Albert Barnes Commentary Titus 1:12

"One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons." — Titus 1:12 (ASV)

One of themselves. This means one of the Cretans. The quotation here shows that Paul was considering not only the Jewish teachers there but also the native Cretans. The point is that, concerning both Jewish teachers and native-born Cretans, utmost vigilance was needed in selecting people for the ministry. They all had well-known character traits that made it necessary for no one to be appointed to the ministry without extreme caution.

It would also seem, from Paul's reasoning here, that the character trait referred to pertained not only to the native Cretans but also to the character of the Jews living there, for he evidently means that this caution should extend to all who lived on the island.

Even a prophet of their own. This could mean a poet, because the word prophet (profhthv)—like the Latin word vates—was often applied to poets. This was because they were supposed to be inspired by the muses or to write under the influence of inspiration. So Virgil, in Eclogue 9:32, says: Et me fecere poetam Pierides ... me quoque dicunt vatem pastores. And Varro, in De Lingua Latina 6.3, states: Vates poetae dicti sunt.

The term prophet was also given by the Greeks to one who was regarded as the interpreter of the gods, or who explained the obscure responses of the oracles. As such an interpreter—as one who thus foresaw future events—he was called a prophet. Since poets often claimed much of this kind of knowledge, the name was given to them.

The title was also given to one who was regarded as eminently endowed with wisdom, or who had the kind of sagacity by which the results of present conduct might be foreseen, as if he were under the influence of a kind of inspiration. The word might have been applied to the person referred to here—Epimenides—in this latter sense, because he was eminently endowed with wisdom.

Epimenides was one of the seven wise men of Greece. He was a contemporary of Solon, was born at Phaestus on the island of Crete in 659 B.C., and is said to have lived to the age of 157. Many marvelous tales are told about him (see Anthon, Classical Dictionary), which are commonly supposed to be fables and are traced to the Cretans' invention.

The best-known event in his life is his visit to Athens, at the request of its inhabitants, to prepare the way by sacrifices for the introduction of Solon's laws. He was believed to have communication with the gods, and it was presumed that a peculiar sacredness would accompany the religious services in which he officiated.

For this reason, and because he was a poet, the name "prophet" may have been given to him. Feuds and animosities prevailed at Athens, which it was supposed such a man might allay, thus preparing the people for the acceptance of Solon's laws. The Athenians wished to reward him with wealth and public honors, but he refused any payment. Instead, he only asked for a branch of the sacred olive tree and a decree of perpetual friendship between Athens and his native city.

After his death, the Cretans paid him divine honors. He wrote a poem on the Argonautic expedition and other poems, all of which are now lost. The quotation from him mentioned here is thought to be from a treatise on oracles and responses, which is also lost.

The Cretans are always liars. This characteristic of the Cretans is abundantly supported by examples cited by Wetstein. To "be a Cretan" became synonymous with being a liar, just as "to be a Corinthian" became synonymous with living a licentious life (compare the Introduction to 1 Corinthians 1:1). Thus, the scholiast says, paroimia esti to krhtizein epi tou qeudesyai (to act the Cretan, is a proverb for to lie). The specific reason why they, rather than other peoples, had this reputation abroad is unknown. Bishop Warburton supposes they acquired it by claiming to have Jupiter's tomb among them and by maintaining that all the gods, like Jupiter, were only mortals who had been elevated to divine honors.

Thus, the Greeks maintained that the Cretans always proclaimed a falsehood by asserting this opinion. However, their reputation for falsehood seems to have arisen from a deeper cause than this and to have pertained to their general moral character. They were only more prominent in what was common among the ancient heathen and what is almost universal among the heathen now. (see Barnes' notes on this passage.)

Evil beasts. This means that in their character, they were like ferocious or malignant beasts or brutes. This would imply a great lack of civilization, and that their lack of refinement was accompanied by what commonly exists in that condition: the unrestrained indulgence of wild and ferocious passions. See examples in Wetstein of the same way of speaking about barbarous and malicious men.

Slow bellies. This means mere gluttons. Two vices seem to be attributed to them here, which indeed commonly go together: gluttony and sloth. An industrious man is not likely to be a glutton, and a glutton will not often be an industrious man. The poet's mind, in this, seems to have first conceived of them as an indolent, worthless people, and then immediately to have considered the cause: that they were a race of gluttons, a people whose only concern was their stomach.

(Compare to Philippians 3:19.) On the connection between gluttony and sloth, see the examples in Wetstein. Seldom have more undesirable and, in some respects, incongruous qualities been grouped together in describing any people. They were proverbially false, which was indeed consistent enough with their being ferocious (though ferocious and wild nations are sometimes true to their word). Yet, at the same time, they were ferocious and lazy, fierce and gluttonous—qualities not often found together.

In some respects, therefore, they surpassed the common depravity of human nature, blending in themselves ignoble properties that, among the worst people, are usually found existing alone. To mingle apparently contradictory qualities of wickedness in the same individual or people is the height of depravity; just as to blend apparently inconsistent traits of virtuous character in the same mind, or traits that commonly exist in their highest perfection only alone, is the highest virtue.