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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
1:10-16 The Problem: False Teachers. The description of the false teachers contrasts directly (and probably intentionally) with the descriptions of what the elders should be (vv. 5-9). Whereas the elders are to live out and teach the truth, these false teachers belie their profession of faith by their conduct (v. 16). Christian standards must be established at the outset for the new churches.
1:10 especially those of the circumcision party. The false teachers emerged particularly from among Jewish Christians. "Especially" (Gk. malista) could also be translated "that is" (see note on 1 Tim. 4:10).
1:11 They must be silenced. One responsibility of church leaders is to prevent false teaching from having a platform in the church. upsetting whole families. The faith of some has already been overturned by these false teachers. shameful gain. These teachers are motivated by greed (cf. 1 Tim. 6:5, 9-10).
1:12-13 Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. Crete was proverbial in the ancient world for its moral decadence. The ancient historian Polybius wrote that it was "almost impossible to find . . . personal conduct more treacherous or public policy more unjust than in Crete" (Histories 6.47). Cicero also stated, "Moral principles are so divergent that the Cretans . . . consider highway robbery honorable" (Republic 3.9.15). a prophet of their own. Wisely, Paul does not criticize the decadence of Cretan society directly but quotes a Cretan author instead and then quickly agrees with him (this testimony is true). Of course Paul means this as a generalization, not necessarily true of every single inhabitant of Crete. The quotation seems to be from Epimenides of Crete, though some have questioned this since his writings are known only through other authors' quotations of him (see note on Acts 17:28).
1:14 Jewish myths. On "myths," see note on 1 Tim. 1:4. The specific content of these myths is unknown, but the false teaching in Titus is more explicitly tied to a Jewish background (see Titus 1:10) than was the false teaching in 1 and 2 Timothy.
1:15 To the pure, all things are pure echoes Jesus' teaching (Luke 11:41) and Paul's earlier writing (Rom. 14:20). In light of the Jewishness of the false teaching and the contexts of the earlier similar teaching by Jesus and Paul, the issue here seems to concern Jewish food laws. The false teachers seem in some way to be concerned with this ritual purity, although they are themselves defiled by their unbelief and sin.
1:16 The works of the false teachers prove that they are unbelievers, despite their claim to know God. Paul is not the least bit hesitant to make such a judgment.
