Titus 1:15-16 NLT

[15] Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted. [16] Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.

            Paul had just described the false teachers who were corrupted by their desire for money and influence.  He ends this part of his letter to Titus by contrasting those who are pure and those who are not pure.  He indicates that a pure heart brings purity in everything connected to that person.  However, a corrupt and unbelieving heart will bring nothing pure into a life.  Why?  Because that corrupt person’s thought processes and sense of right and wrong have been corrupted.

            Let’s look at the meaning of that word “pure” as used in its context in this letter.  It comes from a Greek word that has the following meanings when it comes to ethical matters:  free from corrupt desires, sin or guilt; sincere, genuine, and free from everything false; blameless or innocent.  Contrast that with “corrupt.”  The word corrupt involves being defiled, sinful, dishonest, evil and guilty of criminal actions.

            Paul reminds Titus that the corrupt false teachers will claim to have a knowledge of God, but they will prove they really don’t by how they live.  Their actions will not demonstrate the truth of the gospel.  They will not be useful for producing anything that is good in nature.  They essentially are abominations to God, being disobedient to Him.

            Unfortunately, even today there are false teachers around who claim to know God but do not live in a way that demonstrates their claim is true.  They are controlled by greed, envy and maintaining man’s traditions, rather than by being faithful to the teachings of Jesus. 

            We’ll begin to look at the type of life Titus was to teach others to live and demonstrate in his own actions in the next video.  That life involves purity, not corruption.

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