Charles Ellicott 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, even a prophet of their own, said.—St. Paul had spoken (Titus 1:10–11) in the severest terms about certain influential members of the Cretan Church. He had even alluded to their disastrous teaching, which was ruining whole families. This evidently implied that he had perceived among the Cretans a readiness to welcome a teaching that countenanced a laxer moral tone—the invariable result of perverted doctrine. Now, he supports his own condemning words by a reference to a well-known Cretan poet, one who, according to tradition, was even honored by them as a god.

The verse quoted is a hexameter, written by the famous Epimenides of Gnossus, in Crete. He flourished some 600 years B.C. and is said to have lived to the remarkable age of 150 years or more. He appears to have deserved the title of prophet in its fullest sense—Plato speaking of him as a “divine man,” and Cicero coupling him with the Erythaean Sibyl. The first three words were well known and even used by Callimachus in his hymn to Zeus: “Cretans always liars.”

St. Paul’s knowledge of the poem where the verse occurs is one of several instances in his writings indicating his familiarity with secular literature. The quotation, occurring as it does in the midst of an inspired writing, was the occasion for Calvin’s wise, brave words, which describe those who decline to avail themselves of the learning and research of secular writers as superstitious. Nothing wise and learned, he says, should be rejected, even though it proceed “ab impiis.”

The Cretians are alway liars.—This terrible estimate of the national Cretan character is amply borne out by the testimony of many secular writers, such as Callimachus, Plato, Polybius, Ovid, and others. The very word “to Cretize” (kretizein), or to play the part of a Cretan, was invented as a word synonymous with “to deceive” or “to utter a lie,” just as corinthiazein, “to play the part of a Corinthian,” signified to commit a still darker moral offense. Some writers suggest that this despicable vice of lying was received as a bequest from the early Phoenician colonists.

Evil beasts.—These words refer to their wild, fierce nature, their ferocity, and their love of cruelty.

Slow bellies.—Rather, idle bellies. These terms paint with sharp accuracy another of the evil characteristics of the Cretan people: their dull gluttony and their slothful sensuality. The words are used especially for those who, by indulging their bodily appetites, become corpulent and indolent.