Solid exposition of pastoral letters

Living Today with an Eye for Eternity: Studies in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus Raymond O. Bystrom. Kindred Productions, 2007. 299 pages.

This latest edition in the Luminaire Studies series will serve Mennonite Brethren and the wider church community in understanding and applying the pastoral letters (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus). It’s a timely work in light of recent MB discernment regarding specific 1 Timothy passages about women and ministry.

Living Today with an Eye for Eternity is Bystrom’s second contribution to the Luminaire Studies; his first was God Among Us: Studies in the Gospel of John. A former pastor and now retired professor of pastoral ministries at MB Biblical Seminary, Bystrom brings with him a solid combination of scholarly skill and pastoral experience that makes this particular work both insightful and genuinely practical to pastors, small group leaders, and other students of Scripture.

The commentary is divided into 13 chapters (six and four on the letters to Timothy, three on Titus). As with other Luminaire volumes, Bystrom unfolds the flow and form of the biblical text, explains it, and then provides teaching/preaching points and personal reflection questions. The narrative style allows for smooth reading. I would have relished more of Bystrom’s illuminating illustrations; the two I encountered really helped me flesh out the particular Pauline admonitions under examination.

From a theological perspective, this work is stimulating and perceptive. There are points of Greek exegesis but nothing to be afraid of as Bystrom does a commendable job helping readers grasp the meaning and function of original words in their specific settings. Although clearly conservative and evangelical in nature, those searching for overt expressions of, or allusions to, Anabaptist thinking will come up wanting. Passages like 1 Timothy 2:2 (on living peaceful lives), 2 Timothy 1:8 and 2:3 (on suffering/hardship), 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 (on Scripture), and Titus 1:7 (on leaders living non-violently) could have been fertile ground for planting some seeds of Anabaptist thinking.

Bystrom’s grand intent for this commentary is that readers learn “what it means for us to be God’s people today.” To a large extent, Bystrom accomplishes this goal, even though at times the personal reflection questions don’t seem to penetrate past the facts to engage the heart.

The portion of Bystrom’s work that left me disappointed, however, was his assertion that pastors “seldom preach” from the pastoral letters. Bystrom suggests pastors are disinclined to preach from them because they challenge the presuppositions and preoccupations of the faith community, implying pastors are reticent to stir the waters of traditional belief within the church. He goes on to posit “many contemporary preachers shy away from these letters. They assume that, if Paul did not write them, they have no value for the church.”

I find this premise weak. Most collections of the sacred text have one scholar or another questioning and challenging authorship. Are most pastors then afraid to preach the Bible at all? One is left to feel preachers are a spineless lot. On both counts, I found his generalizations less than helpful.

Some readers will be unsettled by Bystrom’s ruminations regarding the Christian community and “a sectarian attitude toward the world.” This review doesn’t allow for lengthy engagement here other than to say, by connecting Christian education (I’m assuming he means elementary, high school, and college education) with “a code of purity, advocated by Paul’s opponents,” Bystrom has set the table for some heated dialogue.

With some minor reservations, I commend Living Today with an Eye for Eternity as a solid expositional work. Bystrom covers the bases needed for all resourceful commentaries and does so coherently, effectively, and thoroughly. We are well served by his sensible engagement of Scripture and his counsel on how to apply it to our contemporary time and place.

Philip Gunther is pastor at Parliament Community Church, Regina, and has taught the Pastoral Epistles at Nipawin (Sask.) Bible School.