Titus 1:15

Everything created by God is good; for those who do not know this, they become impure.

"All things are clean to the clean, but to the unclean and unbelieving nothing is clean; instead, both their mind and their conscience are corrupted." For he had said earlier: "For there are many rebellious people who deceive others with their empty talk and false teaching. This is especially true of those who insist on circumcision for salvation. They must be silenced, because they are turning whole families away from the truth by their false teaching. And they do it only for money." So he is telling Titus to sharply rebuke them, so that their faith will be healthy and they will not waste their time in endless discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees. This kind of talk only leads to meaningless speculations, which don't help people live a life of faith in God. The Bible clearly states that all things are clean to those who believe in Jesus Christ and know that everything God created is good. But to those who are defiled by sin and unbelief, nothing is clean; in fact, both their mind and their conscience are corrupted. Therefore, even things that are clean by nature become unclean to them. This is not because there is anything inherently unclean or clean, but because of the kind of people who eat them. So, the clean remain clean for the clean, and the unclean become defiled for those who are defiled. Otherwise, even the unbelievers and defiled do not benefit from the bread of blessing and the Lord's cup; for whoever eats of that bread and drinks from the cup unworthily eats and drinks judgment upon themselves (1 Cor. 11). Everything has been cleansed by the coming of Christ. We cannot partake of what He has purified. […]

"If a man has attained to that which the apostle speaks of 'to the pure, everything is pure,' he sees himself less than all creatures." The brother said, "How can I deem myself less than a murderer?" The old man said, "When a man has …

For, with respect to what you say, that the aspect of an infant in the first days after its birth is not pure, so that any one of us would still shudder at kissing it, we do not think that this ought to be alleged as any impediment to heavenly grace. For it is written, "To the pure all things are pure." Nor ought any of us to shudder at that which God hath condescended to make. For although the infant is still fresh from its birth, yet it is not such that any one should shudder at kissing it in giving grace and in making peace; since in the kiss of an infant every one of us ought for his very religion's sake, to consider the still recent hands of God themselves, which in some sort we are kissing, in the man lately formed and freshly born, when we are embracing that which God has made. For in respect of the observance of the eighth day in the Jewish circumcision of the flesh, a sacrament was given beforehand in shadow and in usage; but when Christ came, it was fulfilled in truth. For because the eighth day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, was to be that on which the Lord should rise again, and should quicken us, and give us circumcision of the spirit, the eighth day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, and the Lord's day, went before in the figure; which figure ceased when by and by the truth came, and spiritual circumcision was given to us.

Ver. 15. "Unto the pure," he says, "all things are pure." Thou seest that this is said to a particular purpose. "But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure." Things then are not clean or unclean from their own nature, but from the disposition of him who partakes of them. "But even their mind and conscience is defiled." The swine therefore is clean. Why then was it forbidden as unclean? It was not unclean by nature; for, "all things are pure." Nothing is more unclean than a fish, inasmuch as it even feeds upon human flesh. But it was permitted and considered clean. Nothing is more unclean than a bird, for it eats worms; or than a stag, which is said to have its name from eating serpents. Yet all these were eaten. Why then was the swine forbidden, and many other things? Not because they were unclean, but to check excessive luxury. But had this been said, they would not have been persuaded; they were restrained therefore by the fear of uncleanness. For tell me, if we enquire nicely into these things, what is more unclean than wine; or than water, with which they mostly purified themselves? They touched not the dead, and yet they were cleansed by the dead, for the victim was dead, and with that they were cleansed. This therefore was a doctrine for children. In the composition of wine, does not dung form a part? For as the vine draws moisture from the earth, so does it from the dung that is thrown upon it. In short, if we wish to be very nice, everything is unclean, otherwise if we please not to be nice, nothing is unclean. Yet all things are pure. God made nothing unclean, for nothing is unclean, except sin only. For that reaches to the soul, and defiles it. […]

God has made all things pure. If anything is unclean, the use to which it is put makes it so.

For, as in the old Testament outward acts were attended to, so in the New Testament it is not so much what is done outwardly as what is thought inwardly that is regarded with close attention, that it may be punished with searching judgment. For while the law forbids the eating of many things. as being unclean, the Lord nevertheless says in the Gospel, "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but the things which come forth from the heart, these are they which defile a man." And soon after He added in exploitation, "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts." Hence it is abundantly indicated that what is shewn by Almighty God to be polluted in act is that which is engendered of the root of polluted thought. Whence also Paul the Apostle says, "All things are pure to the pure; but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure." And immediately, to declare the cause of this defilement, he subjoins, "For their mind and conscience is defiled." If, then, food is not impure to one whose mind is not impure, why should what with a pure mind a woman suffers from nature be reckoned to her for impurity?

Then when he says, all things are clean to the clean, he specifies the reason behind his statements, namely, how they turn one from the truth and how they repeat fables and commands of men, which are chiefly concerned with distinguishing between foods according to …

So then, foods are not clean or unclean by their own nature, but by the disposition of those who partake of them. The latter, being clean and pious, know that all things are clean, as the creation of God, and that only sin is unclean. …

But to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure - The apostle joins defiled and unbelieving, to intimate that nothing can be clean without a true faith: for both the understanding and conscience, those leading powers of the soul, are polluted; consequently, so is the man and all he does.

Unto the pure all things are pure,....

Unto the pure all things are pure - See the notes at Rom 14:14, Rom 14:20. There is probably an allusion here to the distinctions made in respect to meats and drinks among the Jews. Some articles of food were regarded as “clean,” or allowed to be eaten, and some as “unclean,” or forbidden. Paul says that those distinctions ceased under the Christian dispensation, and that to those who had a conscience not easily troubled by nice and delicate questions about ceremonial observances, all kinds of food might be regarded as lawful and proper; compare the notes at 1Ti 4:4-

I SHALL not profess, this evening, to enter into a full exposition of this text, for there are many deep things in it, and many intricate questions are suggested by it. I shall only make some observations upon it intended to be of practical service. This text has often been misused—made to mean what was never in the Apostle's mind. He does not mean that a wrong thing becomes right to a pure-minded man—that is the very opposite of what he does mean!

"To the pure" inwardly, that is, those purified in heart by faith (Ac 15:9; 1Ti 4:3), all outward things are pure; all are open to, their use. Sin alone touches and defiles the soul (Mt 23:26;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

I SHALL not profess, this evening, to enter into a full exposition of this text, for there are many deep things in it, and many intricate questions are suggested by it. I shall only make some observations upon it intended to be of practical service. This text has often been misused—made to mean what was never in the Apostle's mind. He does not mean that a wrong thing becomes right to a pure-minded man—that is the very opposite of what he does mean! He means that when men's minds are pure, other matters become pure to them, but when their minds are impure, then they use these things for impurity. We shall endeavor to pick out the meaning as we go along, but by no means does it mean that I may pretend that I am of a pure mind and that, therefore, will make impurity, itself, pure! That would be to prove, if I found any pleasure in impurity, that my mind was impure. The true solution of the conduct of a man who professes to be pure in mind and yet commits himself to an unholy course of life, is not that the man makes that unholy life, pure, but that his unholy living proves that his mind is not pure at all! Our text has in it, tonight, two kinds of men—the pure and the defiled and unbelieving. And secondly, it has two kinds of effects produced upon these men by outward things—to the one, all things are pure—to the other, there is nothing pure. First, let us talk about these— I. TWO KINDS OF MEN. First, the pure—where shall we find them? Where are they born? We answer, no men are born so! Who shall bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one! Not one! As our parents have sinned, we, their children, are born with tendencies to sin—we are impure even from birth! There are none pure but those who are made so by a second creation! The first time they are marred upon the wheel.

Unto the pure all things are pure - This appears to have been spoken in reference to the Jewish distinctions of clean and unclean meats. To the genuine Christian every kind of meat proper for human nourishment is pure, is lawful, and may be used without scruple. This our Lord had long before decided. See on Luk 11:39-41 (note). But unto them that are defiled - In their consciences, and unbelieving, απιστοις, unfaithful both to offered and received grace, nothing is pure - they have no part in Christ, and the wrath of God abides upon them. Their mind is contaminated with impure and unholy images and ideas, and their conscience is defiled with the guilt of sins already committed against God.

That red fire is only the flower on a stalk of living habits, which you cannot see. Only because your mother made you say 'Thank you' for a bun are you now able to thank Nature or chaos for those red stars of an instant …