Main news for 20 December 2022

King James Version (en)

Titus, Chapter 1, verses 13-14

¹³This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;

¹⁴Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.

NOTES

The spiritual situation in the Cretan church was evidently far from simple, so no one stayed on the sidelines of the disputes flaring up in church gatherings, regardless of...

The spiritual situation in the Cretan church was evidently far from simple, so no one stayed on the sidelines of the disputes flaring up in church gatherings, regardless of their place and position in the community. And these disputes, as in many other churches, judging by the apostle's words, revolved around the question of the Torah and Judaism, more precisely, around the need to observe Jewish religious norms and prescriptions. It appears that in the Cretan church, as in all the churches of the first Christian era, there were many Judeo-Christians who considered adherence to these norms and prescriptions mandatory for everyone, insisting on their view and, apparently, putting pressure on those who disagreed (vv. 15-16). Judging by Paul's mention of purity and impurity, the same quite practical question kept arising in the Church again and again: kosher and non-kosher food. It invariably divided church communities into, on the one hand, those who could not imagine spiritual and, therefore, church life without Judaism and its religious prescriptions, and, on the other, those for whom they were irrelevant.

That is why Paul has to remind them again and again that religion has no direct relation to spiritual life; that the Jewish religious norms and prescriptions on which the zealots of religious piety so strongly insisted are the work of human hands and minds, like any religion; and that the only goal of the Christian life can be the Kingdom brought into the world by the Savior. The apostle does not accidentally call religious theories that absolutize Jewish religiosity myths and purely human inventions, which only hinder the faithful on the way to the Kingdom and therefore must be resisted for the sake of preserving spiritual health, including that of those who spread and defend these theories (vv. 13-14; in the Synodal translation the myths are called "fables"). It is possible that their supporters and defenders wanted to maintain peace with the Synagogue by making a kind of compromise that could secure the Church's support from the orthodox Jewish community, above all in the diaspora, but perhaps also in Judea. Paul, however, clearly opposed such a compromise decisively, just as he decisively opposed everything that could turn the faithful from the way leading to the Kingdom.

Titus was a disciple of Paul, a convert from among the Gentiles. The Apostle writes to him from Rome while awaiting judgment. In these final days, he...

It would seem that Paul, being himself a Jew who knew his tradition very well, should not have spoken this way about those who called people to follow it and...

It would seem that Paul, being himself a Jew who knew his tradition very well, should not have spoken this way about those who called people to follow it and strictly observe all the religious prescriptions of Judaism. But the point is precisely that after meeting the Risen One, Paul never again absolutized his own religion. For him Judaism ceased to be a religion; it became for him a spiritual path, the path of the inner Torah, which is completed in Christ, who revealed to the world the model of the living Torah.

The apostle never denied this path. The problem, however, was that the newly appeared "teachers of the Torah" who had appeared in large numbers in the Church were not thinking about any path and most of all knew nothing about it properly. They liked religion as such; they connected their path with religiosity and with strict, formal fulfillment of all religious prescriptions.

Paul, from his own experience, knew perfectly well that religiosity as such is a spiritual dead end. It leads nowhere and only imitates spiritual life, preserving some of its outward forms and reproducing them outwardly. And the apostle considered it necessary to do everything possible to keep any of those who had turned to Christ and found Him from ending up in such a dead end. He was absolutely sure: Christianity is not a religion, but life in the Kingdom, and religiosity is not needed for this life.

Of course, a religious person too can enter the Kingdom, but on one condition: he does not absolutize his religion and does not impose it on others. Not even because imposing one's religion on others is at least incorrect toward them, but because a person who acts this way himself hopes in his religiosity more than in Christ; otherwise he would not connect with it his own salvation and the salvation of those whom he wants to make as religious as he himself is. It is against this distortion of spiritual and church life that Paul warns everyone, always and very persistently - because here the issue is a substitution by which one can easily lose the Kingdom, and therefore salvation.

${currentDateString}


	After registering, you can subscribe to any Bible reading plan. Personalized settings and other services for registered users are planned, so we recommend registering now. Registration is free.