Titus contrasts the pure with the defiled and unbelieving, saying nothing is pure to those who are defiled because their minds and consciences are defiled. He concludes that some profess to know God but deny him by their works. See Titus 1:15–16.
In Titus 1:15–16 the writer gives a final assessment of people whose religious talk sounds right but whose lives show corruption. He contrasts “the pure,” for whom everything can be approached cleanly, with people who are “defiled and unbelieving,” for whom nothing stays clean because the inner person is already polluted. These lines conclude a warning about disruptive teachers and households being overturned for dishonest gain (Titus 1:10–14). The writer has already tied leadership to both reliable teaching and visible character (Titus 1:5–9).
Titus 1:15–16 closes a warning about teachers whose influence harms households and communities (1:10–14). The passage draws a sharp contrast between “the pure” and “the defiled and unbelieving.” It claims that purity or defilement is not mainly about external objects but about the inner person: “mind” and “conscience” shape how everything is approached.
A common mistake is to turn the wording into a slogan. The better reading keeps the phrase tied to the passage, the speaker, and the problem the book is addressing.
Start with Titus 1:15-16, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
15To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
16They profess that they know God, but by their works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.