Dd-91. WHO is the HERETIC in Titus 3:4-11? DOWNLOAD to SAVE as a PDF Doc to read OFFLINE. Dd-61. WHO is the HERETIC in Titus 3:4-11? In other words, the Apostle Paul is defining a certain specific group of Christians as being HERETICS in this passage of Scripture found in Titus 3:4-11. So WHO is Paul defining as being a heretic? In other words, which group of Christians are the HERETICS? For you see, there is a CONTROVERSY between two different groups of Christians all the way through the New Testament from the Book of Acts to the end of the Book of Revelation. Sometimes they are the same two groups of Christians, but the controversy is over a different doctrine that is not what Paul teaches. While at other times there is a different group of Christians who teaching another gospel or doctrine that is NOT the gospel that Paul preaches. Let us go ahead and read these verses of Scripture in Titus 3:4-11 without any emphasis or comments and see if you can see WHO is being referred to as being a heretic. Which group of Christians do you see being called HERETICS?
Titus 3:4-11.
“But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6. Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; 7. That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8. This is a faithful saying, and these things I pray that you affirm constantly, that they who have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable for men. 9. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. 10. A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; 11. Knowing that he, that is such, is subverted, and sins, being condemned of himself.” Did you see WHO is being referred to as being a HERETIC? If not, read this passage of Scripture again with some emphasis, highlighting, and comments added that explain what these verses are actually saying.
Here is Titus 3:4-11 again with emphasis and comments.
“But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6. Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; 7. That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs, according to the hope of eternal life. 8. This is a faithful saying, and these things I pray that you affirm constantly, that they who have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. (This is NOT speaking about keeping the Law of Moses contained in ordinances. Why would we maintain what Jesus ABOLISHED? But rather, this is speaking of doing good works of righteousness being led by the Holy Spirit. For you see, the Holy Spirit would never lead us to keep what Jesus ABOLISHED on the cross. We are saved to do good WORKS or good DEEDS by walking in LOVE) These things are good and profitable unto men. 9. BUT AVOID foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; (Of Moses) for they are unprofitable and VAIN. (In other words, AVOID questions about keeping the weekly Sabbath day, the feast days and the dietary laws, which are SHADOWS that Jesus FULFILLED and nailed to the cross and took them out of the way, according to the Apostle Paul in Colossians 2:13-17. Being unprofitable and VAIN means that those who believe and follow another gospel that Paul does NOT preach will not BENEFIT them. In fact, following another gospel of keeping the Law of Moses will cause those Christians to fall from grace. And thus, they are in danger of not receiving eternal life to rule and reign WITH Jesus during the world to come unless they REPENT and come back the the TRUTH of the Gospel) 10. A man that is an heretic (Speaking about the Christians striving about the Law of Moses being BINDING on Christians) after the first and second admonition reject; 11. Knowing that he, that is such. (He WHO that is SUCH? Who is HOW? He who is asking the QUESTIONS about the Law of Moses and CONTENDING that Christians must keep all the Law of Moses! It is he who) is SUBVERTED, and SINS, being condemned of himself.”
Please notice WHO is being called a HERETIC in this passage of Scripture. The HERETICS are those who are ASKING the QUESTIONS and contending with other Christians concerning keeping the Law of Moses. In other words, it is the seventh DAY of the week Sabbath-keeping Christians who are the HERETICS. And verse 11 says that they are not only SUBVERTED but they are also living in SIN by keeping what Jesus ABOLISHED on the cross. The word “subvert” means to pervert and to turn away from the truth. And the subject being discussed that is NOT profitable and VAIN is the keeping of the LAW. Let us go ahead and read verse 9 again with the comments.
Titus 3:9.
“BUT AVOID foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; (Of Moses) for they are unprofitable and VAIN.”
In other words, AVOID questions about keeping the weekly Sabbath day, the feast days, and the dietary laws, which are SHADOWS that Jesus FULFILLED and nailed to the cross and took them out of the way, according to the Apostle Paul in Colossians 2:13-17. WHY? Why is Paul teaching us to AVOID Christian who contend or assert their positions about the LAW? Let us read the very next two verses of Scripture to learn the answer to this question.
Titus 3:10,11.
“A man that is an heretic (Speaking about the Christians striving about the Law of Moses being BINDING on Christians. The article “A” is not in the original Greek text, but rather, it was added by the translator. So the article could just as easily be translated as THAT man or THAT person is a HERETIC. So then,) after the first and second admonition REJECT; (So then, to AVOID in this context does not mean to completely avoid, as in, never speak a word to those who are HERETICS. But rather, it means that after doing your best to correct their errors of interpreting the Scriptures and they continue to compel you to keep the Law of Moses, then REJECT what they are wrongly TEACHING. We are never to reject a fellow brother or sister in our Lord Jesus Christ. But rather, we are to reject the ERRORS of false doctrines, the misses or missing the mark of what God called us to do, the sins to NOT make the same ERRORS that heretics make, the same misses, or the same SINS. In other words, KNOWING that they are HERETICS would you JOIN them to become a HERETIC yourself? That is what Paul is saying in the next verse) 11. Knowing that he, that is such. (He WHO that is SUCH? Who is HOW SUCH? It is the “he” or the person who is asking the QUESTIONS about the Law of Moses and CONTENDING that Christians must keep all the Law of Moses who is the HERETIC! It is he, that is SUCH, who is the HERETIC that) is SUBVERTED, and SINS, being condemned of himself.”
So then, WHAT is the heretic SUBVERTED to? Is it the KEEPING of the Law of Moses that SOME Christians are SUBVERTED to keep? Or is it the Christians that are SUBVERTED to NOT keep the Law of Moses who are the heretics? To me, the very CONTEXT gives us the obvious answer that the heretics are the Christians compelling other Christians to KEEP the Law of Moses. But let us COMPARE Scripture with Scripture and do a word search on the word “SUBVERTED” in the New Testament.
Please read Acts 15:24.
“Forasmuch as we have heard, that CERTAIN (Brethren in Jesus Christ converted from the sect of Pharisees, according to the CONTEXT in Acts 15:1,5) which went out from us have TROUBLED you with words, SUBVERTING your souls, saying, You must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom WE gave no such commandment:?”
So then, again we can clearly see that the Christians who are called HERETICS in Titus 3:9-11 are the Christians that are SUBVERTING other Christians to KEEP the Law of Moses. And Paul says that those Christians doing their subverting and their COMPELLING other Christians to KEEP the Law of Moses are SINNING by their keeping the Law of Moses and teaching other Christians to keep the Law of Moses. Let us read Titus 3:11 again so that you can see the KEEPING the Law of Moses contained in ORDINANCES that Jesus abolished on the cross is a SIN. Here is Titus 3:11 with emphasis and comments.
Titus 3:11.
“11. Knowing that he, that is such. (He WHO that is SUCH? Who is HOW SUCH? It is the “he” or the person who is asking the QUESTIONS about the Law of Moses and CONTENDING that Christians must keep all the Law of Moses who is the HERETIC! It is he, that is SUCH, who is the HERETIC that) is SUBVERTED, and SINS, being condemned of himself.”
Paul exhorts Christians to stand fast in our LIBERTY to NOT be tangled or snared by the YOKE of BONDAGE saying that this PERSUASION to be circumcised in the flesh and to KEEP the Law of Moses is NOT from God who has called you by the TRUTH of the gospel.
Please read Galatians 5:1-8.
“Stand fast, therefore, in the LIBERTY wherewith Christ hath made us FREE, and be NOT entangled again with the YOKE of BONDAGE. (Speaking of the SAME yoke of bondage in Acts 15:10 that none of the Jewish fathers or the Jews converted to Christianity were able to BEAR. Peter WARNS the Judaizing Christians that they are TEMPTING Almighty God by SUBVERTING and COMPELLING other Christians to KEEP the Law of Moses!) 2. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if you are circumcised, Christ shall profit you NOTHING. (This is a WARNING for ALL Christians to NOT keep the Law of Moses! And if you do, then according to verse 4, you are FALLEN from grace and your faith in Jesus is in VAIN, Christ profits you NOTHING) 3. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a DEBTOR to do the whole law. 4. Christ has become of no EFFECT unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the LAW; you have FALLEN from grace. 5. For WE (Who stand fast in our LIBERTY in Jesus) through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6. For (Or BECAUSE) in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which works by love. (And according to, if we walk in LOVE we are keeping all of the law that God REQUIRES us to keep under the NEW Covenant written in the New Testament) 7. You did run well; who did HINDER you that you should NOT obey the TRUTH? 8. This PERSUASION (To be circumcised in the flesh and to KEEP the Law of Moses after believing in Jesus as your Lord and Savior) comes NOT of him that calleth you.”
So I implore all seventh DAY of the week Sabbath-KEEPING Christians to REPENT and OBEY the TRUTH of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thanks for reading and may God bless you richly as you continue to read ALL the studies that I gave links to throughout this study concerning this subject on Sabbath TRUTH. My heartfelt prayer is that all Christians RETURN to the TRUE FOUNDATION of the church that is taught by the very Apostles of Jesus in the first century. So let us all come into the UNITY of the faith and return to what Jesus and his Apostles taught us in SIMPLICITY in the New Testament.
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If you have any questions, please feel free to write to me. My contact email is MarkatAMatterOfTruth@Gmail .com. Some Sabbath-keeping Christians CLAIM that the early church kept the Sabbath as the Jews, but I assure you that the early first-century church was accustomed to gathering together BEFORE the light of daybreak on the FIRST day of the week that THEY called the Lord's day. Please read all the studies linked within this study and all the studies linked below. This study was just the TIP of the iceberg of exposing the ERRORS of interpretation made by the Saturday seventh day of the week Sabbath-keeping churches, and the Sunday first day of the week Sabbath-keeping Christians. All of the studies listed under the subject heading >>>Dd-0. What is the TRUE Sabbath?<<< And also read Dd-20. Did The Early Church KEEP the Sabbath day to learn the truth of what the early church believed. Thanks again for reading and may God bless you richly as you continue to seek the truth of the whole word of Almighty God.
Your Brother in our Lord Jesus Christ, Brother Mark.
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