Book of Titus - Ch. 1, v. 9

The Qualifications of an Elder in Titus 1:9

Alrighty, well if y 'all want to turn to Titus chapter 1, we will pick up right where we left off. Now from verses 7 through 9 in Titus chapter 1, it's one sentence, as is the case. There are places in many of Paul's epistles where he'll string together 7, 8, 9 verses in a single sentence, so that's always fun.

In this case, we have a single sentence taking up verses 7 through 9. Of course, verse 9 today will be in focus as we take a look at our final qualification prior to moving on to some of the more historical aspects of what's happening on the island of Crete at this time, as well as some of the doctrinal aspects as well of the letter itself.

So let's look at verse 7, of course we've already covered 7 and 8, but just for context sake as well as Paul's single thought, all being one sentence, it says, For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre.

Then he moves right into the virtues of the qualified elder in verse 8 and he says, But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

Teaching Skill as the Final Qualification for Elders

So here we are, the final qualification given in Titus, and this also begins our fourth and final category. If you guys recall, and you probably don't only because it's been so many weeks, but as we introduced the qualifications, the section verses 5 through 9 of the qualifications of an elder, we broke them down into four categories that Paul discusses before going, excuse me, we broke them into four categories that Paul discusses in these qualifications.

The categories are our own, of course, but just to help systematize it a little bit, the first section or the first category of these qualifications, which is covered predominantly in verse 6, is the elder's personal and sexual morality.

Of course, we learned him being a one-woman man, faithful to his wife, and then in verses 6 through 7, we covered category number 2, which was his family leadership. He has to be a good family leader in order to be qualified.

Then in verses 7 through 8, we saw the third category that we are discussing, or that we already discussed, which is his general character. Of course, that's where we find all of the negatives, the things that he can't be, as well as the positives, the virtuous aspects of being a godly elder, which we covered in detail the past couple of weeks.

That brings us to our fourth category, if you were to categorize these qualifications, and that is category number 4, teaching skill. This is what's discussed in verse 9. We've talked almost exclusively at this point about the character of the called man of God, with a few notes, of course, added regarding his duties as a pastor when we did our word study on the term bishop or episkopos.

It's this very character that is the foundation, and this is important, for the singular skill set that a pastor is mandated to have. Now, I may, depending on our time, discuss a few other what we might call good skill sets that a pastor could have, but there's only one that's mandated.

There's only one that's mandated in the qualifications given by Paul, and that's across all of the pastoral epistles. In that is teaching skill, his preaching and teaching skill. His character is the foundation, because, and of course, that's everything we've already talked about.

It's the foundation for this skill set, because his character, the pattern of his life, is the platform for his proclamations of the word. Preachers of the word, they have to articulate biblical truth from the platform of a virtuous life, which is what verse 8 was all about.

I think I'll talk about this a little bit later. I may have it in my notes. I can't remember. But technically, anybody can proclaim the word of the Lord. Anybody can speak biblical truth, but not everybody, in fact, very few, the considerable minority of people, can do so from a place of having practiced what they are preaching.

That's what I'm talking about here, the character that has been laid out in verses, well, verse 8 specifically, the virtues, but even the things that he's not, which are laid out in verses 6 through 7, all of that is the platform, it's the foundation for the singular skill set that the elder has, which is to be good at teaching and preaching.

So think about it.

Like I said a second ago, just about any person can take on a role of proclaiming the word, whether you want to call them a pastor or a minister of some kind, anybody can take it on. But it's quite a bit different if the person was actually living what they preached prior to preaching that sermon, or certainly practicing what they preach after the sermon is over.

And so godly character and preaching skill are totally inseparable for the qualified pastor. And the word qualified there is the word that we need to emphasize, because there are plenty of pastors that are fantastic orators, and yet they live a life of debauchery.

And so it doesn't matter how good a person is at preaching or proclaiming the word, that is not the marker of a qualified pastor. It's one of them, but it's not the one, it's not one that trumps all others.

Having good godly character, which is all the stuff we've been talking about, is totally inseparable from the skill set of being a good teacher or preacher. It doesn't matter how good someone is at talking, essentially.

They have to have the good godly character as well. And that brings us to our final qualification in Titus. So look at verse 9 one more time. It says, Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

Holding Fast the Faithful Word and the Sufficiency of Scripture

Now again, in the preceding verses we learned about what sort of character is required for the bishop or the elder, but in our verse here we learn of the singular skill as well as the primary duty of the pastor, and that is teaching.

Or more specifically, the ability to accurately handle the word in such a way as to both lift up the sheep and cut down the wolves at the same time, because Paul covers both in this same verse. Again, this is a skill set.

This is something that is learned through prayer and through the ongoing imparting of wisdom and ability by the Holy Spirit. When a man is in view for the eldership, because remember that's the immediate context we're talking about here, Titus is to be looking for men in view of the eldership, not necessarily.

Elders yet.

But when you're looking at a man in view for the eldership, and certainly one that's already ordained as an elder, this would be an obvious application to those already ordained, he must be able to exhort the flock, so that's like the positive side of this particular qualification, but also refute the false teachers that attempt to sway the flock in the wrong direction.

He has to be able to do both. Now, this is the, again, only qualification that Paul ever lists that requires a skill set that's learned over against good character traits that are gifts from the Lord.

So, you know, in many cases, a lot of the things that he talked about, that Paul talked about in verse 8, being a lover of hospitality, being a lover of good men, being sober, in other words, having self-control over his mind, being a just man, being a holy man, being temperate, all these things.

These can be character traits that the Lord just by his providence gave a particular person and they just have it in them. But in verse 9, we learn of something that has to be learned. There has to be some skill involved here that perhaps is imparted by the older generations of elders down into the younger men that are going to take the batons, just like Titus is doing here from Paul.

You know, a younger man, even if he is going to be, even if he is called to the ministry, even if he has all of these good character traits just built into him by the mercy of God and has what it takes, he still isn't going to know or be able to articulate truth as well as the elder of 20, 30, 40, 50 years.

And so this is a learned skill set. That's why we're calling it a skill set. It's something that takes work, it takes time, and it takes work. And again, that's over against the character traits that I would say are natural gifts from the Lord, spiritual gifts.

In nearly all of Paul's writings, interestingly enough, in the context of spiritual leaders, Paul is always emphasizing teaching. He always puts a special emphasis on the skill of teaching and there's a reason for that.

Why would it be?

Why is there a reason for it? Well, Paul, understanding that he wouldn't be able to write letters to every pastor throughout all of time, like he is for Titus here and Timothy as well, he's not able to give every pastor the same apostolic authority that he is passing on to Titus here, knowing that he could not do that.

He wanted every minister to understand that his authority comes from Scripture, that their leadership capabilities flow directly from the Word itself. And this is also, again, one of the primary reasons that God ordained the office of deacon in the first place as well.

Why do we even need deacons if these men of God, these elders, are so just full of these wonderful character traits and full of this skill of teaching the Word? Well, the reason why is so that these elders can have help caring for the flock enough to be in the Word often.

Because the first phrase that we're about to hone in in just a second is this phrase of holding fast the faithful Word. It begins there. It doesn't just say, be a good teacher or make sure the guy is a good teacher.

First, the thing that Titus needs to look for in these guys is whether or not they are holding fast to the Scriptures. We'll talk about that more in just a second. But again, this is why this is emphasized.

This is why Paul over and over again emphasizes teaching with the assumption that they are in the Word often. It's why the office of deacon was ordained so that elders could be in the Word often. Their study of the Word is what helps the congregation grow.

It is also what exposes the sin of their congregation because as the overseer of their flock, he needs to make sure that any little sin habit, any little thing that any part of his flock is having trouble with needs to be preached out of them or counseled out of them if it needs to go beyond that.

In other words, the preaching isn't just for fun. It is fun, but it's not just for fun. It helps them grow. It exposes their sin because we don't want our flock carrying around the dead man more often than they need to be, which is never.

They never need to be. Like Brother Rocky said, it's probably going to happen, but that doesn't mean it has to.

Happen.

And so as the overseers, we want to make it as, I'm speaking as a man, in human terms, we want to make it as possible for our flock to not have to be living in sin. We want to make it as possible as we can.

And so when the Word is preached effectively, done by a man that is in the Word often, it helps them grow, yes, and that's the part we can all celebrate and often. The part that we don't talk about always is the fact that it also exposes sin at the same time.

So that's the second purpose of it. And it also, thirdly, and very importantly, it shows us the revealed purposes of God. We often talk about God's secret will and his revealed will. The secret part is that which is human history as it unfolds before us.

The election results was the secret will of God until we knew it, until it wasn't. However, the revealed will is right here. We've had it for 2 ,000 years in its completion. And without the effective preaching of the Word and without the men of God being in the Word often, how are we going to know what his revealed purposes are?

They're there. We just have to actually be in it to know it. So that's a third purpose, that the elders need to be clinging to the Word of God so that they can impart that as well. But with all this in mind, I want you guys to consider that the first phrase in the verse, look at it one more time, is this.

I said it a second ago. Holding fast the faithful word. That is the beginning. And if you want to look at just this singular verse isolated for just a second, not to say we're taking it out of its context, but just for a second, Paul has a thought here.

It's an argument, if you will. And the foundation of this thought is holding fast the faithful word. So before the elder can be useful in any real sense at all, before a man that calls himself pastor, because there are some out there that are pastor in name only, but even the ones that are called, how can the flock discern who's real and who isn't?

Before an elder can be useful, before he can be good at teaching, he has to first cling to the Word himself. He has to study it tirelessly. That's what it means to hold fast the faithful word. Again, you can have orators that are more skilled than all of the legitimately called men of God, but it is meaningless.

Any ministerial endeavor that doesn't first start with the guy that's in charge holding fast the faithful word, clinging to it, it's all going to be nothing but mire sooner than later. For the pastor to cling to the Word is the foundation for everything related to ministry.

You can have as many events, you can have as many activities, you can have as many classes, as many worship services as you want, and that may attract people for a time. But the study of the Word by the men that are in charge, namely the elders, is the root cause of any sustainable, and that's the key word there, any sustainable positive effect.

There can be positive effects in the short term. You can do things the way the world likes to do them, and you can have some success, quote unquote, in their eyes, whether it be in numbers, whether it be in just the talk around town.

Hey, did you all hear about, you know, insert name of church and the events they put on and the things they were doing? It was it was wonderful. There were, you know, tons of great things happening. So there could be short term side effects of doing things the world would prefer to do them that seem positive by man's standards.

But the study of the word, which which is so simple, so foundational, it's the ABCs of being a Christian, certainly the ABCs of being a pastor. The study of the word is the root cause of any sustainable positive effect.

The types of stuff that will be around when we're in the grave and our great grandkids are in this church. It begins with the study of the word. If a pastor or the elders of a local body are not holding fast to the word, then they have no business teaching the word.

So one might wonder, why would a person even want? Because we do have this this blight of pastors so called across the country, probably all throughout the West, that aren't clinging to the word. And they're they're filling the shoes of a man of authority because that's what they like, but not doing it for for God's reasons.

And so you have all of these you have all these guys in the layman across the country can see it. I mean, it's it's pretty it's pretty obvious. And so a person might ask, why would anyone even want to be a pastor if he's not interested in immersing himself in the word, clinging to the very book that he's supposed to be teaching in the first place?

And interestingly enough, I believe it all comes back to something we talked about a week ago yesterday at our first men's fellowship here at church. We talked about the sufficiency of scripture. I believe it all comes back to that.

I think it comes back to the sufficiency of scripture and whether or not the pastor of any given church actually believes in it. Because if not, then he most likely won't be holding fast to the faithful word if he doesn't think it's sufficient, if he thinks that he is able to find success in doing anything and everything other than clinging to the word and deriving his methodology from that, then, of course, he's not going to be clinging to it and he's going to be putting all of his focus on the other extracurricular things if I could put them in those terms.

Turn to Psalm 19 for just a second, because what I want us to do, just brief parenthetical here, is see one of the passages that the Bible where the Bible talks about this idea of it being all sufficient.

Because if the Bible says that it's all sufficient, then it is. And then it doesn't matter whether or not pastors across the country believe in it or not, what's going to happen is when they remove themselves from this idea of the exclusivity of scripture and the sufficiency of scripture, their efforts will be chaff in the wind in the long term.

The sneaky part about the way the devil does things is that, again, there can be short term positive side effects, and I say positive side effects from man's viewpoint. And so that can get people riled up, really excited, thinking, oh, this is the way we should be doing things, obviously.

But again, it comes back to being sustainable in it for the long haul. The Puritans did everything with their great, great, great, great grandkids in their mind. And I'm not even exaggerating when I say that they understood that they were responsible for the generations to come.

It's not about the next 15 minutes, the next year, the next five years. It's about the next hundred years. It's about setting the stage for sustainable growth in the Lord so that your great, great grandkids can be warriors in this battle until the Lord comes back.

Look at Psalm 19 in the first six verses of this psalm. It's an amazing psalm because it's about David talking about the sufficiency of God's word of the scriptures. But he begins with this introduction in the first six verses on the creation, on God's handiwork, on the heavens declaring the work of God and the glory of God.

But then when you get to verse 7, he shifts his focus to the word and he says, the law of the Lord in verse 7 is perfect, converting the soul. Now, remember, law, prophets, as it is written, phrases like that, psalms, the precepts, all of these are synonymous with scripture.

These are all terms synonymous with scripture as a whole. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord, another variation of scripture, is sure, making wise the simple.

The statutes, there's another one. The statutes, another variation of scripture, of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord, another variation of scripture, is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments, there's another variation of scripture, another aspect of scripture, rather. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter than honey of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them, by them, thy servant warned, and in keeping them, there is great reward. And so in David's mind, God's word was sufficient for everything that he would do, everything he would need to do, everything for having the knowledge that God intends for us to have, maximal knowledge in this lifetime.

And that's the key part of that phrase, in this lifetime. All of that comes from scripture and from scripture alone. And so that's what the that's what the pastor, that's what the elder, that's what the bishop needs to keep in mind.

What it means to hold fast to the faithful word is to understand and to have faith in the fact that God's word is the sufficient instrument that you need for everything else, everything that flows from his ministry.

When you're dedicated to the sufficiency of scripture and you cling to it, like Paul exhorts these men of God to do, you then have the ability to do two very powerful, very important things. When you believe in the sufficiency of scripture, when you have faith in God's word, you have these two very powerful abilities that not very many people have, and that is to exhort and to refute.

To exhort your brothers and sisters, to lift them up, to strengthen them. We're going to look at the word exhort in just a minute, but to refute those that contradict God's word, to refute those that want to add something to it, to refute those that want to convince people that they need to modernize, that they need to be in keeping with the times, and that these words were written 2000 years ago, not considering things like monogamous same-sex marriages.

Paul didn't know that we would become so civilized as to have this new thing out in.

The future.

So when he condemns homosexuality, he was talking about this, that, and the other. You see my point? These are the types of things that come from so-called pastors across the country that don't believe in the sufficiency of scripture.

But when you do, you can exhort and you can refute. You can wield the two-edged sword with accuracy, not just clunking it around, hitting things accidentally. You can hold it. You're trained with it.

You actually have sword skill with the word of the Lord. But likewise, any pastor who doesn't teach sound doctrine derived from scripture, because that's the next important thing. In other words, they're not accurately handling his word.

They're going to be in very serious trouble. In James chapter 3, verse 1, I'll just read it really quick. James says, My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

Think about that warning for just a second. Yes, there is an attractiveness to the office of elder because there is a God-given authority in it. If men that walk around, maybe with some natural leadership capabilities, and they want that to be manifested in the office of elder, they're attracted to it.

But James says, Guys, listen, don't let many of you become teachers because we're going to have the stricter judgment. It takes a lot of work to not be condemned extravagantly by the Lord for mishandling his words.

So please don't think that you need to go out there and all start becoming teachers because the judgment will be stricter. And so for all of the guys out there that aren't handling God's word or Lord forbid adding to it, they have something very serious coming their way.

Unless, of course, by the Spirit's mercy, they're awakened to it and they confess that and repent of it. Hebrews 13, 17, which is a loaded verse, we've looked at it probably three times in this study because there's different things to pull out of it.

It says, Obey them that have rule over you and submit yourselves. So first of all, this is one thing we've already talked about, is the man behind the pulpit should be worthy of obedience. And the congregation, if you want to talk about some of the mandates of the members because they have mandates too, they have imperatives given by God, one of them is to obey the men that hold the office of eldership.

The thing is, though, God puts a very high responsibility on the men in that position. It's not like they get to walk around saying, Hi, people have to obey me. No, they have to be worthy of obedience.

What is being worthy of obedience? It's being a loving shepherd that actually cares about the people and ensuring that they're being cared for. And so that's how the verse starts. But look what it says after that, for they watch for your souls is they that must give account.

Again, this is a very serious venture here. These men that walk around and want to so casually throw verses out of context and create pet doctrines based on a couple of verses that were the whole context isn't taken into consideration.

Perhaps again, they want to add to the word and say, we need to add this, that and the other in order to have a successful church. They're going to have to give account for that. They're going to have the stricter judgment.

The word of God is faithful to us. And so the least that a pastor should do is to be faithful to it. And in order to exhort and sound doctrine, not to mention the rebuking of those who contradict that doctrine, as Paul says to do at the end of verse nine, it is paramount that the elder is faithful to the word.

When a pastor holds or clings to the faith and to the word. He is a truly wise pastor. He can then start imparting wisdom to the congregation, beginning with his own wisdom. And he is then able to begin giving them knowledge of scripture.

He's able to give them the truth of scripture in context as God and the original writers intended it. And not again, these weird pet doctrines and interpretations and ideas that are taken from cherry picked verses out of context, which is another egregious pulpit crime that is committed week after week after week across the country, but I imagine across the world as well.

And so that's verse nine, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that they may be able by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. I suppose I'll say one last thought before I end with a quote that I'd like to give you all is number one, the word gainsayers is kind of an old English term.

It's simply referring to someone that contradicts. So we need to be able to refute those people that walk around contradicting things in general, but certainly contradicting the word of God. Now, the way that this last phrase is worded, that he may be able by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

It sounds as if because of the translation that Paul is saying to exhort and convince the same group of people. But it's interesting, dad, you remember, you know, in first Peter chapter one, how for some reason, a lot of not all of them, but a lot of translations will change the order of the words there.

The elect strangers, you know what I'm talking about? And so you've pointed out many times, if you look at the original Greek in the word order that's in that in the text, the words aren't in the order of most English translations.

And it can in because of the English translations, it could give a slight misrepresentation. You can still get the sense of the idea of Peter, but there are some people that abuse the misrepresentation that's given there.

And therefore, you go back to the Greek text and you see what the intention of the author was. And you have a similar phenomenon here in verse nine, where the English translation in the KJV here is just a little bit interesting.

It makes it sound like Paul's talking about the same group of people. But if you read it and I went and you can look at some literal translations, I gave daddy Young's literal translation for his birthday.

I have one by one called Green's literal translation. And what they do is they go back to the Greek and it reads a little bit more awkwardly because keep in mind, a literal translation isn't always the best translation.

The best translations are those that take what the what was spoken in the original tongue and transferred into the language of another group of people in the way that they can understand it in the way that flows the best in their language.

And so a good translation, that's how it'll be for the most part. And so I'm not advocating you need to go get a literal translation and use that because it's closer. That's not it at all. But sometimes you can use it as a study tool.

And for this particular verse, it's helpful. And it makes it very clear when you look at the wording in the word order of the original Greek text that Paul is talking about exhorting those that you have the rule over.

In other words, your congregation, your brothers and sisters. So those are who you are. Those are who you exhort. Those are who you come alongside. The Greek word for exhort is interesting because it means to come alongside a person and strengthen them.

Parakaleo is the Greek word. And it's a compound word, as we've already talked about a number of compound words in this study. The word para means to come alongside and kaleo means to call someone close.

Or it can be translated to strengthen. So you come alongside someone and strengthen them. The Holy Spirit is called the paraklet. And para, same thing, comes alongside and then the comforter is the other Greek term.

So para, to come alongside someone. And so this word exhort means to come alongside someone and strengthen them. So we are exhorting our people. We're coming alongside you and we're strengthening you using what?

The word, the faithful word that we cling to. But then it switches and there's a second group of people and that's the gainsayers. The ones that contradict. We are to convict those people. We are to refute those people.

We are to use the other edge of the sword, if you will, to refute or convince the gainsayers. And so, again, that is what Paul is talking about in verse 9. Two groups of people, you do two things. The pastor can do two things when he accurately handles the word of the Lord.

He lifts up the sheep. He cuts down the wolves. He exhorts his people. He refutes those that contradict. It's a two-edged sword. Let me end, and of course, we have time for some thoughts and things like that, but let me end with a quote from Calvin in his commentary on Titus.

On this particular verse, and let me just read it, and then I'll give you just a couple of brief thoughts. He says, quote, this remarkable applause bestowed upon the word of God when it is pronounced to be sufficient, something Calvin believed in, not only for governing the teachable, but for subduing the obstinacy of enemies.

Notice his recognition of the two-edged sword. It's not just to strengthen or to govern the teachable, but to subdue the enemies of the Lord. And he continues, quote, and indeed, the power of truth revealed by the Lord is such that it easily vanquishes all falsehoods.

All right, so there's his thoughts on what the pastor can do when he accurately handles this weapon. And then listen how he applies it to his day, excuse me, how he applies it to the enemies of his day.

Let the popish bishops now go and boast of being the successors of the apostles all they want, seeing that the greater part of them are so ignorant of all doctrine as to reckon ignorance to no small part of their dignity.

So the gainsayers, the bishops of the Church of Rome were the gainsayers in Calvin's day. The pope himself was the gainsayer of Calvin's day. And he says, let them call themselves the successors of the apostles all they want.

They don't believe in the sufficiency of scripture and look at the result. And so that is verse nine. We had a little bit of extra time. I probably could have gotten into verse 10 a little bit, but that's all I had prepared for today.

Do y 'all have any thoughts, anything y 'all would like to share as we have now concluded the qualifications of the elders, at least in Titus? Yes, sir.

I was responding to an old excuse when you were talking about the first Peter facet where it changes the order. Where is that in Titus?

I don't know why I had it. It's verse nine. It's Titus 1 .9. And I had put Green's literal translation in my notes and I guess I took them out for some reason. I don't remember why or I would have just read it.

But in verse nine, and I'll say this too, there are... Here, let me do this really quick. Let me see if I can just pull it up because this will make it easier for y 'all to hear. Or yeah, to hear what I'm talking about.

Titus 1 .9. Okay, so here's how it reads in the KJV. Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. If you just read that briskly, it sounds like there's one group of people in view, the gainsayers.

But a more literal translation that takes into account the word order in the Greek would read like this. Holding fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able to both exhort in sound doctrine.

So exhort in sound doctrine, that's one thing, and to reprove those who contradict. So you're exhorting with sound doctrine. Who do you think is in view there? God's people. They're the ones that need the sound doctrine.

They're the ones that you come alongside and strengthen with sound doctrine. That's what the Greek word for exhort means. So obviously, that's talking about God's people. But in addition to that, you reprove those who contradict God's word.

And so that's the verse I was talking about, Dad. The in the TR, the word order makes it a little bit more clear that Paul is distinguishing between two groups of people, whereas in just the KJV, it sounds like he's talking about just the gainsayers.

But I wanted to bring that out just so you all were aware that this is a text regarding the two-edgedness of the sword. It has a twofold purpose. It condemns and it saves.

It does both.

And here's an example of that. So any other thoughts, any other questions, or anything like that before we dismiss a little early today, perhaps? Yes, ma 'am.

I think just the idea that it's worse than what I've been doing.

Where's that?

Jump 38.

Yeah, no, that's. No, that's a wonderful, that's a wonderful thought there. Colleen and I agree. You see this theme of admonishment, of exhortation, of all these things throughout all of Scripture, Old and New Testament.