Why Should You Avoid Questionings in Titus 3:9?

  We have to pay attention to what we're actually spiritually eating.  I was listening to Life-Study of the Bible with Witness Lee last week, and this was the bottom line of Program 7.  And here's the connection--in Chapter 3 of his letter to Titus Paul gives him a strong charge:

But avoid foolish questionings and genealogies and strifes and contentions about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain.  Titus 3:9

    Before that verse Paul lists a number of positive things like our Savior God, God's kindness, love, mercy, grace, and eternal life. I like the way Witness Lee points out that this chapter shows us in our practical Christian experience what belongs to the tree of life (go back to Genesis 2) and what belongs to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

   The fact that Genesis portrays these two sources as fruit from trees gives us a big clue that we're either eating what's going to spiritually give us life or what's going to give us death.   Here's some excerpts from page 47 of chapter 6 of the Life-Study of Titus that helped me see this better:

The negative things dealt with in verses 9 through 11 should be avoided….Those matters are of the tree of knowledge that is deadening, matters that belong to the tree  of knowledge and kill their victims….The Lord's ministry is not the teaching of any individual. The ministry is the teaching of God's New Testament economy. This means that the Lord's ministry is the healthy teaching which conveys to us the New Testament economy….God's economy can be likened to a kernel or a grain….The content of the teaching of the New Testament economy is the all-inclusive Christ and the church as the Body of Christ. Any teaching that deviates from this central focus should be regarded as a differing teaching. (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Titus. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry. 1980, Print).

So to me this means you can either eat questionings about minor truths, get stuck in genealogies, and debates about the law, or you can eat the truths about God's love, grace, and life!  On the program the hosts likened that to eating the inedible parts of certain plants like their leaves or stems. 

Most people I know try to eat the parts of the plant with the most nutrition.  I like that our brother has helped open the truth what the kernel in the Bible actually is--he points out that it's  Christ who is now the life-giving Spirit living (1 Corinthians 15:45B) within our spirit (Romans 8:16) and the church which is the Body of Christ (Ephesians 5:32). I'm so thankful that these Life-Studies and broadcasts are so full of spiritual nourishment  and encouragement!  

You can  also listen to live excerpts from these messages on 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon on The Life-Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.  You will enjoy listening to both  the excerpts  from these spoken messages and the helpful and enlightening commentary of the radio hosts.

List of Other Life-Studies on 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, & Philemon:

What is Paul's First Exhortation in 1 Timothy 2:1?
How Can You Be Nourished With the Words of the Faith in 1 Timothy 4:6?
Looking at the Church's Decline in 2 Timothy
From the Life-Study of 2 Timothy - How Did Paul Inoculate the Church Against Decline?
Why is the Word Healthy Used So Much in the Epistle to Titus?
Why  Should You Avoid Questionings in Titus 3:9?
What Does the Account of Onesimus Show Us in the Book of Philemon?