I have enjoyed reading and listening to Timothy Paul Jones for some time now. He writes clearly and makes sense to me. He answers questions that I’m asking, but I can’t promise they’re questions that you are also asking!
He tells us a few things about himself here, and you might enjoy the chat between him and Jonathan Pennington in a Cars, Coffee and Theology episode.
I always enjoy hearing him tell the story of why he is known as Timothy PAUL Jones. I can’t find a link at the moment, but the short answer is that he was once engaged to write a book by a publisher who thought he was another Timothy Jones. When TPJ realised what happened he contacted the other TJ, who told him to go ahead and take it! But he decided that in future, he needed to clarify which Timothy Jones he is, by always adding his middle name.
The following is taken from his article What did Early Church Leaders believe about The Bible?
He tells us that that the earliest Christians believed that the Old and New Testaments—as they were originally written—declare what is true and describe accurately what happened in the past. He is happy to call the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments inerrant using John Frame’s definition of this word:
Inerrancy … means that the Bible is true, not that it is maximally precise. To the extent that precision is necessary for truth, the Bible is sufficiently precise. But it does not always have the amount of precision that some readers demand of it. It has a level of precision sufficient for its own purposes, not for the purposes for which some readers might employ it.
Jones gives six examples of Early Church leaders who had complete confidence in the Bible:
“You have searched the Scriptures, which are true and given by the Holy Spirit. You know that nothing unrighteous or counterfeit is written in them.” —Clement of Rome, letter to the Corinthians, first century
“All Scripture, which has been given to us by God, [is] perfectly consistent. The parables harmonize with the passages that are plain; and statements with a clearer meaning serve to explain the parables.” —Irenaeus of Lyons, Adversus Haereses 2:28, second century
“I am entirely convinced that no Scripture contradicts another.” —Justin Martyr, Dialogus cum Tryphone 65, second century
“The statements of Holy Scripture will never contradict the truth.” —Tertullian of Carthage, De anima 21, third century
“It is the opinion of some that the Scriptures do not agree or that the God who gave them is false. But there is no disagreement at all. Far from it! The Father, who is truth, cannot lie.” —Athanasius of Alexandria, Easter letter 19:3, fourth century
“I have learned to give respect and honour to the canonical books of Scripture. Regarding these books alone, I most firmly believe that their authors were completely free from error. If in these writings I am confused by anything which appears to me opposed to the truth, I do not hesitate to suppose that either the manuscript is faulty, or the translator has not caught the meaning of what was said, or I myself have failed to understand it.” —Augustine of Hippo, letter 82, fifth century