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At this point the apostle drops the reference to bishops, and lays upon Titus himself the duty of applying the proper remedy.

I. THE UTILITY OF REBUKE. "Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith." The nature of the people demanded sharp treatment. "Sharpness and severity are but the other side of love itself, when the wounds can only be healed by cutting." Ministers are sent to give rebuke (Jeremiah 44:4; Micah 3:8).

1. They may give it privately.

2. Or publicly (1 Timothy 5:20).

3. Fearlessly (Ezekiel 2:3-7).

4. With all authority (Titus 2:15).

5. With long-suffering (2 Timothy 4:2).

6. If sharply, yet with Christian love (2 Thessalonians 3:15).

7. The good receive rebuke

(1) kindly (Psalm 141:5);


(2) with love to those who administer it (Proverbs 9:8; Proverbs 24:25);


(3) they attend to rebuke (Proverbs 15:5).

II. THE DESIGN OF THE REBUKE. "That they may be sound in the faith." It was:

1. That they might be recovered from their errors, and receive sound doctrine, and use sound speech that cannot be condemned.

2. That they may be sound in the grace of faith, and manifest it by departing from their evil works. This soundness of faith is described negatively by their "not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth."

(1) Jewish fables. These are mentioned in 1 Timothy 1:4; 1 Timothy 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:4. They were, no doubt, rabbinical, and ultimately crystallized into the Talmud. Our Lord condemned them (Matthew 15:3). The traditionary principle has, in spite of this warning, spread widely in the Church. We see it in the Latin Church, in the Greek Church, in Islamism. It is, in fact, the ruling principle of all these communities, which have no real love for the Scriptures.

(2) The commandments of men.

(a) They stand in antithesis to the commandments of God (Matthew 15:9; Colossians 2:22).

(b) They evidently were of a ceremonial character, and involved ascetic peculiarities, touching the question of abstinence from meats, and from other things created by God for man's enjoyment.

(c) Their origin was evil, for they sprang from men turning away from the truth. It was not merely Mosaical prohibitions with regard to food that they enforced, but ascetic additions and exaggerations in the spirit of the later Gnosticism. The course of these men was downward. They were departing fast from the gospel. - T.C.

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KJV: This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;

WEB: This testimony is true. For this cause, reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,