Pastoral and General Epistles from the New Testament: A Latin-English, Verse by Verse Translation

(This work includes Latin-English versions of 1 and 2 Timothy; Titus; Philemon; Hebrews; James; 1 and 2 Peter; 1, 2, and 3 John; and Jude.) These twelve letters, tucked into the New Testament between Paul's longer correspondence and the Book of Revelation, are far from popular today. A world obsessed by lust, intent on throwing off all restrictions, finds these Pastoral and General Epistles offensive. Churches that reduce the gospel to a feel-good message and turn Jesus into a libertine find the letters at best outdated, and at worse, positively wrong. Today's Christians want to invent a new way, rather than be reminded of a way that is at least as old as the church itself. That, I believe, is precisely why we need to hear them anew. In the Pastoral and General Epistles, the austere purity of the Christian way is expressed clearly. The Roman era which these letters addressed was, like ours, marked by brutal lust, accompanied by the breaking down of time-honored values and systems. When everything seemed up-for-grabs, the simplicity of the gospel lived out by pure hearts offered an alternative that endured, long after the chaos of the times had been swallowed up in history. These letters still sound a call to a different way of life, embodied in Christ, ordered in the Word, and rooted in the Holy Spirit. For those humble enough to lay aside their own lusts and live by the gospel standard, that way remains as powerful as ever.