The Meaning of Titus 1:10 Explained

Titus 1:10

KJV: For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:

YLT: for there are many both insubordinate, vain-talkers, and mind-deceivers -- especially they of the circumcision --

Darby: For there are many and disorderly vain speakers and deceivers of people's minds, specially those of the circumcision,

ASV: For there are many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision,

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For  there are  many  unruly  and  vain talkers  and  deceivers,  specially  they of  the circumcision: 

What does Titus 1:10 Mean?

Context Summary

Titus 1:10-16 - Reprove Those Whose Works Deny God
The Judaizing teachers, who insisted that men must become Jews before they could be Christians, were always on Paul's heels, visiting his churches and diverting his converts from the simplicity of the faith. Their motive in many cases was very largely self-aggrandizement. Such men were to be resisted to the uttermost and sharply rebuked. Where the work of grace is really commenced in the heart, a sharp rebuke will often turn the soul back to God. The gardener must not hesitate to use a pruning-knife, if the well-being of the tree is at stake.
Note the marvelous power we possess of viewing things in the light or gloom cast upon them from our own temperament. We see life and the world in a glass colored from within. Oh, that we might possess that pure and untarnished nature that passes through the world like a beam of sunshine, irradiating all but contaminated by none! The true test of the knowledge of God is a holy life. These act and react. The better you know God, the more you will resemble Him; compare Psalms 111:1-10; Psalms 112:1-10. The more you are like God, the better you will know Him. [source]

Chapter Summary: Titus 1

1  Paul greets Titus, who was left to finish the work in Crete
6  How those chosen as ministers ought to be qualified
11  The mouths of evil teachers to be stopped;
12  and what manner of men they be

Greek Commentary for Titus 1:10

Vain talkers [ματαιολογοι]
Late and rare compound, empty talkers, in Vett. Val. and here. See note on 1 Timothy 1:6 for ματαιολογια — mataiologia [source]
Deceivers [πρεναπαται]
Late and rare compound, in papyri, eccl. writers, here alone in N.T. “Mind-deceivers.” See note on Galatians 6:3 for πρεναπαταιν — phrenapatāin Specially they of the circumcision (μαλιστα οι εκ της περιτομης — malista hoi ek tēs peritomēs). Same phrase in Acts 11:2; Galatians 2:12; Colossians 4:11. Jews are mentioned in Crete in Acts 2:11. Apparently Jewish Christians of the Pharisaic type tinged with Gnosticism. [source]
Specially they of the circumcision [μαλιστα οι εκ της περιτομης]
Same phrase in Acts 11:2; Galatians 2:12; Colossians 4:11. Jews are mentioned in Crete in Acts 2:11. Apparently Jewish Christians of the Pharisaic type tinged with Gnosticism. [source]
Vain talkers [ματαιολόγοι]
N.T.oolxx, oClass. See on vain jangling, 1 Timothy 1:6. [source]
Deceivers [φρεναπάται]
N.T.oolxx, oClass. See on φρεναπατᾶν todeceive, Galatians 6:3. [source]
They of the circumcision [οἱ ἐκ τῆς περιτομῆς]
The phrase only here in Pastorals. Ὁι ἐκ περιτομῆς Acts 10:45; Acts 11:2; Romans 4:12; Galatians 2:12; Colossians 4:11. There can be no doubt of the presence of Jews in Crete. Tacitus (Hist. v. 2) even makes the absurd statement that the Jews were Cretan exiles; and that from their residence in the vicinity of the Cretan Mount Ida they were called Idaei, whence Judaei. There appears to have been some confusion between the Palestinians and the Philistines - the Cherethim or Cherethites, who, in Ezekiel 25:16; Zephaniah 2:5are called in lxx Κρῆτες Jews were in the island in considerable numbers between the death of Alexander and the final destruction of Jerusalem. In 1 Maccabees 15:23 the Cretan city of Gortyna is mentioned among the places to which letters were written by Lucius, the Roman consul, on behalf of the Jews when Simon Maccabaeus renewed the treaty which his brother Judas had made with Rome. Josephus (Ant. 17:12,1; Bell. Jud. 2:7,1) says that Herod's pseudo-son Alexander imposed on the Cretan Jews on his way to Italy. Philo (Leg. ad Cai. § 36) makes the Jewish envoys say to Caligula that all the principal islands of the Mediterranean, including Crete, were full of Jews. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Titus 1:10

Galatians 6:3 Deceiveth [φρεναπατᾷ]
N.T.oolxx, oClass. See the noun φεναπάτης deceiver Titus 1:10. Denoting subjective deception; deception of the judgment. The simple ἀπατᾶν to deceive, Ephesians 5:6; 1 Timothy 2:14; James 1:26, and often in lxx. Lightfoot thinks the compound verb may possibly have been coined by Paul. [source]
1 Timothy 1:9 Unruly [ανυποτακτοις]
Dative (like all these words) of the late verbal In N.T. only here, Titus 1:6, Titus 1:10; Hebrews 2:8. Ungodly (ασεβεσι — asebesi). See Romans 4:5; Romans 5:6. Sinners See Romans 3:7. Unholy (ανοσιοις — anosiois). Common word (α — a privative and οσιος — hosios In N.T. only here and 2 Timothy 3:2. Profane Old word from βαινω — bainō to go, and βηλος — bēlos threshold. See Hebrews 12:16. Murderers of fathers (πατρολωιαις — patrolōiais). Late form for common Attic πατραλωιαις — patralōiais (from πατηρ — patēr father, and αλοιαω — aloiaō to smite) only here in N.T. Murderers of mothers Late form Attic μητραλωιαις — mētralōiais Only here in N.T. Manslayers (ανδραπονοις — andraphonois). Old compound (ανηρ — anēr man, πονος — phonos murder). Only here in N.T. [source]
Titus 1:6 That believe [πιστα]
Added to what is in 1 Timothy 3:4. “Believing children.” Not accused of riot (μη εν κατηγοριαι ασωτιας — mē en katēgoriāi asōtias). See note on 1 Timothy 5:19 for κατηγορια — katēgoria and Ephesians 5:18 for ασωτια — asōtia “Not in accusation of profligacy.” Unruly See note on 1 Timothy 1:9. Public disorder, out of doors. See also Titus 1:10. [source]
Titus 1:6 Unruly [ανυποτακτα]
See note on 1 Timothy 1:9. Public disorder, out of doors. See also Titus 1:10. [source]
Titus 1:12 One of themselves [τις ἐξ αὐτῶν]
Ἁυτῶν refers to the gainsayers, Titus 1:9, Titus 1:10. Τις refers to Epimenides, contemporary with Solon, and born in Crete b.c. 659. A legend relates that, going by his father's order in search of a sheep, he lay down in a cave, where he fell asleep and slept for fifty years. He then appeared with long hair and a flowing beard, and with an astonishing knowledge of medicine and natural history. It was said that he had the power of sending his soul out of his body and recalling it at pleasure, and that he had familiar intercourse with the gods and possessed the power of prophecy. He was sent for to Athens at the request of the inhabitants, in order to pave the way for the legislation of Solon by purifications and propitiatory sacrifices, intended to allay the feuds and party discussions which prevailed in the city. In return for his services he refused the Athenians' offers of wealth and public honors, and asked only a branch of the sacred olive, and a decree of perpetual friendship between Athens and his native city. He is said to have lived to the age of 157 years, and divine honors were paid him by the Cretans after his death. He composed a Theogony, and poems concerning religious mysteries. He wrote also a poem on the Argonautic Expedition, and other works. Jerome mentions his treatise On Oracles and Responses, from which the quotation in this verse is supposed to have been taken. According to Diogenes Laertius (i. 10) Epimenides, in order to remove a pestilence from Athens, turned some sheep loose at the Areopagus, and wherever they lay down sacrificed to the proper God: whence, he says, there are still to be found, in different demes of the Athenians, anonymous altars. Comp. Acts 17:22, Acts 17:23. [source]
Titus 1:14 Commandments of men [ἐντολαῖς ἀνθρώπων]
See on 1 Timothy 6:14. Comp. Colossians 2:22. Prescriptions concerning abstinence from meats, marriage, etc. The men are probably those of the circumcision, Titus 1:10. What they teach theoretically, by means of the myths, they bring to bear practically, by means of their precepts. [source]

What do the individual words in Titus 1:10 mean?

There are for many also insubordinate empty talkers and deceivers especially those of the circumcision
Εἰσὶν γὰρ πολλοὶ ‹καὶ› ἀνυπότακτοι ματαιολόγοι καὶ φρεναπάται μάλιστα οἱ ἐκ τῆς περιτομῆς

Εἰσὶν  There  are 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.
πολλοὶ  many 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: πολύς  
Sense: many, much, large.
‹καὶ›  also 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: καί  
Sense: and, also, even, indeed, but.
ἀνυπότακτοι  insubordinate 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: ἀνυπότακτος  
Sense: not made subject, unsubjected.
ματαιολόγοι  empty  talkers 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: ματαιολόγος  
Sense: an idle talker, one who utters empty senseless things.
φρεναπάται  deceivers 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: φρεναπάτης  
Sense: a mind deceiver, a seducer.
μάλιστα  especially 
Parse: Adverb
Root: μάλιστα  
Sense: especially, chiefly, most of all, above all.
οἱ  those 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
περιτομῆς  circumcision 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: περιτομή  
Sense: circumcised.