Titus 1:10-16
The Elders’ Task
10 For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.
12 One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.
15 To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
Elders are appointed over the flock to use God’s word in grace and firm love to correct those sheep who wander off as a good shepherd does with faithful watchcare. Sometimes they also need to use the staff of church discipline when the defiant roam about the flock with the aim to disrupt with false and empty talk which word is used to describe idolaters here in a with deceitful manner with the in to scatter the sheep just to promote themselves and gain by dishonesty. They lie to their advantage to gain position or outward appearance or even monetarily. The Judaizers were such a group in the time of Titus who used religion to divert the flock from the truths of the gospel as revealed in Jesus Christ and the message of grace over works. These people were out to protect their position of power over the people with religious constraints as they spoke empty words to draw sheep out of the truth and into the deception of their subversive stories. Paul command that elders should be keepers of the flock and stop such talk of false teachings. The example of those who maligned Cretans as evil and lazy liars proved the empty rhetoric of these wolves among the flock and how they needed to be sharply corrected that they turn back and then adhere to sound teaching according to scripture for the good of all the flock. Even now there are some who intertwine fables with truth from dubious and non-biblical sources, often pointing the blearing sheep to parrot their tall tales and return to earning God’s favor as they wander off from the grace of Christ. The bottom line seems to be found in the last two verses of this chapter. Purity is a matter of a cleansed heart (Romans 2:28-29, Philippians 3:3, Colossians 2:11) that acknowledges the truth while a defiled one refuses to believe the truth proclaimed in scripture because those with this mindset have only a verbal confession of Christ but lack a cleansed heart and conscience bathed in grace. Such deceivers only deceive themselves and others (2 Timothy 3:13) because they cannot comprehend grace apart from their own efforts and so their works only end up exposing their denial of Christ’s work and disqualify themselves in their sinful words and behavior. Good works should be based on the grace In Christ and His work in us and according to the teachings of the Bible, not extrabibical tales that scatter the faithful. This is accomplished within the flock under the guidance of the elders who know the scriptures and can minister them to the church under the authority and wisdom of the great Shepherd of the sheep (Hebrews 13:20) who makes us complete and completely acceptable in Himself, Jesus Christ our Lord. Elders then as under-shepherds are tasked to keep the body healthy with sound doctrine as the foundation for the flock to stand on as they graze on truth and grace in the peace of salvation in Christ’s work.
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