The more things change, the more they stay the same.

That’s what Dr. Bob Black, religion professor at Southern Wesleyan University, discovered when he researched and published his commentary on First and Second Timothy last year for the Wesleyan Bible Commentary Series.

“It is surprising to see how many problems that the first century church dealt with are still problems for the 21st century church,” Black said.

“First and Second Timothy deal with the issues that a young pastor is facing – issues like false teachings, money and materialism, the role of women in the church, integrity in the ministry and reaching a society that does not want to hear the truth of the Gospel,” Black said.

Like many of his students at Southern Wesleyan, Black said that his biggest hurdle was finding time for the project.

“When you are teaching a full load of courses, advising students, and working on faculty committees, it is difficult to find time for research and writing,” he said.

Black said he has a desire for the church to be what Christ has called it to be.

“I have always had a love and admiration for the New Testament church, but I gained a deeper appreciation for it because of the research that I did for the commentary,” Black said.

“I’m convinced that we as Christians need to do more in-depth study of the Word. We need to go deeper than superficial Bible studies can take us,” Black said.