No one whose life is characterized by lying can be grounded in the Christian faith or follow Jesus, who is Himself “the truth” (John 14:6). This is why Paul tells Titus to “rebuke sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith” (Titus 1:13). Lying is incompatible with a relationship with the God of Truth. Lying was their fallback behavior in all instances. They were, in the vernacular of psychologists, compulsive liars, those who lie even when there is no external motive for the lie. They were not only guilty of it in certain specific instances, but always. Lying seems to have been a governing vice among them. All people are guilty of lying at one time or another, but not all are habitual liars, as it seems the ancient Cretans were. The Roman poet Ovid referred to Crete as mendax Creta, or “lying Crete.” The Greeks used the verb cretize as a synonym for lie. Other ancient writers and philosophers concurred, and Paul’s assessment serves to confirm the Cretans’ character to be generally evil. That writer was Epimenides of Gnossus, a seventh-century BC poet, prophet, and native Cretan who characterized his own people as liars.Įpimenides wasn’t the only one to describe Cretans in this way. At that point, Paul quotes a famous Cretan who wrote, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons” (verse 12). He goes on to say that in Crete there were many rebellious people and deceivers who must be silenced as they were teaching falsehood for financial gain (verses 10–11). New churches were being formed, and the appointment of godly leaders to oversee them was a priority for Paul.īeginning in Titus 1:6, Paul details for Titus the qualifications for elders, one of which is the ability to “encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (verse 9). In his letter to Titus, the apostle Paul told him that the reason he left him in Crete was to “straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town” (Titus 1:5). Crete is an island in the Mediterranean where Paul had preached and where many were converted to Christianity. The declaration “all Cretans are liars” is found in Titus 1:12.
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