Letters That Continue to Speak II: Letter to a Student of Divinity

John Newton is best known today for his hymn, Amazing Grace. But in his day, he was better known for his letters. Christians, pastors, and others would write to him for pastoral advice. In our ongoing series about timeless letters from the past, we will spend a large percentage of our time reading his letters. In part, because he was so prolific in his letter-writing—but lots of people have written lots of letters; the bigger reason we will spend so much time on his letters is that so many of them are incredibly beneficial to us.

For our first letter, we are looking at correspondence between Newton and a young man training for ministry. The young man is concerned that he is growing in knowledge, but his spiritual maturity is not keeping pace. Newton encourages him, saying this is something to be worried about, and gives practical help in continuing his pursuit of Christ.

Every week, we will spend some time introducing you to the author of the letter we are looking at. For Newton, we have a special opportunity. When creating our second study, Behold Your God: The Weight of Majesty, two of the historical introductions covered the life of John Newton. To help you become better acquainted with him, we have linked those videos in the show notes below.

Read this week’s letter here: Extract of a Letter to a Student of Divinity

Read the letter we will discuss in next week’s episode here: Grace in the Blade

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