“For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.”
—Titus 1:10
“For there are many…”, the “for takes us back.
“This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you… He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. For there are many…” (vv. 5, 9–10)
Without elders, things are unfinished (“what remained”) and bent (“put… into order,” i.e., straighten). Churches without elders are like young children with an undeveloped immune system. They are vulnerable. Churches are vulnerable and false teachers are “many.”
You have here not only a contrast between true and false teachers, but a clash between them—a clash that must be. “There are many.” The immune system is weak and the viruses are many. The church must train, test, affirm, and send, because the world is full of false teachers and the church is lacking in faithful teachers.
John Stott exhorts, “When false teachers increase, the most appropriate long-term strategy is to multiply the number of true teachers, who are equipped to rebut and refute error. We need to be convinced that this is possible.” Pastors and churches need to be convinced that not only is the church sufficient to raise up elders, but that she should do it and she must do it. No other institution has the authority of God to do so. Seminaries are not necessary. They may help, but they are not necessary. The church is necessary and it is necessary that the church do so. “There are many.”
Paul told the Corinthians, “…a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Corinthians 16:9). He told the Philippians “For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ” (Philippians 3:18). John too tells us not only that there are many, but the worst kind of many “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 7). There are not only many false teachers. There are many heretics. It’s not simply the common cold that is so common, but Ebola. The call for elders to combat false teaching is no Covid 19 conspiracy. It is a true epidemic. “There are many.”
Elders act not only as antibodies fighting off false teaching, they act as vitamins, promoting healthy doctrine and devotion. The teacher of sound doctrine cannot produce antibodies for every virus in every membe. What he can do is ground the flock in sound doctrine so that they recognize a wolf when they hear one. “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” (v. 9).
John Newton said, “My principal method of defeating heresy, is, by establishing truth. One proposes to fill a bushel with tares: now, if I can fill it first with wheat, I shall defy his attempts.” Elders not only act as the immune system of the whole church body, they build the immune system of each member of the body. And that health is found by preaching Christ so that each member abides in the Vine. Feed the flock the Bread of life, and their appetites will be satisfied and their immune system strengthened.
No Other Boast 