spirit, as
believed by the Christians: for the persons the
apostle speaks of were judaizing Christians. Yet
this knowledge was but notional; it lay in theory
and profession only; they had not a spiritual
experimental knowledge of God in Christ, which only
has eternal life connected with it: ~John Gill
They profess that they know God - He still speaks
concerning the unbelieving Jews, the seducing
teachers, and those who had been seduced by their
bad doctrine. None were so full of pretensions to
the knowledge of the true God as the Jews. They
would not admit that any other people could have
this knowledge; nor did they believe that God ever
did or ever would reveal himself to any other
people; they supposed that to give the law and the
prophets to the Gentiles would be a profanation of
the words of God. Hence, they became both proud,
uncharitable, and intolerant; and in this
disposition they continue till the present day.
~Adam Clarke
They profess that they know God - That is, the
Jewish teachers particularly, who are referred to in
Titus 1:14. All those persons were professors of
religion, and claimed that they had a special
knowledge of God. ~Barnes Notes
Quoted verse:
Titus 1:14 [see
Lesson]
Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments
of men, that turn from the truth.
They profess that they know God — that is, make a
profession acknowledging God. He does not deny their
theoretical knowledge of God, but that they
practically know Him. ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
2] But in works they deny him.
But in works they deny him. - The Syriac, Arabic,
and Ethiopic versions read, "in their own works";
they were not professed, but practical atheists;
they owned there was a God, and boasted of their
knowledge of him; but their lives and conversations
showed that they had no true knowledge of him, and
that the fear of him was not before their eyes;
these gave the lie to their profession; they
practically denied that faith they professed to
hold, and the power of godliness, of which they had
the form. ~John Gill
But in works they deny him - Their profession and
practice were at continual variance. Full of a
pretended faith, while utterly destitute of those
works by which a genuine faith is accredited and
proved. Dio Cassius represents Caesar as saying of
his mutinous soldiers: Ονομα Ῥωμαιων εχοντας, εργα
δε Κελτων δρωντας. “Having the name of Romans, while
they had the manners of the Gauls.” How near are
those words to the saying of the apostle! ~Adam
Clarke
But in works they deny him - Their conduct is such
as to show that they have no real acquaintance with
him. ~Barnes Notes
3] Being abominable.
Being abominable - in the sight of God, however
esteemed by men; and notwithstanding the vizor and
mask of sanctity and religion they put on, which
could not screen them from the omniscience of God,
who will one day declare he knows them not, and will
bid them depart from him, being workers of iniquity.
~John Gill
Being abominable - In their conduct. The word here
used - βδελυκτοὶ bdeluktoi - occurs nowhere else in
the New Testament. It means that which is
detestable, or to be held in abhorrence. ~Barnes
Notes
4] And disobedient.
And disobedient - to God; to his law, and Gospel; to
his ministers and churches; and even to parents and
civil magistrates; for of this cast were the false
teachers, and their followers, as maybe learned from
many passages. ~John Gill
And disobedient - Απειθεις· Unpersuadable,
unbelieving, and consequently disobedient.
Characters remarkably applicable to the Jews through
all their generations. ~Adam Clarke
5] And unto every good work
reprobate.
And unto every good work reprobate - or
"unaccustomed", unused to them, as the Arabic
version renders it; or rather "without judgment",
and understanding, concerning them; there was no
good in them, nor was it in them to do good; to do
good they had no knowledge, nor any inclination;
they were unfit for it, and had not a capacity to
perform it; they were not good themselves, and
therefore could not do good; the tree must first be
made good, ere its fruit will be good; they were
without Christ, and without his Spirit, and grace,
without which no man can do anything that is
spiritually good; they had no true faith, and
therefore what they did was sinful; they had neither
right principles, from which, nor right ends to
which they acted, and therefore were not qualified
for the performance of good works; which require
that men should be good men, created in Christ
Jesus, be believers in him, and have principles of
truth and love, and views to the glory of God.
~John Gill
And disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate
- Margin, “void of judgment.” On the word here used
- ἀδοκίμος adokimos - see the Romans 1:28; 2
Corinthians 13:5. It means here that in reference to
everything that was good, their conduct was such
that it could not be approved, or deserved
disapprobation. It was for this reason; from the
character of the people of the island of Crete, and
of those who claimed to be teachers there enforcing
the obligation of the Mosaic law, that it was so
important for Titus to exercise special care in
introducing men into the ministry, and in completing
the arrangements contemplated in the organization of
the churches there. Yet is this character confined
to them? Are there none now who profess that they
know God, but in works deny him; whose conduct is
such that it ought to be abhorred; who are
disobedient to the plain commands of God, and whose
character in respect to all that pertains to true
piety is to be disapproved by the truly pious, and
will be by God at the last day? Alas, taking the
church at large, there are many such, and the fact
that there are such persons is the grand hindrance
to the triumphs of religion on the earth. “The way
to [the Kingdom] is blocked up by dead professors of
religion.” ~Barnes Notes
Quoted verses:
Romans 1:28
And even as they did not like to retain God in their
knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind,
to do those things which are not convenient;
2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith;
prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be
reprobates?
This verse is a description of the false teachers of
Crete and links back to verse 14: Do not give
heed to Jewish fables and the commandments of men
that turn us from the truth. This is the
lesson of verse 16.
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