Kollel Masei
Kollel Masei
Titus chapters 1 & 2
We must always remember the warning of Peter when we start a new Pauline epistle – that false teachers distort Shaul’s words to make it appear he was teaching Torahlessness.
2Pe 3:15 Regard the patience of Adonai as salvation; even as our beloved brother Sha’ul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you; 2Pe 3:16 as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 2Pe 3:17 You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the Torahless, you fall from your own steadfastness. 2Pe 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Adonai and Savior Yeshua the Messiah. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amein.
“Athesmos,” of course, is a greek word that means “lawless,” – to us, “Torahlessness.”
If Shaul had been teaching Torahlessness, that would make him a false prophet, according to Yeshua, as YHWH Incarnate, made quite clear – so we can be sure he did not.
Deu 13:1 If there arise in the midst of you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he give you a sign or a wonder, Deu 13:2 and the sign or the wonder come to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them; Deu 13:3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams: for YHWH your Elohim proves you, to know whether you love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul. Deu 13:4 You shall walk after YHWH your Elohim, and fear him, and keep his mitzvot, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cleave to him. Deu 13:5 That prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which YHWH your Elohim commanded you to walk in. So shall you put away the evil from the midst of you.
That means there is an interpretation of every one of Shaul’s teachings that is consistent with Torah, if we look at the texts from a Hebraic point of view and using clues from Hebrew language. The early church father Jerome stated that all of Shaul’s authentic epistles had originally been written in Hebrew, and that must be our guide for proper understanding of Shaul’s teachings. He was not a false prophet, he taught the Written Torah – much to the chagrin of the Pharisees and their Oral Law, and much to the chagrin of modern pastors and preachers who teach Torahlessness.
Introduction to Titus
When we first meet Titus, we learn in Galatians chapter two that he was a Greek who became a Believer in Yeshua HaMashiach. Paul there asserts that Titus was not compelled to be circumcised immediately, because he, like all other gentile converts, needed to study through and entire Torah cycle before being offered circumcision and the option of participating in Yeshua’s covenant kiddush at Passover. This is in contrast to Timothy, who was born Jewish and whose mother and grandmother had taught him Torah all through his childhood – therefore Timothy was circumcised immediately by Paul because everyone knew he was Jewish and already knew Torah. Titus, a Greek, had to learn to “count the cost,” as Yeshua taught in his parable. He did so, and became an apostle, and traveled with Paul and with other apostles to many places. We can presume that as an Obedient Believer bought and paid for by the blood of Yeshua, when his Torah cycle was finished he became circumcised per the Torah commandment. Paul wrote this letter to Titus while he was teaching in Crete, the same as he had directed Timothy to stay behind elsewhere and establish elders and a hierarchy of authority in the Believer’s community.
Titus, continued:
Tit 1:1 Sha’ul, a servant of Elohim, and an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah, according to the faith of Elohim’s chosen ones, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,
Tit 1:2 in hope of eternal life, which Elohim, who can’t lie, promised before time began;
Tit 1:3 but in his own time revealed his word in the message with which I was entrusted according to the mitzvah of Elohim our Savior;
Tit 1:4 to Titus, my true child according to a common faith: Grace, mercy, and shalom from Elohim the Father and Adonai Yeshua the Messiah our Savior.
Tit 1:5 I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking, and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you;
Tit 1:6 if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior.
Here Paul re-iterates the instructions he also gave to Timothy concerning qualifications for those wishing to have positions of authority.
Titus, continued:
Tit 1:7 For the overseer must be blameless, as Elohim’s steward; not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;
Tit 1:8 but given to hospitality, as a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy, self-controlled;
Tit 1:9 holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him.
Tit 1:10 For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision [of the Pharisees],
Tit 1:11 whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain’s sake.
The Pharisees went around behind Paul and the other apostles telling people they had to keep the Oral Law and be circumcised immediately, according to their traditions and precedents, BEFORE they could fellowship and be part of the House of Israel. This was simply a bid to lure more people into committing to their own sect (and of course give their tithes and donations to them) and follow the Oral Law.
Titus, continued:
Tit 1:12 One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons.”
Tit 1:13 This testimony is true. For this cause, reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,
Tit 1:14 not paying attention to Jewish fables and mitzvot of men who turn away from the truth.
It’s not the charge that the people from Crete are liars, etc. that is true – rather the “testimony is true” that the Pharisees make these claims (and not just about people from Crete, but about all Gentiles of all nations). According to the Oral Law, a gentile’s testimony is worthless in a bet din. It is racism, pure and simple. The “commandments of men” are of course the Oral Law and the fables are the stories (later recorded in the Talmud) of the Rabbis experiencing supernatural events which supposedly “prove” their interpretations are correct. Of course, it’s all made up out of the thin blue air (that or what they really heard were demons!).
Titus, continued:
Tit 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
This refers to the idea of a “fence around the Torah,” which forbids people to look at, touch, or listen to things that are perfectly innocent, just because doing so “might” tempt one to continue on and violate a Torah commandment (or, more often than not, one of their own commandments that they try to pass off as Torah).
Titus, continued:
Tit 1:16 They profess that they know Elohim, but by their works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.
This refers to the idea of “lo bashamayim,” meaning “not in heaven.” It refers to a passage in Deuteronomy.
Deu 30:11 For this mitzvah which I command you this day, it is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. Deu 30:12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? Deu 30:13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? Deu 30:14 But the word is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it. Deu 30:15 Behold, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil; Deu 30:16 in that I command you this day to love YHWH your Elohim, to walk in his ways, and to keep his mitzvot and his statutes and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that YHWH your Elohim may bless you…
The Rabbis teach that the phrase “not in heaven” means that they here on earth are authorized to decide if a law should be obeyed or not. For example, they do not release debts every 7th year as they are commanded to do. Instead, they have made up their own law where they “sell” the debt to a Goy for the sabbath year, and then buy it back. That way, people who owe money are never granted their sabbath year release from debts, as Elohim commanded in his written Torah. They claim the phrase “lo bashamayim” gives them the authority to do this. The authority to make laws is not in heaven, it is theirs, they say. In this way they commit abominations, are disobedient, and unfit to teach others.
Titus, continued:
Tit 2:1 But say the things which fit sound doctrine,
Tit 2:2 that older men should be temperate, sensible, sober minded, sound in faith, in love, and in patience:
Tit 2:3 and that older women likewise be reverent in behavior, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good;
Tit 2:4 that they may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,
Tit 2:5 to be sober minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that Elohim’s word may not be blasphemed.
Again, these are the same things he exhorted Timothy to teach – it is possible he wrote both to Timothy and to Titus at the same time, even on the same day, the wording and the teaching is so nearly the same.
Titus, continued:
Tit 2:6 Likewise, exhort the younger men to be sober minded;
Tit 2:7 in all things showing yourself an example of good works; in your teaching showing integrity, seriousness, incorruptibility,
Tit 2:8 and soundness of speech that can’t be condemned; that he who opposes you may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say about us.
Those “good works” would include supporting himself with honest labor and not being a burden to his congregation, as is taught in many of the Pauline epistles. In this way Titus would be beyond reproach among the community of Crete.
Titus, continued:
Tit 2:9 Exhort servants to be in subjection to their own masters, and to be well-pleasing in all things; not contradicting;
Tit 2:10 not stealing, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of Elohim, our Savior, in all things.
Tit 2:11 For the grace of Elohim has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
Tit 2:12 instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world;
Righteously, as has been shown many times, means in Obedience to Torah.
Deu 6:24 YHWH commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear YHWH our Elohim, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day. Deu 6:25 It shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this mitzvah before YHWH our Elohim, as he has commanded us.
Titus, continued:
Tit 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great Elohim and Savior, Yeshua the Messiah;
Tit 2:14 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
Tit 2:15 Say these things and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no man despise you.
Like Timothy, who was young, Titus had to work harder and be more above reproach, since he was born a Gentile. This would immediately invalidate his testimony in the eyes of many Pharisees, whose Oral Law has many sections which are blatantly racist. Only by being a shining example would Titus be able to overcome the deep-seated reticence of many who were born into the Pharisee sect. But Titus could shine the light of Adonai just as well as any native-born Jew, and we should be able to do the same regardless of our birth.
Next week: Parashat Devarim.
Loading...