I’ve written an article on God’s Goodness in 1 Timothy, available for free in the latest Australian Church Record Journal.
Follow this link to download the journal in PDF format. My article starts on page 14.
Introduction
Paul’s first letter to Timothy is full of goodness. Terms for ‘good’ appear 25 times in the letter.
That should lead us to expect that 1 Timothy would bring us delight, joy, peace, and satisfaction in God’s goodness. But when we come to read or teach this letter, there’s often a measure of anxious apprehension. That’s because to our modern ears, some of the things Paul writes in 1 Timothy, especially about human relationships, sound naïve, harsh, or just plain bad.
In this short article, I want to help us to grasp the fundamental goodness of 1 Timothy. I want to help us to better know and share that delight, joy, peace, and satisfaction in God’s word and his world that resounds throughout the letter. Seeing this goodness in 1 Timothy can be challenging, as we grapple with our own and our modern world’s assumptions about what is truly good. But I’m convinced it’s worth the challenge.
… click here to read the entire article for free online.
There’s a wealth of other articles in the journal too, on relevant and current theological matters within evangelicalism:
- Editorial: Taste and see that the Lord is good – Mike Leite
- The law of the Lord is perfect – Andrew Leslie
- Created male and female: Reflections on Genesis 1-3 – Gav Perkins
- God’s goodness in 1 Timothy – Lionel Windsor
- Interview: William Taylor – Micky Mantle
- How to preach truth yet teach falsely – Mike Leite
- A God worth trembling before: Isaiah 66 – Craig Schafer
- Preaching a good and powerful word – Paul Grimmond
- Will we be teachers who tremble at His Word? – Phil Colgan
- Reflections: An interview with Phillip Jensen – Ben George
- Displaying God’s love daily: School chaplain interviews – Stephen Tong
- This is the Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God – Mark Earngey
- You are enough, and other lies we like to swallow – Jocelyn Loane
- Richard Johnson: Chaplain under fire – Stephen Tong
- From the vault: The evangelical heritage – Archbishop Howard Mowll
- From the vault: The cross and the resurrection – John Stott
- Book review: Eager to serve by Ray Galea – Ben Pfahlert
- Book review: The Doctrine of Scripture: An Introduction by Mark Thompson – Andrew Leslie
- Book review: The Life of Faith: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine by Peter Jensen – Sandy Grant
- Book review: Biblical critical theory by Christopher Watkin – Rory Shiner