A sophisticated social leader was expecting a large group of
friends at her home one evening. Knowing her husbands habit of
using guests towels indiscriminately when he came home from the
office, she put a note on the ones she put out for the occasion. It
read, "If you use one of these towels, I'll slay you in cold blood."
Even the most insensitive husband would get the message loud and
clear. The problem was that she got busy and forgot to remove the
note before the guests arrived. At the end of the evening she found,
to her shock, that the note was still there, and not one towel had
been touched. Here was a message that called for interpretation. A
discerning guest should have known that in this context the note was
a warning to the husband and not to the guests. They should have
felt free to use the towel without fear.
Life is full of messages that have to be interpreted wisely or they
make no sense, or they lead to consequences not intended. It is like
when Mrs. Grand instructed her old servant, "Now Maggie, for the
first half hour you stand at the drawing room door and call all the
guests names as they arrive." "Thank you very much ma'am," she
replied, "It's what I've been wanting to do to some of your friends
for the last 10 years." Maggie was getting a message that was quite
different from the one Mrs. Grand was sending.
Sometimes messages are deliberately made difficult to interpret.
Like the man who said to another, "I have two and a half dozen
children." The man was amazed, but the father explained it so that
it was not that amazing. "I have 2, and then a half dozen more,
which is 6 plus 2 making 8. I have 8 children, or as I said, 2 and a
half dozen." Without explanation the words carry a different
message.
At other times people read into a message more than the speaker
intends to say. The disciples did this with Jesus. In John 21 Jesus
said, "If I want John to remain alive until I return that is my
business and not yours. You just follow me and don't worry about
John." The rumor spread among the disciples that John would not
die, but Jesus did not say that at all. John had to write and put a
halt to this misinterpretation, and tell people that Jesus did not say
that he would not die, but only that if it was His will that was His
business and not theirs. Even the Apostles could interpret the words
of Jesus in a way that did not convey His true message. This means
that correct interpretation is absolutely vital to the understanding of
truth. The Bible does not mean whatever you or I feel it means. It
means only what the author intended to convey when he was
inspired to write it.
It is true that people get many different impressions as they read
the same words, and there can be a variety of perspectives, but the
bottom line is that only the message the author intended to convey is
valid. The reason this is important is because without this principle
the Bible can be used to support all kinds of nonsense that
contradicts what it clearly means to convey.
We have come to Titus 1:15 which is an ideal example of how
important it is to know what Paul intended, and not just let any
interpretation be acceptable. Paul makes a startling claim when he
says, "To the pure all things are pure." This verse can be used to
justify every form of evil and folly known to man. It has been used
to justify polygamy, stealing, and even murder. Is that what Paul is
saying? There is nothing impure to the pure, and so all evil becomes
pure?
Sirhan, the assassin of Robert Kennedy, read Madam Blavatsky,
the founder of theosophy. She taught that every man has the right
to interpret truth in his own way regardless of what others think.
The New Age religion teaches this to children. If something seems
right for them, than it is right for them, even if it is contrary to the
value system of their parents or society. If it's right for you, than it
is right. Sirhan concluded that he was doing the will of God when
he murdered someone he felt should be eliminated, for it seemed
right to him.
Do you think for a moment that this was the message Paul was
trying to convey, and that he was teaching that everything was right
and pure to certain people? Was he saying that they can do
anything the Bible forbids if they just have the right spirit? You can
see how this appeals to the fanatic. I am pure, and so I can violate
all the commandments of God, for now everything is pure and right
for me. If ever there was a text calling for proper interpretation,
this is it. This verse does not mean whatever anyone wants it to
mean. It means only what Paul intended it to mean, and we know he
did not intend it to eliminate all that he has just written. It is easy to
see what Paul does not mean, but it takes some thought to discover
just what he does mean.
We need to interpret this in a way that is confirmed by other
passages where Paul uses this same word for pure. Paul said that all
God made is pure in the sense that it is valid for food and not to be
rejected because of some legalistic or superstitious tradition. Men
contaminate a lot of food by adding to it what is not healthy, but
God never created a bad food. In Rom. 14:20 Paul says that all food
is clean. So to the pure all food that God makes is pure. It is good
and not forbidden. There is no forbidden food to the pure.
Mark has Jesus teach this very truth to eliminate all the legalistic
restrictions of Judaism. Jesus taught that nothing going into a man
can make him unclean, but only what comes out of him. In Mark
7:19 he adds this comment: "In saying this, Jesus declared all foods
clean." Both Jesus and Paul make an issue out of this, and they
make it clear that if you really believe in Jesus and His rejection of
all the food legalism of Judaism you will not have hangups with any
food. To the pure all foods will be pure. Only to the unbeliever will
there be fears, doubts, and corruption connected with food. The
bottom line is that there is no natural food that is forbidden by God,
and so the pure Christian can enjoy anything God has made with
thanksgiving.
This is not a major issue with most of us, but it was a major issue
in the Reformation period, and John Calvin made these strong
statements: "They do wrong, who impose religious scruples on
conscience in this matter... Accordingly, this must be true till the
end of the world, that there is no kind of food which is unlawful in
the sight of God. Thus, if any law binds the conscience to any
necessity of abstaining from certain kinds of food, it wickedly takes
away from believers that liberty which God has given them."
If you carry this through in all areas of life, you get Paul's point.
Whatever God has made is good and pure. Did God make marriage
and sex? Then it is pure, and as Hebrew says, "The marriage bed is
undefiled." Did God make desire, appetite, and the love of
competition? If so, then the world of work and recreation are pure
as well. It can be good to work to make money and possess things.
It can be good or pure to play and enjoy exercise and sports. If
these are seen as God given blessings, then they are pure, and they
will not defile the man who loves God all the more for his chance to
participate in these aspects of life. He does so with thanksgiving
because to the pure all things are pure, and they are from God.
The pure live life based on this sound doctrine: If God made it,
it is good. If God approves it, it is good. If God recommends it, it is
good. If God commands it, it is good. This means that even in this
fallen world so corrupted by sin the vast majority of reality is still
pure. There is goodness everywhere. Even in the hearts of fallen
men there is an abundance of truth, wisdom and value. The world is
loaded with good things, and the pure in heart see it and enjoy it,
and they praise God for it. The Christian does not say that this
tastes so good it must be sinful. They say that it tastes so good that it
must be from God.
But there is a constant battle in the minds of those who see only
evil and pessimism. They try to rob Christians of the good life in
time. Paul writes to Timothy about this very thing in I Tim. 4:1-5,
"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the
faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences
have been seared with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and
order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be
received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
For everything God created is good and nothing is to be rejected if it
is received with thanksgiving."
If you can give thanks for it, it is good and pure, and we are to
give thanks in all things, and so it follows that to the pure all things
are pure. In the mind of the faithful Christian there is already a
taste of things to come. There is a heaven on earth with daily joy
and pleasure. The abundant life is now and not just in the sweet by
and by. Not all things are actually pure, but all is potentially pure to
the pure in heart. They see the putrid and say it can become pure.
Jesus saw the prostitute as a potential saint, and because He did He
saw some of them come to sainthood. The same was true of the tax
collectors and all other sinners. Jesus saw their potential to be pure
and righteous. He saw in Saul the potential to become Paul the
Apostle, and He made him such by grace. To Jesus all things and
all people were potentially pure and so worthy of being loved.
The impure see the potential in all things and all people for evil,
and so they are pessimists, and they do not have the mind of Christ.
A Christ like mind sees the potential for the good, the true, and the
lovely in all. When Florence Nightingale was called to the Crimea
to help the English Army that was being decimated by the Russians,
and even more so by malaria and cholera, it looked hopeless. Dirt,
disease, and disorder were dominant everywhere. The make shift
hospital was infested with vermin and rats. No wonder the death
rate was 60%.
She saw this mess as a potential place of hope and health. She
began to get teams to scrub, launder, and make the environment
pure. Then she began to cook good food for the wounded. In 10
days she reduced the death rate from 60% down to 1%. To the pure
all things are pure. Even a death trap of corruption can become a
life giving sanctuary to those with eyes to see it. Jesus used this same
word that Paul uses here in His beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in
heart for they shall see God." They will see Him, not just in heaven,
but in time, for they will God at work in the most awful places and
lives bringing forth beauty, order, and purity. The pure see the
world and fallen man with the eyes of Christ. They see the saint and
the sinner, and the diamond in the mud.
In contrast, Paul says, "To those who are corrupted and who do
not believe, nothing is pure." Paul here describes the pathetic
reality of a Christian who is so heavenly minded they are no earthly
good. He actually ends this chapter by saying that they are unfit for
doing anything good. They are part of the church, but all they add
to it are corruption and confusion, for they are totally negative, and
if they are allowed to spread their pessimism they will destroy the
church completely. That is why Paul says they must be silenced.
Christians need to be protected from other Christians who have a
bad influence on them, and who hurt their faith. Their own faith is
corrupted, and they are carriers of pessimism.
Paul says that to them nothing is pure. They are like the woman
who thought her neighbor's wash was always still dirty because her
own windows were unwashed and full of spots. The history of the
church is full of this kind of nonsense where nothing is pure. We
know there has always been a lot of impure sex in the world, but for
centuries Christian leaders taught that even married sex was
impure. They became so pessimistic about the lust of men that they
decided that the whole business of sex was of the devil. This is what
led to monks and the monastery, and the total escaping from the
realm of sex even in the marriage bond.
Christians need to beware of over reacting to the sinful nature of
man. It is true that all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God, and that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags. We need to
be honest about sin and recognize it has infected everyone and
everything. Nevertheless, the creation of God is good, and all that
He made is good. Sinfulness cannot destroy the beauty of God's
original plan and purpose. Sex is God's plan, and no matter how
vile man makes it, it is still good and beautiful when used as God
intended. To the pure, that is to those who love God and all He has
made, it is pure, and it is a wonderful gift. It is only to those who
reject God as its author who see it as impure.
The point of Paul is this: Once you reject sound doctrine based
on God's revelation you are going to corrupt everything with
man-made doctrine. Nothing will be purer, for the fact is, when God
is left out of anything it is impure. The Jews who were legalists even
made the good works of Jesus to be evil. They said the Sabbath law
is more important than people and their health. Every time Jesus
healed someone on the Sabbath they criticized Him. They made His
miracles of compassion impure. They said they were the works of
the devil. This is how blind people can get who operate on unsound
doctrine. They can take the best gifts of God and make them acts of
evil. Jesus was crucified because people have the ability to make
every thing impure.
The people of God in the Old Testament made the Sabbath
impure, the sacrifice impure, the temple impure, and even praise
and prayer impure. Every thing that God made for good they were
able to corrupt, and God said that he detested their worship because
they made impure all that He had made pure. Just as there is
nothing the pure cannot make pure, so there is nothing the impure
cannot make impure. You cannot talk of higher values than prayer
and worship, but they can be made impure by the impure.
Paul says in verse 16 that these people claim to know God, but by
their actions they deny Him. Paul is confirming the proverb that
actions speak louder than words. Doctrine that does not lead to
deeds is worthless. Belief that does not change behavior is of no
value. Faith without works is dead. In the culture of Crete where
lying was habitual there were professing Christians who were even
lying about their faith in God. This was a problem in the early
church, and John in I John 2:4 wrote, "The man who says I know
Him, but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is
not in him."
The New Testament is quite clear. The professing Christian
who does not follow up his profession with a life of obedience to
God's commands is good for nothing. That is how Paul ends this
first chapter. This is strong and shocking language. Saddler
writes, "No words worst than these could be applied to the lives of
the heathen, and yet this is all said of unworthy Christians. The
Christian has the capacity to make this evil world a better place, and
even a wonderful place. But they also have the capacity to make it
even worse than what it already is. The plan of God is that
Christians add light to the world so that even in this darkness there
can be a taste of heaven on earth.
If Christians have a rotten negative attitude toward life they will
make the world a place of negatives. These impure Christians will
take even the blessings of life and make them impure. They will,
like Peter, in his unenlightened state call unclean what God has
made clean. They will by their narrow and legalistic minds make
good things evil. But the pure who let the mind of Christ be their
mind will find the world filled with things for which to give God
thanks. They will find blessings everywhere, and people to love
everywhere. They will experience the abundant life Christ came to
give His people in time as a foretaste of heaven. There will no end
to thanksgiving, for to the pure all things are pure.
