But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. Titus 3:9
One of the men I worked with never seemed to get much done. He would arrive at work barely on time, and before he could get started at his work, he had to go across the hall to pick up his mail. Then he had to go down the hall to the lunch room to make himself a coffee. After he came back with the coffee, a trip that also included a stop to check out something with one of the people in another office, he had to clean his glasses and tidy up his desk. Then, he had to check with the manager to make sure that he had the correct instructions for the day. Finally, he would sit down at his desk to get to work. But first, he had to phone somebody to make arrangements for getting home that evening, because he had dropped off his car at the repair shop. And then he had to call the repair shop to ask the mechanic to make sure to check the transmission fluid. And then he would get to work, but not before checking the schedule to see whether he was responsible for any of the office clean-up duties that week. Somehow, his entire day seemed to go like that, with one interruption or distraction after another. It was not that he wasn’t doing anything, in fact, he was very busy. He just wasn’t doing anything that was related to doing what he was being paid for as an employee. You and I can also be kept pretty busy as Christians, doing things that really don’t accomplish anything for ourselves or for the Lord.
The admonition against foolish questions is not referring to knock-knock jokes or riddles. It is referring to debates about useless matters, debates that eat up a lot of time and generate heated emotions but which resolve nothing worthwhile, if they resolve anything at all. Imagine how useless would be a Bible reading in which nothing was discussed but whether Jesus’ disciples all had beards. As our text says, that would be unprofitable. So would effort spent on genealogies, if it was spent at the expense of doing something more worthwhile.
There might actually be some personal enjoyment and benefit from a genealogy study, but there would be no benefit from contentions. The word here is speaking of disagreements, challenging one another as to our position or understanding about a spiritual matter. Some disagreements can be handled in an agreeable manner, and these do little harm. But when the disagreements and contentions involve strong feelings and harsh accusations, the harm is great. Strivings about the law are the worst because we are not under the law, and therefore the contention would be about a pointless issue. Paul would know all about such strivings about the law, because throughout his ministry he was dealing with false teachers who insisted that keeping the law was compulsory for every Christian.
There is enough worthwhile for us to do in our Christian service without getting involved in things that are unprofitable and vain. – Jim MacIntosh