Commentary on Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians Thessalonians Timothy Titus and Philemon John Calvin
John Calvin
Titus 1:13-16
Titus 1:13-16
13. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
13. testimonium hoc verum est quam ob causam increpa illos dure ut sani sint in fide
14. Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
14. non intendentes iudaicis fabulis et mandatis hominum aversantium se a veritate
15. Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
15. omnia munda mundis coinquinatis autem et infidelibus nihil mundum sed inquinatae sunt eorum et mens et conscientia
16. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
16. confitentur se nosse Deum factis autem negant cum sunt abominati et incredibiles et ad omne opus bonum reprobi
13. This testimony is true. 1134 How worthiness soever the witness may have been, 1135 yet the truth which has been spoken by him is acknowledged by Paul. The inhabitants of Crete, of whom he speaks with such sharpness were undoubtedly very wicked. The Apostle, who is wont to reprove mildly those who deserved to be treated with extreme severity, would never have spoken so harshly of the Cretans, if he had not been moved by very strong reasons. What term more reproachful than these opprobrious epithets can be imagined; that they were ``lazy, devoted to the belly, destitute of truth, evil beasts?'' Nor are these vices charged against one or a few persons, but he condemns the whole nation.
It was truly a wonderful purpose of God, that he called a nation so depraved, 1134"The general character of the Cretans, noticed in Paul's Epistle to Titus, is confirmed by the testimony of antiquity. The Apostle, writing to Titus, who had been left in Crete to regulate the affairs of the Christian Church in that island, complains of many disorderly men there, — 'many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, who subvert whole houses, (or families,) teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake, (Titus 1:10, 11); and he quotes the following verse from 'one of themselves, a prophet of their own,' namely, Epimenides, who was a Cretan poet, and whose writings were by the ancients termed {χρησμοὶ} or `oracles,' {Κρὢτεσ} {ἀεὶ} {ψεῦσται}, {κακὰ} {θηρία}, {γαστέρες} {ἀργαί}. The general import of which passage is, that `the Cretans were a false people, and united in their character the ferocity of the wild beast with the luxury of the domesticated one.' The circumstance of Paul's styling Epimenides `a prophet' is sufficiently explained by the fact of the words Poet and Prophet being often used promiscuously by the Greeks and Romans, --- probably because their poets pretended to be inspired, and were by some believed to be so. The Apostle adds, that the testimony of Epimenides is but too true, `this witness is true.' How true the first part of it is, with respect to their deceit and lying, the following facts will attest. From the time of Homer, the island of Crete was regarded as the scene of fiction. Many authors affirm that, as a people, its inhabitants were infamous for their violation of truth; and at length their falsehood became so notorious, that {Κρητίζειν} to Cretise, or imitate the Cretans, was a proverbial expression among the ancients for lying.'' --- Horne's Introduction.
1135"Combien que l'autheur soit profane et de nulle authorite." — "Although the author is a heathen and of no authority."