Justin Huffman is an American pastor who trained at Reformed Theological Seminary. He has written this short and easy-to-read book to encourage churches to be healthy.
The book draws out lessons from the second chapter of Titus and systematises them into a memorable and logical structure. It is not a commentary but rather is concerned to show that ‘Titus 2 contains a summary overview of life in a healthy local church’ (p.2).
He uses a helpful illustration of a flower. Each chapter teaches one major truth for a healthy church and is represented by a part of the flower. The personal authority of Jesus is the soil that the flower grows from: life for the church does not come from efficient business organisation strategies, but from Jesus Christ. The roots of the flower must be in the absolute authority of the Word of God. The stem of the flower is the authoritative preaching of the Word.
The last two chapters describe the flower itself. The centre of the flower is the church believing the gospel, and the petals radiating out from sound gospel convictions represent the full-orbed godliness of the church. This last chapter has to deal with the vast majority of the actual text of Titus: both personal godliness and the importance of mentoring. ‘It becomes a priority for every church to facilitate the training and opportunities needed for effective life-on-life discipleship’ (p.78). It also emphasises the importance of godliness in the home ‘so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour’ (Titus 2:10).
Nathan Pomeroy
Nottingham
