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Titus 1:10-13

(10) For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, (11) whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain. (12) One of them, a prophet of their own, said, 'Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.' (13) This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,
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Paul laid it on the line, did he not? Of course, we must remember that this was a letter to an individual, Titus, meaning that this was private correspondence—but it could not have been all that private because it has survived almost 2,000 years! Yet, knowing what we do of the apostle Paul, it is doubtful that he would have pulled his punches much had he given this directly to the Cretans in a sermon. Perhaps he would have used more tact, but he would have certainly delivered his stinging message without apology. Paul is instructing Titus that the members of his congregation will be tough folk to teach. To "set in order the things that are lacking," a certain amount of bluntness would be needed.

Paul commands in Titus 3:2, "speak evil of no one," yet he says some seemingly harsh things about the Cretans. Is this a contradiction? How can we balance his words with this instruction? First, the Greek word translated as "evil" is blasphemeo (Strong's #987). Its relationship to the English "blaspheme" is easily seen, and that is indeed what it means, "to blaspheme," "to be profane, foul, abusive, and coarse." Was what Paul said any of these?

Second, it seems that the Cretans had quite a reputation as immoral people. The "prophet" Paul quotes in Titus 1:12 was Epimenides, a Cretan writer who died in 538 BC. In a poem of his, well known in the ancient world, he writes that his countrymen are "always liars, evil beasts and idle bellies [gluttons]." From this comes the Epimenides Paradox: Epimenides said all Cretans were liars, and Epimenides was a Cretan. If all Cretans are liars, then is his statement true or false? It is an interesting exercise, to be sure. Nevertheless, "to act like a Cretan" in the ancient world meant "to lie."

The Roman historian Titus Livius speaks of Cretan "avarice." The Greek historian Polybius writes of their "ferocity and fraud" and "their mendacity"—which could be called second-century BC political correctness. "Ferocity and fraud" and "mendacity" simply mean that Polybius thought Cretans were fierce, lying cheats. Another Greek historian, Diodorus Siculus, writes that the Cretans tend to "riotous insubordination." In Halley's Bible Handbook, Henry Halley comments that they were "bold sailors and great bowmen with loose morals."

This is what Titus is up against and why Paul is so blunt in his assessment of the situation. Paul was not speaking evil of them; he was being truthful. He in no way blasphemed them. When he quotes the writings of Epimenides, calling the Cretans "lazy" and "liars," he could have softened his rhetoric to "motivationally dispossessed" and "accuracy challenged," but would that have served Titus as well? Or us?

Paul's instructions to Titus are still very relevant today. We have been called out of a world not unlike that of ancient Crete, and we are in daily contact with similar immoral and ungodly people whose actions and attitudes can infect us if we let down our guard. Following the same advice Paul gave Titus can help us maintain our vigilance and "set in order the things that are lacking."

— Mike Ford

To learn more, see:
Paul's 'Politically Incorrect' Advice to Titus (Part One)