The Word of God played a large role in how Dr. Jones came to saving faith. The sufficiency and veracity of Scripture had always been a point of contention in his unbelieving mind. After having come to saving faith, he realized that if the Bible were true, it must be authoritative. If it were authoritative, it had to be binding. If it were binding, it was critical to know and understand its contents, so he could get his life into harmony with the Truth. He thus began a life-long effort to know and understand the Word of God.

The translation version that Dr. Jones prefers is the New American Standard, since its goal is to be a word-for-word translation of the original, inspired autographs (2 Tim. 3:16-17). He appreciates that others do not share his zeal for this translation.

Early in his life as born again, he had the privilege of taking New Testament Greek through his local church in San Antonio, TX. This has been of great utility to him in his systematic study of books of the Bible. He commends the acquisition of this skill to all believers, asserting it is not only pastors, but rank and file Christians, who need these skills. The Logos Library program affords a ready access to the Greek text.

As a faculty member of the college of which Dr. John MacArthur is president, naturally he has an affinity for the ministry of Grace to You and Grace Community Church. Of additional interest is the website of Phil Johnson, Executive director of Grace to You. There is a plethora of theological reading, spanning the spectrum of excellent to "really, really bad theology" available through this site.

Dr. Jones has long been a fan of the late Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, whom he considers, along with Dr. MacArthur, to be the best contextual exegetes of the twentieth century. These two lovers of God's word do the best, in his estimation, of having their exegesis conform to the context of the verse. Whereas, Dr. Lloyd-Jones and Dr. Jones would come down differently on eschatological issues, his soteriological insight as revealed through his commentaries, particularly Romans, is masterful to say the least.

Al Martin of Trinity Baptist Church of Montville, NJ has been of great encouragement to Dr. Jones over the years. Dr. Martin is another faithful handler of the word of God. It was Pastor Martin's tapes on the pastorate that prevented Dr. Jones from entering the pastorate, because he lacks some of the critical qualities he would have needed to be successful in that ministry. I shall be forever indebted to Pastor Martin for being used of God to keep me on the professional track that is best suited to me.