to stand all around · verb — present middle imperative, 2nd person singular
foolish
μωρὰςmōras
G3474
dull or stupid (as if shut up) · adjective — accusative plural feminine
questions
ζητήσειςzētēseis
G2214
a searching (properly · noun — accusative plural feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
genealogies
γενεαλογίαςgenealogias
G1076
tracing by generations · noun — accusative plural feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
contentions
ἔρειςereis
G2054
a quarrel · noun — accusative plural feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
strivings
μάχαςmachas
G3163
a battle · noun — accusative plural feminine
law
νομικὰςnomikas
G3544
according (or pertaining) to law · adjective — accusative plural feminine
for
γὰρgar
G1063
properly · conjunction
are
εἰσίeisí
G1526
they are
unprofitable
ἀνωφελεῖςanōpheleis
G512
useless or (neuter) inutility · adjective — nominative plural feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
vain
μάταιοι.mataioi
G3152
empty · adjective — nominative plural feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Timothy 2:14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting…
1 Timothy 4:7 But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
2 Timothy 2:23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
Titus 1:14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
2 Timothy 2:16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
Job 15:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
1 Timothy 1:3-7 As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
1 Corinthians 8:1 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Titus 3:9–end
Here is the fifth and last thing in the matter of the epistle: what Titus should avoid in teaching; how he should deal with a heretic; with some other directions. Observe,
I. That the apostle's meaning might be more clear and full, and especially fitted to the time and state of things in Crete, and the many judaizers among them, he tells Titus what, in teaching, he should shun, Tit 3:9. There are needful questions to be discussed and cleared, such as make for improvement in useful knowledge; but idle and foolish enquiries, tending neither to God's glory nor the edification of men, must be shunned. Some may have a show of wisdom, but are vain, as many among the Jewish doctors, as well as of l…
avoid--stand aloof from. Same Greek, as in Ti2 2:16; see on Ti2 2:16.
foolish--Greek, "insipid"; producing no moral fruit. "Vain talkers."
genealogies--akin to the "fables" (see on Ti1 1:4). Not so much direct heresy as yet is here referred to, as profitless discussions about genealogies of aeons, &c., which ultimately led to Gnosticism. Synagogue discourses were termed daraschoth, that is, "discussions." Compare "disputer of this world (Greek, 'dispensation')."
strivings about the law--about the authority of the "commandments of men," which they sought to confirm by the law (Tit 1:14; see on Ti1 1:7), and about the mystical meaning of the various parts of the law in connection with th…
Avoid foolish questions, and genealogies - In these the Jews particularly delighted; they abounded in the most frivolous questions; and, as they had little piety themselves, they were solicitous to show that they had descended from godly ancestors.
Of their frivolous questions, and the answers given to them by the wisest and most reputable of their rabbins, the following is a specimen: -
Rabbi Hillel was asked: Why have the Babylonians round heads? To which he answered: This is a difficult question, but I will tell the reason: Their heads are round because they have but little wit.
Q. Why are the eyes of the Tarmudians so soft?
A. Because they inhabit a sandy country.
Q. Why have the Africa…
The Church Fathers
Unhappy Aristotle! who invented for these men dialectics, the art of building up and pulling down; an art so evasive in its propositions, so far-fetched in its conjectures, so harsh, in its arguments, so productive of contentions-embarrassing even to itself, retracting everything, and really treating of nothing! Whence spring those "fables and endless genealogies," and "unprofitable questions," and "words which spread like a cancer? " From all these, when the apostle would restrain us, he expressly names philosophy as that which he would have us be on our guard against.
Blessed is that servant [Paul] who can say: "I have fed you with milk and not with meat; for until now you were not able to bear it." … Yet he—being so great a man and chosen by Christ for the care of his flock in order to strengthen the weak and to heal the sick—rejects immediately after a single admonition a heretic from the fold entrusted to him. This he does for fear that the taint of one erring sheep might infect the whole flock with a spreading sore. He further bids that foolish questions and contentions be avoided.
"But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain." What do these "genealogies" mean? For in his Epistle to Timothy he mentions "fables and endless genealogies." (1 Tim. i. 4.) Perhaps both here and there glancing at the Jews, who, priding themselves on having Abraham for their forefather, neglected their own part. On this account he calls them both "foolish and unprofitable"; for it is the part of folly to confide in things unprofitable. "Contentions," he means, with heretics, in which he would not have us labor to no purpose, where nothing is to be gained, for they end in nothing. For when a man is perverted and predetermined not to change his mind, whatever may happen, why shouldest thou labor in vain, sowing upon a rock, when thou shouldest spend thy honorable toil upon thy own people, in discoursing with them upon almsgiving and every other virtue?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Doctrines, False · Unprofitable and vain — Unprofitable and vain
Genealogies · Subject of, to be avoided — Subject of, to be avoided
Genealogy · Of no spiritual signifi — Of no spiritual signifi
Strife · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Vanity · Foolish questions are — Foolish questions are
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
But avoid foolish questions,.... Such as were started in the schools of the Jews; see 2 Timothy 2:23
and genealogies; of their elders, Rabbins, and doctors, by whom their traditions are handed down from one to another, in fixing which they greatly laboured; see 1 Timothy 1:4 and contentions and strivings about the law; the rites and ceremonies of it, and about the sense of it, and its various precepts, as litigated in the schools of Hillell and Shammai, the one giving it one way, and the other another; and what one declared to be free according to the law, the other declared forbidden; which occasioned great contentions and quarrels between the followers of the one, and of the other, as bot…
Titus 3:8-9
8. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
8. fidelis sermo est et de his volo to confirmare ut curent bonis operibus praeesse qui credunt Deo haec sunt bona et utilia hominibus
9. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
9. Stultas autem quaestiones et genealogias et contentiones et pugnas legis devita sunt enim inutiles et vanae
8 A faithful saying He employs this mode of expression, when he wishes to make a solemn assertion…
