food,120 or a body free of leprosy.121 The opposite is defiled.122 The circumcision party (Titus 1:10) would be concerned for ritual purity, which would be met by such things as circumcision, kosher food and drink, and festival observation (e.g., Col 2:16–23). In contrast, Jesus’ blood given in behalf of sin results in genuinely purified or “cleaned” people, evidenced by their enthusiasm to do good (Titus 2:14). The focus, then, is taken away from external to internal purity. Thus, those who have been purified by Jesus’ atoning death now see all through purified inner selves. As Jesus explained, “For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come” (Mark 7:21–23; NRSV). In the same way, as Jesus challenged the Pharisees and scribes who were concerned for the ritual external purity of the drinking and eating utensils while they remained internally greedy and self-indulgent (Matt 23:25–26), Paul challenged the circumcision party who chastised ritual impurity in the church while inwardly they were defiled. They denied God’s works by not doing them.
They are then described by three adjectives: bdelyktos (abominable), apeithēs (disobedient), and adokimos (unacceptable) (1:16). Bdelyktos is a strong word: “He that pronounces the unjust just, and the just unjust, is unclean (akathartos) and abominable (bdelyktos) with God” (Prov 17:15 LXX). Its noun form is used to describe the sacrilege at the temple in Jerusalem in 168 BC by worshipers of Zeus (1 Macc 1:54, 59). For those who are concerned for the law, to be called an “abomination,” a term employed for what is most abhorrent to God, would be shocking. But, they were people who could not be persuaded, and thus were disobedient to God’s truth (Acts 26:19). Apeithēs is the negation of peithos (“persuasive”). Paul will later describe himself as formerly apeithēs (Titus 3:3). And, finally, they are adokimos (“not approved” or “accepted”). As an athlete prepares to enter and win a race, a Christian should prepare to do good actions that merit God’s approval (1 Cor 9:24–27). But false teachings do not lead to good actions. The false teachers are unacceptable, they have failed the test (2 Cor 13:5)!
Fusing the Horizons: The Place of Education
What is the value of education? Education prevents deception and clarifies what we should believe and do. Orthodoxy affects orthopraxy. But, are orthodox people like a cement block? Do they become fixed, immovable, merciless, without life? Or, are the orthodox like a healthy body, which can move easily, be flexible, compassionate, alive? Paul uses the latter image in the Pastoral Letters.
Many across the globe are attracted to the awesomeness of the Triune God and the good news. However, they are not always discipled, educated, and helped to mature. Sometimes it is the fault of the new believer. They think they now own a card that they can show God and others: “The bearer of this card will receive grace no matter what they say or do.” Sometimes it is the fault of the evangelist: “I bring them in. God takes care of them from now on.” However, such attitudes make the new believer like a newborn who is cast out into the street to live on its own resources. Sometimes it is the fault of the church: “Just come to services to worship, bring your body, bring your money, take your seat.” The new believers may grow a bit, but they remain infants their whole lives. Sometimes the church does not have enough people to disciple the new believers. They may be busy with other matters or simply disorganized. The Pastoral Letters reiterate the importance of educating people in the truth, even as God had insisted on education in the old covenant. God’s law was regularly to be taught in the home by the adults and in the community by the priests and before the whole assembly by the religious leaders (e.g., Deut 31:12–13a).
9. For a letter that claims to be about truth, ironically some contemporary scholars claim that it was written neither by Paul nor to Titus nor were either of them in Crete: “The Pastoral Epistles practiced their deception with great success and influence for nearly two thousand years” (Marshall 2008: 799).
10. Thirteen of twenty-two NT occurrences, 59 percent. See also 1 Tim 4:8.
11. Twenty-five times vs. nine times by Paul, eight times elsewhere in the NT.
12. Thayer, 18, 20.
13. John 12:25; Matt 25:46; Rom 6:22–23; 2 Cor 2:15.
14. Six of twenty-four NT instances, which comprise 25 percent of the NT references, although Titus is about 0.5 percent of the NT. In fact, ten or 41.6 percent of all NT references of sōtēr occur in the Pastoral Letters.
15. Hanson 1982: 186.
16. Once when Nero entered Rome, for example, he came in Augustus’s chariot wearing a purple robe and a Greek cloak adorned with golden stars with the Olympic crown on his head (Suetonius, 6. Nero 25.1). Gaius Caligula and Nero took their divine status seriously (Alan Richardson, “Salvation, Savior,” IDB 4:177).
17. Gal 2:1–3, which probably refers to the mission described in Acts 11:29–30, but could refer to the one mentioned in Acts 15:2–4.
18. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosphers 1.10.112.
19. Josephus, whose wife was a Jew from Crete, Life 76 [427], mentions Cretan Jews during the time of Herod: J.W. 2.7 [103]; Ant. 17.12 [327].
20. 2 Sam 8:18; 15:18; 20:7, 23; 1 Kgs 1:38, 44.
21. For example, in Paul’s second missionary journey, Timothy joins Paul and Silas at Lystra (Acts 16:1–5), Luke joins them at Troas (Acts 16:8–10), then Luke stays behind to minister in Philippi (Acts 16:12–17; 20:5–6), while Timothy and Silas stay behind to minister in Beroea (Acts 17:14–16; 18:5).
22. Thayer, 152; Hippocrates Off. 16.
23. Matt 24:45–49; 25:21–23; Luke 12:42–44.
24. Luke 12:14; Acts 7:26–27, 35.
25. Matt 21:23; 26:3–4, 47, 57; 27:1, 12; John 9:22; 12:42; 16:2; Acts 4:5–9; 25:15; m. Sanh; Schürer, 1979: 2:431–35; Levine 2000: chap. 5.
26. Acts 13:15; Luke 13:14. Sometimes women were “rulers of the synagogue” and elders (Brooten 1982: chaps. 3, 4; Levine 2000: 482, 486).
27. E.g., Luke 7:2–4; 14:32; 19:14.
28. 2 Cor 5:19–20 katalassō.
29.
