Having covered 1 Timothy 2:1–7, we’ll take time this Sunday to reflect more carefully on verse 4, where we’re told that God “desires all people to be saved.” The reality of hell and the persistence of unbelief prompt important questions about how we understand statements like this one—and as we’ll see, there are many such statements in Scripture. As I’ve prepared this week, I came across a poem written by John Ryland around the turn of the 19th century. It offers a rich and C

As your week draws to a close, allow me to pose a question for you to consider: What reality lays behind Paul's logic in 1 Timothy 3:6? He is describing necessary qualifications for a man who would lead as an Elder in God's church. Verse six gives this warning: 1 Tim. 3:6:  "He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil." What is it in a recent convert that would make one susceptible to conceit? Or conside