For our postmodern world the very notion of objective truth is open to question if not ridicule. So in our current cultural climate of soft footings and cracking walls, Paul's unambiguous commitment to the church as "the pillar and foundation of the truth" is a timely metaphor. The apostle calls us to reconsider the architecture of a truly Christian worldview and to reexamine the gospel and tradition we have inherited.

In the letters to Timothy and Titus, Paul focuses on the idea of inheritance. The faithful, he writes, must guard and deliver the inheritance of gospel truth. Nearing the end of his life, Paul is intent on securing the heritage of gospel truth for the next generation.

In this Bible Speaks Today volume (previously released as a hardcover book with the title Guard the Truth), John Stott finds in 1 Timothy and Titus a dynamic truth that orders Christian life in the church, the family and the world. Here is the lucid commentary we have come to expect from Stott, ever faithful to the text and time of Paul's letters. But in a manner unique to Stott's role as a distinguished Christian statesman, this work's interpretive and pastoral voice remarkably echoes Paul for our own day. One generation speaks to another: "Guard the truth."

Author Information: John R. W. Stott is known worldwide as a preacher, evangelist and communicator of Scripture. For many years he served as rector of All Souls Church in London, where he carried out an effective urban pastoral ministry. A leader among evangelicals in Britain, the United States and around the world, Stott was a principal framer of the landmark Lausanne Covenant (1974). His books have sold millions of copies around the world and in dozens of languages. Whether in the West or in the Two-Thirds World, a hallmark of Stott's ministry has been expository preaching that addresses the hearts and minds of contemporary men and women. His life is the subject of a two-volume biography by Timothy Dudley-Smith, John Stott: The Making of a Leader and John Stott: A Global Ministry.