The Bible in a Year

New Testament

I Thessalonians 3 to Titus 3
Read this coming week:
May 30 2 Sam 16‐17, Ps 119:161‐168, 1 Thess 3‐5 May 31 2 Sam 18‐19,
Ps 119:169‐176, 2 Thess 1 Jun 1 2 Sam 20‐21, Ps 120, 2 Thess 2‐3 Jun 2 2
Sam 22, Ps 121, 1 Tim 1‐3 Jun 3 2 Sam 23‐24, Ps 122, 1 Tim 4‐6 Jun 4 1
Kgs 1, Ps 123, 2 Tim 1‐2 Jun 5 1 Kgs 2, Ps 124, 2 Tim 3‐4 Jun 6 1 Kgs 3‐4,
Ps 125, Titus 1‐3

Reading Questions
For next week you’re reading I Thessalonians 3 to Titus
3. Answer the following:
• What does Paul say he doesn’t need to teach the
Thessalonians because God has already taught
them (I Thess 4)?
• What does Paul say is at stake concerning Jesus
and His message?
• What are some of the characteristics of “the man
of lawlessness”?
• What seem to be some of the issues that Paul is
advising Timothy concerning in I Timothy 1?
• What is “the good fight of faith” in I Tim 6?
 • What does Paul say regarding “words” vs. “deeds”
in II Tim?
• II Tim 3:16 is another important “3:16”, why?
• Compare the qualifications in I Tim 3 and Titus,
what are the same, different?
The Pastoral Epistles
As Paul went on his missionary journeys, he would often
recruit or leave behind certain leaders who would
function as pastors for the new mission plant churches.
It appears that in addition to Timothy, a young pastor
from Ephesus, and Titus, an older missionary pastor to
Crete, Paul had left behind or sent people like Apollos in
Corinth and Epaphras in Colossae.

Timothy and Titus, however, are two men whom we

have record of Paul’s teaching and apprenticeship
program for the office of pastor. In these three books,
we get a picture of what it meant for these men to be
pastors in their day – and that picture is not so different
today.

As you read these verses, consider what ministry life

may have been like for young Timothy in the first letter,
and then what must have happened in the years
between the first and second letters to Timothy (likely
about 3 or 4 years). Consider what it must have been
like for Titus to minister to the Cretans and what that
would have been like. In all of it, consider how God
continues to support His church through calling both
clergy and laity to uphold the truth of Christ.
Please don’t throw this away. If you’re not going to use it, leave it for
someone else to use.