Please explain Titus 1:15.
This is a good and practical question. Let’s read Titus 1:15-16, “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.”
The Apostle Paul wrote this epistle to Titus, his “own son after the common faith.” He had left Titus in Crete to set things in order in the church there. Our God is a God of order and we are told in 1 Corinthians 14:40, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” In Crete, there was a need for elders to help oversee the believers there. Titus was to appoint some elders according to the qualifications given. There were also those there who were teaching things contrary to the Word of God.
We see in verses 10-11, “For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.” Sadly enough, this type of people continue today. There are many people today who teach subversive things, things that are completely false, yet they teach because of the money that can be made by doing it. Even as then, THEIR MOUTHS MUST BE STOPPED. How do we stop the mouths of those who spew out lies and perversions? We stop them by learning, following, and teaching the TRUTH of God’s Word.
These false Jewish teachers at Crete were teaching “Jewish fables, and commandments of men.” The Lord Himself said of such people in Matthew 15:9, “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” These ‘commandments of men’ are ideas of man’s own making, ideas that appeal to them, allowing or disallowing behavior that is contrary to the scriptures. They attribute authority to man that truly belongs only to God. One such doctrine that was being taught was to forbid men from eating meat that had been offered to idols. These false teachers were “commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.” (1 Timothy 4:3)
Paul assures us in verse 15 that, “Unto the pure all things are pure.” To the genuine Christian every kind of meat proper for human nourishment is pure, is lawful, and may be eaten without doubt. Paul had previously taught in 1 Corinthians 8:8, “But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.” We need to be very clear here that this verse is not speaking of participating in actions that are condemned in the Bible. We MUST view this verse in the context in which it is given. Otherwise, men will take this verse to mean we can do any vile deed we wish and it would be pure. This is gross and dangerous error!
Verse 15 goes on to say, “…but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” All mankind is defiled with sin. “They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” (Psalm 14:3) The lesson for us is that a person is defiled from within, from the heart. What he eats will not defile him. It is the heart of one defiled and in unbelief that defiles. The Lord said in Mark 7:20, “That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.” How can a ‘defiled’ person become a ‘pure’ person? Through faith in the One who gave Himself as a sacrifice and offering for our sins. It is through His death on the cross that “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (215.2)