Chuck Larsen

God has given us all things for our enjoyment, and Paul reminds Timothy, “Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.” (1 Timothy 4:4) That is a wonderful verse to quote when enjoying dessert—or even a second helping of it. Yet, there have always been those who try to make us feel guilty for enjoying God’s blessings. The false teachers in Galatia did just that, adding restrictions and rules to the Gospel, turning joy into judgment. Their favorite tool was guilt. It is a subtle weapon that works well on sincere people, and it robs believers of the freedom that Christ purchased. They condemn others for smiling too easily, laughing too loudly, or living too freely in grace. But when guilt becomes a form of manipulation, it ceases to be spiritual and becomes toxic. The Gospel is not a system of control but a proclamation of liberation.

Still, we all know something about guilt. David, the man after God’s own heart, felt it deeply and often. Guilt, when used rightly, can lead to confession and renewal. As long as we live in close fellowship with God, our consciences act like spiritual smoke alarms—they may be loud and irritating, but they keep us from burning down the house. John writes, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) James adds another layer, saying that true healing can come from confession not only to God but to one another. “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16) It is remarkable how much lighter life feels when we stop pretending and start confessing. Guilt that leads to confession is a gift; guilt that leads to despair is not. The difference lies in who is holding the gavel—God or man.

False teachers love to point fingers; Jesus loves to wash feet. The law reveals our sin, but only Christ removes it. Hebrews says, “How much more will the blood of Christ…purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:14) Christ’s blood does what no sacrifice, no ritual, no self-punishment could ever do—it cleanses completely. God does not condemn the sinner who comes to Him; He forgives, restores, and renews. His kindness, not His condemnation, draws us back. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,” the writer of Hebrews says, “with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.” (Hebrews 10:22) That is guilt-free grace—the freedom to live forgiven, laugh redeemed, and enjoy everything God has made with thanksgiving.

Paul instructs us not to let myths and the traditions and rituals of others distract our attention from the central truth of the Gospel. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that makes all the difference in our lives. It is believing in Christ that sets us free, and it is abiding in that truth that keeps us free. After telling Titus to rebuke those who might add to, or take away from, the Gospel, he tells them not to be distracted either from this central purpose of God’s revelation. Do not turn your attention from God’s Word to the myths, stories, and practices of others at the expense of focusing on God’s Word. Living a life of true freedom depends on abiding in God’s word. Our focus must be undiluted by laws, undistracted by myths, and unblurred by tradition. He then talks about those whose attention is singular on Christ. He says, “To the pure, all things are pure; but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” That is Paul’s way of saying, “If your windshield is clean, the view is clean. If the windshield is mud, everything looks muddy.” And yes, some people cannot see a sunset without thinking someone is hiding a conspiracy behind the clouds.

There is confusion and corruption whenever something is added to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But to those who take the step of complete trust and faith in Christ, unadulterated by any works, have certainty and peace about their status and destiny. John intends for all believers to have this certainty when he says, “I have written these things to you who believe in the Son of God so that you will know you have eternal life.” It is only when the complete requirements of salvation have been met that there is purity of faith. Jesus is the one, and the only one, who can meet that standard. When we insist on adding some ritual or practice to the saving grace of the Gospel, we open the door to confusion and corruption. That is the theological version of writing a simple recipe, then letting your neighbor add three ingredients, your cousin add two more, and eventually you are so far from the original that you do not know if you are baking bread or making automotive sealant.

Things that keep us from acceptability with God are the things deemed unclean. To the believer in Jesus, Paul said, “I am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself” (Romans 14:14). Abstaining from this, or performing that, or practicing the other will neither cleanse a lost sinner nor make them acceptable to God. All external practices avail nothing for salvation. Those who live the most ascetic lives or those who live the friendliest lives are still defiled and will remain so until Jesus Christ becomes their savior. God did not send His Son to die and pay the penalty for our sins to become one of many ways to heaven. The way into Heaven is through Jesus, the door. “No one comes unto the Father but by me.” Anyone who claims he can know God apart from Jesus is, according to this statement, a false teacher making a false profession. There are many who attempt to convince us that the things that God has given to us for our enjoyment are sinful. They are wrong. Paul tells Timothy, “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.” First Timothy 4:4

As Paul concludes Chapter 1 of his letter to Titus, he gives his young partner in ministry a task that could wear out a seasoned ranch hand: keep the new believers from being herded onto every spiritual hobby horse that trots through town. Paul explains that Titus must help the church remain focused on the liberating truth of Jesus Christ, resisting the rituals, practices, and fanciful stories promoted by false teachers. These individuals did not merely tell long-winded tales; they distracted believers from the central message of the Gospel. Paul urges Titus to rebuke those who misplace their focus so that they might return to what is true. Yet he acknowledges that some listeners have already saddled up and galloped down the wrong path, rejecting apostolic authority and the Scriptures. Therefore, Titus is to concentrate on those who might still be rescued from error, warning them not to “devote themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth” (Titus 1:14). In modern terms, Paul might have said, “Do not let some guy with a microphone and a clever anecdote turn your attention from Christ to his hobby horse.” I have met many such riders. They are loud, fast, and occasionally need to dismount for their own safety.

Paul’s warning echoes Isaiah’s condemnation of Israel’s religious leaders who distorted truth for their own gain: “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote” (Isaiah 29:13). That same drift happened in Galatia and has taken root in countless churches throughout history. We face that danger in every generation. Error behaves like weeds in a garden—sprouting quickly, thriving aggressively, and showing a talent for growing precisely where you planted tomatoes. Freshly planted faith is especially inviting. That is why Paul wanted Titus to cultivate discernment among believers before the weeds took over the garden.

Jesus brings this entire subject into focus by declaring that truth is not merely a concept but a person. He says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32), and He identifies this truth with His own Word, explaining that a true disciple “abides” in it. Many Christians still feel anything but free, weighed down by guilt, fear, and memories of teachings that bent them rather than blessed them. I know that struggle well. Yet Christ insists that freedom grows where His truth is learned, trusted, and kept central. When we drift from it, we drift back into slavery. Scripture teaches us what matters, what is right, and where we should commit our lives. Paul’s final word to Titus captures it succinctly: “Avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless” (Titus 3:9). Christ is the center. Everything else is yard clutter.

I remember reading about a Japanese businessman who was explaining the overall success of the Japanese automobile producers that had overtaken the American producers in both the number and quality of their products. He explained their factory employees’ diligence and hard work and contrasted it with the “fat and lazy” workers in the American plants. Of course, this drew incredible controversy, forcing him to apologize for such comments later. His apology was insincere. He said, “I did not mean to say that all Americans are fat and lazy. Some are Fat, and some are Lazy.” I nearly choked on my coffee when I read that line. That apology was not meant to mend fences, it was meant to pour a concrete footer under the fence and install a wrought iron gate. Ted Turner issued a similar apology around the same time for saying, “Christianity is a religion for losers.” The insincerity of his sarcastic apology is noteworthy. He said, “I really, from the very bottom of my heart, want to apologize for statements I made about Christianity. I did it mainly out of frustration. At one time or another, I have offended almost every group. I am sure I will be apologizing again.” That is a Hallmark card you cannot find anywhere. Apologies wrapped in air quotes are still just air quotes.

Trobriand Islanders, who live at a minimal subsistence level, nevertheless have little interest in or respect for other people and nations. Their word for an outsider is dim-dim, someone of little consequence. They consider outsiders as lower beings. This is nothing new. Wherever explorers found Indians in America, each band considered itself “the people” or “human beings” and the next Indian tribe up or downriver as barbarians and something less than human. That is the ancient version of “my group chat is correct, and your group chat is full of idiots.” Every race was certain that the other race had been dropped on their collective heads at birth.

This base racial prejudice is the same attitude that was displayed by the party of the circumcision that Paul was describing to Titus. This party was attempting to drive a racial wedge between the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers on Crete. They said, “All Cretans are liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons.” Paul refers to them as “teaching what they should not be teaching.” Each nationality, each race, has its origin in the sons of Noah. We are all related and of equal value. God loved each ethos, each fragment of the human race, so much that he gave his Son to die for it. Jesus died for each of the persons in every ethos. Christianity magnifies the individual as the object of God’s love. That individual is then added to other individuals to create a church, the body of Christ. Paul told the Colossians, “There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:11

Paul gives Titus some characteristics to help him identify false teachers in verse 10 of chapter 1 and then opens verse 11 with a severe challenge. He says, “It’s necessary to silence them.” Jesus once said that it was “necessary” for Him to go to Jerusalem and die on the cross for the sins of all mankind. That Greek word is the same one used by Paul regarding muzzling the dangerous dogs who bring false teachings to God’s people. As it was necessary for Christ to die for salvation to come to mankind, it is also necessary to silence the lies that might prevent true salvation from coming to individuals. To believe in the doctrines of the false teachers that add something or take something away from the gospel message of Jesus Christ is to be distracted by a wrong answer that will cause some to fail the test. The Gospel of Jesus is a simple message of salvation by grace through faith alone.

The issue that Paul is addressing and that the early church addressed as a whole is whether certain aspects of the Old Testament were essential ingredients for salvation along with faith in Jesus Christ. The issue is still very relevant today. Many churches attempt to promote a specific teaching by attaching it to the condition of “faith” expressed in the Gospel. You must believe and be baptized. You must believe and stop committing a specific sin. You must believe and etc., etc… But the simplicity of the Gospel was given clearly to the Philippian jailor who fell on his knees and cried out with the question, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”

John Piper quotes Romans 4:4-5, saying, “To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” He then writes, “For ‘the ungodly’—who know that they are riding the Titanic to destruction—the best news in all the world is the news that God will, by faith alone, count them as righteous because of Christ. This is the great ground of joy in the word of the cross: Justification is by grace alone (not mixed with our merit), through faith alone (not mixed with our works), on the basis of Christ alone (not mingling his righteousness with ours), to the glory of God alone (not ours).” Anyone who twists the scriptures to add another essential to the Good News of Jesus Christ must be silenced. There was much opposition to the message of faith alone proclaimed by the Apostles. Paul was regularly attacked for his presentation of the Gospel. But he said, ““For I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God leading to salvation for the Jew first and also for the gentile. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

Paul instructs Titus on the importance of silencing those false teachers who attempt to add some religious or cultural ritual, rite, or practice to the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. The specific legalists that Paul is addressing are referred to as the “party of the circumcision.” They are called a party because they cut themselves off from others without their particular characteristics. It could be anything. It could be baptism as the deed added to salvation by grace through faith in Jesus. It could be attending services on Saturday instead of Sunday, or just Church attendance as a whole could be promoted as an additional requirement for salvation. The problem is that whenever something else is added to the essential ingredient of salvation, you have divisions, or parties, in the church. They are, in and of themselves, very divisive in nature. That is why Paul tells Titus that it is extremely important to silence them because they destroy “whole households.” A church divided over the exact hour the service should start is very likely to schedule the potluck later just so the other side will starve.

There is always division when anything is added to the message of salvation by grace through faith. The division has its essence in the issue that is added to faith. You see, the very essence of legalism is putting confidence or faith in a religious activity rather than putting faith or confidence in God. It trusts a practice rather than a person. Practices focus on our abilities and understandings rather than focusing on our Savior. Whenever that is done, the practice becomes the focal point of our relationships rather than the person of our Lord and Savior. We love the practice more than the person. Or we trust the leader’s ideas and interpretations rather than trusting God’s Word. Jesus alone is to be the central focus of our confidence and faith. He is the one who purchased it for us and the only true savior. False teachers always present different ideas, fresh thoughts, and alternative methods, but none of them can save us. Legalists often have clever slogans and matching T shirts. They cannot fix your guilt any more than your gym membership can guarantee you a six pack.

Two construction workers once fell into a deep pit. One said to the other, “Save me from this wretched place. Please get me out of the dirt and mud.” The other replied, “You idiot, how can I? I am in the same plight as you.” Since they were both in the pit, neither one could help the other. Then they heard a voice from above calling to them to grasp a rope. A third worker had not fallen into the pit, so he was the only one who could save them. He brought help from above. The very best man among the prophets could not save us from the pit of sin because he, too, was a sinner just as we are. He landed in the same pit we did. But Jesus was God and thus was not sinful. He came from above to save us from the horrible mess we are in. Like the two workmen, we cannot save ourselves. Only Jesus Christ can save us. Paul says, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” Philippians 2:10 through 11.