Introduction
The final quality an elder must possess is a firm commitment to “the trustworthy (lit. healthy) word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” (1:9). One of the central reasons the church needs faithful elders is because of the ever-present threat of false teachers. Paul knows this is not an academic threat. False teaching isn’t like getting a C on your theology exam. It is, as we will see, responsible for the destruction of people’s lives. This threat was becoming a tragic reality among the Christians on Crete and Titus needed to appoint men who were able to teach and protect God’s people. We need to look at three things in order to understand and guard against this threat: (1) the identity of these false teachers and what they taught, (2) the way false teaching is rooted in a central lie about the character of God, and (3) how to be on guard against the roots of false teaching in ourselves.
Beware the Circumcision Party
Rather than “holding firm to the health-giving word,” vs. 10 says the false teachers are “insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers.” In other words, they refuse to submit to God’s word and therefore have nothing to say except deception. Specifically, Paul identifies these false teachers as belonging to “the circumcision party.” Who are these people and what did they teach?
Identity: Remember that Paul has already encountered the “circumcision group” in Galatians and their influence lead to his public rebuke of Peter. “For before certain men came from James, [Peter] was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy” (Gal. 2:12-13). This group said “You become a Christian by faith in Christ, but to stay a Christian, or grow as a Christian, you need to be circumcised. They wanted to make Gentile Christians subject to the Jewish law or some kind of human code of conduct.” – Tim Chester
Teachings: Though Paul doesn’t mention circumcision in Titus, it’s clear that the “circumcision group” on Crete were teaching similar things. In vs. 14 Paul identifies two characteristics: “devoting themselves to Jewish myths,” and “the commands of people who turn away from the truth.” Clearly these are the same errors that had infiltrated the Church in Ephesus and Colossae (1 Tim. 4:1-5; Col. 2:16-23). Put simply, these false teachers were erecting barriers to godliness by requiring obedience to human purity codes that made God’s good gifts (marriage and food) unclean. If Christians wanted to be really holy and acceptable to God, they needed to observe the ceremonial law and other commands that would protect them from the world. The great irony, however, is the way Paul says that these purity-obsessed teachers were nothing of the sort, they are actually “liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons.” Rather than protecting against worldliness, they were succumbing to it! Likewise, their teaching was destroying the unity and fellowship of families.
Legalism, Antinomianism, and the Grace of God
The deception of this heresy was that it appeared to be expanding protection against worldliness when in reality it was actually minimizing it. Why? Because the false teachers made holiness a matter of externals (avoid/eat certain foods, only marry certain people) rather than of the heart (Matt. 15:10-11) just like the Pharisees. But if we are to really understand where this motivation comes from we need to remember the nature of Eve’s first sin in the Garden. Rather than rejoicing in the grace and abundance of God’s free gifts to her, Satan directed Eve’s attention to what He had not given and cast God as withholding the best from her. He suggested: “What kind of God would deny you pleasure and joy if he really loved you? He allows you nothing, and yet demands that you obey Him” (Sinclair Ferguson). He made God seem a hard-to-please, demanding deity, who was withholding good, until Adam and Eve earned it. Eve reached out and ate the fruit because she was convinced she had to look out for herself. This is the heart of legalism: It divorces God’s gracious and generous character from His revealed will. Rather than being an expression of the graciousness and goodness of His person given as a free gift, Legalism sees the law as a means of satisfying “He-whose-favor-has-to-be-earned.” Antinomianism (opposition to and breach of the law) springs from this same source, since it too sees God’s law as a deprivation of true life and goodness rather than its true expression. Though the younger and older sons surely couldn’t stand each other, they most certainly joined hands in the lie they believed about their Father (Luke 15:11-32). The result is that we are enslaved to ourselves; locked into a hostile wrestling match with God where only our efforts can overcome Him either by external conformity or rebellion. In either case our hearts remain far from him (Is. 9:13).
Keep Watch over Yourself
It is easy to think of false teaching as something out in the world that we must vigilant against. But the sobering thing is that false teaching usually comes from within God’s people. The circumcision party were Jewish Christians. This is why Paul tells Timothy to keep watch over himself and his teaching (1 Tim. 4:16). How do we guard ourselves?
In our cultural moment, where everything is contextualized and truth is a matter of individual perspective, one of our central sins is that of acedia, or sloth. We have been conditioned to look on the roots of false teaching in ourselves and others with understanding. What I believe, say, or do is of lesser importance than what I intend. “I” is the operative word here and by turning my attention away from God’s evaluation and ordering of my life, my perspective about what is truly important and worthy is lost. The result is spiritual apathy which neglects what is important in favor of trivial and worthless distractions. We resist God’s word, because at heart we resist Him.
“In a nutshell, to be slothful is to be opposed to the joy we should have over being united with God and committed to him in love. Instead of rejoicing in God’s presence in us, the slothful chafe at it and resent the claims that God’s love makes on them. Rather than being willing to dedicate themselves to developing and deepening the relationship, they resist its demands. Although sloth can appear symptomatically similar to chronic depression, it is not a matter of brain chemistry, but rather a habit of the heart. Sloth is not primarily a feeling: it is well-entrenched and willful resistance [to God].” – Glittering Vices, Rebecca DeYoung
If you are a legalist, you resist God by focusing on external conformity to God’s commands, but like the prodigal son’s older brother, your heart is far from the Father because you don’t really think He is gracious and good. If you are a libertine, you resist God by minimizing His commands because you likewise see your Father as stingy and legalistic rather than generous and good. The root of both sins is the same, you resist God. That is why Paul says in vs. 15: “To the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.” Resisting God is the soil from which all false teaching springs. But to those who know and love God, rejoicing in His grace and goodness, the opposite is true: “to the pure (those who have been cleansed), all things are pure (clean). Rather than a limitation, God’s word is true freedom and obedience is a joy (Psalm 119:97-104).