What Does Titus 1:16 Mean?
They profess that they know God; but by their works they say no to him, being foul and unpersuadable, and failing the test for every good work.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.THE KEY
The passage makes works the test that exposes whether a spoken claim to know God is approved.
THE MEANING
A claim to know God stands beside its contradiction: works can deny the one the mouth professes. The verse calls this visible life abominable and disobedient, and says it is unfit for every good work.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A verbal claim to know God is sufficient proof, even when one’s actions disown that claim.
THE ROOT
ἀδόκιμοι
adokimoi
GROWS FROM
δοκιμ
dokim
Test, examine, and approve after testing.
“failing the test” in this verse is adokimoi. The word joins the root for testing with a negating prefix: these works fail the test of approval. The verse makes the condition visible in what the person does, not merely in what the person says.
ALSO GROWS
dokimazō: Test, examine, prove.
δοκιμάζω
This branch names the testing itself, which gives depth to being called unapproved for every good work.
dokimos: Approved or genuine after testing.
δόκιμος
This is the positive form from the same root, showing the contrast between what passes the test and what does not.
ἀρνοῦνται
arnountai
GROWS FROM
ἀρνε
arne
Deny, disown, repudiate.
“say no to” in this verse is arnountai. The verb can describe disowning, and here its subject is “works”: denial is enacted as well as spoken. The actions become the arena where that disowning appears.
ALSO GROWS
arneomai: Deny, disown.
ἀρνέομαι
The base verb makes clear that the deeds carry the force of disowning God.
arnētēs: A denier, one who disowns.
ἀρνητής
This related noun names a person by the same act, linking denial in conduct with the identity it expresses.
ὁμολογοῦσιν
homologousin
GROWS FROM
ὁμολογ
homolog
Acknowledge, confess, openly assent.
“profess” in this verse is homologousin. The root ties the claim to an act of acknowledgment, rather than a label for inward knowledge alone. The verse places that acknowledgment beside works that disown the one acknowledged.
ALSO GROWS
homologeō: Acknowledge, confess.
ὁμολογέω
This is the base verb for the profession, making it an expressed act of recognition.
homologia: Confession, acknowledgment.
ὁμολογία
This related noun carries the same expressed acknowledgment that the works in the verse contradict.
THE PATTERN
A spoken claim of knowing or allegiance is measured against what the life enacts.
You have planted them, and indeed they have taken root. They grow, and indeed they bring forth fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their kidneys.Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the governance of the heavens, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in the heavens.The one who says, I have perceived him, and does not guard his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.THE THREAD
If we remain under it, we will also reign together with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us.The same Greek verb for deny appears in both verses. Titus locates denial in works; here the repeated verb shows denial as a relation that reaches beyond spoken rejection.
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