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Titus 1:12
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The Elders’ Task

10 For there are many insubordinate, both idle atalkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,  
11 whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, afor the sake of dishonest gain.  
12 aOne of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”  
13 This testimony is true. aTherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,  
14 not giving heed to Jewish fables and acommandments of men who turn from the truth.  
15 aTo the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.  
16 They profess to aknow God, but bin works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, cand disqualified for every good work. 
Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
<< Titus 1:11   Titus 1:13 >>


Titus 1:12

One—Epimenides of Phæstus, or Gnossus, in Crete, about 600. He was sent for to purify Athens from its pollution occasioned by Cylon. He was regarded as a diviner and prophet. The words here are taken probably from his treatise "concerning oracles." Paul also quotes from two other heathen writers, ARATUS (Acts 17:28) and MENANDER (I Corinthians 15:33), but he does not honor them so far as even to mention their names.

of themselves . . . their own—which enhances his authority as a witness. "To Cretanize" was proverbial for to lie: as "to Corinthianize" was for to be dissolute.

alway liars—not merely at times, as every natural man is. Contrast Titus 1:2, "God that cannot lie." They love "fables" (Titus 1:14); even the heathen poets laughed at their lying assertion that they had in their country the sepulchre of Jupiter.

evil beasts—rude, savage, cunning, greedy. Crete was a country without wild beasts. Epimenides' sarcasm was that its human inhabitants supplied the place of wild beasts.

slow bellies—indolent through pampering their bellies. They themselves are called "bellies," for that is the member for which they live (Romans 16:18; Philippians 3:19).




Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Titus 1:12:

Acts 17:28
1 Corinthians 2:1
1 Corinthians 15:32
Titus 2:3
Titus 2:12

 

<< Titus 1:11   Titus 1:13 >>

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