The Message of 1 Timothy & Titus

by Stott, John R. W.

• ISBN13: 9780830812479
• ISBN10: 0830812474
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Ivp Academic

Summary

For our postmodern world the very notion of objective truth is open to question if not ridicule. So in our current cultural climate of soft footings and cracking walls, Paul's unambiguous commitment to the church as "the pillar and foundation of the truth" is a timely metaphor. The apostle calls us to reconsider the architecture of a truly Christian worldview and to reexamine the gospel and tradition we have inherited.In the letters to Timothy and Titus, Paul focuses on the idea of inheritance. The faithful, he writes, must guard and deliver the inheritance of gospel truth. Nearing the end of his life, Paul is intent on securing the heritage of gospel truth for the next generation.In this Bible Speaks Today volume (previously released as a hardcover book with the titleGuard the Truth), John Stott finds in 1 Timothy and Titus a dynamic truth that orders Christian life in the church, the family and the world. Here is the lucid commentary we have come to expect from Stott, ever faithful to the text and time of Paul's letters. But in a manner unique to Stott's role as a distinguished Christian statesman, this work's interpretive and pastoral voice remarkably echoes Paul for our own day. One generation speaks to another: "Guard the truth."

Table of Contents

Author's preface	9	(5)
Chief abbreviations	14	(2)
Bibliography	16	(5)
The authenticity of the Pastoral Letters	21	(14)
The case for Pauline authorship	21	(2)
The case against Pauline authorship	23	(5)
The case for and against a pseudonymous author	28	(2)
The case for an active amanuensis	30	(5)
Conclusion	33	(2)
A. The Message of 1 Timothy: The life of the local church	35	(132)
Introduction (1:1-2)	37	(4)
Apostolic doctrine (1:3-20)	41	(18)
The false teachers and the law (1:3-11)	43	(7)
The apostle Paul and the gospel (1:12-17)	50	(6)
Timothy and the good fight (1:18-20)	56	(3)
Public worship (2:1-15)	59	(30)
Global concern in public worship (2:1-7)	60	(13)
Sexual roles in public worship (2:8-15)	73	(16)
Concluding questions	88	(1)
Pastoral oversight (3:1-16)	89	(20)
The overseers (3:1-7)	91	(8)
The deacons (3:8-13)	99	(3)
The church (3:14-16)	102	(7)
Local leadership (4:1-5:2)	109	(18)
The detection of false teaching (4:1-10)	109	(9)
The commendation of true teaching (4:11-5:2)	118	(9)
Social responsibilities (5:3-6:2)	127	(18)
Windows (5:3-16)	127	(8)
Presbyters (5:17-25)	135	(7)
Slaves (6:1-2)	142	(3)
Material possessions (6:3-21)	145	(22)
A charge about false teachers (6:3-5)	146	(3)
A charge to the Christian poor (6:6-10)	149	(5)
A charge to a man of God (6:11-16)	154	(6)
A charge to the Christian rich (6:17-19)	160	(3)
A charge to Timothy himself (6:20-21)	163	(2)
The Message of Titus: Doctrine and duty	165	(2)
B. The letter's main themes	167	(1)
Introduction (1:1-4)	168	(47)
Paul introduces himself	168	(2)
Paul addresses Titus	170	(2)
Paul wishes Titus grace from God	172	(1)
Doctrine and duty in the church (1:5-16)	173	(12)
The true elders (1:5:9)	173	(6)
The false teachers (1:10-16)	179	(6)
Doctrine and duty in the home (2:1-15)	185	(13)
The ethical duties (2:2-10)	187	(5)
The sound doctrine (2:11-14)	192	(6)
Doctrine and duty in the world (3:1-8)	198	(11)
Christians in public life (3:1-2)	198	(2)
Ingredients of salvation (3:3-8)	200	(9)
Final personal messages (3:9-15)	209	(6)
Study guide	215