Titus 1:14 Turning from the truth

For which cause be exposing them severely, that they may be sound in the faith, not heeding Jewish myths and precepts of men who are turning from the truth.

We see confirmation here that the evil influences in the ecclesias in Crete came from the Jewish corner. “Especially those of the circumcision” (1:10) felt superior to “the uncircumcised” (read: the Gentiles) because of their origin. Paul has no regard whatsoever for anything that was intended to impress unsuspecting believers. It is just hot air: unfounded and meaningless.

The message of “the vain talkers and deceivers” (1:10) boils down to two types of sophistry, according to Paul: “Jewish myths” and “precepts of men.” With the “Jewish myths” we can think of fabrications and superstitions outside the Scriptures. In 1 Timothy 1:4 Paul also warns Timothy against myths and calls them in the same breath as “endless genealogies”. The latter obviously does not refer to the genealogies in the Bible, but to the genealogies and dubious origin stories outside the Bible. Think, among other things, of the Kabbalah with its mystical fantasies. These myths went hand in hand with “precepts of men,” such as Judaizing the nations.

The remedy for all this is “the truth”. That which in black-and-white can be put in evidence from what “is written”!

Delen: