Leadership Responsibility to Rebuke False Teachers

PRAY & INTRO: It’s a good thing we no longer have to worry about false teachers and false teaching. … Yeah, no, nothing could be further from the truth. So what applies to Titus and the churches in Crete absolutely applies to us and our churches today.

As we continue our study in Titus at v. 10 of chapter 1, we now hear of a significant problem threatening the churches—that of false teachers—for which teams of trustworthy elders are the antidote. Paul’s letter has just reminded Titus that he explicitly left him in Crete to finish setting these fledgling churches on secure foundation, and particularly to select faithful men to serve as elders in the church of each community, who will take seriously their responsibility to live as godly examples, and to teach what is sound and rebuke what is worthless.

From Paul’s instruction to Titus about the young churches in Crete, we learn that… Local churches need godly servant leaders who will sharply rebuke false teachers (who deny and distract from the true gospel and who have selfish motives and demonstrate ungodly behavior). We need godly servant leaders who will sternly rebuke false teachers for their own good and the good of others.

A Significant Problem Threatens the Church: Ungodly False Teachers Misleading Others

(v. 10) The fact that Paul says “many” means that there is a pretty substantial problem, both broadly and specifically in this context. It would have taken Paul a while to name them all in Crete, if he even knew all their names. (Not something Paul shies away from.)

But here Paul can and does state pretty clearly (and ruthlessly) what they are like, which is in obvious contrast to the previous section on what godly leaders are supposed to be like.

What are false teachers really like?

These ungodly teachers are… “insubordinate” - rebellious and unsubmissive in sticking to the apostles’ teaching

- That they are “empty talkers” sounds to us like they are windbags who like the sound of their own voice, like a bellows for fanning a fire - With his background in the Hebrew Scriptures, though, Paul would undoubtedly also mean by “empty talkers” the kind of futility that was the hallmark of paganism and idolatry.

- Thirdly, they are “deceivers,” meaning that they are closely aligned enough to appear to be in the same camp, and yet such is misleading; they are wolves who have disguised themselves as sheep.

- Finally, Paul says these characteristics of insubordinate, idolatrous, and deceptive teaching is especially true about those “of the circumcision,” which is Paul’s way of naming certain Jews who have now joined with the Christians but still try to hold new Christian converts to OT Jewish circumcision and ceremonial law. Paul has been encountering this problem from the first days of Gentiles becoming believers in Christ. As long as Jews truly believed in Jesus as the only Messiah and Lord who could save, he didn’t tell Jews not to be Jewish (although aspects of the Mosaic law and system were now made obsolete in the New Covenant). But Gentiles certainly could believe in Jesus without becoming Jewish, and Paul constantly had to battle this effort from Judaizers forcing Gentiles to behave like Jews.

The significant problem of Judaizing Christianity was apparently the driving thrust of this false teaching in Crete, which had a large Jewish contingent with numerous synagogues. These false teachers have a particularly Jewish flavor.

Legalism, that we must adhere to certain rituals and behaviors in order to merit salvation in the end, remains a dangerous falsehood. We know Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses call themselves Christians and teach this falsehood. Furthermore, they do not even believe in the same Jesus, who is the Son of God and therefore is God. Yet even among Trinitarians there are those still teaching salvation by grace plus works—that you must have faith in Jesus and participate in certain rituals and give certain amounts, etc. to finally be saved. Such continues to be the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.

Another falsehood, kind of on the opposite side of that spectrum, is one that plagues the churches a little nearer to us, who call themselves “evangelical.” That is an unscriptural take on responding in faith to God’s grace in Christ Jesus that “gets you out of hell” but doesn’t require anything of you now that you’ve become a blood-bought child of God. There is a real danger in not preaching that salvation means restoration to God, such that our new relationship with him continues to shape and change everything about us—everything we desire and everything we say and do.

One more: An extremely hazardous doctrine that threatens from within the broader Christian Church is the word of faith movement, the prosperity gospel, the health and wealth gospel. Basically this is that if you have enough faith (and give enough money) God will do what you want, which is a complete twisting of faith. Our faith is in fact in God, which means that we trust him to do what he knows is best, which is often quite a different thing than what I think I want at the moment.

All churches that fall prey to these things begin to submit less and less to the word of God and more and more to the sound of worldly wisdom.

What must be done, and why?

(v. 11) Clearly, all of this means that such teachers prove themselves to be opponents of sound doctrine—the true gospel and that which is healthy for godly living—and they must therefore be silenced. Paul says they must be gagged, muzzled over the mouth. Why so direct and dramatic? Bc they are upsetting whole households with their teaching. You can imagine households being critical units in society in that day, as they remain in our day, and we see as Paul teaches in chapter 2 just how critical households are in spiritual development and even how the church is a lot like a household.

How might their false teaching upset and undermine families, households? Well, not only were churches probably meeting in households, but teachers, especially those trained in rhetoric, would go around and teach at houses willing to host one of their “empty talk” sessions, as Paul would have called it. We can’t say precisely how this was playing out, but Paul gives an example of how this could happen in his 2 letter to Timothy (and evidently his last): 2 Tim 3:1-7 (what we’re looking for is particularly in vv. 6-7, but we back up to v. 1 to get the whole vibe of the context, which is here helpful and appropriate)

2 Timothy 3:1–7 (ESV)

1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

That’s one possible way it could have been happening. But they must be silenced. Now…

What motivates false teachers?

At these rhetoric sessions in homes they normally received financial gifts for gracing people with their erudition (their great knowledge), and so Paul points to the motive of these false teachers: that they are greedy. They’re in it for the money, for disgraceful profit. This comes up often enough in the NT that we should stand up and take notice to measure our own motivations: In 1 Pet 5:2 Peter tells elders to shepherd and teach willingly and eagerly as God would have you and not for “shameful gain,” disgraceful profit.

So those of us for whom God uses ministry to provide for our families must be truly cautious of the dangerous motivation. (Those who are best at the prosperity gospel are the ones who prosper from it.) -Paul tells Timothy that the opposite of this is is that we are to be content and to focus on godliness: 1 Tim 6:6-10

1 Timothy 6:6–10 ESV

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Now false teachers in particular are almost everywhere associated with this motivation of personal gain and aggrandizement. Spot a false teacher by being attentive to who seems to gain from what they are doing. Is the attention on them or on God? Is the true benefit for the listener’s growth and the glory of God’s great name? Is the superior knowledge theirs or true to God’s word? Are they lining their pockets and living extravagantly? Ok, hopefully you get the importance of being alert to this.

So this upsetting the faith of whole families explains the seriousness of the problem and the need to take immediate action to stop the mouths of false teachers masquerading among the Christians.

In fact,

Do false teachers look like Jesus or just like the world?

(v. 12) Paul, almost as an aside, but to sell his point further about the true character of these “deceivers,” he pulls a quote from a Cretan philosopher to express a stereotype about Cretans, one that happens to be true about these insidious teachers burdening the Christians with legalism. Paul slaps a stereotypical label on them because it characterizes them perfectly.

By one of their own “prophets” Paul undoubtedly means in the general sense in which the culture used the term and not in the sense of a faithful OT prophet of God. (Maybe that’s obvious, but better to be clear and not confuse anyone.) This might be from Epimenides (cf. Acts 17:28) or some other poet, philosopher, historian. Paul doesn’t elevate this stuff to be God’s own word, but he can use true statements from others to make his point.

And here his point is just how proverbially awful the character and teaching is of these ones who must be rebuked. “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” Of course this is a generalization, as stereotypes are, and not true of every single person in Crete. But there’s a reason for this reputation; Crete was known for its moral decadence.

-Lying to get ahead was characteristic of this island’s culture, just like today some places are quite literally known for not being able to get anything done without greasing someone’s palm because corruption is the norm. Or don’t we all remember some kid, or maybe we WERE that kid, who just had to tell a better story than the others being told, and it became abundantly clear that pretty much everything was either embellished or a straight-up fiction?

I remember when I was about six or seven years old that I was guilty of this, hanging out with my big brother and his friends. I wanted to sound cool in the midst of some storytelling, and I told a whopper about having caught a buzzard with my bare hands. Well, my brother and I were nearly inseparable at that time, whether we wanted it or not, and he knew this was fictitious. He bluntly labeled it a ridiculous falsehood. I was super embarrassed and angry at the time, but he did me a huge favor and I learned a lesson about the danger of trying to use lies to gain attention or get ahead.

Unfortunately, sometimes we grow up and don’t stop the lying, we just get more adept at it. These deceptive teachers are the proverbial liars who can’t be trusted.

The second characterization in this quote has a pretty interesting context. Crete didn’t and still doesn’t really have any natural predators. There are literally no “beasts,” just goats and deer and birds and small mammals, like rabbits and squirrels and such. So people would say of Crete that the beasts were the humans, bc they were so rough and tumble and known for violence, and selling themselves as mercenary soldiers and pirates. So Paul is saying that these teachers are morally reprehensible people who are preying on others.

Finally, the Cretan proverb emphasizes being idle gluttons. A glutton gives the idea of a person devoted to eating and drinking in excess, thus characterized as being all belly. Paul speaks of this type of godless materialist in Phil 3:19.

Philippians 3:19 ESV

19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

Must we not also be warned that materialism is godless and debase? Food is just food and clothing just clothing. Even knowing that some of it is more palatable or popular, it must not become an end in itself.

Having established the significance of the problem and the true character of these false teachers, Paul reinforces…

The Required Response of Church Leaders: Stern Rebuke (For the Good of the False Teachers and of Others)

(v. 13) Because this testimony is true of the ones Paul is speaking about and has allowed him to further establish the character and seriousness of these opponents, he repeats the necessary task for Titus and the elders to be appointed: Therefore rebuke them sharply.

How are servant leaders supposed to respond to this?

Rebuke them sternly, severely, harshly. In other words, don’t hold back. Be firm and direct and do not shrink from this responsibility to expose and convict them for what they are doing wrong.

We have a picture of this in parenting. Although we might at times sin and actually scream at our kids, normally what our kids call “yelling at them” is usually a sharp rebuke or stern warning where you don’t mince words or hold back. “Son, that’s enough.”

In a case like this, it might be “God is not pleased by such behavior.” Or “That is not even remotely consistent with God’s own word. Let me show you.”

Why should leaders be willing to rebuke?

(Or for application to yourself: Why must parents rebuke their children? Why should Christians be willing to rebuke one another?)

The goal of this stern rebuke is that they may be sound (healthy) in the faith, in other words to repent and be restored, believing the gospel as Jesus and the apostles taught it. By “they” Paul might have in mind the false teachers themselves, and those who have already fallen prey to listening to their deception, whose faith has been upset (ruined, overturned), and even others in the church who will be protected from this falsehood and therefore be “sound in the faith.” The goal is for them to change, to change to what is good for them and glorifies God.

(v. 14)…That they will no longer devote themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. A myth is a fictional narrative, a legend. The fact that these fables are Jewish leads us to believe that they might be the kind of additional stories told about OT characters to embellish their lives and not only make the teacher seem they have special information but that they can also manipulate for their own purposes.

“The commands of people” would include all additional rules added to God’s law to supposedly try and keep people in line with God’s law. Like all the additional Sabbath rules, and additional rites for purification. Jesus brutally rebuked the religious establishment of Jerusalem for this very thing: (Mt 15:6b) “So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God…” and Mt 15:7-9

Matthew 15:7–9 ESV

7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

Paul is here reiterating that such are people who turn away from the truth. So they must be rebuked in order that they may have a chance to turn around and repent to be right with God.

(v. 15) Paul goes on to use what is evidently one of their own Judaizing false teachings against them. This discussion seems to involve Jewish dietary laws and ritual purity, such that the young Christians were being pressed to not eat certain things and follow certain purity rites. But “To the pure all things are pure” because, as Jesus taught, it is not what goes into a man through his mouth that defiles him, but what comes out of that mouth (Mt 15:11). This is because what comes out of the mouth is from the heart (the inner self), and a wrong heart is what defiles, not unwashed hands (Mt 15:18-20).

So Paul can say that to the defiled and unbelieving (which here most likely means not demonstrating true faith in the sufficiency of Christ alone), nothing is pure; but both minds and consciences are defiled (stained, unclean). Their mind means their understanding, their way of thinking is corrupted by their unbelief, and therefore their conscience (that sensitivity that is aware of right and wrong) is likewise twisted.

A persons moral character does not start with external rules, but rather the very internal reason for which they would aim for purity before God is what counts the most. So Paul isn’t advocating at all that actions don’t matter, but that our inner self must be right with God or else all external cooperation might mean nothing. This is especially true with legalism, then, where additional rules are added as if in them we are made right with God. No, instead, God’s law shows us that even the “goodest” of people cannot maintain the perfection necessary to achieve the holiness required by the very nature/character of God. We must have Jesus’ righteousness for us! By faith in him alone, God graciously forgives our sin that Christ paid for and exchanges it with the righteousness of the Lord Jesus.

Do you see why Paul is so serious about this legalism leading people away from the true gospel?

Why does Paul go to such great lengths to describe the truth about false teachers?

(v. 16) He concludes of these false teachers that they are false disciples, not true followers of Jesus. Much like Jesus quoting Isaiah (“this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me”), Paul brings the hammer down: “They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.” In the end, if they continue down this path and don’t repent, they prove themselves to be not those who know God (have a real relationship with God) but instead oppose Him.

For the third time Paul hits them with a trio of identifiers that go along with the other two sets: First they were unsubmissive, empty talkers and deceivers, then always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. And if they remain such they prove themselves all the more to be detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work. Detestable - abominable, disgusting in God’s sight. Disobedient - the opposite of what they claim; they do not obey and comply with God’s authority. Unfit - worthless and disqualified for any work that God actually calls good. Yikes!

Paul will also tell Titus later in this letter: If they don’t listen when rebuked for a second time, then have nothing more to do with him. (Titus 3:10-11)

Paul goes to such great lengths to guard the gospel which has been entrusted to him (v. 3), and because it is only the true gospel (God restoring us and giving us himself) which glorifies God and which saves. That is our highest good, so to rebuke them is not unloving, but loving.

Conclusion: Churches must rebuke false teaching, and do so promptly and sharply. But how can we each keep alert to this in an age where we are bombarded with falsehood?

…Not only from worldly thinking and living, but we also can access the teaching of every tom, dick, and harry… Or should I say every Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, and Joyce Meyer? How can we keep up with all the twisted theology and elevating of godless behavior that is thrust at us in this digital age of unlimited information?

Besides the obvious application for church elders, here’s a suggested practical application for all of us from this text today: Evaluate everything with at least these three criteria that are the opposite of the false teachers:

“Is it true?” (These opponents of the gospel are deceptive, liars, detestable to God) Although it looks good or sounds appealing—Is it true? Is it consistent with the holiness and command of God?

“Is it submissive to God?” (These opponents of the gospel are insubordinate, beastly, disobedient) Does it submit to what God teaches about himself in his holy Word? Does it demonstrate the attitude of the Lord Jesus himself who obeyed the will of the Father for our good and the eternal glory of the Godhead?

“Is it profitable?” (These opponents of the gospel are empty talkers, lazy gluttons, unfit for any good work) Is it truly profitable? Is it for the purpose of building others up according the gospel of God through Jesus Christ, and to the glory of God alone?

PRAY

———