In Good Company

For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.  Titus 3:3  NASB

Disobedient, deceived, enslaved – “Foolish” keeps company with a host of friends.  You remember that Greek term anóētos with all its nuances.  Well, Paul provides a list of some of the compatriots of anóētos.  The first three are apeithḗs, planáō, and douleúō.  Each one is a useful test of memoir progression.

“apeithéō. This word means ‘to be disobedient’ and is a significant term in the LXX for disobedience to God.”^[1]  In Paul’s Jewish Greek, this term must be applied directly to ignoring or violating Torah.  Moses sets the standard.  The positive root (pĕithō) is about persuasion, being convinced, and, as a result, believing, that is, relying on God and His instructions.

planáō means to be confused, to cause to stagger, to be lead astray, to wander.  But again, we note the relationship with Moses.  The Torah might scald you in order to set you straight, but God’s instructions are intended to direct your path, avoid falling down, and stop your wandering.

douleúō should be easily recognizable.  It’s simply “to be a slave.”  Anything that prevents the freedom of God’s design and intention in your life is enslaving.  Wherever God can’t operate without restraint, douleúō is probably present.

Paul’s clarification of “foolish” digs a little deeper into that mirrored persona.  Maybe you had some intimate familiarity with one of these three bedfellows.  Maybe there was a painful past, hopefully fading from view.  Don’t be too hard on yourself.  As Paul points out, we too were once sleeping with the enemy.  All of us.  Pŏtĕ, he writes.  “At some time in the past.”  Thankfully, pŏtĕ.

I find it perhaps too easy to remember what that was like.  A pang here and there, but sometimes a kind of nostalgia.  That’s a little wake-up call.  Slavery wasn’t any fun, even if I sometimes want it back.  Living in the wasteland is hard.  So much easier to just be told what to do when, even if it’s the yetzer ha’ra who’s giving the instructions.  Yes, in pŏtĕ I had some unhealthy bedfellows I used to call good company.  Now I know better.  But it took a long time to wake up.

Topical Index:  apeithéō, disobedient, planáō, stagger, lead astray, douleúō, slavery, Titus 3:3

^[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume (p. 819). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.