Friday Faithfuls 2 - Titus

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Ok.  I am doing this week and next week out of order because 2 Tim. is Paul's final epistle and I want do do that one last. So it's Titus this week...another letter written to a young pastor with advice on church government, his role, and what to teach.

Today's gotcha is something that made me double take...

To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.  In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.  They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.  - Titus 1:15 - 16a

I had never noticed that seeming contradiction before... those who are corrupted and do not believe...claim to know God.  

Whoa.  I had always kinda stopped the thought at the end of verse 15, as I knew many folks who were unbelievers who had minds that would make jokes of twisting something entirely innocent into something foul.  Literally...everything...was subject to coarse interpretation.  Nothing was pure.  But 'they claim to know God' was not something that applied to these folks.  They were heathen and proud of it.

How does one claim to know God without believing?  It was Jesus who made God personable; the knowledge of God in the OT was limited to a few prophets and leaders who had been specifically anointed. So I don't think Paul was talking about someone who just hadn't made the paradigm shift to Jesus as Messiah, as such a person would likely NOT claim to 'know God'.  Study about him, yes, honor, respect and fear him, yes, but not KNOW him. Such folks are taken aback by the concept that God is know-able, and it was one of the reasons the Jewish leaders of Jesus' day were offended by him.

So who are these people who claim to know God but do not believe?

They have to be people in the church.

And that made me sit back and ponder.  There were fake believers in the church in Paul's day, and they were causing problems.  

I honestly think this is one of the enemy's best tactics...to seed such folks in churches to tarnish the work of the church.  Folks who claim to know God...but teach contrary to the word.  Folks who claim to know God...but are actually working for their own reputation/ agenda.  To these folks, nothing is truly sacred; they don't fear to appropriate the appearance of true faith to reach their goals.  Undermining the teaching of Scripture is nothing to them if it gains them acceptance and accolades amongst their peers or their followers.  Nothing is pure.

But the thing is...God IS know-able.  We CAN pursue him with a pure heart and he WILL reveal himself via Holy Spirit.  Fakery is just that...fake...and eventually it crumbles under its own corruption.