The Pillar of the Truth: A Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles

by Douglas Wilson

The Pastoral Epistles -- 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus -- are the Apostle Paul's blueprints for the rapidly growing Church.

This readable new commentary The Pillar of the Truth gives background for the three letters, brings out parallels between the Apostolic age and Israel's time in the wilderness, and, in step-by-step fashion, shows how the Apostle Paul was preparing the nascent Church for institutionalization.

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction, Christian

158 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 8, 2017

About the author

I write in order to make the little voices in my head go away. Thus far it hasn't worked.

Reviews

[Becky Pliego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful! I love this one.

"One of the most important things we can learn from Scripture is how to see ourselves accurately in the story in which we find ourselves. What story is God telling, and how does it concern us?" (p.6)

[Ben Crouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical expository of the pastoral epistles. Will be a great reference resource many times in the future.

[Zack Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good commentary that was worth listening to on cannon+. But, I now want to get a physical copy for reference while reading in the future.

[William Schrecengost · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good commentary on the Pastoral epistles. It was good to have them applied to our current lives. Most of the letters are about church governance and in obedience and righteousness. It's actually a great place to go to when dealing with antinomians trying to argue faith without works using Paul's other writings. It's also interesting to read Rev 2 about Ephesus and read the letter to the Ephesians and the letters to Timothy. They have lost their first love, but still defend the doctrines well and seek after righteousness. I think this is a good caution that we need to make sure we're following God in our hearts as well as our minds and bodies. We need to make sure to foster a desire and a yearning to be near unto God. Keeping that first love burning as we obey Him.
This so far has been my favorite of Doug's commentaries. It's written like a commentary and he has lots of good insights on them. I kind of expected his insights to be good from the outset. Wilson is great for practical theology and he does pastoring right. So his thoughts here are really good. I've only read parts of his Revelation and 1 Corinthians commentaries, and so far I haven't been too impressed. His 1 Corinthians Commentary is a collection of exhortations sent to his congregants via email, and you can tell. He's also had some odd thoughts on different passages. The biggest one was the end of ch7. His Revelation commentary is better, but he formatted it in the same way as the 1 Corinthians commentary, so it's a little more difficult to use as an actual commentary. It does feel a lot like it's just a collection of exhortations even though I think that he wrote it as an actual commentary. This commentary on the Pastoral epistles was great though. He had all the different points flow together and he broke down each verse and gave overviews of the books and chapters. I haven't read any of his Hebrews or Ecclesiastes commentaries yet.

[Josh Dockter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This commentary on the pastoral epistles was just great. Wilson demonstrates that the apostle Paul had an actual point to what he was doing as he traveled around to churches and wrote his letters. Paul wasn't just on a feel-good circuit ride, spouting all sorts of lovely, fluffy cloud dreams. No, Paul was busy stirring up the right kind of trouble and institutionalizing the church.

If you are interested in how the church functions or feel God's call to be a pastor, elder, deacon, or widow then this book is for you. Weighing in at 150 pages this little spitfire of a book won't have you wandering around in the weeds but rather will spur you on to love Christ's church.

[Seth Mcdevitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great, concise, expositional/devotional commentary on 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. It helped me to think about some things in Timothy that I did not fully come to an understanding of in my initial studies of the pastoral epistles. If your teaching through timothy, this is a great resource. Even if you may disagree with some of Wilson's conclusions, it is worth your time.

[Jim Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very clear and very helpful.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots here to convict and instruct as a Christian and an elder. Practical, concise and clear.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

But then again, it was my first commentary, maybe they’re just not all that fun.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good. Listened to this on Canon+..

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brief but detailed commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, I recommend it.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brief but cuts through all the nonsense to what matters. Some verses I'd have liked more on though.

[Matthew Robison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good skim across the top of these letters. Short, but doesn't go into much depth.

[Jerome Bushnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great look into the how and why traditions of biblical leadership.

[Jon Anderson]

Good, concise commentary on the Pastoral Epistles. Covers the ground without getting tangled in the weeds, though the weeds are acknowledged. Don't agree with every interpretation or application but that is par for the course with most anything, especially commentaries.