As a consequence of all this, there is a contradiction between what they profess and what they do. For profess see “made … confession” in 1 Tim 6.12. Profess to know God means to openly express faith, allegiance, and loyalty to God. So one can say “They claim to know God” (Good News Translation) or “They say that they believe and worship God.” In their profession of faith they are believers, as contrasted to the heathen around them. But in terms of their actions, they are as bad as unbelievers, if not worse.

For deeds and any good deed, see 1 Tim 2.10. For deny see “disowned” in 1 Tim 5.8. They deny him by their deeds may also be expressed as “but what they do shows that they really don’t know him.”

The word translated detestable occurs only here in the New Testament. It is derived from a verb that means to detest something because it is abominable; the word therefore means “abominable,” “abhorrent,” “repulsive,” “appalling,” or “disgusting.” The passive form of the verb may suggest that God is meant to be the agent, that is, it is God who detests these people, and in languages that will need to make the subject or agent of “detest” explicit, one may say “God detests such people.”

For disobedient see 2 Tim 3.2. In the present context it most likely refers to disobedience to God. For unfit see “counterfeit” and comments in 2 Tim 3.8.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• They say that they know God, but the things they do show that they don’t really know him. God detests these people. They won’t obey him, and they are so worthless that they are incapable of doing good.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to Titus. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .