Titus Chapter 1 verse 12 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 12. - A prophet for even a prophet, A.V.; Cretan, s for the Cretinous, A.V.; idle gluttons for slow bellies, A.V. A prophet of their own; viz. Epimenides, a native either of Phaestus or of Cnossus in Crete, the original author of this line, which is also quoted by Callimachus. Epimenides is here called a prophet, not simply as a poet, but from his peculiar character as priest, bard, and seer; called by Plato θεῖος ἀνήρ, and coupled by Cicero with Bacis the B.C.eotian prophet, and the sibyl (Bishop Ellicott); described by other ancient writers as a prophet (Alford); "everything we hear of him is of a priestly or religious nature" ('Dict. of Gr. and Romans Biogr. and Mythol.'). Cretans are always liars, etc. So truly was this their characteristic, that κρητίζειν was used to denote" telling lies" - "to lie like a Cretan" (Plutarch, etc.). From their general bad character arose the line, Κρῆτες Καππάδοκοι, Κίλικες τρία κάππα κάκιστα; and Livy, Polybius, and Plutarch alike hear witness to their covetousness and dishonesty: Τις Κρητῶν οἴδε δικαιοσύνην; "When was there ever an upright Cretan?" asks Leonides in an ' Epigram' (Farrar, ' St. Paul,' vol. it. p. 534). Evil beasts. Θήριον is "a wild beast;" applied to men as a term of reproach (1 Corinthians 15:32), it implies brutality, stupidity, unreasonableness, and, with the epithet κακά, mischief, like the French mechante bete. The 'Epigram' above quoted calls them ληισταὶ καὶ ἁλιφθόροι, "pirates and wreckers." Idle gluttons; literally, idle bellies. The substantive denotes their gluttony and sensuality (comp. Romans 16:18; Philippians 3:19, where κοιλία is equivalent to γαστήρ), and the adjective their sloth (ἀργαί, i.e. ἀεργαί); in old Greek it is usually of the common gender.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said.--St. Paul had spoken (Titus 1:10-11) in the severest terms of certain influential members of the Cretan Church; he had even alluded to their disastrous teaching ruining whole families, evidently implying that he had perceived among the Cretans a readiness to welcome a teaching which countenanced a laxer moral tone, the invariable result of perverted doctrine; and now he supports his own condemning words by a reference to a well-known Cretan poet--to one who, according to tradition, was even honoured by them as a god. The verse quoted is an hexameter, written by the famous Epimenides, of Gnossus, in Crete. He flourished some 600 years B.C., and is said to have lived to the strange age of 150 years or more. He appears to have deserved the title of prophet in its fullest sense--Plato speaking of him as a "divine man," and Cicero coupling him with the Erythaean Sibyl. The first three words were well known, and even used by Callimachus in his hymn to Zeus, "Cretans always liars." St. Paul's knowledge of the poem where the verse occurs is one of the several instances which we meet with in his writings indicating his familiarity with profane literature. The quotation, occurring as it does in the midst of an inspired writing, was the occasion of Calvin's wise, brave words, which style those who decline to avail themselves of the learning and research of profane writers as superstitious. Nothing wise and learned, he says, should be rejected, even though it proceed "ab impiis."The Cretians are alway liars.--This terrible estimate of the national Cretan character is amply borne out by the testimony of many profane writers, such as Callimachus, Plato, Polybius, Ovid, &c. The very word "to Cretize" (kretizein), or to play the part of a Cretan, was invented as a word synonymous with "to deceive," "to utter a lie;" just as corinthiazein. "to play the part of a Corinthian," signified to commit a still darker moral offence. Some writers suggest that this despicable vice of lying was received as a bequest from the early Ph?nician colonists.Evil beasts.--These words refer to their wild, fierce nature, their ferocity, their love of cruelty.Slow bellies.--Rather, idle bellies. These terms paint with sharp accuracy another of the evil characteristics of the Cretan peoples--their dull gluttony, their slothful sensuality. The words are used especially of those who, by indulging their bodily appetites, become corpulent and indolent.