4. People who give attention to Jewish myths: (1:13): The specific myth is unknown, but Paul advices Titus just as Timothy (1 Tim. 1:4; 4:1) of old wives fables, endless genealogies, myths, silly legends, unauthenticated opinions etc. Perhaps Paul was speaking of the irrelevant Talmudical teaching. They are nothing but stories, some laws of pre-Christian-era. Jesus and His disciples had faced criticism from the Pharisees because of their traditions given in Talmud. So Paul advices Titus to silence people who bring such idiotic traditions, Jewish myths into the congregation and confuse the believers. The congregation was warned to repent and turn away from such idiotic teaching.
5. People who give attention to Jewish food: (1:14-15): Paul spoke this in reference to Jewish food of clean and unclean meats. to a believer, whose conscious is pure and right, everything is pure, lawful and can be consumed without any doubt. But those who are defiled and impure conscious minded people, everything seems to be impure and defiled. The false teachers seem to be in some way interested ritual purity and try to confuse the congregation of the food. When we receive the food with grace and gratitude, nothing is impure. God sanctifies our food. “What goes into man’s mouth does not make him unclean, but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him unclean.” (Matt.15:11). To the unfaithful nothing is pure, they have no part in Christ, and the wrath of God abides upon them. Their mind is contaminated with impure and unholy images and ideas, and their conscience is defiled with the guilt of sins already committed against God.
6. People claim to know God (1:16): Titus had to face very difficult people because there were some people who knew God, talked like Christians but their life was not in order and deny the very attitude of Christian. We can’t go by what a person says, but we must look at his attitude and works. Their life-style, their witness, their way of living in the community, their priorities reveals that they are far from God. For every believer, his conduct speak volumes of what he believes and with whom he is linking his life, “because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in this world” (1 Jn.4:4). The works and testimony of false teachers prove that they are unbelievers, despite they claim to know God. Their profession and practice are at continuous variance with the Gospel. They are pretenders. “They have a form of godliness, but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.” (2 Tim.3:5)
Paul uses powerful words to describe them that they are abominal, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
Abominal or detestable sometimes refer to unnatural lusts.
Disobedient is unbelieving, unpersuadable, not teachable etc.
Unfit for doing anything good: They are deficient in doing good. They will not do anything with right spirit.
While closing this chapter, it is a lesson to each and every Christian believer to examine his/her own life in the light of the Gospel