Book of Titus - Ch. 1, vv. 12-13

So, the past couple of Sundays, we have been talking about one of the most important reasons why the elder needs to be qualified, why he needs to meet all of the qualifications that Paul gave in verses 6 through 9, because starting in verse 10, we see that there's this common enemy that Titus and the elders that he will be appointing right around the corner is a pretty formidable opponent, pretty formidable enemy.

And so we find, starting in verse 10, what this enemy looks like and what will need to be done about them.

And it's no coincidence that this flows directly after the qualifications, because it's the qualifications that equip

Titus and the elders to deal with these guys. So, verse 10, we already covered this one.

It says, for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision.

So, right there, you have a stark contrast between the qualified elder and the false teacher.

Qualified elder as self -control, and he meets all of these characteristic qualifications that are needed, that are mandated in order to serve as a pastor.

And you have that right up against these guys with no self -control, no self -discipline at all.

And what's the result of that? They're unruly, they're vain talkers, they're liars. And then in verse 11,

Paul says, whose mouths must be stopped. So, yes, these guys are unruly, they're liars, but you don't just let them go about propagating whatever false teachings they decide to spew on that particular day.

Their mouths must be stopped. They must be shut up. The ox must be muzzled, as we talked about last week.

Those are some of the Greek terms behind the translation here that Paul was using.

And the reason their mouths must be shut is because they subvert whole houses. They teach things that they ought not for money's sake, for filthy lucre's sake, for sordid gain.

And so, these are guys that not only are teaching incorrectly, not only teaching false heresy, which we'll see as we progress through the rest of this chapter,

Paul kind of fleshes out some of the things that they're doing. Not only is it heretical, but their motives aren't even good.

And what do I mean by that? Well, we talked about this just a little bit last week, but we know that people, that the

Lord can use the foolishness of preaching sometimes. And there are guys out there that may have perfectly good motives, but just are uninformed.

They don't have the knowledge yet to accurately handle God's word, or they have not, maybe

I'll put it this way, they haven't yet handled God's word enough to actually teach it.

They haven't studied it enough. They haven't been in the word enough themselves to teach it. So they go out and maybe they get some stuff wrong.

It may even be technically heretical, but it's not because they're trying to be heretics.

It's because they're just, they don't have the knowledge yet. So it comes out incorrectly. The Lord can still use that.

Their motives are good. It's just bad teaching, bad preaching. And that needs to be taken care of as well.

But that's a different scenario than what we're dealing with here. Because here we have guys that are intentionally teaching heresy because they care about their bellies more than they care about the souls of the people they're talking about.

They want the money. They want to be able to fill the coffers, so to speak. And so that's what we're dealing with.

So that brings us to verse 12, which is where we left off last week. Let's take a look at verse 12. It says, one of themselves, even a prophet of their own said, the

Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. And so Paul in the verses leading up to verse 12 is describing a pretty rough crowd, a crowd that are deceptive, a crowd of liars, false teachers that are out to subvert whole houses.

That means literally turn them upside down, perhaps even pit family members against family members for their own gain, all of these terrible things.

And Paul wants to take it up a in verse 12 by quoting one of their own.

Now here's the deal. Paul, from the human viewpoint, understood that the words that he just uttered, namely that the

Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. He understood that if he were to just say that himself, it wouldn't carry quite as much weight to the

Cretans coming directly from Paul. They know who Paul was. They knew he had authority.

They knew he was an apostle and was teaching this message of Jesus Christ, but he wasn't one of their own.

And so I think that, again, from the human viewpoint, Paul had an understanding that there's a chance that regardless of how harsh

I am in my words against these people, there's a chance it won't be received. It will fall on deaf ears because they're like, well, who are you to say, you're not from here.

You don't know us, et cetera, et cetera. And so rather than doing that, he quotes one of their greatest prophets instead.

In other words, Paul accusing the native Cretans himself may not have been received.

So instead he quotes one of their own that they would consider authoritative. Does that make sense? So Paul has an understanding here that, yes, he has authority.

He has utmost authority himself, but he's dealing with a particular culture, particular historical heritage, pagan, and they're not going to take every word that Paul speaks as the word of God, at least yet, certainly not generally.

So Paul makes the decision here to borrow from one of their own, one of their own historical writings from one of their own historical prophets, which we'll talk about that more in just a second.

What exactly does Paul mean by prophet here? Now, who is this prophet? Now, this is interesting stuff because we actually have historical record of the man that Paul was most likely quoting here.

One of the most famous Cretans in all of history that predated the apostle

Paul and even Jesus by some five centuries. His name was

Epimenides, and he was a very revered Cretan throughout all of the Greco empire.

It wasn't just, he wasn't famous just on this island of Crete. He was known throughout all of the

Greek empire at the time he was alive. He was a poet. He was a teacher.

He was a prolific writer in his day, and he was ranked as one of the seven wise men of Greece while he was still alive.

And so you can go back and read some of the history of that and some of the most revered intellectuals of the ancient

Greek empire, and Epimenides is right there among the top seven. So in short, he was a national hero, and not only was he a national hero, but he was especially revered on the island of Crete, his native island.

Now in the ancient world, the great Greek poets were considered prophets.

They were elevated to that status by their people. They weren't prophets in the way that we think of prophets.

They weren't prophets like the Old Testament prophets that were receiving direct revelation from God, and they weren't even really like the false prophets of even the

Old Testament, like Balaam, who perhaps was receiving revelation, quote -unquote, from powers of darkness.

These were guys that were, you know, picture Aristotle, but also, so they were philosophers, but they were also epic.

They wrote epic poems about their day and about the battles and about the warriors. They were historians, and they were teachers, and they were writers, and all these types of things.

So Homer, for example, would have been considered a prophet, a Greek prophet, but it wasn't because he was prophesying.

It was because they were just elevated and revered to that level that they were commonly referred to as prophets. Well, Epimenides was no different here, and so Paul, interestingly enough, and I think this is a really interesting lesson that we can learn from this, he borrows the language and the common just way of thinking about things from the pagan

Greeks in order to describe who he's talking about. So he could have just said, he didn't have to describe

Epimenides as a prophet because he wasn't a prophet biblically defined, and Paul knew that, but he still called him a prophet because he knew that his audience would understand what he's talking about.

And so he goes on to quote, word for word, one of the ancient writings of Epimenides, which is verse 12, the

Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. And it was this man that wrote these words, and again, one of his ancient works, describing his own people in this manner.

He thought of his own people generally in this manner. He considered them liars.

He considered them chronic liars, evil beasts. We'll talk about some of these terms in a minute.

Lazy Luttons is another way you could translate that last phrase, low bellies. And so this is

Paul quoting this ancient Greek work. Now we have historical testimony that would affirm this quotation coming from Epimenides all the way up through the early church fathers.

Clement of Alexandria was one of them. And so we have, again, kind of an historical thread, if you will, tracking this quote back to Epimenides, which is why it's generally received to be a quote from him.

You can read everything from Calvin through Spurgeon, through our favorite pastors today, and they would all agree that that's where the quote came from.

And one of the reasons why we can be somewhat confident is because of the specificity of the quote.

Paul was very, very specific. He didn't paraphrase it, in other words. It was a very straight quote.

Now, Cretans in general were such renowned liars at the time that Paul is writing to Titus, and for centuries, from the time of Epimenides all the way,

I mean, that's six centuries there, that's 600 years. So for hundreds and hundreds of years, the

Cretans in general were such renowned liars that the Greeks actually coined a verb after the

Cretans, naming the verb after the Cretans, which means to lie. The Greek word was kretizo, or kretizo, and or to kretize means to lie or to cheat, and this was derived directly from the name of the

Cretans. They were such pervasive liars that the vernacular of their day included this verb derived from their very name.

And so not only did you have the testimony of Epimenides and Paul, which we'll see in verse 13, affirming that this testimony is true, but you also had the

Greek language, you had the Greek, you know, phrase, parts of a phrase or terms of phrase, if you will, implementing the

Cretans' very nature into the language itself. And so they were pervasive liars.

Now, all of this makes perfect sense in the context of them lying about the word of God to the point of subverting whole households.

What were they doing? In verse 11, they were turning households upside down. And so part and parcel of who these false teachers were was their own national heritage in a bad way.

They've been known for centuries as liars and gluttons and evil beasts, which we'll talk about in a second.

In other words, all they cared about was their own pleasure. They cared about their own indulgences and this, that, and the other.

And so it makes perfect sense that Paul is pulling this quote and this idea into the context of talking about these false teachers that he's warning

Titus about. They all go hand in hand. It makes sense that they are intentionally trying to turn houses upside down because it's just in their nature.

Now, in addition to that, their prophet Epimenides didn't stop there. He didn't talk about the fact that they were liars and end it there.

He also called them evil beasts, again, looking at verse 12. They are liars, always liars, chronic liars.

They are evil beasts. And what this means, essentially, is that they are like animals in the sense that they function on the sensual level.

That's all they care about. Everything they're doing is around or on the sensual level, totally ruled by their own passions, their own desires.

They're the kind of people that want whatever pleasurable thing they can get next.

They want it. They want it quick. They'll do whatever they can to get it. That's the type of people we're talking about.

These are the natives of the island of Crete. Epimenides thought so. As we'll see in verse 13,

Paul agreed that this was true. And so they're liars, but they're also that one of the reasons they lie is because they do everything they possibly can to get that next desirous thing, the next thing that will bring them pleasure, whatever it is.

And then the final phrase just piles onto this. It flows directly from the same idea.

He says they're also slow bellies or lazy gluttons is another way that you could translate that.

In other words, they are overindulgent in every aspect of their lives. They're uncontrolled.

They don't have any self -discipline. They don't have any self -control. And they're quite literally fat bellied because of it.

They only care about, as I've said a number of times, they only care about whatever is pleasurable to them in the moment, to the point of being liars in order to get it, to the point of being sexually immoral, to the point of being gluttons.

And this is what Epimenides, this ancient Greek writer, this is how he described his people.

But now look at verse 13. Why is Paul using this quote in the first place? What is the purpose of Paul bringing this quote in the middle of this context, referring to the false teachers that he's warning

Titus about? Look at verse 13. Paul says, this witness is true.

And so everything that Epimenides talked about in verse 12, the reason

Paul is quoting him in the first place is because the quote is not authoritative because he's a

Cretan. That's one of the reasons why he's quoting it, but that's not the only reason. The other reason is because it is inerrantly authoritative.

In other words, what Epimenides said is true. This witness is true.

Wherefore, what's the wherefore therefore? Because of all these things, because they're evil beasts, because they're liars, because they are slow bellies, because what

Epimenides said is true, wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.

Now let's break this verse down just a little bit because there's some really interesting things in verse 13. Number one, let's take a look at this first phrase, this witness is true.

What is what is Paul talking about there? The term that he uses, the word witness, the

Greek term there, let's see here, how do you say it? Martuaria, I believe is how you pronounce it.

It's the Greek word. I'm sure that that is a mispronunciation, but it's the

Greek term underneath the word witness there, and it means a testifying. Interestingly enough, it is the term that you use when you are talking about the office of a prophet, because remember,

Paul is calling him a prophet because the Cretans considered him a prophet. And so when

Paul says this witness is true, what he's saying is this testimony, this testifying is true.

It's the office committed to the prophets of testifying concerning future events. It's the term that you use when you are determining whether or not a prophet was accurate or not.

Was their prophecy, quote unquote, from centuries past, was it accurate?

Was that testimony true or was it false? So that's what the Greek word means is, was their prophetic utterance true or false?

And so Paul says it's true. This witness is true. This testimony is true. This prophetic utterance is true.

So when Paul says this witness or this prophetic testifying is true, what he's doing is he's affirming the testimony with apostolic authority.

So remember, this quote of Epimenides in verse 12 is authoritative on three different levels now.

It's authoritative because the Cretans accept Epimenides as an ancient prophet, one of the seven wise men of Greece.

So it's authoritative on that count. That's why I believe Paul used it in the first place, because he knew that those words would strum a chord with all

Cretans, whether they believed in Paul or not. It's authoritative on the second count because Paul, being an honest man in general, affirmed that these are true.

And it is on a third part true because Paul, as an apostle, is affirming it under inspiration.

So apostolic authority behind this ancient quote. And so this pagan prophet's final analysis in 600

BC, 600 years prior to Jesus being born, was true.

And it was still true in Paul today. So you have at a minimum six centuries of always lying, chronic liars, fat bellies, slow bellies, evil beasts seeking whatever pleasurable act they can get next, whether it be related to sexual immorality or being gluttons and overindulging in this area, overindulging in that area.

This is a very ancient island and its ancient history is not a good one at that.

Now listen to this quote really quick and I'll open it up after this, but just listen to this interesting quote from John Calvin and his commentary on Titus, because you might wonder why, you know, okay, so the quote is true, but why would

Paul want to quote a pagan? You know, why not just use his Christ -given authority rather than quoting a pagan?

There are a lot of things you can learn from the fact that he does, but this quote sums it up pretty well.

So this is Calvin in his commentary on Titus. He says, from this passage, we may infer that those persons are superstitious who do not venture to borrow anything from heathen authors.

Let me stop there for just a second. What Paul is saying is essentially what Paul was saying when he was talking about the people concerned with eating meats from idols and things like that, being overly concerned by it.

You don't have to be overly concerned by it. Paul says, I can eat the meats from idols. I know that they were offered to gods made up in the mind of mere men.

I've got nothing to be afraid of, and he goes on to give instruction on how to deal with those that are bothered by it, of course, but we know from Paul that he certainly wasn't a superstitious guy because he's like, this is all hocus -pocus.

Who cares that this meat was offered to this false god that doesn't even exist? It's good meat, it's cheap, and I need to eat, so I'm going to eat it.

So what Calvin is saying here is that for people that are to never accept anything ever said by any pagan ever because a pagan said it is a little bit superstitious because, as he'll, well,

I'll let him speak for himself in just a second, but that's what he means at the beginning of this quote.

From this passage, we may infer that those persons are superstitious who do not venture to borrow anything from heathen authors.

There's stuff out there that we can borrow. There's stuff out there we can take. There is truth. Where there is truth, we can take it, and it plays off of the principle that Otis taught dad many years ago and that dad reminds us often is that God uses the pagans to put stuff on the shelf for us, and he used pagan philosophers to share just universal truths regarding natural law, natural revelation that are true because God put them there.

We can borrow that. We can borrow those truths without affirming their paganism, without being pagans ourselves.

So that's what Calvin is hitting on there, and he continues in this quote, and he says, all truth is from God.

Inconsequently, if wicked men have said anything that is true and just, we ought not to reject it, for it has come from God.

Besides, all things are of God, and therefore, why should it not be lawful to dedicate to his glory everything that can properly be employed for such a purpose, end quote.

And so Calvin is telling us we can learn a lesson from Paul borrowing this true statement from a pagan poet.

If it's true, it's true because God put it there. It's true in spite of their paganism, not because of their paganism.

It's true because God is truth, and so if a statement, if an historical statement is made by a pagan author that is accurate, take it.

It's true, and it's there, and it's true for God's glory. That's what Calvin was saying. It's pretty neat, isn't it?

One other thought that I'll just throw in there, slight rabbit trail, but there are many examples that we can take from the apostles, certainly

Paul, that show us how useful it can be to get a solid education, and certainly an education within the culture that you're currently living in.

The greatest proof text for Christian education, I believe, is Ephesians 6 .4,

and it's the one that says, fathers, raise up your kids in the nurture and admonition of the

Lord, I believe is the phrasing that's used in the KJV. Fathers, provoke not your children to rap, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the

Lord. That word, nurture, there, you know, it sounds like you're just kind of, you're sitting there, your baby and your kids, taking care of them, making sure they're safe.

Well, the Greek term that Paul uses there is pideia, which literally means the best

English equivalent we have is education. Now, the Greek term goes far beyond just what we think of as education.

What Paul was talking about is he's talking about enculturating your kids, taking them, and teaching them the way your culture operates, why it's operating, the areas that it is missing the mark, and the areas that are good.

You teach them these things through the lens of God's word, so you don't necessarily shelter them outright from 100 % of the things going on.

Obviously, we could have a laundry list of evil things you want to shelter them from, so don't get me wrong there, but there are a number of aspects within the culture, from art to literature to music, much of which is produced by pagans, by unbelievers, but it can be useful.

It can be used when viewed through the lens of God's word, and Paul was a great testimony of that, and here's one example of it.

He is totally fine quoting this ancient pagan poet in order to prove a point for a couple of reasons.

Number one, he knew that it carried authority within the culture he was talking to, so he's showing them, look, I know your stuff, and here's what your own prophet thinks about you, but secondly, he also understood that that testimony was true, so that you can find truth from unbelievers because they put stuff on the shelf for God's people, and so, again,

Ephesians 6 .4, nurture or educate your kids in the

Lord. Paul is a living example of that. There's another interesting example where Peter uses the term

Tartarus to describe the Lake of Fire. Well, Tartarus was a mythological place of the dead where one of the, you know, dark gods ruled from or something like that in Greek mythology, and the

KJV and other translations translated as hell because that's what Peter was talking about, but when he was speaking in Greek, he used this mythological term to just put the picture in the minds of his audience because they understood, whoa, that's, you know, this is a dark place.

This is a bad place, so the apostles did this often, and this is another example of Paul doing that, using his education through the lens of God's word to, for the betterment of Christianity, for the growth of God's kingdom as he was out there doing his thing, doing his mission.

Does anyone have any thoughts or anything so far before we press on? We still have about 10 minutes.

I mean, obviously, if you're about to talk about verse 14, I want to see how that ties into it, but also just,

I guess, being careful, like, where the line is on establishing something as truth outside of God's word, you know, and kind of figuring that line out, and on how to explain that to your kids, too, for example, and those kinds of things.

That's what I was thinking about. Well, yeah, so it's interesting because in Psalm 17, verse 1, just to kind of continue the rabbit trail for just a minute longer,

Paul says, I'm sorry, David says, hear my righteous cause, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips or deceitful lips.

And so David begins by saying, what I'm about to say is true, and then he finishes it by saying, and it's not coming from a deceitful place either.

Well, what can we learn from that? We can learn that, number one, truth is truth, no matter what, but sometimes truth can come from a deceitful place.

And so you do have to be careful, Kates, and this is because in our pursuit of truth, which is an admirable pursuit, when you hear someone state true facts, you will resonate with that, and it will be refreshing, and it will be encouraging.

And so that's great, but if that leads to you taking every word that person now says from that point forward as gospel truth, that can be somewhat troublesome.

And one really pertinent current example is you have the pandemic, you had lots of crazy stuff happen, you had lots of draconian stuff happening around the world to the point where even traditional liberals were trying to shout, something isn't right about this.

And there were a number of these guys that I was following because I found it useful to hear what they had to say about things that I agreed were wrong and troublesome realities, but it was coming from the left of the aisle, not from the traditional right.

And so they were saying true things, they had true concerns, but what

I found myself doing was listening to them the majority of the time because they said things that I agreed with, and so I wanted to hear what they had to say about other things too.

And then I started to realize, wait a second, we have drastically different world views here, and they're being inconsistent, but I also don't need to be listening to everything they have to say because a lot of what they have to say is absolutely terrible, it's absolute garbage.

So you have to take the truth statements where you can take them and spit out the bones, and in some cases it's big piles of bones, a little bit of meat, big piles of bones.

In other cases it might be a lot of meat, and so I think y 'all get the point, but it is, that is a great question,

Katie. The line can be tough, and I believe that is one part of the sanctification process is finding that line, and it's one of the reasons why we as fathers,

Ephesians 6 -4, the burden of educating your kids is put squarely on the shoulders of the dads.

Isn't that interesting? Paul puts it squarely on the shoulders of the dads specifically, and the reason he does that is because he knows that the dads have a unique God -given wisdom as the heads of their homes to decipher all of this stuff and to help their kids navigate knowing what is true, even when it comes from the pagans, and what is antithetical to God's Word, and the only way you can know how to do that, because we could say, well,

Paul was under inspiration here, so obviously he knew it was true, and that's a good argument, but that doesn't mean that we can't do the same thing, at least on a certain level.

The way we do it is by immersing ourselves in God's Word, because that is when you just see it pop. Where there's truth, you see it.

Where there is falsities, false teachings, false things, you know it's wrong, because you were informed by God's Word.

Did you have a thought, Mimi? When I was teaching homeschool group, the worldview class, and we studied four major worldviews across 10 different disciplines, you can see smatterings of truth in all of the worldviews, and that's what makes it appealing to people, but if you don't have spiritual understanding, you can be led astray, so it was important to be able to recognize this is a truth that is going to resonate with certain people, and you have to understand, especially with kids, when they hear this truth, it sounds good, and so they begin to start accepting other things that those worldviews are teaching.

Today, our kids are being taught worldviews without the backdrop of Christianity, without the biblical guidance, and so they're accepting these worldviews because there are smatterings of truth in there that sound good to them, and it may even be that it sounds good to them because they've heard their parents say something to that effect, and so they think, okay, well, my parents would approve, and so they start following these worldviews because they've heard that smattering truth, and they may have heard it elsewhere.

They may have even heard it in the church, but if they're not constantly in the word, and they don't have spiritual discernment, they can be easily led astray.

Sure, and that's one of the reasons why Paul puts such an emphasis on it, why parents have to be involved with their kids' education, because what the world does is they say, here's a platter of different options, take your pick, whereas what the parents are supposed to do is, here is what the world presents to you, now let's look at these in light of God's word, and so rather than here are all the options, take your pick, it's no, here's

God's special revelations breathed out by God. It is the only thing in the universe that's like it.

That is the standard, so let's look at all of these things that the world believes held up to the one and only true standard that we have, and then all of a sudden you can learn some things from those opposing worldviews like Paul did in reading all of the ancient literature that he did, because he was looking at all of it through the lens of God's word and Jesus' teachings, and of course the

Old Testament oracles as well. And I think where a lot of parents make the mistake is they reject having anything to do with those worldviews rather than say, okay, let's look at it, and let's compare it to God's word.

They just reject it, so they stay away from it. Sometimes that makes it more interesting to the kids.

Absolutely, and of course there's wisdom in all of it, because you don't necessarily take your nine, six, and four -year -old like I have and say, all right kids, let's talk about nihilism today.

So in the younger years, you are enculturating them very much in God's word exclusively and raising them in the environment that is conducive to, well, frankly, pure evangelism.

And then when you've done your job right, and they get into the later teen years where their critical thinking is calibrated by God's word, and they can start looking at some of these things, by the time they're a senior, and really maybe before that, you should be able to hand them

Origin of Species and let them read it, and they will see where the problems lie, because they will be viewing it through the creation order.

They'll be seeing that there are things, there are fundamental presuppositions that aren't falsifiable, number one, but number two, that is in direct opposition to God's own revelation on origins.

And so, to your point, Mimi, if you go all the way up through high school and then they leave your home with the understanding that you don't even think about anything, any other worldview, or anything like that, they'll go out there, they'll have other people give them the platter of options to pick from that they'll be seeing for the first time, and they'll think, these seem harmless.

So I think that's the point you're trying to make, and I would agree with it wholeheartedly. Well, we have like three minutes left.

Let me just give you a couple last thoughts. We might be able to finish verse 13 here and then move into 14 next week, but I essentially believe that Paul is affirming

Epimenides, his generalization, because keep in mind, in this, another great lesson, just a quick thought here, is this is a great example of the importance of generalizing sometimes.

It's a very useful rhetorical tool when you're preaching. For example, you know, we could be talking to somebody, maybe on the upper west coast, or somebody, a brother in Christ, but they're a totally different environment from the

Bible Belt, and they're like, so what's it, you know, what's it like down there? What are Christians like in the

Bible Belt? Well, dad might say something like, well, they're all pre -tribbers, or something like that.

Well, obviously, yeah, yeah, oh yeah, or that's a good one,

Ash. Well, they all think they're Christians, right? Well, dad, so dad could make a generalized statement like that.

Well, they're all pre -tribbers. Well, we know that not every individual Christian in the Bible Belt is a pre -tribber, but the large majority of them are, and so what

Epimenides is saying, what Paul is affirming, is not every Cretan is a liar, and ironically, if that were true literally, then you couldn't even take

Epimenides' word for what he's saying. So it's not, it's a generalization.

It's not every individual is a liar. You have all of these saved people in Crete that they're now trying to disciple. So not all of them are a liar.

It's a generalization. It's a rhetorical tool that is needed and useful, and he's talking about the majority of people.

So he takes this, Paul takes this generalization, and he applies it specifically to these false teachers, telling them that these guys are the worst of the

Cretans. His quote applies to these guys especially. That is what

Paul is doing here, I believe, and it's because these things are true. Titus, just the final phrase there in verse 13, or it's not the last phrase.

We'll have to pick this up next week because there's a few things we need to look at, but it's because this quote is true, because these things, this generalization is true, and certainly true of these false teachers, what is

Titus to do? Rebuke them sharply. Of course, this plays a lot into Paul's very expressive statement that he used in verse 11 when he says, their mouths must be stopped.

And remember, he's using the Greek terminology that comes from essentially muzzling the ox's mouth. And so he's saying, their mouths must be stopped, rebuke them sharply, and the word sharply here in Greek, it's a really strong word, and it basically comes from two little

Greek words that means to cut something off, like picture a guy out in the forest getting firewood, and he has a very sharp ax, and just with one blow can chop a limb off of the tree.

Cleanly, one sharp blow, and it's done. That's what the Greek word means. It means to cut something off sharply and quickly, swiftly, and so that's what he's saying, rebuke them sharply.

That's what he means there. Again, it's used for one that cuts off the branch of a tree with one blow of an ax.

So don't let them speak heresy, Titus. Don't let them speak heresy. Cut it off swiftly and cleanly, and we'll pick this thought up next week.

But believe it or not, you can do that with patience and with kindness, and you think that's an oxymoron, but it's true.

It's possible, and Paul tells us how it's possible. We'll majority of verses 12 and 13, we'll finish off 13 next week and jump into 14.

Do y 'all have any final thoughts before we close a prayer? Anything else?

I was just thinking about, I can't remember where the quote's from, but someone said that culture is religion and stardom, and how can you, like,

Paul is, he's addressing the culture, so of course he's using a strong cultural figure and kind of proving that point, that because of your religion, this is the culture, and so in order to correct that, you cut it off.

You cut off the false religion, and then the culture is corrected. Anyway, that's what

I was thinking. 100 percent. That's a great connection there, is another quote you're talking about, and obviously we're dealing with that right now with secularism.

Every country has a religion. Every country, every culture has a religion.

Every culture has moral views. The question is, in other words, there's nothing neutral.

There's no such thing as neutrality, so the question is which religion do they have? Which false gods, which gods are they worshiping?

Which gods are their standard for their morality? Well, the answer for us in this age, in this culture, is secularism, which of course from that flows the idolization of self, and we determine morality based on what is right in our own eyes, based on self.

There's nothing neutral there. That is, it's a false religion in and of itself, and so how do you combat that?

God's word. Did you have a thought, dad? Yeah, sister religion to that is, or many of it, is all about self.

I wouldn't disagree with that. That is a majority church.

I can't remember if it was last week or week before last, but we talked a little bit about a book I just finished.

It's basically a church history book, really, but it involves Spurgeon's ministry specifically, and it showed in detail the logical conclusion of starting your theology with free will versus God's glory and holiness and sovereignty and things like that, and there can be solid conservative

Christians that start there, but one or two generations later or less, it turns into theological liberalism, which then questions the authority of God's word, the inerrancy, the sufficiency, on and on and on, and the book tracks that using real -time examples, historical examples.

It's fascinating, and so yes, any time the idolization of self enters the picture, and it can be really subtle sometimes, you're going to have bad problems sometimes sooner than later, and so Paul's dealing with that.

To Ashton's point, religion externalized. This is what their religion looked like. They're evil beasts.

Pleasure was their religion. They're evil beasts. They're slow bellies. They're lazy gluttons, and they're liars because they will do anything and everything they can to get that pleasure, so these are the types of people

Titus is dealing with. Let's close in prayer, and we'll pick it up next week. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this wonderful day, for bringing us together once again and giving us another opportunity to abide in your word together as a fellowship, as a local body, and we just ask that you continue to bless our time together, to continue to bless our studies as we progress through them, and to continue to bring us together each and every week if it be your will.

We ask you to continue to be with our services today, and we ask all these things in your name. Amen. Sure. Thank you, guys.