Titus For You

By

Tim Chester

 

Titus! I love this little Pastoral Epistles written by Paul tucked away between 2 Timothy and Philemon. It’s only three chapters long yet how edifying to read. It’s actually my favorite. In this book Titus For You containing 200 pages, you will be excited of all the pearls of wisdom you will discover from Tim Chester. I’ve read many books on Titus over the past two years now and every author seems to have his own perspective or point of view on what Paul is saying. I found Chester’s view to resonate deeply with the Scriptures and within my soul!

First of all I especially appreciate the way he takes the time to divide the three chapters to unify them for the glory of God.

Chapter one is about keeping the Gospel central

Chapter two is about ensuring the Gospel is central in everyday living

Chapter three is about ensuring the Gospel is central for the sake of the mission.

What we are essentially seeing in this Epistle according to the author is that Paul is focusing on disciplining the people with the Gospel. Paul desires for Titus to bring order by disciplining people through the Word for mission.

Chester develops the Epistle by going through many verses explaining them in a clear precise way that is easy and comprehensible. You couldn’t call this a verse-by-verse commentary but somehow I found it more in debt and profound then some other commentaries that I have studied on Titus. I say this because of the way Chester brings everything together when he explains specific points just by using other verses and explaining it straight forward. He does a great job in bringing out important insightful points that we too often neglect the pertinence because we read it so fast. Example:  he shows us clearly how Jesus’ first coming was an act of grace yet His second coming will be an act of glory for God.

I also appreciated the way he reminded us that the glory of God is a threat to those who do not know him. This sometimes is a detail I tend to forget when I ponder on Gods glory. Because I am a Christian I seem to always think of nice things when I think of glory and God. But not so if you’re not a Christian!

His last chapter: Stress These Things, Live These Things, I found particular encouraging. I loved how in the end it boils down to how we are to treat people the way Jesus treated people. That is, with humility and gentleness! If we are honest, this is a bit radical for some of us in our culture today where freedom of speech, our opinions and pride override those wonderful virtues that may seem for some of us, out of date. Yet, as we clearly see in Titus chapter 3 they are still to be lived out today for the children of God.

After ever section you have a few questions to help you meditate more deeply on what you’ve just read. I believe this helps the person who desires to dig deeper into the Word, it’s the extra nudge.

It’s a marvelous book on Titus and one that I intend to keep close at hand as a reference book. As of yet in my many readings this is the first version I have had of this venue and it fits really well with what I read that Don Carson briefly wrote about in – An Introduction to the New Testament, in the section about Titus.

I leave you with these two awesome quotes:

“Grace does not simply prepare us for the future age (by saving us from God’s judgment). Grace also shapes our lives in the present. The gospel is good news for the last day. But it is also good news for the next day.”

“God’s kindness is seen in the sending of his Son and the sending of his Spirit, so that we might share in the rebirth of all things.”

Ann L Beaulieu

*I have received a free copy by Cross Focus. However I am under no obligation to write a positive review. These are entirely my own personal opinions and thoughts expressed according to my own discernment.