Titus 1:14

Tit_1:14

Not giving heed to Jewish fables

The perverting power of trivialities

Trivialities, and mere human conceptions, exert a perverting power

(1) by distracting attention from the essentials of religion;

(2) by dissipating the strength of the mind;

(3) by attributing to the human an authority belonging only to the Divine.

Truth, in its essence, always of more importance than the form in which it is clothed. The spirit is greater than the letter. (F. Wagstaff.)

Jewish fables to be rejected

I. Although all fables in matter of religion are to be rejected, yet especially he mentioneth these of the jews, because they were most dangerous of all.

1. Because they directly opposed themselves as the overthrowers of the whole doctrine of the gospel and the merit of Christ.

2. They were persuaded under most strong pretences, for they came as from Gods own mouth, and from His own people, from such as were born under the law, so as they were urged as things of surest ground and strongest authority from God Himself and His greatest prophet Moses.

II. But what were these fables?

1. Under this head may be comprehended all the false glosses and false interpretations of the law of Moses, urging the external and literal, but not the internal and spiritual meaning of the law; for which corruption Christ challengeth the Jewish teachers (Mat_5:1-48; Mat_6:1-34; Mat_7:1-29).

2. All their fabulous invention in their Talmud, such as that concerning the coming of the Messiah, and the great feast at His coming; and of the fruitfulness of the earth, which at that time shall bring forth instead of ears of corn, loaves of bread; and a number such, of which St. Paul saith, they are for number infinite, and for use unprofitable.

3. But the context in the verse following pointeth us to expound them of some other than these, namely, of all those doctrines of the Jews which conceived the legal and ceremonial observation of days, meats, drinks, garments, washings, persons and peoples: for the Jews taught that the same difference remained to be obtained still, as Moses from the Lord commanded it; so as yet some meats were common and some clean; some days were more holy than others; so garments and persons much more lay open to legal pollution by issues, touchings, etc., whereas the appearing of Christ procured final freedom from all such impurity, so as, according to Peters vision (Act_10:1-48), no man, no thing is to be called polluted or unclean.

III. But why doth the apostle call such doctrines fables seeing

1. They were from God.

2. Necessarily imposed upon Gods own people in pain of death and cutting off from His people in case of contempt, yea or omission.

3. They included in them that evangelical truth whereby both they and we are saved.

Yet for all this he termeth them so.

1. Because even these legal constitutions of God Himself, when they were at the best, were but actual apologies, or shadows of things to come, carrying a show or figure of truth, but not the body, nor the truth itself: to the same effect, saith Paul (Gal_4:24), that they were allegories; that is, being the things that they were, signified the things that they were not.

2. Because those constitutions, although they had their times and seasons, yet now were they dated: and now to teach or urge them was as vain, as void of ground out of Scripture, as void of profit, as void of truth, as if they had taught the most vain, fictious, and unprofitable falsehoods that men could possibly devise. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

That turn from the truth

Rules to preserve us from being turned from the truth

1. Entertain it not for outward respects; neither for the laws of the land, nor the encouragement it hath, etc., as very many do, but for the love of itself: for that we affect, we easily turn not from it, no, nor are driven from it; and if we love it for outward respects, as those outward respects change, so will our affections. For example, if we love it for the prosperity of it, times of persecution will make us fall off, with Demas. If we hold it because we would hold our temporalities, the loss of it will be light in comparison of loss of goods, dignities, country, world, liberty and life, the least of these will the heart fasten upon, although with the loss of the truth, and with it of salvation also.

2. Practise so much of it as thou knowest, and the more thou practise, the more thou knowest, and the more thou knowest thus, the more thou lovest, and the surer dost thou bind it upon thyself; and this is the surest hold (Joh_7:17), when as in religion, faith and good conscience are joined together, for such as thy conscience is, such shalt thou be found in religion; without which, hear every hour a sermon, read over the Bible as often as he did, who gloried that he had read the text and gloss also fourteen times over, all this knowledge will not lift thee up to heaven.

3. Call no ground of this Divine truth into question, suspect not that which thou canst not reach, but accuse thine own weakness and ignorance: our first parents yielding at the first onset of Satan to call into question the truth of God, were turned away from all that image of God which stood in truth and holiness.

4. Beware of indifference in Gods matters; many think it good wisdom and policy to be on the yielding hand, and as wax fit to take all forms and the print of any religion; but the truth is, that such persons as are not rooted and stablished in the truth, when winds and storms arise, or the evil day approach, they shall not be able to stand; but as they have been long tottering, so their fall shall be great. (T. Taylor, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:14 Jewish myths: See 3:9; 1 Tim 1:4; 4:7; 2 Tim 4:4. • have turned away from the truth: This was apostasy, not mere unbelief. See 1 Tim 1:6-7.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Tit 1:14. Μύθοις, fables) The antithesis is truth.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tit_1:14. One especial requisite for the ὑγιαίνειν ἐν τῇ πίστει is given by Paul in the participial clause: μὴ προσέχοντες Ἰουδαϊκοῖς μύθοις καὶ ἐντολαῖς κ.τ.λ.] προσέχοντες, see 1Ti_1:4; 1Ti_4:1. Here, as in the epistles to Timothy, the heresies are called μῦθοι, from the theories they contained; see on 1Ti_1:4. Here, however, they are further defined by the epithet Ἰουδαϊκοί, as they were peculiar to Jewish speculation, though their substance was derived from Gentile modes of thought. The description, too, in the First Epistle to Timothy shows that to the speculative part of the heresy there was added a legal element founded on an arbitrary interpretation of the Mosaic law. The ἐντολαί of the heretics are here called ἐντολαὶ ἀνθρώπων ἀποστρεφομένων τὴν ἀλήθειαν: commands of men which depart from the truth, because they were founded not on Christianity, but on the arbitrary wills of men estranged from Christianity. These ἐντολαί consisted not so much of moral precepts, as of prohibitions of food and the like, see 1Ti_4:3. Hofmann refers the adjective Ἰουδαϊκοῖς, and the defining words ἀνθρώπων κ.τ.λ., to both substantives,a possible construction, but not necessary. His reasons are far from sufficient.

ἀποστρεφομένων] see 2Ti_1:15.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tit 1:14 . προσέχοντες : See on 1Ti 1:4 . The word implies the giving one’s consent, as well as one’s attention.

Ἰουδαϊκοῖς : This determines the nature of the μῦθοι referred to in these epistles. See on 1Ti 1:4 .

ἐντολαῖς ἀνθρώπων ἀποστρεφομένων : We are naturally reminded of Mar 7:7-8 , with its antithesis between the ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων and ἐντολὴν τοῦ θεοῦ , and Col 2:22 , where the same passage of Isaiah (Isa 29:13 ) is echoed. But here the antithesis is not so strongly marked. The commandments are depreciated, not because their authors are men, but because they are men who turn away from the truth , impure men (In 1Ti 4:3 “they that believe and know the truth” are men whose thoughts are pure). The truth here, as elsewhere in the Pastorals, is almost a Christian technical term. It can hardly be doubted that the ἐντολαί referred to were of the same nature as those noted in Col 2:22 , arbitrary ascetic prohibitions.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jewish fables--(See on Ti1 1:4; Ti1 4:7; Ti2 4:4). These formed the transition stage to subsequent Gnosticism; as yet the error was but profitless, and not tending to godliness, rather than openly opposed to the faith.

commandments of men--as to ascetic abstinence (Tit 1:15; Mar 7:7-9; Col 2:16, Col 2:20-23; Ti1 4:3).

that turn from the truth--whose characteristic is that they turn away from the truth (Ti2 4:4).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. Not giving heed to Jewish fables] See on 1Ti 1:4; 1Ti 4:7.

Commandments of men] The injunctions of the scribes and Pharisees, which they added to the law of God.

That turn from the truth.] For such persons made the word of God of none effect by their traditions. Sometimes the verb αποστρεφομαι signifies to be averse from, slight, or despise. So, here, the persons in question despised the truth, and taught others to do the same.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14 And may not listen to Jewish fables He now shews in what “sound faith” consists — when it is not corrupted by any “fables.” But in guarding against the danger he prescribes this remedy — not to give ear to them; for God wishes us to be so attentive to his word, that there shall be no entrance for trifles. And, indeed, when the truth of God has once gained admission all that can be brought against it will be so tasteless, that it will not attract our minds. If, therefore, we wish to preserve the faith uncontaminated, let us learn carefully to restrain our senses, so that they may not give themselves up to strange contrivances; for, as soon as any person shall begin to listen to fables, he will lose the purity of faith.

All trivial inventions he calls “fables,” or, as we would say, “trifles;” for what he immediately adds, about “the commandments of men,” has the same meaning. And he calls those men enemies of the truth who, not satisfied with the pure doctrine of Christ, mix up with them their own fooleries; for all that men of themselves contrive ought to be accounted “fabulous.”

He attributes this vice chiefly to the Jews, because, under the presence of the divine law, they introduced superstitious ceremonies. The Gentiles, being aware that they had been wretchedly deceived during their whole life, more easily renounced their former course of life; while the Jews, having been educated in the true religion, obstinately defended the ceremonies to which they had been accustomed, and could not be convinced that the Law had been abrogated. In this manner they disturbed all churches, because, as soon as the gospel began to make its appearance anywhere, they did not cease to corrupt its purity by mixing it with their leaven. Accordingly, Paul not only forbids them, in general terms, to degenerate from sound doctrine, but points out, as with the finger, the present evil which needed to be remedied, that they may be on their guard against it.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(14) Not giving heed to Jewish fables.—Such as we now find embodied in the Talmud. (See Note on 1Ti_1:4.) The oral law and traditional interpretations and glosses had, to a great measure, obscured the original simple text. The Israelite of the time of St. Paul, trained in the stricter Jewish schools, was taught that the way to win the approval of the Most High was through the observance of countless ceremonies and the practice of an elaborate ritual.

And commandments of men.—The nature of these commandments we gather from the words of the next (the 15th) verse. They seem to have been on the subject of abstinence from meats and from other things created by God for the use and enjoyment of man. The directions of St. Paul here are, in spirit, in exact accordance with the Lord’s teaching at Jerusalem, related in Mat_15:1-9. St. Paul’s dread of this kind of asceticism and of the peculiar school of teaching, then so popular among the Jews, which enjoined an elaborate system of ritual and observance, which pronounced meritorious in the sight of the Eternal the practice of rites and ceremonies minute and trifling, was grounded upon a fear—too often, alas, verified—lest with the observance of the ritual, and the careful practice of the ceremonies and rites, the moral law should be lost sight of. With this school a holy life consisted rather in observing carefully a ritual, than in living justly, nobly, generously.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. not giving heed to Jewish fables] See note on 1Ti_1:4 and Introduction, pp. 45 sqq. ‘The old Judaism got itself entangled in a new Platonism. Those endless genealogies which had always charmed the Israelite, as he traced his own pedigree from Seth and Abraham and David, were now beginning to soar into higher heights of speculation, till at length they dealt with angelic relationships and lost themselves in interminable mazes of celestial emanations.’ Dr Vaughan, The Wholesome Words of Jesus Christy, p. 7.

commandments of men] See note on 1Ti_4:3 and Introduction, pp. 46, 48, 50; ‘erga escarum insumptionem scrupuloso agere videbantur,’ Theod. Mops. The addition of the participial clause without the article leaves more emphasis on ‘men’ as opposed to God the true lawgiver; the participle is only formally in agreement with men; the real stress is on the thought ‘desertion of the truth,’ ‘human commandments with the truth abandoned.’ Compare Tit_1:6, where the main attribute to ‘children’ is ‘believing’ and ‘not in accusation &c.’ is secondary. Winer, Pt. iii. § 20, 4. The translation of A.V., by putting the comma after ‘men’ and rendering ‘that turn away’ as the more general relative, seems nearer to this force of the Greek than the R.V. ‘men who turn.’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Not giving heed to Jewish fables,.... Concerning God himself, the angels, and the creation of man; concerning the giving of the law at Mount Sinai; concerning the Messiah and his earthly kingdom, and the feast that will be made for the righteous in his days, which will consist of flesh, fish, and fowl, Behemoth, Leviathan, and Zuz, and of wine kept in the grape from the foundation of the world; and concerning the rolling of the dead through the caverns of the earth at the resurrection, with a multitude of other things which were traditionally received.

And commandments of men: the traditions of the elders, which the Jews charged the disciples of Christ with the transgression of; and he, on the other hand, very justly reproached them with breaking the commands of God, by attending to them, Mat 15:1. These were the laws and traditions of the fathers, which the Apostle Paul was brought up in, and was zealous of, before his conversion, Act 22:3 and which these judaizing preachers and professors, he here has respect to, were fond of, though they were made by men,

that turn from the truth; or "hate it", as the Syriac version renders it; who were enemies unto it, as Hillell and Shammai, the heads of the traditional doctors, and as the Jews, and their Rabbins in general were; and therefore their commandments, of all men, should not be given heed to, by those that bear the Christian name.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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

Ver. 14. Not giving heed to Jewish fables] Wherewith their Talmud is full farced, which while they hug overly hard, as Cleopatra did the snakes that sucked her blood, they perish.

Of men that turn from the truth] αποστρεφομενοι, with utter aversatian and detestation, as a man turns his body from a loathsome object. These are those that will not endure sound doctrine, 2Ti 4:3.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Not giving heed to Jewish fables ... - See the notes at 1Ti 1:4.

And commandments of men that turn from the truth - Notes, Mat 15:3-5.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Jewish fables, and commandments of men. False traditions of the Jewish doctors, which were multiplied at that time. Calvin pretended from hence, that holydays and fasting days, and all ordinances of the Catholic Church were to be rejected as null, because they are the precepts of men. By the same argument must be rejected all laws and commands of princes and civil magistrates, as being the precepts of men. Fine doctrine! He might have remembered what St. Paul taught, (Romans xiii.) that all power is from God; and what Christ said, (Luke x. 16,) "He that hears you, hears me," &c. He might have observed that the men the apostle here speaks of, had turned [11] away themselves from the Christian faith. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Adversantium se a veritate, Greek: apostrephomenon.

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George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Not giving heed to Jewish fables: by his calling them Jewish fables, ( not old wives’ fables, as in the Epistle to Timothy), he lets us know that he reflects upon those Jews that seemed to be proselyted, but yet had a tincture of their Jewish education, and spent their discourse about such fabulous traditions as the Jews had.

And commandments of men; and the traditions and constitutions of the scribes and Pharisees.

That turn from the truth; abhorring the gospel, and the doctrine of truth in it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. Jewish fables—Note, 1Ti_1:4.

Commandments—It seems strange that commentators such as Wiesinger, Huther, and Alford should uniformly say that these commandments were ascetic in their character, when gluttony is one of the prominent traits of these slow bellies. Nor does asceticism appear to have any association with the Jewish fables, though it formed part of one side of Gnosticism, (note, 2Th_2:7,) which is not the heresy here rebuked. Simon Magus, long before this time of St. Paul’s writing, had no difficulty in blending a licentious Gnosticism with the Judaism of Samaria, and imposing his commandments upon a herd of followers, founding his licentious system on the assumption of the essential evil of matter. Act_8:9. Similarly, Nicolas, the deacon, (Act_6:5,) and the Nicolaitans of Rev_2:6, appear like licentious Jewish Gnostics. To the same class belonged the “filthy dreamers” of Jud_1:8. The commandments were the moral, or rather immoral, precepts of these men.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who for that, A.V; turn away for turn, A.V Jewish fables 1Ti_1:4 1Ti_4:7 2Ti_4:4, where the Jewish origin of the fables is implied, though not so distinctly stated as here). Commandments of men (entolaiv anyrwpwn); so in Col_2:22 the apostle speaks of the precepts "touch not," "taste not" (originating with the Judaizing teachers), as ta entalmata kai didaskaliav twn anyrwpwn (see following note). Turning away from (apostrefomenen); see 2Ti_1:15, note.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Commandments of men - The Jewish or other teachers, whoever they were that turned from the truth.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Ver. 14. Further, and with the view especially of securing real soundness of faith, the apostle would have them exhorted not to give heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men, who turn away from the truth. The same exhortation substantially was given at 1Ti 1:4 and 1Ti 4:3. The lying and deceptive tendency which had obtained such prevalence in Crete seems to have begotten a fondness for those fables, and have led also to the introduction or pressing of merely human commandments, as if they were divine. These probably related very much to distinctions in food and punctilios of outward observance, and from their nature necessarily indisposed both teachers and taught toward the truth of God. In such a case deceivers and deceived could only present different shades of what was essentially the same radical error.

Patrick Fairbairn — An Exposition of Ezekiel (1851), Jonah (1849), and The Pastoral Epistles (1874) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14–16. Jewish fables. See note on 1 Tim. 1:4. Commandments of men. Commandments which are only the traditions of men, additions to God's ordinances. See Mark 7:4, 8.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

14. μὴ προσέχοντες Ἰουδαϊκοῖς μύθοις, not giving heed to Jewish fables. see on 1Ti 1:4 and Introd. chap. IV.

καὶ ἐντολαῖς ἀνθρώπων ἀποστρεφομένων τὴν ἀλήθειαν, and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. As the next verse shews, these commandments were probably of a ceremonial or ritual character (cp. 1Ti 4:3, and the note at that place, and Col 2:16; Col 2:22). Such ἐντολαὶ ἀνθρώπων (Isa 29:13) must not be permitted to usurp the authority of Divine revelation or of the moral law (cp. Mat 15:9). To pay undue attention to questions of this kind tends to distract the mind from the contemplation of the great problems of life.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14.] not giving attention to (ref.) Jewish fables (on the probable nature of these, see 1Ti 1:4 note: and on the whole subject, the Prolegg. to these Epistles, § i. 12 ff. They were probably the seeds of the gnostic mythologies, already scattered about and taking root) and commandments (cf. 1Ti 4:3: Col 2:16, Col 2:22: and our next verse, by which it appears that these commandments were on the subject of abstinence from meats and other things appointed by God for man’s use) of men turning away (or the pres. part. may express habitual character—whose description it is that they turn away—in idiomatic English, the participial clause being merely epithetal, not ratiocinative (agst Ellicott), “who turn away”) from (ref.) the truth.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14-16. Cf. Rom 14:13-23, Col 2:16-23, 1Ti 4:1-5 and notes there, Mar 7:18-23. προσέχοντες, 1Ti 1:4 note.

Ἰουδ. μύθοις] cf. 3:9, 1Ti 1:6, Introduction, p. xvii. ἐντολαῖς ἀνθρώπων (contrast ἐντολῶν Θεοῦ, 1Co 7:19), a reminiscence of Isa 29:13 μάτην σέβονταί με (cf. ματαιολόγοι 10) διδάσκοντες ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων καὶ διδασκαλίας, quoted by Christ (Mar 7:7) and adopted by St. Paul (Col 2:22). The reference is to the “traditions of the elders,” and will include interpretations of the law of clean and unclean meats and ceremonial washings, Mar 7:2-4. These have no authority, as only the interpretations of men, and of men who are now turning away from (cf. Act 13:46) the truth “as it is in Jesus” (Eph 4:21).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Not giving heed [μη προσεχοντες] . Reprove sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, and may show their soundness by not giving heed, etc. See on 1Ti 1:4.

To Jewish fables [ιουδαικοις μυθοις] . See on 1Ti 1:4. Note Jewish. The nature of these we do not know.

Commandments of men [εντολαις ανθρωπων] . See on 1Ti 6:14. Comp. Col 2:22. Prescriptions concerning abstinence from meats, marriage, etc. The men are probably those of the circumcision, verse

Tit 1:10What they teach theoretically, by means of the myths, they bring to bear practically, by means of their precepts.

That turn from the truth [αποστρεφομενων την αληθειαν] . Comp. 2Ti 4:4, where the truth and fables appear in contrast.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.