COLOSSIANS & PHILEMON
Really Useful Guides
By Derek Tidball
Bible Reading Fellowship. 93 pages. £5.99
ISBN 978 0 857 467 300
This makes a good little introduction to Paul’s wonderful letter to the Colossians and its appendix, the plea to Philemon concerning his slave Onesimus.
It is ‘really useful’ for personal study and perhaps for teeing up a fellowship group leader whose people are grappling with Colossians. Tidball has a fascinating grasp of the epistle, and he also has enlightening insights into the background and locality of the church which the letter addresses.
Blind spots
However, as a ‘guide’, it must not be relied on too readily. There are some blind spots. Tidball has a tendency to be too much influenced by the drift of current society in his assessments. With the flimsiest of evidence from these two texts he seeks to promote women as church leaders. Why? Also he takes a pot shot at substitutionary atonement and tries to promote the Christus Victor teaching of the cross as being more apt.
This is an old stamping ground for some people and I would point readers to Bruce Ware’s book The Man Christ Jesus where, from the very text of Colossians, this approach is put in its rightful place as secondary. This also makes me wonder where the publishers, Bible Reading Fellowship, are coming from these days?
The little booklet is helpful, but all I would say is ‘keep your wits about you’.
