Chaos in Crete
Robert Wurtz II
One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. (Titus 1:12–16 ESV)
Paul left Titus in Crete to set in order the things that were lacking and to appoint elders in every city (Titus 1:5). This suggests that the chaos in Crete was caused primarily by a lack of leadership. They had completely departed from true Christianity and what God intended when He designed a local church. He reminded Titus that Jesus died to redeem us from all iniquity and purify to Himself a peculiar people who were zealous for good works (Titus 2:14).
Whether it be Jewish myths or individuals’ own personal convictions, the Cretans were always practicing and teaching things that turned believers away from the truth. Undoubtedly, many of these myths and convictions made sense to people. That’s why they practiced them. The trouble arose when these things turned people away from the truth and will of God.
Cretans are Liars
Paul quotes one of the most shocking generalizations in print when he writes, “One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’” This quote comes from the Cretan poet Epimenides and is known as the Epimenides Paradox. Was Epimenides lying when he made this statement (since he was a Cretan, too)? Paul says, No. This testimony is true. They are always liars, evil wild animals, and idle gluttons. This is an insightful and revealing description of these very difficult people.
Presumably, because they are frequently idle, they had a lot of time on their hands to dream up all kinds of problems and solutions. An idle person is often distrustful and suspicious. They worry about things that people who work “9-5” never think about. Their thoughts are dominated by impurity (or impurity-related behavior) until their mind and conscience are defiled. In time, they don’t trust anyone. They obsess about imaginary problems until everything and everyone around them is impacted.
Moreover, they consistently assume the worst about people and situations, even twisting the truth to fabricate excuses to avoid work. Like the widows in 1 Timothy, “They learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.” (1 Timothy 5:13 ESV)
Pretenders and Deceivers
Some of the Cretans were master deceivers who successfully duped almost everyone around them. When Paul addressed those who faked expertise by invoking Jewish myths, he was calling out a timeless vulnerability: people are easily captivated by novel teachings or by rarely discussed historical details. They operate like modern audiences who blindly accept anyone as an expert the moment they display artifacts like a prayer shawl (tallit) or phylacteries (tefillin). While these items are not inherently bad, false teachers often weaponize them as props to manufacture authority—the exact tactic used by the Cretan deceivers.
Paul’s remedy was strong: rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. Our Greek word for “sharply” is apotomos, and it means “severely”. Not to destroy the person, but to correct them for edification. A simple slap on the wrist will not faze these people. Their lying, evil, gluttony, and laziness must be dealt with sharply that they may be sound in the faith.
Denying Christ
We find another disturbing revelation when we read, “They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.” Their words and their actions do not match. I’m reminded of the passage, “They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.” (John 8:39 NKJV) This is the key thing. Everything produces after its own kind. A child of God will emulate God’s personality, just as children of Abraham should have emulated him. In other words, they would have believed God. Being liars, they deceive themselves into believing that if they say something often enough and to the right people, then it will somehow become true. Not so.
So far we have people who profess to know God, but in works they deny him. Just like a person who claims to be a Christian and will not provide for his own family, these people were denying the faith by the sins of omission and commission. In fact, Paul goes on to pour out even more disturbing facts when he continues, “They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.” These people were apparently operating in the church! The final phrase “unfit for any good work” is from the Greek word adokimos and is generally translated as reprobate. These people professed to know God but were in a state of present reprobation. At the very least, they were unfit for the ministry.
Confronting the Chaos
Paul instructs Titus to directly confront these deceivers and challenge their destructive habits. The first line of defense against their behavior is honest work: they need to find meaningful employment or engage in productive labor. Working from home is fine, provided it is actually productive. Idle minds and idle hands naturally drift toward corruption.
While faithful believers in Crete were laboring honestly, these false teachers were effectively destroying the church from within. Every effort they made was bent on tearing down rather than building up. Though they professed to know God, His assessment of them was uncompromising: He called them “detestable and disobedient.” The Greek word for detestable carries the weight of an “abomination” in the Septuagint (LXX)—a sobering, severe estimate of their spiritual state that reminds us why such behavior must be confronted today.