“One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are…evil beasts…” (Titus 1:12).

When that Cretian prophet said that the Cretians are “evil beasts,” he was saying that they were men who “despise government…brute beasts” who “speak evil of dignities” (II Pet. 2:10-12), men who “despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities…as brute beasts” (Jude 1:8-10).  A wild beast refuses to let a man impose his will on him, so men who won’t let civil rulers impose their will on them are called beasts.

When Paul added,

“This witness is true.  Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith” (v. 13),

he was asserting that it is impossible to resist “the powers that be” in government (Rom.13:1,2) and still be considered sound in the faith.

We see further evidence that this was a problem in Crete when Paul later told Titus,

“Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates… to speak evil of no man” (Titus 3:1,2).

Christians who speak evil of magistrates and other men in government are so plentiful these days that they could be called “Legion,” for they “are many” (Mark 5:9).  But the Apostle Paul immediately regretted it when he learned that he had unwittingly spoken evil of the leader of his nation (Acts 23:1-5).

We sometimes hear Christians object that it is not speaking evil of dignities in government if the criticisms we level against them are true.  However, everything Paul said about his leader was true.  God will smite him someday because he was a “whited wall” (Acts 23:3), a hypocrite who feigned to judge Paul according to the law, but commanded him to be smitten contrary to the law.  Yet we know that Paul considered the true words he had spoken against his leader to be evil words, for he went on to admit that he had violated the interdispensational principle of, “Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people” (v. 5).

This is reminiscent of Christians today who say we don’t have to obey our leaders in government because they often act contrary to the constitution of the United States, the law of our land.  But Paul regretted speaking evil of the leader of his nation even though he had commanded Paul to be smitten contrary to the law of their land, the law of Moses.

The bottom line is, there is simply no justification or excuse of any kind for the shameful way that God’s people often speak of the civil leaders whom Paul calls “God’s ministers” (Rom. 13:6),

“Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord” (II Pet. 2:11).

Over the years, you may have had to struggle mightily to be sound in the faith as you came to realize what Paul taught about difficult and sensitive subjects such as water baptism, speaking in tongues, and healing.  But if your heart yearns to be truly sound in every aspect of the faith, if you long to be Pauline in all matters of faith and practice, I would invite you to consider following Paul as he followed Christ in this critical area of the faith as well (I Cor. 11:1).

After all, the power that Pilate had to crucify the Lord was certainly an evil power, yet the Lord said that it was given to him “from above” (John 19:10,11).  Learning not to speak evil of the often evil power of civil leaders is an unfathomably difficult path to tread at times for some, but it is the path trodden by the Apostle Paul and his Christ.  And it is my earnest plea that it is the path you will choose as well.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

As far as we know, the well-known expression found in our title wasn’t around in Bible days.  But it certainly would have been an apt description of the inhabitants of Crete, where Paul had left Titus to minister (Tit. 1:5).  Even one of their favorite sons had to admit this was true!

“One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are always liars…” (Titus 1:12).

But before we talk about this prophet’s assessment of his countrymen, I want to point out that Paul’s words here prove that there is nothing wrong with quoting unsaved men if what they say is true—and what this unbeliever said was true, as Paul hastened to add (v. 13).  I say this because sometimes we here at Berean Bible Society are taken to task if we quote a non-dispensational pastor or teacher in our Two Minutes devotionals, or in our Berean Searchlight magazine.  We know that the Apostle Paul would not have had a problem with this, however, for he quoted an unsaved man—and not just once (cf. Acts 17:28).

Now the reason Paul quoted this Cretian is that he had just finished warning Titus about “vain talkers…of the circumcision…who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not” (Tit. 1:10,11).  Since the Jews of the circumcision loved the Law of Moses, these “vain talkers” were probably teaching the Law, just like the men who had “turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring to be teachers of the law” (I Tim. 1:6,7).  And they were probably saying something like, “The Cretians are always liars, and everybody knows that the only way to deal with a liar is by putting him under the Law that forbids lying (Lev.19:11).”

But the members of the Body of Christ found in the churches of Crete weren’t under the law, they were under grace (Rom. 6:15).  To put them under the Law would be to put them under the curse of the law (Gal. 3:10), something that would subvert their very souls (Acts 15:24).  Yet the vain talkers of the circumcision in Crete had been so active in this that Paul said that they had subervted “whole houses” (Tit. 1:11).

But you don’t have to put a sinner under the curse of the Law to help him overcome lying!  Grace teaches us to reject lying, and all other forms of ungodliness (Tit. 2:11,12).  The apostle of grace said that we should be “putting away lying” (Eph. 4:25).  And when he added, “for we are members one of another” (Eph. 4:25), he was providing us with tremendous incentive not to lie.  I mean, think it through.  If we are “members one of another,” and we lie to one another, we’re actually lying to ourselves.  And bad things happen when a body lies to itself.

When you are in pain, there are drugs you can take that will make your body lie to your brain about the pain you are feeling.  But those lies can cause the body a lot of damage when the warning signal of pain is silenced.  There are also drugs that will make a body lie to itself about being tired, but those drugs can also damage your health.  There are still other drugs that will make your stomach lie to your brain about being hungry.  But some of those drugs are so dangerous that they had to be taken off the market.

The point is, when you lie to another member of the Body of Christ, you can do a lot of damage to that Body as well.  How much hurt could be avoided in the local church if every one of us were to heed Paul’s admonition to “speak every man truth with his neighbour” (Eph. 4:25).  And with powerful incentive like knowing that we are members one of another, there’s no need to put a sinner under the curse of the Law to get him to stop lying.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

“…there are many…vain talkers…of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake” (Titus 1:10,11).

When Paul warned Titus about vain talkers of the circumcision “who subvert whole houses” with their teaching, that word subvert means to turn something upside down.  The prefix “sub” should make you think of the ships that travel under water, and the suffix vert refers to something vertical.  So subvert means to turn something vertical upside down.

Now that’s an interesting thing for Paul to say about these unsaved Jews, for that was a charge that they were leveling at him.  They were saying that Paul and his helpers had “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:5,6).  Paul wasn’t turning the world in general upside down, of course, for the world in general was taking little note of him.  But when some other unsaved Jews called Paul “a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world” (Acts 24:5), it shows that the only world they cared about was the world of the Jews.  That was the world that Paul’s new message of grace was turning upside down!

Now here I should point out that saved Jews accepted Paul’s new ministry of grace among the Gentiles (Acts 15:19-29; Gal. 2:9).  But unsaved Jews didn’t want their world turned upside down, and they weren’t going to take it lying down!  They fought back by teaching the Law, subverting those Gentiles who are not under the Law (Rom. 6:15), and trying to take the world that Paul had turned upside down with his message of grace and turning it upside down again back to the Law. God calls that subversion.

Does that remind you of what happened when some Jews first taught the Law to Gentiles?  The leaders at the Jerusalem council heard about it and wrote a letter to those new Gentile converts, saying,

“…we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, ye must… keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment” (Acts 15:24).

The saved leaders of the Hebrew church said, as it were, “We didn’t authorize those Jews to teach the Law to you new Gentile converts.”  And they said the same thing Paul says here in our text, that teaching the Law to Gentiles was “subverting” them—subverting their very “souls.”  Beloved, it turns the soul of a Gentile upside down to put him under the Law, for he’s bound to wonder why the Law doesn’t work in his life!

For instance, he is going to wonder why God isn’t blessing him with good health when he obeys God, as God did for the Jews under the Law (Ex. 15:26).  He is going to wonder why God isn’t blessing him with wealth when he pays his tithes, as God did for the Jews under the law (Mal. 3:10).  It is sad to think of how the souls of men are still being turned upside down, all because men are still teaching the Law to this day.

When Paul adds that they were teaching the Law “for filthy lucre’s sake,” that means they knew better than to teach the Law, but didn’t care because it was profitable.  Men do some pretty despicable things for money.  Human traffickers prostitute women—and even children—for money.  Evil men scam elderly people out of their life savings for money.  But there is nothing lower on the face of the planet than religious men who know the truth and teach error for filthy lucre’s sake.  So if your pastor is teaching grace, why not encourage him to continue in the message he received from Paul (2 Tim. 3:14)?

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

In listing the qualifications of a pastor (Tit. 1:6-8), Paul told Titus a pastor must always be “holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught” (v. 9), adding,

“For there are many… vain talkers…” (Titus 1:10).

What do you think those “vain talkers” were saying?  Well, since Paul warned Timothy about men who “turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring to be teachers of the law” (I Tim. 1:6,7), it’s likely the “vain talkers” Paul warned Titus about were also teaching the Law.

This is especially likely since these “vain talkers” were “specially…of the circumcision.”  The Jews of the circumcision loved the Law of Moses (John 9:28,29), and understandably so.  After all, the Law was once the word that spiritual leaders in Israel were expected to hold fast!  But part of the “faithful word” Paul teaches us to hold fast was the precious truth that “we are not under the law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:15).

How important is it to recognize this dispensational change?  Paul insists that teaching the law to people under grace is “vain.”  I wonder if he was thinking of how Samuel used that word to warn God’s people about idolatry, saying,

“…turn ye not aside… after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver…” (I Sam. 12:21).

We know these “vain things” were idols, for God often associates idolatry with such “vanities” (Jer. 10:14,15; 16:19,20).  This suggests that Paul called the teaching of the Law “vain” because they of the circumcision made an idol out of it.  Of course!  Any time God’s people refuse to let go of something that is no longer a part of His program, it becomes an idol.  Remember, Hezekiah had to destroy the brazen serpent Moses lifted up when God’s people later began to worship it (II Ki. 18:4).

But did you notice how Samuel defined the word “vain” as something that cannot profit or deliver?  That was certainly true of idols in ancient Israel, but it is also true of the Law in the dispensation of grace.  You see, that word “deliver” is another word for save, as we see when we compare how Paul quoted the prophet Joel (Joel 2:32 cf. Rom. 10:13).

And that’s another reason Paul called the teaching of the Law “vain.”  In the dispensation of grace, the Law can’t profit or deliver or save anyone now that its time is past, any more than the brazen serpent could once its time was past.

Granted, the Law used to be able to save.  That’s why the David declared, “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul” (Ps. 19:7).  And that’s why he added, “I hate vain thoughts: but Thy law do I love” (Ps. 119:113).  Obviously the Law wasn’t vain when it was part of God’s program!  It wasn’t unprofitable back then because it could deliver and save men’s souls, when people like Zacharias and Elizabeth obeyed it blamelessly (Luke 1:6).  But now people are saved by receiving Christ by the grace of God (Eph. 2:8), and Paul tells us to walk in the same grace that saved us (Col. 2:6).

Do you see how crucial it is to always study God’s word by “rightly dividing” it (II Tim. 2:15)?  Unless you recognize the division between God’s plan for Israel in time past and His plan for people living today, you can’t even be sure of the plan of salvation, nor “how ye ought to walk and to please God” once you are saved (I Thes. 4:1).  In time past, God’s people walked in the Law (Ex. 16:4), but no longer!

This is why Paul told Titus that a pastor must always be found “holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught,” for the “word” Paul taught was “the word of His grace” (Acts 20:32)!  May all of God’s pastors and all of God’s people hold it fast!

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

When Paul left the island of Crete, he left Titus behind to “ordain elders in every city” (Tit. 1:5).  As we read on, Paul explains why the churches in those cities needed spiritual leaders urgently:

“For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision” (Titus 1:10).

Crete’s churches needed leaders to deal with some “unruly” men.  The word unruly means someone who refuses to be ruled.  Of course, the only thing you should allow to rule your life spiritually is the Bible.  That’s why Hebrews 13:7 describes spiritual leaders as “them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God.”

But that means that the “unruly” men in Crete must have been men who didn’t want to be ruled by God’s Word.  And since they were “specially…of the circumcision” (Tit. 1:10), they probably didn’t want to be ruled by what Titus taught them from God’s Word, that “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision” (Gal. 6:15), and so refused to “walk according to this rule” (v. 16).  Unruly Jews in those days preferred to be ruled by the Law of Moses instead.  They were proud of being “Moses’ disciples” (John 9:28), and wouldn’t want to hear that “we are not under the law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:15).

Perhaps you are thinking, “Hold on, Pastor!  The Law was part of the Word of God, and you just said that those unruly men didn’t want to be ruled by the Word!”  They didn’t!—that is, they didn’t want to be ruled by the Word of God for today.  They wanted to be ruled by the Law, the Word of God from the previous dispensation.  But if you’re not allowing your spiritual life to be ruled by God’s Word for today, you’re not being ruled by God’s Word.

To make matters worse, we know that these unruly Jews were teaching others that they were under the Law, for Paul called them “unruly and vain talkers…whose mouths must be stopped” (Tit. 1:10,11).  And we know that Timothy had the same problem in Ephesus where he was stationed (I Tim. 1:3), for Paul told him,

“…some…have turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring to be teachers of the law…” (I Tim. 1:6,7).

As you can see, there were also unruly talkers in Ephesus who wanted to teach the Law to others.  And did you notice Paul called their words “vain jangling?”  That matches Paul’s description of the “unruly and vain talkers” in Crete (Tit. 1:10).  And that confirms that the trouble in Crete was being caused by this same desire to be teachers of the Law.

By the way, that word “vain” means empty.  The Law was full of God’s blessing for the Jews to whom He gave it, but it is empty of God’s blessing for those of us who are not under the Law, but under grace.

So if you don’t want to be an unruly Christian, just do what Paul tells us to do in Philippians 3:16,17:

…let us walk by the same rule… be followers together of me.”

The only way to avoid being an unruly Christian is to follow Paul’s teachings of grace!  The Law of Moses was fine for “the house of Israel” (Acts 2:36), but not for “the house of God, which is the church” (I Tim. 3:15).  If you’re not walking by Paul’s rules of grace, you’re walking by the wrong house rules!

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.