Or, How to Deal with Dumb Arguments and Divisive People
Scripture: Titus 3:9-11
Date: September 15, 2024
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Does it surprise you that God lets people say such foolish things? God lets divisions between people happen. He lets fools have large platforms. He does not stop a lot of proud and perverted people from crazy, even destructive, talk. Where are the lightning bolts, the “random” arrows in the chest (like Ahab, 1 Kings 22:34), flesh-eating worms (like Herod, Acts 12:21-23) or making men into dumb oxen (like Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 4:33)?
Like kids with new flashlights, we learn truth and start shining it all round looking for roaches. We want to correct the errors, or at least shut the mouths of error-making if we can’t get them to quiet down on their own. We have modern day heresy hunters who make their living exposing false teaching. Before podcasts became the rage, we had Christian watchblogs, relentless to condemn the Crisis Du Jour based on a clip of what some other professing Christian said.
I get it. I took out tens of thousands of dollars of student loans to learn how to tell people that they are WRONG. I earned my M.Dis = Master of Disagreement/Disapproval (to be clear, this is not a real degree; it’s tongue-in-cheek). I read Titus 2:15 - “Exhort and rebuke with all authority.” I read Titus 3:8 - “insist on these things.” My preacher’s ears tingle when Martin Luther said that only disloyal soldiers won’t fight at the “little point which the world and the Devil are at that moment attacking.”
But not only is every hill not worth dying on, some hills—according to God’s Word—are worthless, and we should walk away. Wisdom knows when to leave the dog alone (Proverbs 26:17). Doctrine-lovers often engage too long in dumb arguments and we dismiss others too fast, both of which behaviors do not accord with sound doctrine. As usual, there are a thousand ways to do it wrong, and we get help from Titus 3:9-11 to do it less wrong ourselves.
Just as verse 4 began with a contrast, so does verse 9. Titus 3:1-11 is of one piece, giving us good reminders of our responsibilities in public life, and this final section reminds us how not to be foolish. There are motivations for good works, including that they are good/excellent and good/fruitful (verse 8). Not all our behavior, even in the name of truth, does such good.
There are two imperatives in verses 9-11: avoid dumb arguments, and there’s a reason (verse 9), and have nothing to do with divisive people, with a reason (verses 10-11).
The first word in the Greek sentence gets emphasis, pronounced moras, from which English gets “moron.” The command itself doesn’t come until after the list of no-good-things. But foolish sets the tone.
But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. (Titus 3:9)
What are foolish controversies ? They probably include debates about genealogies and certain angles on the law. They might start to touch on some of things that an elder should refute according to Titus 1:10-16. They are debates that, at best, let a fool feel superior. They do not help brace anyone’s behavior in a world of hate.
Genealogies are probably the ones in the Old Testament. They are inspired by God and profitable if they are read in context. But if someone sees the “extra” meaning, the “hidden” meaning, and writes a best-seller—or probably what he boasts would be a best-seller if he could get someone to publish it—how it will change your life, walk away.
Quarrels about the law are in a similar category. Paul wrote elsewhere that “the law is good, if one uses it lawfully” (1 Timothy 1:8); no way was “the circumcision party” (Titus 1:10) having a lawful party. These quarrels were making black and white issues out of the white spaces.
Stop getting involved. Avoid . Steer clear. It’s not just don’t start them, don’t engage in them. Walk away.
The reason is because such a war of words is unprofitable and worthless. Good works in verse 8 were excellent and profitable, and this is the exact opposite. They are no good, they are empty of value.
”But what he said is wrong, and I can, I have to correct them.” Said by more than one kind of fool.
We must keep in our mind that there is a right time to stop trying to change their mind.
As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. (Titus 3:10-11)
As for a person who stirs up division is quite a mouthful for what are two words in the original: “heretic man.” The NASB has “factious man.” The adjective is only used here in the New Testament, hairetikon, where our word “heretic” comes from.
We also have a different definition in mind of a heretic than Paul did writing to Titus around AD 62. We think of it in mostly doctrinal terms, someone who believes/teaches something that is outside of orthodoxy. But in the mid first century, they didn’t even have a complete New Testament, let alone a finished volume of precise apostolic teaching.
But this probably isn’t separate from doctrine either. These divisions come from the foolish things in verse 9. The factious man makes them his brand, he tries to get a following. He upsets entire families (Titus 1:11). In doing so he shows that he is warped /“perverted” (NASB).
Warn him, try to win him. Actually, warn him twice. Then stop interacting with him. Have nothing more to do with him . “Reject a factious man” (NASB).
“Further efforts would not be a good stewardship of his time and energies and would give the offender an undeserved sense of importance.” (Hiebert)
The warning seems to be more formal, as in, coming from Titus, or by application from elders that Titus established in the churches. This isn’t a license for you to stop talking to your crazy uncle after a couple family meetings. For that matter, disagreement doesn’t equal divisiveness.
This instruction about the factious man has been abused. I’ve experienced when an elder is being confronted for his sin, privately and patiently, and he got tired of that confrontation and convinced some fellow elders that those confronting him were being divisive. He used his elders’s authority, and this passage, to protect his own sin. That’s not right, or even the kind of situation Paul is talking about in context.
Divide from the divisive. Ironic, perhaps, but good.
Why does God ordain foolish, factious men? At least according to 1 Corinthians 11:19, it is His way of proving who is genuine. One way to recognize the disingenuous is that he can’t stop trying to prove his point.
God knows. And often, time will tell.
In an age of constant alert we feel we are always fighting for our loves, I mean, lives. We should not ignore everything, but we are foolish to make everything EVERYTHING.
Even with true enemies, according to 2 Timothy 2:22, the Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but trust God to grant repentance, trust that God is attentive. We cannot out-care God. He regularly laughs. So should we. Don’t flame on about everything.
Titus 3:1-11 are good reminders about good works, and about arguments that are fruitless. Adorn the doctrine, don’t wrestle about in the mud of dumb arguments.
Being ready to fight is only as good as the fight is not foolish. Defend the faith, yes! And avoid dumb arguments. Adorn the doctrine! Be ready for every good work! And trust God to deal with the haters, the saboteurs, the division-makers. Don’t let them stop you from doing good.
Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (1 Peter 4:19 ESV)