{Disclaimer: these are my rough teaching notes I use in my Mishkan Katan weekly broadcasts. There will be "typos". Proceed at your own risk, lol.You can find all my Mishkan Katan video teachings on my YouTube channel: genahood2818 . Look on the playlist called Messianic LAMB TV Network.}
Boker Tov and welcome back to Mishkan Katan! I have a little bit of a surprise for you this morning, unless you subscribe to my Resplendent Daughter Ministries Facebook page. I announced this there yesterday. We are going to be taking a short break here on the program from our psalms study. We’re going to do that for a couple of reasons. First of all, my younger son is getting married near the end of this month; and, that’s going to consume a lot of my time and attention. So today and next week, we’re going to be looking at the book of Titus, here on the program. And then for the following three weeks after these broadcasts, (2nd reason for the Psalms departure) we are going to be looking at the fall feasts of the Bible in three separate teaching sessions. Most of you who watch my program will be celebrating the feasts with me, and it’s good to review the deep meanings and significance of each of these Mo’edim, each season.
So, as you are finding the book of Titus in your Bibles, let’s consider the question, WHO was Titus, anyway? I admit to you that, as I began this study, I really did not know!
1Titus was a Gentile Christian, in charge of developing the church on the island of Crete, a church Paul established after his imprisonment in Rome ended, after 63 AD2. Somehow, Titus came to be sort of a "ministerial assistant" or "assistant pastor" with Paul. Here are other mentions of Titus in the New Testament:
He traveled with Paul and Barnabas from Antioch to Jerusalem. (Gal. 2:1 and Acts 15:2)
He traveled with Paul on his third missionary journey (2 Corinthians 2:13 and 7:6)
He carried Paul's letter to the Corinthian church and took up a collection there for the Jerusalem believers. (2 Corinthians 7:6 and 8:6-23)
Paul's instructions in the letter to Titus were more organizational, rather than relational, because Titus had to organize the Christian church there, a complex and daunting task.
Some people believe the letter to Titus was written before 1 Timothy; other believe it was written between 1 and 2 Timothy. Still others believe that those three pastoral letters circulated among the young congregations of The Way, the Messianic believers in Yeshua, as a unit, in which case Titus, being more logistical and organizational, should have been read first.
Let's begin by looking at how Paul introduces himself in verse 1:1, as well as other "whos" and "whys".
1Paul, a servanta of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages beganb 3and at the proper time manifested in his wordc through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;
4To Titus, my true child in a common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Titus 1:1-4
(ESV)
Paul, in other letters, introduces himself as "a servant of Jesus Christ". Here, he calls himself "a servant of God", and it the only letter in which he does so. When we see an exception like that, we really need to stop and ask ourselves why it is there, why he chose to introduce himself in that way. Why the distinction? Paul knows his letter will be read, not only by Titus, but also by the congregation of the Cretan Church. At that time, the audacious, malevolent Judaizers were at work, undermining the grace so foundational to the gospel.
In his commentary, Benson notes that perhaps Paul used the title "servant of God" to emphasize to the Judaizers his allegiance to Father Yahweh, God. They had accused him of apostasizing from God because Paul had approved the inclusion of the "pagan Gentiles" into the churches of Jesus Christ, without requiring them to adhere to all aspects of Mosaic law right off the bat. For this same reason, in order to emphasize his authority to teach and establish, Paul then reminded readers of his divinely-appointed apostleship. So, that is one possible explanation, which makes a lot of sense.
The other end of the "who" - -
Titus is called "my true child in a common faith".
This greeting bespeaks a discipleship relationship between the two men, with Paul being spiritual mentor to Titus. It is not as personal a greeting as he gives to Timothy in those letters, as there he calls Timothy his "son in the faith" (1 Timothy 1:1). How wonderful to have godly spiritual mentors! Do you have one or more? I do. The ministry you benefit from here would not be posssible had not God brought these amazingly gifted teachers into my life.
On to the "why" now - -
The macro reasons for Paul's writing were:
1. To strengthen the faith of those believers whom God had foreknown would choose His Son
2. To increase their knowledge of the truth, without which there can be no godliness
3. To assure the believers of their eternal life, through Jesus Christ and through Him alone
3Benson calls these "the sum of Christianity". And, indeed, these verses are the "mission statement" which undergird this letter, the creed from which flows the more detailed instructions Paul gives to Titus, as the letter unfolds.
To state these 3 again….Faith and truth produce godliness, and assure eternal life, because God cannot and does not lie. Wow! I'm so glad Jesus is MINE!
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Crete, Summer |
I love to travel. My husband and I just returned from a wonderful week exploring the state of Washington. We chose that place, because it is the home of a husband and wife with whom my husband taught school over 60 years ago! Yes, they can’t believe it has been that long either, lol! I really didn’t know this wonderful couple, but I surely did enjoy getting to know them as we stayed with them in their home for about a week. They are godly people who love the Lord!
For me, travel gives a greater sense of the grandeur of God's creation. More than that, though, it helps me process how very grand He is through His workings in people's lives, and how small I am, in comparison. This has held true in all my trips, and, I imagine, should I be granted the privilege of traveling further, it will hold true wherever He leads me.
One of the places I would enjoy seeing is the Greek islands, for the sheer beauty and culture of the place. I mention my desire to visit Greece because Crete is the setting of the book of Titus, which we have begun to explore together. Crete is the largest of the Greek islands, and the fifth-largest island in the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. From 2700-1400 B.C., Crete was the center of the Minoan civilization, the earliest known civilization in Europe.1
What was Crete like in the first century A.D., though?
In his commentary Ellicott describes the culture as highly diverse, with a strange blending of both races and religions. The primary ethnic group was Gentile; Jews were a small minority. There was a great deal of idol worship, as Crete was deemed the "birthplace of Zeus". The newly-formed Christian church there was large and lively, but plagued with disorder, confusion and excessively carnal behavior. Tradition holds that Titus ministered on this island, to these churches, for the rest of his long life. He was not a flashy New Testament character. He simply fulfilled his calling with humility and faithfulness. Because of this, the truth of the gospel gained a strong foothold in the region.
Do you know, or have you known, a godly servant like this? I’ll bet you have. They don’t toot their own horn. They just serve faithfully and lovingly, where God has placed them.
I had the occasion to eat at Waffle House the other day. While I was sitting there waiting on my food, I saw a photo on the wall of a lady who was identified as Miss Lucy . She was Waffle House's most famous historic waitress. She began working at unit number two in 1957 and stayed for 47 years. Her legendary warmth and customer care literally inspired Waffle House's official "10 Steps of Customer Service". Then, not to be outdone, there was Ms. Doris Seabolt, the longest-serving Waffle House employee in America, she spent 50 years serving breakfast at a location in Richardson, Texas.
My own Aunt Bobbie Foster played the organ at her local Baptist Church for over 60 years! She would not even travel on a trip where she would have to be away from her organ bench on a Sunday.
Who are you thinking of?
Do you love to organize? I don't LOVE it, but must admit it brings a certain satisfaction. Now, my younger son . . . he LOVES to organize! (Honestly, if he did not look like me and I remembered - - for sure - - how I birthed him, I'd question if he were mine...) My younger one is now a senior supervising accountant. He loves to see those numbers line up obediently. Even when he lived here at home with us, he was very organized. His bedroom and adjacent areas were "neat as a pin" on a regular basis. There were even times when he got perturbed with disorganization in other parts of the house and would set those in order.
I imagine Titus must have been a gifted organizer, a talented administrator, in addition to his other spiritual gifts. Perhaps this explains why Paul chose him for the task of leading the highly-disorganized church of Crete.
Let's now begin to examine how this overhaul took place. Paul helped Titus with the first step: to define the problem. If you don’t do this at the outset of any improvement effort, you will not get the desired results. This is why before knee surgery, the assistants take a marker and they mark the knee that needs repair! Someone before them had been a horrible warning, because some prior surgeon had operated on the wrong body part. “Fixed” a problem that did not exist! Titus 1:11-14
10For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. 12One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, 14not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.16They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.
Every municipality has some sort of "reputation", whether good or bad...and it is usually a mixture of both. According to Paul's understanding of "common knowledge", it was widely known that the Cretan people were colossal liars. Maybe this is because they loved a "tall tale" and to exaggerate the truth. Maybe it was because they merely believed that "the end justified the means" - - that lying was justified to achieve their personal desires. The Cretans were also "famous" for being lazy, gluttonous and just plain "evil". Well then! Not a pleasant bunch of characteristics.
Keep in mind this was a generalized description of the people as a whole, not necessarily the young Cretan church. However, we cannot help but be somewhat influenced by our surrounding culture, and it is plain that some of these behaviors had bled over into the local church to the point that Paul saw a need for severe correction to ("reprove them severely").
However, the carnal behavior of the native peoples was only one facet of the problem facing this young church. The other facet was the false teaching of the Judaizers. These folks were not only stirring up problems in Crete. We find Judaizers at work all through the New Testament. Later in today’s study, we are going to explore who these men were and why they were so zealous.
When Jesus ascended to Heaven and very shortly after the Holy Spirit descended onto the members of the early Church at Shavuot/Pentecost, the battle really heated up. And, truly, Satan's opposition to the Church, with its gospel message of "salvation by grace through faith" has never abated.
The best information we have in the New Testament about the Judaizers comes from the book of Galatians, where the battle for the soul of the Church ran especially hot. Note that Judaizers were also soundly renounced by early Church leaders in Acts 15 at the Council of Jerusalem, in the church of Colosse (Colossians 2:16-17), in the very carnal Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 7) and in the church at Rome (Romans 14:5).
The Galatians were a Gentile people who loved Jesus Christ and wanted to walk in obedience to Him. They had, however, been deceived by Judaizers who, I do honestly believe, were sincere (although sincerely wrong). Look at what Paul says (5:2-3) about the Galatians trusting in circumcision to make themselves right with God (that is, work to earn their own salvation).
2-3 I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ’s hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law.
Galatians 5:2-3 The Message version
What the Galatians were doing was submitting to, allowing themselves to be enslaved by, an old covenant. They had chosen to remove themselves from the path of grace through Christ and to revert to pursue achieving their own justification, while using the Mosaic Law to do it (5:4).
Jesus Christ established a newer covenant through His blood. He IS God's newest covenant with His people! How do I know this? Where is the "proof"? Let's examine the Scriptures. You are expecting a NT reference, aren't you? No, we must go all the way back to Jeremiah 31:31-34 (ESV).
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
I can hear some of you now - - "This was meant just for the Jews, the chosen people, and will be fulfilled in the last days." Yes, while God WILL restore the Jews to Himself in the last days Jesus Christ made it clear that HE is the fulfillment of this scripture passage, and He did it at the last meal He shared with His disciples. Luke 22:20 (ESV) - - -
17And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Jesus Christ's blood, poured out for us, established and sealed God's new covenant relationship with people, those people willing to enter into covenant relationship with Him, the Father God, through the Son, Jesus Christ. This offer is for ALL people who are willing - - Jew or Gentile. If the Luke passage is not clear enough for you, consider Hebrews 9:15 (ESV), which is quite emphatic.
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Does this mean that circumcising our male children is wrong? Or, that observing Jewish feast days and customs is wrong? Only if you are depending on them to achieve your own positional justification with God. NO.GOING.BACK.
I have Christian friends and loved ones with Jewish heritage as well as those without it who, Regardless of bloodline, choose to honor Jesus Christ by observing the Jewish feast days. Why do they do this? Because, they see Him so beautifully represented in Old Testament practices. But, they do NOT depend on their observances for their salvation. They submit to various parts of Jewish law out of LOVE for their Savior, while serving God from a circumcised HEART: a heart which covenants with God through faith in Jesus Christ, a faith is expressed in love (Galatians 5:6, Romans 2:29).
So, that is what Paul had battled in Galatia, and I will comment further on the book of Galatians in a moment. The next text I want us to look at, though, is Titus 1:10-16 - -
10For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. 12One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, 14not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.16They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.
Titus 1:10-16 (NASB)
Again, Judaizers were often referred to as "those of the circumcision" because they held circumcision as the centerpiece of their religious practice/proselytizing. They taught that a believer in Yeshua could not be accepted into the synagogues without it.
Judaizers professed to understand the heart of God revealed through the Old Testament, but they fervently believed that circumcision was THE defining characteristic of any and all types of Jews, that you could not be one of chosen, the elect, without it. Period. End of story. It was “the mountain worth dying on”, for them.
Furthermore, in their religious practice were entangled with all sorts of non-Mosaic "add-ons" - - Jewish traditions that had been tacked on through the centuries since salvation "by faith" was established with Abraham and from which they were seemingly unable to (or unwilling to) escape from. (You may recall Jesus debunked several of these during his earthly ministry; we find such in the gospel accounts.)
These Judaizers were getting the cart before the horse, turning entire families in the church away from the truth of the gospel. The Judaizers, who were "in it" for their own self-aggrandizement, were the epitome of awful church leadership!
It would be a very beneficial for us to do a thorough examination of Acts chapter 15 together today. And, therefore, we are going to take the time to do it. That passage is the best passage for really understanding the Judaizers and their position. Someone who did a really excellent job of deconstructing that chapter and explaining what is actually going on is Rabbi Eric Tokajer, in his August 12 Facebook post. Much of what I am about to share is derived from his teaching on this subject. Turn with me, please to Acts 15, a key passage that has been badly taught for, well, many years. Instead of doing that, we are going to deconstruct it in context. What a thought!
Let’s start with Acts 15:1, which introduces the problem at hand:
Acts 15:1 Now some men coming down from Judea were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
Notice the plain-text explanation of the problem: These Judaizers were saying that someone cannot be saved unless they are circumcised according to the custom of Moses. There is an argument between these men and Paul and Barnabus. Paul and Barnabus are sent to Jerusalem to find the answer to one specific question: Do men have to be circumcised according to the custom of Moses in order to be saved?
Paul and Barnabus (and most likely Titus, see verse 2, “and other believers”) arrive in Jerusalem, and the question gets expanded by some Pharisees who were also believers in Yeshua. The expanded question becomes what we read in Acts 15:5. you know how sometimes things tend to “grow legs”? Well, that is a little bit of what happened in this situation. These ministers to the Gentiles arrived at the council of Jerusalem to deal with one problem, and it sort of grew as they were dealing with the initial problem. Sometimes these additions are red hearings, which is not helpful. Other times they are genuinely good expansions to the original problem or question. You can decide what you think in this case. Look at verse five.
Acts 15:5 “But some belonging to the party of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the Torah of Moses.”
After much debate, Peter stands up and responds to this expanded question with the words we read in Acts 15:7 thru 11. Pay particular attention to the words of verse 11.
Acts 15:7 After much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God chose from among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the message of the Good News and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, testified to them by giving them the Ruach ha-Kodesh—just as He also did for us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts through faith. 10 Why then do you put God to the test by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples—which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But instead, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Yeshua, in the same way as they are.”
After Peter makes this statement, Paul and Barnabas share about the amazing things G-D was doing through their ministry. Titus would have been a prime example of a born again Gentile believer in Yeshua, living proof that the right of circumcision was not a prerequisite for salvation.
Then Jacob/Ya’akov (James) gets up and shares a little about the prophetic promises that speak of Gentiles coming to faith in the Messiah.
After this, Jacob pronounces his decision concerning the single, original question that Paul and Barnabas came to Jerusalem to get an official answer from the leadership in Jerusalem about. This is what we read in Acts 15:19–21:
Acts 15:19 Therefore, I judge not to trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God—20 but to write to them to abstain from the contamination of idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what is strangled, and from blood. 21 For Moses from ancient generations has had in every city those who proclaim him, since he is read in all the synagogues every Shabbat.”
So, let’s review this in context, based only on what is written in the text of Acts 15, not putting our modern interpretations or religious traditions onto it.
A question arose: “Do Gentiles have to be circumcised to be saved?” Acts 15:1
Paul and Barnabas were sent as a delegation to Jerusalem to get an answer. Acts 15:3
When Paul and Barnabus arrive, the question gets expanded to: “Do Gentiles have to get circumcised and keep the Law of Moses to be saved?” Acts 15:5
Peter answers the question by saying that Gentiles are saved through faith in the same way Jews are. Acts 15:11
Jacob then announces the official position on the matter according to the Jerusalem Council. Acts 15:20
Now look. This is important. In Acts 15:20, Jacob isn’t a complete list of the commandments Gentiles would be accountable for keeping in order to continuing to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Nor was Jacob providing a list of things Gentiles would have to do in order to be able to have peaceful, comfortable fellowship with the Torah-observant Jewish believers.
No, in context, Jacob was answering the singular question that was brought to the council by Paul and Barnabus: Was circumcision and keeping the Law of Moses required for Gentiles to become saved? The answer is NO. Even Peter says Gentiles are saved the same way Jews are: by faith.
Jacob’s answer to the question should be easy to understand if we keep the text in context. Gentiles are saved by faith just as Jews are. But in order to be saved, they have to renounce their pagan worship of other G-Ds and the practices involved in that worship. They had to repent, just as we do when we come to faith in Messiah Yeshua. Hence, the four things mentioned in Acts 15:20. All four were connected to idolatrous worship. In other words, “You shall have no other G-Ds before me.”
When we keep this chapter in context, we see that the only question up for discussion is what must Gentiles do to be saved, to be justified, to be made eternally right before God, to gain eternal life and gain entry into the family of God.
The answer is that Gentiles are saved just as Jews are, through faith in Yeshua, but that evidence of their faith decision is that they must renounce and repent of their pagan, idolatrous practices in order to be saved.
Then we get to Acts 15:21, which, in context, deals with what would happen AFTER Gentiles are saved. At verse 21 we are no longer dealing with initial salvation. We are now talking about the walk of holiness, the walk done in love and thankfulness for having received eternal life, the walk of the converted, transformed soul. Jacob said that after Gentiles become saved, they will become members of believing Jewish communities and hear Moses taught in synagogues in every city on Shabbat. Not in order to be saved, but in response to their salvation through faith. This would be how they would grow in their faith, how they would be sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
It is clear from the New Testament that at least some Torah commandments were to be required of saved Gentiles, as they continued to grow in their faith. For instance, most would agree that at least nine of the Ten Commandments should be kept by saved Gentiles. What shouldn’t be up for debate or discussion, is that the plain-text reading of the chapter is simple and clear: What must Gentiles do to be saved? The answer provided by Peter and then Jacob is also simple and clear.
James/Jacob/Ya’akov was NOT giving Gentiles permission to run off and establish the Christian religion! He was helping them to assimilate in a godly manner into the existing sect of Judaism called The Way, that is, the revolutionary teachings of Yeshua HaMashiach.
The entire book of Galatians was written to address the matter of Judaizers. Galatians, another highly mistaught book, due to lack of understanding about Judaizers and historical context, was written by Paul to convey these truths. It was not written to relegate the Torah to the dustbin of history and faith practice, as so many have taught. But, that is another teaching for another day.
All right, we have about come to the end of our time together this morning. I hope you’ll join me next week when we finish our study of the book of Titus, and get ready to head into the new civil year.
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