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. But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

Titus 1:15-16, 2:1

The power of self-deception. As long as someone is “in the church” there is a feeling of safety even when it is a false sense of security. What a dangerous position to occupy. Among the words Paul uses to describe the false teachers in the church is the word “disobedient”.  How is it that someone can disobey the Gospel by what they teach and how they live in response to the salvation provided by Christ?

Near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus delivers some of his most sobering observations:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7: 21-24 ESV).

This is the same kind of contrast that Paul uses in his letter to Titus.  Even though these false teachers were working within the church, they had no part in the Gospel.

There is a contrast between Titus and the false teachers.  They are “unfit for any good work” while Titus is challenged to teach sound doctrine. Let our lives reflect our profession of God.