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W.H. Griffith Thomas
William Henry Griffith Thomas (1861–1924). Born on January 2, 1861, in Oswestry, Shropshire, England, W.H. Griffith Thomas was an Anglican clergyman, scholar, and author influential in evangelical theology. Orphaned young, he worked as a clerk before studying at King’s College London and Christ Church, Oxford, earning a BA in 1895 and a DD in 1906. Ordained in 1885, he served as a curate in London and vicar of St. Paul’s, Portman Square, gaining renown for expository preaching. A key figure in the Keswick Convention, he emphasized holiness and biblical authority. In 1905, he became principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, training clergy, and in 1910, he moved to Canada to teach at Wycliffe College, Toronto. Co-founding Dallas Theological Seminary in 1919, he shaped its dispensationalist ethos. His books, like The Principles of Theology and The Catholic Faith, clarified Anglican doctrine. Married to Alice Monk, he had one daughter and died on June 2, 1924, in Philadelphia. Thomas said, “The Bible is not merely a book to be read, but a voice to be obeyed.”
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W.H. Griffith Thomas emphasizes the importance of faith, love, and hope in the Christian life, highlighting how faith looks backward and upward, love looks outward, and hope looks forward. While faith accepts and love works, hope presses toward the future, especially in anticipation of the coming of the Lord. Faith is rooted in a person who promises, while hope is focused on the fulfillment of those promises, making them essential components of a complete Christian life.
Faith, Love and Hope
"Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven..." (Col. 1:4-5). Faith rests on the past, love works in the present, and hope presses toward the future; or, faith looks backward and upward, love looks outward, and hope looks forward. These three constitute the true, complete Christian life and not one of them should be omitted or slighted. We are only too apt to emphasize faith and love and forget hope but, inasmuch as hope is invariably connected with the coming of the Lord, "that blessed hope" (Titus 2:13), it is a vital part of our Christian life. Faith accepts, hope expects; faith appropriates, hope anticipates; faith receives, hope realizes; faith is always and only concerned with the past and present, hope is always and only concerned with the future. We know that faith comes by hearing; we shall find that hope comes by experience. Faith is concerned with a person who promises, hope with the thing promised; and faith is the root of which hope is a fruit.
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William Henry Griffith Thomas (1861–1924). Born on January 2, 1861, in Oswestry, Shropshire, England, W.H. Griffith Thomas was an Anglican clergyman, scholar, and author influential in evangelical theology. Orphaned young, he worked as a clerk before studying at King’s College London and Christ Church, Oxford, earning a BA in 1895 and a DD in 1906. Ordained in 1885, he served as a curate in London and vicar of St. Paul’s, Portman Square, gaining renown for expository preaching. A key figure in the Keswick Convention, he emphasized holiness and biblical authority. In 1905, he became principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, training clergy, and in 1910, he moved to Canada to teach at Wycliffe College, Toronto. Co-founding Dallas Theological Seminary in 1919, he shaped its dispensationalist ethos. His books, like The Principles of Theology and The Catholic Faith, clarified Anglican doctrine. Married to Alice Monk, he had one daughter and died on June 2, 1924, in Philadelphia. Thomas said, “The Bible is not merely a book to be read, but a voice to be obeyed.”