The Duality of God and Man
“For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain’s sake. One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons.” This testimony is true. For this cause, reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. To 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. They profess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.” (Titus 1:10-16 WEB)
At the time of Paul writing this letter, there were Jews in the region who insisted that Christians must be circumcised and keep the Law in order to be righteous before God—they were the “Judaizers” or “circumcision” that Paul referred to.
These men charged a fee for people to hear their false teachings, misleading the young church and taking advantage of their ignorance in the things of God to earn dishonest gain.
Paul quoted the words of the Cretan poet Epimenides: “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons.”.
Back then, Cretans were infamous for their dishonesty.
Paul contrasts this with God’s truthfulness and inability to lie.
The Judaizers taught an ascetic doctrine, saying that believers must abstain from certain foods and even from marriage (1 Timothy 4:3). These were legalistic commandments of men to produce a false sense of holiness—these are not of God.
Paul clarifies that to “the pure”, meaning believers, all things are pure.
This echoes his teaching that all things are permitted but not everything builds up (1 Corinthians 10:23).
He corrects the wrong belief that holiness comes from an external practice and outward appearance of things.
Jesus also taught about these when he said that eating food with unwashed hands doesn’t defile the body, whereas the evil thoughts that proceed from the hearts of men are what defiles the body (Matthew 15:17-20).
True holiness comes from within—through being born-again through faith in Jesus, and this act of regeneration of our spirit is done by the Holy Spirit.
It is impossible to be purified by the works of the Law. Whoever does not receive salvation by faith in Jesus alone and tries to earn it through the works of the Law is still defiled by sin.
If you don’t know Jesus as Lord and Savior, then you don’t know God.
Be born again first before you even talk about good works.
Good works are useless for you unless you’re a child of God that has been cleansed by the blood of Christ.
A person who doesn’t believe in Jesus and has done many good works to earn his holiness will still burn in the lake of fire—his own righteousness is like a filthy garment (Isaiah 64:6).
His good works cannot cancel out the multitude of sins that he committed against God throughout his lifetime.
However, a believer qualifies to walk in the good works that God has prepared for him/her.
For using the Grace he/she has received to do good works for Jesus’ sake, he/she will receive eternal rewards in Jesus’ Millennial kingdom on earth.
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