(REFLECTIONS ON Titus 1:10-16)

I believe! Now what? How does our faith hold up over time? Are we growing in our knowledge of God and experiences with the Lord, or are we being pushed around by the winds and waves of the world?

During Paul’s time, he also had to face the winds and waves of the world. Regarding the world of the Cretans, Paul writes,

12 One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” 13 The saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith 14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth.

Although this doesn’t seem like a very healthy environment and socially it seems like the Cretans are not looked very highly upon, this didn’t stop the Gospel from reaching their ears. Yes, the Gospel is not saved just for the honest, the good, the hard working, but Jesus Christ died on the cross for the world.

However, this is the very world that we must live in as Christians as well, and there are so many “liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons” in this world that are trying to push us off track, shake our faith, and corrupt the confidence we have in Christ.

10 For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. 11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.

Titus is told to rebuke these rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. When we think of the world, we perhaps only think about the world outside of the church. However, the world that Paul had to deal with wasn’t just the outside world, but also the religious world.

Yes, the religious world turned a simple belief in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ and corrupted it. We are encouraged to look at our faith today and to examine it as well, because we too can easily be influenced by a corrupt religion that takes justification by faith, and turns it into justification by our own strength.

I believe! Now what? Now we must live out our faith in a corrupt religious and secular world. Now we must learn and grow in maturity so that we can rebuke these rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, and make sure that we aren’t one of them.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Titus 1