Attributed commentary excerpt
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Titus 1:12
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
Tyndale House Publishers · Modern study notes
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
1:12 one of their own men, a prophet from Crete, has said: This quotation is from Epimenides of Knossos, a philosopher who lived on Crete around the 500s BC. • all liars: This charge was directed specifically at the Cretan claim to have Zeus’s tomb on the island. According to Cretan mythology, the god Zeus was once a mere human who lived and died on Crete (his tomb was said to be there) but who had achieved godhood through his patronage (i.e., gifts and benefits) to humans. Some Greek moralists opposed this legend and characterized it as a lie. A quote from Alexandria in the 200s BC reads: “Cretans are always liars. For a tomb, O Lord, Cretans build for you; but you do not die, for you are forever.” One of Crete’s own prophets (Epimenides) had the same assessment, and Paul cites his voice of conscience approvingly (1:13; see Acts 17:28), for the God who does not lie (Titus 1:2) stands in opposition to the lies of such myths. • liars . . . animals . . . gluttons: It was believed that Cretan immorality resulted from their belief about Zeus; religious lies had given rise to moral corruption. Paul later counters these vices by presenting the contrasting virtues (2:12). He calls the Cretans to reach ethical ideals that are extolled in human society generally but were absent on Crete, as bemoaned by their own prophet. They would reach these ideals only through the gospel of Jesus Christ (2:11-14). • lazy gluttons: Cretans were known to do anything for a little cash. They were famous as mercenaries and as insatiate consumers. They reputedly saw no shame in greed (see Phil 3:19). • Paul applies the quotation more directly to the current false teachers than to Cretan culture generally; the false teachers carried on this Cretan tradition of immorality built on falsehood.
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