Straightening Out The Self-Centred Church: the message of Titus
By John Benton
Evangelical Press (Welwyn Commentary Series). 191 pages. £6.95
ISBN 085234 384 1
There is an introduction, 11 short chapters and an appendix on bringing Christ to the workplace. The overall idea is that Paul wrote the letter to encourage practical Christian living by closing the gap between belief and practice. The modern church, like the Cretians, is self-centred, 'me' orientated and, like the Cretians, needs the truth of God, applied by the Spirit, to produce practical godliness. This is then seen as Christians devote themselves to doing good, in the home and in society.
The verse-by-verse comment is practically and relevantly applied. It is liberally illustrated with many stories e.g. skyscrapers, the market, the wheelbarrow, the air crash, etc . . . There are lots of sound-bites too, like: 'Pure subjectivism logically leads to silence,' and 'to train people to spot counterfeit banknotes, set them counting genuine ones. He applies the text well to modern culture but occasionally goes too far, e.g.: 'Crime statistics are related to unemployment,' as a comment on chapter 2, verses 9-10.
