Lectionary Calendar
Friday, August 29th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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Chinese NCV (Simplified)

提多书 3:9

你要遠避愚昧的辯論、家譜、紛爭和律法上的爭執,因為這都是虛妄無益的。

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Genealogy;   Minister, Christian;   Preaching;   Strife;   Vanity;   Thompson Chain Reference - Avoid Evil;   Exhortations;   Foolish Questions;   Questions;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Doctrines, False;   Genealogies;   Strife;   Vanity;  

Dictionaries:

- Easton Bible Dictionary - Titus, Epistle to;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Timothy, the First Epistle to;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Genealogies;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Fable;   Timothy, Epistles to;   Titus;   Titus, Epistle to;   Vanity;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Angels;   Fool;   Genealogies;   Gnosticism;   Ignatius;   Philosophy;   Timothy and Titus Epistles to;   Titus;   Zenas;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Genealogies;   39 War Fighting;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Apostolic Age;   Avoid;   Fable;   Genealogy;   Pastoral Epistles, the;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Church Fathers;   Jerome (Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius);   Polemics and Polemical Literature;  

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
要 远 避 无 知 的 辩 论 和 家 谱 的 空 谈 , 以 及 分 争 , 并 因 律 法 而 起 的 争 竞 , 因 为 这 都 是 虚 妄 无 益 的 。

Contextual Overview

9 But stay away from those who have foolish arguments and talk about useless family histories and argue and quarrel about the law. Those things are worth nothing and will not help anyone. 10 After a first and second warning, avoid someone who causes arguments. 11 You can know that such people are evil and sinful; their own sins prove them wrong. 12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to stay there this winter. 13 Do all you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey so that they have everything they need. 14 Our people must learn to use their lives for doing good deeds to provide what is necessary so that their lives will not be useless. 15 All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

avoid: Titus 1:14, 1 Timothy 1:3-7, 1 Timothy 4:7, 2 Timothy 2:23

unprofitable: Job 15:3, 1 Corinthians 8:1, 1 Corinthians 13:2, 2 Timothy 2:14

Reciprocal: Mark 7:7 - in vain Acts 18:15 - a question Romans 2:8 - contentious 1 Corinthians 3:12 - wood 1 Timothy 1:4 - endless 1 Timothy 1:6 - turned 1 Timothy 6:4 - words 1 Timothy 6:20 - avoiding 2 Timothy 2:16 - shun

Cross-References

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "You gave this woman to me and she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it."
Genesis 3:13
Then the Lord God said to the woman, "How could you have done such a thing?" She answered, "The snake tricked me, so I ate the fruit."
Genesis 3:17
Then God said to the man, "You listened to what your wife said, and you ate fruit from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat. "So I will put a curse on the ground, and you will have to work very hard for your food. In pain you will eat its food all the days of your life.
Genesis 3:19
You will sweat and work hard for your food. Later you will return to the ground, because you were taken from it. You are dust, and when you die, you will return to the dust."
Genesis 3:20
The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
Genesis 3:21
The Lord God made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife and dressed them.
Genesis 4:9
Later, the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" Cain answered, "I don't know. Is it my job to take care of my brother?"
Genesis 11:5
The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built.
Genesis 16:8
The angel said, "Hagar, Sarai's slave girl, where have you come from? Where are you going?" Hagar answered, "I am running away from my mistress Sarai."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But avoid foolish questions,.... Such as were started in the schools of the Jews; see 2 Timothy 2:23

and genealogies; of their elders, Rabbins, and doctors, by whom their traditions are handed down from one to another, in fixing which they greatly laboured; see 1 Timothy 1:4 and contentions and strivings about the law; the rites and ceremonies of it, and about the sense of it, and its various precepts, as litigated in the schools of Hillell and Shammai, the one giving it one way, and the other another; and what one declared to be free according to the law, the other declared forbidden; which occasioned great contentions and quarrels between the followers of the one, and of the other, as both the Misna and Talmud show: and agreeably to this sense, the Syriac version renders it, "the contentions and strifes of the scribes"; the Jewish doctors, who were some on the side of Hillell, and others on the side of Shammai; as well as went into parties and strifes among themselves, and oftentimes about mere trifles; things of no manner of importance; wherefore it follows,

for they are unprofitable and vain; empty things, of no manner of use, to inform the judgment, improve the mind, or influence the life and conversation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But avoid foolish questions and genealogies - See the 1 Timothy 1:4 note; 2 Timothy 2:16, 2 Timothy 2:23 notes.

And contentions, and strivings about the law - Such as the Jews started about various matters connected with the law - about meats and drinks, etc.; the notes at 1 Timothy 1:4; compare the notes at Acts 18:15.

For they are unprofitable and vain - - They disturb and embitter the feelings; they lead to the indulgence of a bad spirit; they are often difficult to be settled, and are of no practical importance if they could be determined. The same thing might be said of multitudes of things about which men dispute so earnestly now.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 9. Avoid foolish questions, and genealogies — In these the Jews particularly delighted; they abounded in the most frivolous questions; and, as they had little piety themselves, they were solicitous to show that they had descended from godly ancestors.

Of their frivolous questions, and the answers given to them by the wisest and most reputable of their rabbins, the following is a specimen:-

Rabbi Hillel was asked: Why have the Babylonians round heads? To which he answered: This is a difficult question, but I will tell the reason: Their heads are round because they have but little wit.

Q. Why are the eyes of the Tarmudians so soft?

A. Because they inhabit a sandy country.

Q. Why have the Africans broad feet?

A. Because they inhabit a marshy country. See more in Schoettgen.

But ridiculous and trifling as these are, they are little in comparison to those solemnly proposed and most gravely answered by those who are called the schoolmen. Here is a specimen, which I leave the reader to translate:-

Utrum essent excrementa in Paradiso? Utrum sancti resurgent cum intestinis? Utrum, si deipara fuisset vir, potuisset esse naturalis parens Christi?

These, with many thousands of others, of equal use to religion and common sense, may be found in their writings. See the Summa of Thomas Aquinas, passim. Might not the Spirit have these religious triflers in view, rather than the less ridiculous Jews? 1 Timothy 1:4; "2 Timothy 2:23".

Contentions, and strivings about the law — Of legal contentions, and different and conflicting decisions about the meaning of particular rites and ceremonies, the Talmud is full.


 
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