Author: Jim Cantelon

Key Verse: Hebrews 1:2-4 “[God] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He mad the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and of HIs power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” Instead of adding much comment to the above key verse(s), allow me to add two other passages from Hebrews: “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has...

Key Verse: Philemon 6: “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” It is obvious, as Paul writes to his old friend Philemon, that he had a great deal of respect and love for the man. Philemon must have been a special sort of person, a “kindred spirit” with whom Paul felt entirely comfortable. He talks with Philemon as old friends talk: kindly but to the point. Before he gets to the point, however, Paul prays for Philemon; that prayer is the key verse. What is of great interest...

Key Verse: Titus 3:14 “And let our people also learn to maintain good works to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.” The verb “learn” caught my attention as I read the key verse. The Greek word in the text is “manthano”, which in this application means “to learn by use and practice, to acquire the habit of, to be accustomed to.” What is it Paul wants “our people” to learn? He wants them to learn to “maintain good works”. Every activity undertaken for Christ’s sake is to be maintained, but this consistency...

Key Verse: Titus 2:13 “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ…” The key verse appears in the context of a paragraph which says, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “NO” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to...

Key Verse: 1 Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.” As pointed out in the introduction, the Pastoral Epistles were concerned about establishing and defending a sound Christian orthodoxy in the developing churches of Asia Minor. Even as Christianity spread, heresies (or false teachings) were spreading, just like weeds encroaching on freshly ploughed and planted garden. In this chapter, Paul encourages Titus to “silence” the false teachers (v.11). A significant factor in the...

Key Verse: 1 Timothy 4:16 “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” As stated in the introduction, these letters were written by Paul to Timothy when Timothy was less than twenty-five years old and pastoring the church in Ephesus. Being young in the ministry, then as now, could be a problem. There were lots of older “saints” in the congregation who thought they knew more than “the kid in the pulpit”. This is why Pauls says, “Don’t let anyone look down on...

Key Verse: 1 Timothy 3:16 “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.” What Paul is about to say is “without controversy” or “beyond all question” (NIV). He is about to quote part of what the majority of Bible commentators see as an early Christian hymn or liturgical creed. We don’t know the full text of the hymn, so we cannot speculate at context. What we do know is that these six statements,...

Key Verse: 1 Timothy 2:1,2 “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, the we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” In the world of Paul’s day, the common thing was to pray to emperors. Many Caesars of that time erected statues of the themselves and required, by law, worship from their people. To pray for an emperor therefore, was a radical and dangerous notion. There were two critical implications in praying for “kings and...

Key Verse: 1 Timothy 1:15 “This is faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” Paul is quoting something he, and presumably Timothy, have both memorized–perhaps it’s part of an early Christian creed or hymn: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” This “saying”, Paul says, is “faithful and worthy of all acceptance.” You can trust it. Let’s look at its component parts. The subject of the saying is Christ Jesus. The word “Christ”...