Cretans are ALWAYS liars

[TonyChanYT]

Was Paul aware of the Epimenides paradox when he wrote in Titus 1:

12 One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” 13a This saying is true.

Was this a hyperbole? Paul seemed so set on its literal truth.

We should not read the "always" here as a universal quantifier. It was hyperbole. Acts 2:

10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

These Cretans at the Pentecost spoke in tongues.

Was Paul aware of the Epimenides paradox or the liar's paradox?

Probably not, Wiki:

In the Middle Ages, many forms of the liar paradox were studied under the heading of insolubilia, but these were not associated with Epimenides.

Paul was not being philosophical in Titus. He was dealing with the practical issue of appointing elders for the churches in Crete. Titus 1:

5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

The original Epimeides text is assumed to be the following:

They [Cretans] fashioned a tomb for you [Zeus], holy and high one, Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies. But you are not dead: you live and abide forever, For in you we live and move and have our being.

The Cretans told wholesale lies about the mortality of Zeus. Being a poet (prophet), Epimeides used hypobole to defend Zeus' immortality. Paul warned Titus that the local Cretans habitually lied about their god.

 

[Bob Estey]

Was Paul aware of the Epimenides paradox when he wrote in Titus 1:


Was this a hyperbole? Paul seemed so set on its literal truth.

We should not read the "always" here as a universal quantifier. It was hyperbole. Acts 2:


These Cretans at the Pentecost spoke in tongues.

Was Paul aware of the Epimenides paradox or the liar's paradox?

Probably not, Wiki:


Paul was not being philosophical in Titus. He was dealing with the practical issue of appointing elders for the churches in Crete. Titus 1:


The original Epimeides text is assumed to be the following:


The Cretans told wholesale lies about the mortality of Zeus. Being a poet (prophet), Epimeides used hypobole to defend Zeus' immortality. Paul warned Titus that the local Cretans habitually lied about their god.

I've never met anyone from Crete.