8 An elder must be ready to help people by welcoming them into his home. He must love what is good. He must be wise. He must live right. He must be devoted to God and pleasing to him. And he must be able to control himself.
9 An elder must be faithful to the same true message we teach. Then he will be able to encourage others with teaching that is true and right. And he will be able to show those who are against this teaching that they are wrong.
10 This is important, because there are many people who refuse to obey—people who talk about worthless things and mislead others. I am talking especially about those who say that men who are not Jews must be circumcised to please God.
11 These people must be stopped, because they are destroying whole families by teaching what they should not teach. They teach only to cheat people and make money.
12 Even one of their own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars. They are evil animals and lazy people who do nothing but eat.”
13 The words that prophet said are true. So tell those people that they are wrong. You must be strict with them. Then they will become strong in the faith,
14 and they will stop paying attention to the stories told by those Jews. They will stop following the commands of those who have turned away from the truth.