Section 1:10–16
Paul told Titus to rebuke rebellious people

In this section Paul warned Titus about those in Crete who were opposing correct teaching. They were deceiving believers and ruining their faith. Paul called them liars. They claimed to know God but in reality they did not.

Here are some other ways to translate this heading:

Correct Whoever Teaches What Is Wrong (God’s Word)
-or-
You(sing) must rebuke those who are rebellious

Paragraph 1:10–16

1:10a

For: This word introduces a reason for Paul’s instructions about choosing church leaders. Here are some other ways to translate this word:

Because
-or-

Do this/that because

many are rebellious: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as rebellious describes people who reject and oppose leaders and authority figures. Paul said that there were many such people. The context shows that he was talking about people in the congregations on the island of Crete.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

many people there are rebellious
-or-
many people reject/oppose their leaders
-or-
There are many who don’t respect authority (Contemporary English Version)

1:10b

and full of empty talk and deception: The Greek words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as full of empty talk and deception are more literally “empty talkers and deceivers” (see the New American Standard Bible). Paul was describing people who regularly say things that are not true or helpful and try to make others believe their lies.

Here are some other ways to translate this verse part:

talk about worthless things and lead others into the wrong way (New Century Version)
-or-
who talk nonsense and try to make others believe it (New Jerusalem Bible)

full of…deception: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as full of…deception is literally “deceivers.” It indicates that these people tried to convince others that their falsehoods were true. They wanted people to believe that their teaching was true, even though it was not.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

and deceive others (Good News Bible)
-or-
they are liars

1:10c

especially: This word here indicates that Paul was thinking of one group in particular. One group of people was very rebellious, talked nonsense, and deceived other people.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

This is especially true of (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
in particular
-or-
But the worst of those who do this are (Otomi Back Translation on TW)
-or-
The group that does this/that the most is

those of the circumcision: This phrase refers to Jews who claimed to be Christians but wanted all Christians to follow the Jewish laws. In particular, they wanted all Christian men to be circumcised.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

the group that insists that all men be circumcised
-or-
those people who teach that believing men must follow the Jewish laws and have someone circumcise them

© 2000 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.