These paragraph-by-paragraph commentaries have been written by modern scholars who are in touch with contemporary biblical study and also with the interests of the general reader. They interpret the words of the New Testament for the twentieth century in the light of the latest archeological, historical and linguistic research and are neither over-simplified nor abstruse and academic. The author of the Pastoral Epistles, I Timothy, II Timothy and Titus, seeks through pastoral advice to protect the heritage of Paul from partisan distortions. This commentary situates the letters in the period after Paul's death, when the church was divided by problems of indentity and doctrine. Professor Houlden employs careful, exacting scholarship as he demonstrates how these are also problems which trouble the church today. J.L . Houlden is Professor of Theology at King's College, London.