Titus 1:11 - Exposition

Men who overthrow for who subvert, A.V. Whose mouths must be stopped ( οὒς δεῖ ἐπιστομίζειν ); here only in the New Testament, not found in the LXX ., but common in classical Greek. "To curb" (comp. Psalms 32:9 ; James 3:2 , James 3:3 ). The meaning is nearly the same as that of χαλιναγωγέω in James 1:26 ; some, however, assign to it the sense of "to muzzle" (Olshausen, etc.) or "stop the mouth," which Bishop Ellicott thinks is "perhaps the most common" and "the most suitable." £ So also Huther. It often means simply "to silence" (see Stephan, 'Thesaur.'), and is applied to wind instruments. Overthrow ( ἀνατρέπουσι ); as 2 Timothy 2:18 , which shows the kind of overthrow here meant, that viz. of the faith of whole families, well expressed in the A.V. by "subvert." The phrase, οἰκίας ἀνατρέπειν , of the literal overthrow of houses, occurs in Plato (Alford). For filthy lucre's sake ; contrary to the apostolic precept to bishops and deacons ( 1 Timothy 3:3 , 1 Timothy 3:8 , and above, 1 Timothy 3:7 ). Polybius has a striking passage on the αἰσχροκερδεία of the Cretans, quoted by Bishop Ellicott ('Hist.,' 6:146.3).