Section 33
§7 Final Exhortations and Warnings Against Errors (Titus 3:9–11)
With these final exhortations Paul brings the “argument” of the letter, which began in 1:5, to its fitting conclusion. Actually these verses do not so much form a new paragraph as bring the paragraph begun in 3:1 to a conclusion, by way of some contrasts with verse 8 (through the motif of profitable and unprofitable deeds). At the same time, however, the contrasts in verse 9 also reach back to 1:10–16, thus bringing the whole letter to conclusion.
The net result is that the argument from 1:10 (which hinges on 1:9) to 3:11 forms a kind of chiasmus:
a 1:10–16—warnings against the false teachers, with their “false works”
b 2:1–14—specific “good works” for specific believers, with the outsider in view, plus their theological basis
b′ 3:1–8—once again, “good works” for outsiders, this time directed toward them, and again with their theological basis
a′ 3:9–11—final warning against the false teachers and their “false works”
3:9 / With the adversative conjunction but, Titus is now told to avoid some “evil works” that stand in obvious contrast to the “good deeds” of verse 8, as they were delineated in verses 1–2. Although the imperative is to Titus personally, the context makes it clear that the imperative is intended for the whole church as well. It is also evident, both from the language itself and from verses 10–11 that follow, that the false teachers are once more in purview.
Four of their unprofitable and useless deeds are mentioned. Titus—and the Cretans—are to avoid: foolish (cf. 2 Tim. 2:23) controversies (cf. 1 Tim. 6:4; 2 Tim. 2:23), and genealogies (see disc. on 1 Tim. 1:4) and arguments (or “strife”; see disc. on 1 Tim. 6:4, a word that frequently makes Paul’s “vice” lists: e.g., Rom. 1:29; 13:13; 1 Cor. 3:3; 2 Cor. 12:20; Gal. 5:20), and quarrels (cf. 2 Tim. 2:23 and the compound “word battles” in 1 Tim. 6:4; 2 Tim. 2:14, plus the negated form, “not quarrelsome.” in v. 2 and 1 Tim. 3:3) about the law. The addition of this final adjective (translated about the law) helps to put some other items in these letters into focus (see esp. disc. on 1:14–16; cf. 1 Tim. 1:6–7; 4:1–5). Here is certain evidence, along with 1:10, that the errors in these churches stem basically from Hellenistic Judaism. More than reflecting a later phenomenon, this language indicates a much earlier period, when the distinctions between church and synagogue were not so fully defined. Apparently some Hellenistic Jews on Crete, who had “accepted Christ,” were also promoting continuing connections with Judaism, especially in the form of speculative teaching and rigorous devotion to rules and regulations. Thus it is not only the theological aberrations (1:10–16) of the false teachers, but their unprofitable (the opposite of “profitable” in v. 8) and useless behavior as well, that distresses Paul.
3:10 / Having mentioned these evil deeds (obviously of the false teachers) that Titus and the people are to avoid, Paul turns his attention once more to the teachers themselves. Here they are described as divisive person[s]. Because the adjective hairetikon (divisive) in later times came to be used of those who held to false doctrines (as these teachers obviously do), the KJV (cf. NEB, NAB, et al.) translated it heretic. But that is to read later ideas back into the text. The context (v. 9) makes it clear that the problem is with these people’s behavior, not their theology per se. Hence it is their divisiveness (cf. RSV, “factious”) that is in view (cf. the use of the noun in 1 Cor. 11:19; Gal. 5:20). Unfortunately, all too often in the church the “orthodox,” in ferreting out “heretics” (i.e., people who hold different views from mine), have become the divisive ones!
Titus is to warn (or “admonish”) such a person once, and then warn him a second time. Thus he still holds out the hope of redeeming such people, as elsewhere in the PE (2 Tim. 2:25–26; see also disc. on 1 Tim. 1:20) and in Paul (2 Thess. 3:14–15; 2 Cor. 2:5–11).
But when the divisive person pays no heed to the “admonitions,” he is to be rejected: Have nothing to do with him (the same verb as in 1 Tim. 5:11). Does this mean then that Paul has now become untrue to himself and to what he has just said about divisive people? Hardly, as verse 11 will make clear.
3:11 / The reason the “divisive person” is to be rejected is precisely that, in his divisiveness, such a man demonstrates that he is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. In persisting in divisive behavior, the false teacher “has become perverted” or “turned aside” (Gk. perfect tense) “and is continuing in his sinning” (Gk. present tense), thus being self-condemned. That is, by his very persistence in his sinful behavior he has condemned himself, thus putting himself on the outside, hence to be rejected by Titus and the church.
It is of more than passing interest that a warning against those who cause divisions, similar to these verses, appears at the same place at the end of Romans (16:17–20).