10  The Last Word on Relationships  (3:9-15)

But shun foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law; for they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.

When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them. And let our people also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, that they may not be unfruitful. All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. (3:9—15)

God’s plan of salvation calls for strong churches that proclaim and live the reality of the transforming gospel so that it is attractive to the lost. Such testimony is built on sanctified relationships.

As noted in the Introduction, Chapter 1 of Titus deals with the relationship of believers in the church with the Lord of the church, as exemplified by its leadership. Chapter 2 deals with believers’ relationships with each other, and the first half of Chapter 3 deals with the relationship of believers with the unregenerate society in which they live. In the last half of chapter 3, the end of the letter, Paul gives what might be called “The last word on relationships,” which emphasizes the relationship of church leaders with each other.

When a person has an important conversation or correspondence with a friend or counselor, the most personal, and sometimes the most urgent, concerns are mentioned last. That seems to be true in this epistle. In his closing words, Paul mentions four distinct and important categories of personal relationships within the church that are of special importance: relationships with false teachers, with factious people, with fellow servants, and with faithful friends.

FALSE TEACHERS

But shun foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law; for they are unprofitable and worthless. (3:9)

Believers on the island of Crete had been overexposed to a large number of men who claimed to represent the Lord, to be His servants, and to teach His Word. In reality, however, they were spiritually corrupt and were enemies of the Lord, His Word, and His church. Those men had generated so much confusion that Paul had admonished Titus to “set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city … [who would hold] fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that [they] may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict,” namely, the “many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach, for the sake of sordid gain” (1:5, 9-11).

Titus faced a large (“many,” 1:10) and formidable group of leaders in the Cretan churches who were deluding believers about central truths of the gospel. The most influential and dangerous were Jewish legalists, “those of the circumcision” (v. 10), who promoted “Jewish myths and commandments of men” (v. 14). They were not even honest false teachers, because their primary motive was not to instruct, even in falsehood, but rather to earn “sordid gain.” Nevertheless, they were causing great damage to the cause of Christ and were to be refuted (v. 9), silenced (v. 11), and reproved (v. 13). They professed “to know God,” Paul explained, “but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed” (v. 16).

Like those about whom the apostle warned Timothy, these false teachers held “to a form of godliness, although they [had] denied its power” (2 Tim. 3:5). They were not disobedient believers; they were not believers at all, as evidenced by the fact that they espoused ungodly doctrines and lived ungodly lives. They were to be ejected from the churches immediately.

Paul himself had been dogged by judaizing false teachers and leaders throughout his ministry and was well aware both of their danger and their persistence. One of his encounters with them had involved Titus. Some years earlier, accompanied by Barnabas and Titus, Paul had gone to Jerusalem to explain his Gentile ministry to Jewish Christian leaders there. In his letter to the churches of Galatia, he explains that, contrary to the demands of the Judaizers, “not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised” (Gal. 2:3). “It was because of the false brethren who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage,” he goes on to say. “But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you” (w. 4-5). At the end of that epistle he comments further about “those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh [and] try to compel you to be circumcised, simply that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ” (6:12).

Shun translates a form of the verb periistēmi, which in the middle voice, as here, means “to turn oneself around, to purposely turn away from something or someone.” Titus, the other elders, and the congregations on Crete were to turn the other way from morally and spiritually destructive false teachers, who not only corrupted the churches but, by their sinful and sordid lifestyles, were a great hindrance to the credibility of the gospel. The effect of false teaching is explained in several New Testament passages. It unsettles the soul (Acts 15:24), ship-wrecks faith (1 Tim. 1:19), leads to blasphemy (v. 20) and to the ruin of the hearers (2 Tim. 2:14), produces ungodliness (v. 16), and spreads “like gangrene” (v. 17).

In this single verse Paul mentions four specific categories of errors these false teachers were espousing: foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law.

Foolish is from mōros, from which comes moron, and controversies is from zētēsis, which has the basic sense of searching or investigating but came to be used for discussion or debate, especially that which was controversial and contentious.

In Paul’s letters zētēsis always has a negative connotation and is used in warnings—similar to the one given here—about Christians becoming involved in futile arguments about matters of philosophy, or even theology, that are based on human reason and imagination rather than God’s Word. Paul uses it three times in his words to Timothy. At the beginning of his first letter, the apostle admonishes that other young elder to “instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God” and which inevitably result in “fruitless discussion” (1 Tim. 1:3-6, emphasis added). Near the end of that letter he repeats the warning: “If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain” (1 Tim. 6:3-5, emphasis added). In his second letter, Paul further exhorts Timothy: “But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels” (2 Tim. 2:23, emphasis added).

False teachers in the church invariably distort and contradict Scripture, replacing it with novel insights, ideas, and notions that confuse and mislead God’s people and undercut their trust in God’s revealed truth. The danger of false doctrine is made all the worse because, appealing to the natural man, it finds ready acceptance among unbelievers and even among worldly, self-centered Christians who are poorly grounded in the Word. It is for that reason that Paul instructs Timothy to “be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth. But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, … [and will] spread like gangrene” (2 Tim. 2:15-17). Once a false teacher is exposed, he is to be rejected by the church and given no platform to spread his spiritually cancerous and destructive falsehoods. He is not to be debated but denounced and expelled (cf. 2 Cor. 6:14-18).

One wonders how many hours and years and lifetimes of Christians have been lost to genuine teaching of God’s Word and to effective evangelism and discipling because of time wasted with foolish controversies. Although false doctrines themselves certainly are foolish, Paul’s point here is that wasting time discussing them is a seriously foolish behavior for God’s people to be involved in.

Equally worthless for believers is becoming involved in interpretations of genealogies. Paul was not, of course, belittling the many genealogies that are found in both the New and Old Testaments. Those genealogies were critical for determining the God-given lineage of the priesthood, the kings of Judah and Israel, and even the Messiah. Matthew’s gospel opens with “the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. …” (Matt. 1:1; cf. 2-17). Paul’s warning to Titus concerned rather the many fanciful and allegorical interpretations of such genealogies that had fascinated many Jews for centuries.

The fourth-century church historian Eusebius reported that when the apostles died, a conspiracy of godless error arose through deceptive false teachers, who arrogantly propagated their insidious lies in opposition to God’s Word. It is obvious from Paul’s counsel to Timothy and Titus that those godless errors were a serious threat to the church even before all of the apostles were gone.

A third kind of error that Christians on Crete faced is simply referred to as strife, a general term that carries the ideas of all kinds of self-centered rivalry and contentiousness about the truth.

Because the early church included so many converted Jews, a fourth common error involved disputes about the Mosaic Law. Paul refers to that problem in his letter to the Galatian churches. “Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised,” he warned, “simply that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh” (Gal. 6:12-13; cf. 1 Tim. 1:6-7).

The Council of Jerusalem was called for the specific purpose of dealing with Judaizers, including “certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, [and who said], ‘It is necessary to circumcise them [Gentiles], and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses’” (Acts 15:5). The first speaker at the council was Peter, who ended his comments with the question, “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we [Jews] are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they [Gentiles] also are” (w. 10-11). After Paul, Barnabas, and others had spoken, James, the moderator of the council and probably the half-brother of Jesus (see Acts 12:17; 21:18), closed the meeting with the words, “It is my judgment that we do not trouble [with circumcision and observance of the Mosaic Law] those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles” (v. 19). For believers who recognize the authority of the apostles and of God’s Word, disputes about the Law of Moses and its relation to Christians were permanently settled at that time.

Things such as Paul mentions in this verse are to be shunned because they are unprofitable and worthless. Arguing theology, doctrine, or morality with those who distort or disregard God’s Word is unavoidably fruitless. Unlike believers, who accept the authority of Scripture and discuss its meaning, Paul is here referring to discussion with false teachers, who have no desire to accept divine truth.

False teachers are themselves taken in by “deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). Unfortunately, however, they seem never to lack for disciples. Peter said of them: “Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned” (2 Pet. 2:2). Throughout church history, those who “will not endure sound doctrine” have been plentiful. “Wanting to have their ears tickled, they … accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and … turn away their ears from the truth, and … turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:3-4).

FACTIOUS PEOPLE

Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned. (3:10-11)

Just as we are to shun the ungodly, fruitless, and corrupting endeavors mentioned in verse 9, we are to reject a factious man.

Reject is from paraiteomi, which is also translated, “have nothing to do with” (1 Tim. 4:7) and “refuse” (2 Tim. 2:23). In the first case Paul is referring to “worldly fables fit only for old women” and in the second to “foolish and ignorant speculations that… produce quarrels.” Factious is from hairetikos, from which heretic is derived. The original word simply meant “to choose,” but eventually the term came to signify the placing of self-willed opinions above the truth, refusing even to consider views contrary to one’s own. In its noun form, it is associated with such serious “deeds of the flesh” as “immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing” (Gal. 5:19-21, emphasis added). The factious person will not submit to the Word or to godly leaders in the church. He is a law to himself and has no concern for spiritual truth or unity.

Although false teachers certainly are the most devastatingly factious, Paul is here casting a broader net, which includes anyone in the church who is divisive and disruptive. Because the consequences of insubordination, nonsubmission, and bickering can be so destructive of unity among the Lord’s people, the apostle commands that a factious man, or woman, as the case may be, should be rejected by the church if they do not heed a first and second warning. The issues themselves may be trivial, but arguing about them is not.

The apostle’s harsh words apply not only to heretics and apostates but to anyone who is factious. “I urge you, brethren,” Paul warned believers in Rome, “keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting” (Rom. 16:17-18).

Speaking of false teachers and others who were factious, Paul commanded the church at Thessalonica: “If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter”—which, even at that early time in the life of the church, carried the weight of Scripture—“take special note of that man and do not associate with him, so that he may be put to shame. And yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother” (2 Thess. 3:14-15). Church discipline should always be given in a way that is loving, nonjudgmental, remedial, restorative, and redemptive. It should be administered in humility, “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:25).

Unity in divine truth and in spiritual fellowship is imperative for effective evangelism. It is testimony to the world, Jesus said, that “Thou [the Father] didst send Me … [and] didst love Me.” Shortly before that prayer, in what is often called the Upper Room Discourse (John 13:1— 16:33), the Lord told the Twelve, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (13:35).

Genuine, godly love is the binding force of genuine spiritual unity and is an integral, divinely ordained part of our testimony before the world. “We, who are many,” Paul declares, “are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Rom. 12:5). In his letter to believers in Ephesus, the apostle sets forth the same basic truth in different words: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:4-6). Paul goes on to explain that God’s plan for apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers is “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ” (w. 11-13, emphasis added).

Perhaps Paul’s most comprehensive teaching about the nature and importance of genuine unity in the church is found in his first letter to the church in Corinth, which was confused and fractured by false doctrine, personal animosities, and factionalism. “I exhort you, brethren,” he said,

Paul’s last words to that quarrelsome, problem-ridden church were, “Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you” (2 Cor. 13:11).

To a believer who is well grounded in the Word, the errors and sinfulness of factious and divisive people in the church should be obvious, knowing that a person who persists in quarreling over foolish ideas is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned. Perverted translates ekstrephō, which has the meaning of “turning inside out, or twisting.” The factious person, who is twisted by his constant sinning, will manifest his wicked condition by his own words and actions, thereby becoming self-condemned.

It is sad that men and women in evangelical churches who teach ideas that are utterly foreign to Scripture often are not only not disciplined but are instead praised and given opportunity for promulgating their aberrations.

FELLOW SERVANTS

When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them. (3:12-13)

Turning to the positive side, Paul moves from condemning false teachers to commending church leaders who were genuinely being used by the Lord and who blessed his own life. In an especially personal word, Paul asked two favors of Titus—first, to visit him and second, to care for two fellow servants.

Paul did not know when he would send a replacement for Titus or whether it would be Artemas or Tychicus. We know nothing at all about Artemas and can only surmise that, because Paul obviously had confidence in his godliness and leadership ability, he was a faithful pastor and teacher who was well qualified to assume direction over the Cretan churches.

Tychicus is mentioned a number of times in the New Testament. He accompanied Paul on the missionary journey from Corinth to Asia Minor (Acts 20:4), delivered Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae (Col. 4:7) and probably the one to Ephesus (Eph. 6:21). In the first of those two references Tychicus is called “our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond-servant in the Lord” and in the second “the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord.” That remarkable man of God had earlier been sent by Paul to replace Timothy in Ephesus (2 Tim. 4:12). That he must have done a commendable job in Ephesus is clear from Paul’s confidence in him to take over the much larger task of administering and dealing with the problems in the numerous churches on Crete.

There were perhaps as many as nine cities in New Testament times that were called Nicopolis, which means “city of victory,” so named by various military conquerors to commemorate a decisive victory. The Nicopolis where Paul planned to spend the winter was probably on the west coast of Achaia, the southern province of Greece, and founded by Octavian (the first Roman Emperor, later named Augustus) after his great victory over Marc Antony and Cleopatra at the battle of Atrium in 31 B.C.

Paul probably wrote this letter to Titus from somewhere in Macedonia (northern Greece), perhaps from Philippi. The apostle obviously was still free at this time, but it is likely that he was arrested in Nicopolis and taken to Rome for his last imprisonment. It also was from that city that Titus later traveled to Dalmatia (2 Tim. 4:10), in the general area of modern Croatia and Serbia.

Before Titus left Crete to join Paul, he was asked to diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them. As with Artemas, we know nothing about Zenas apart from this brief mention, which identifies him as a lawyer. Whether he was a Roman litigator or a Jewish expert on the Mosaic Law we cannot tell. The fact that he had a Roman name means little in this regard, because many Jews of that day, including Paul, were given or had adopted Roman names. Also as with Artemas, we can safely assume that Zenas was a godly believer in whom the apostle had great confidence and for whom he had great love.

Apollos, on the other hand, is mentioned numerous times in the New Testament, always favorably. He was an eloquent Jewish preacher of the gospel from Alexandria, Egypt, who “was mighty in the Scriptures” and who “had been instructed in the way of the Lord,” was “fervent in spirit, … speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, [but was] acquainted only with the baptism of John” (Acts 18:24-25). When he came to Ephesus and “began to speak out boldly in the synagogue, … Priscilla and Aquila heard him … [and] took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he helped greatly those who had believed through grace” (w. 26-27).

Although Apollos had not yet visited Corinth by the time Paul wrote his first letter to the church there (see 1 Cor. 16:12), apparently some of his converts had come to that city and formed one of the factions about which Paul lamented. “For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren,” he wrote, “that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, ‘I am of Paul,’ and ‘I of Apollos,’ and ‘I of Cephas,’ and ‘I of Christ’” (1 Cor. 1:11-12).

Whenever Zenas and Apollos were to arrive on Crete and wherever they may have been headed as they passed through, Titus was urged to help them on their way so that nothing is lacking for them. They were cherished partners of Paul and faithful co-laborers in the work of the kingdom. Paul doubtless sensed that his time of freedom would soon end and that, if he lived to carry on the Lord’s work at all, it would be from a prison cell. It was therefore all the more imperative that the men he had trained and left behind be encouraged and supported.

That spirit of mutual support and care should always characterize Christ’s church, especially its spiritual leadership. Under the sovereign Lord, leaders are interdependent, called and commissioned to trust and assist one another as fellow servants of our Lord Jesus Christ.

FAITHFUL FRIENDS

And let our people also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, that they may not be unfruitful. All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. (3:14-15)

In closing, Paul gives a last word on faithful friends. Like Titus and the other elders on Crete, the people among whom they ministered were also [to] learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs.

It is not possible for a pastor, or even a team of pastors in a large church, to meet all of the many pressing needs of a congregation. Not only is there not enough time for one man to do it all, but other believers in the church invariably have spiritual gifts and abilities that the pastor does not have, by which certain good deeds can be accomplished and certain pressing needs of fellow believers can be met.

Beyond that, a harmonious, loving, and serving church also will be a beacon to the world, attracting unbelievers to the light of salvation through trust in Christ.

Paul’s final word for faithful friends is love for others in the faith. His final word to faithful friends is Grace be with you all.