Charles Ellicott Commentary Titus 1:14

"not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men who turn away from the truth." — Titus 1:14 (ASV)

Not giving heed to Jewish fables.—Such as we now find embodied in the Talmud. (See Note on 1 Timothy 1:4.) The oral law and traditional interpretations and glosses had, to a great extent, obscured the original simple text. The Israelite of St. Paul's time, trained in the stricter Jewish schools, was taught that the way to win the approval of the Most High was through the observance of countless ceremonies and the practice of an elaborate ritual.

And commandments of men.—We gather the nature of these commandments from the words of the next verse (the 15th). They seem to have concerned abstinence from certain foods and from other things created by God for human use and enjoyment. St. Paul’s directions here are, in spirit, in exact accordance with the Lord’s teaching at Jerusalem, as related in Matthew 15:1-9. St. Paul dreaded this kind of asceticism and the particular school of teaching then so popular among the Jews. This school enjoined an elaborate system of ritual and observance, and it pronounced as meritorious in the sight of the Eternal the practice of minor and trivial rites and ceremonies. This dread was grounded upon a fear—too often, unfortunately, verified—that by observing the ritual and carefully practicing the ceremonies and rites, the moral law would be lost sight of. With this school, a holy life consisted rather in observing carefully a ritual, than in living justly, nobly, and generously.