Titus 3:9 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

Titus 3:9

Comments

Beginning here with the word ‘avoid’, keep away from, or shun, various things: foolish questions, genealogies, contentions. These things have already been referred to, things that are unprofitable and take away from the main objectives of any church. Notice the great contrast here when you read the preceding verses. Paul has exhorted Titus: ‘That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly.’ But then there is the contrast: ‘But avoid foolish questions.’ These are the people of verse 2, people who are brawlers, contentious people, people who are certainly not gentle. The word ‘brawler’ in verse 2 doesn't refer to physical brawling in the Greek, but to contentious, argumentative people. They are proud people and in their pride they think they know best about everything. They go off at different tangents; they are absolutely unyielding; they love argument. They have no focus on the things that really matter in a church. That would be a terrible thing, and the apostle here lists the things that destroy the objectives of a church. ‘Avoid foolish questions.’ The word ‘foolish’ means dull or insipid. It actually comes from a Greek word meaning silent, or not spoken of, and a certain amount of that derivation is still in the Greek word, so ‘avoid foolish questions’ also hints at things which are just not spoken of among the people of God. It is somebody's special hobbyhorse, not spoken of in the Scripture. ‘And genealogies.’ Just as people do in idolatrous countries, and are very keen on pursuing their ancestors, and looking at the lists, and imagining that if any of them are famous or accomplished there is a thread of that in them, and it makes them proud and very concerned about descent. In Victorian times, strangely, the biographers were very, very keen on this – not so much today – and you couldn't read a biography of a great person, even a spiritual worthy in the church without the biographer having to spend the first chapter in talking about the ancestors, the forebears, to try to trace some wonderful, extraordinary gift or power that is coming all the way down. That, says the Scripture, is a waste of time, foolishness. But of course, many of them in those days spent much time with Scriptural genealogies. They are for a good and noble and spiritual purpose: to show the line of the seed royal, Christ. But there were people who got involved in them just as an intellectual exercise, like doing a very complicated crossword, and it consumed them: discussing and arguing the scriptural genealogies. ‘And strivings about the law.’ That was something that the Jews were very fond of: ‘Which is the greatest point of the law?’ and they would argue priorities. Well there is this law – and they weren’t only talking about the laws of Moses, but all the rules and regulations that Jewish tradition had added, that the Rabbis had added down the years – and they would discuss these, and identify those that seemed to contradict each other. Oh, that made a wonderful topic of argument. Which shall have the priority? This one or that one? And so on. Well, they are unprofitable. No spiritual good can come of them. They don't add one bit to evangelism, to outreach, to sound doctrine taught in the Scripture. They don't exhort and challenge the soul, or lift anyone up, or magnify Christ. They have removed the focus of the church. So verse 9 is really to preserve the focus of the church on the things that matter.

Application

This is something which crops up constantly throughout the history of the church and in local congregations. There will always be some people who think so highly of their own judgement, that they fasten on strange things, unusual things, things they make their speciality. They argue about these things, and in their pride they cannot be wrong. ‘This is my judgement’, they say to themselves; ‘this is the view that I have formed, therefore it must not be challenged because in some way I am superior in my thinking and more spiritual than other people. In their pride they then form a group around themselves, and try to persuade others to think the same way. This is the brawler, the contentious person.

There are all kinds of intellectually well-endowed people, and they become Christians, and somehow Satan makes fools of them. He gets them to be interested in pursuing the theory of things, which is not explained in the Scripture. They want to discuss things that are not revealed, not explicit and fully explained in the Scripture, part of the mystery of God. They want to get into those things and be specialists in them. That idea also comes into this word ‘foolish’. Foolish, not just in the sense that it is unintelligent, but foolish in the sense that it is highly irrelevant or inappropriate. It's not for us. There are many discussions of things that are not fully disclosed in the Scripture and cannot be resolved, and there's bound to be some proud mind that wants to major on that and get hold of that. It abounds in the seminaries. These questions are not relevant to your objectives.

Every pastor has got four great objectives: evangelism, and the teaching of doctrine, exhortation, and then bringing glory to Christ. Pastors need to keep their eyes on those things all the time. Exhortation is one of the great objectives of the church; it is a great field. It extends from challenge and rebuke and reproof and correction, right through to encouragement and lifting up the people of God. He is to bring glory to Christ by opening up the Scripture so that the Lord is seen and wondered at and worshipped, and the people of God are drawn close. It’s a bad thing if preachers leave any of these categories out. Someone is an evangelist, but he doesn't teach the doctrine, and he doesn't exhort much. Someone leaves out the evangelism, and is a great doctrinal teacher, but his ministry is not practical, not applied.

But Satan is looking for a proud soul who can interest people in something which takes the focus away from those four things, and creates a sect or a group or clique within the church. ‘Avoid foolish questions’ – it sounds negative, but it is for the preservation of the focus of the church on evangelism and doctrine, godliness, holiness, exhortation, and then closeness to God, the glory of Christ, and the worship of him, and appreciation of the things of God.

Questions

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Titus 3:9 Commentary and Bible Study