Released in the UK January 1970
Released in the US January 1970
Large trade paperback | 256 Pages
9781857924916 • £7.99 $12.99
BISAC – REL006070
The Reality is Christ
Derek Tidball
The Church in Colosse was facing many challenges
- peripheral ideas about angels and fasting were starting to dominate the agenda.
- women were to be treated as equal, with mutual responsibility between the sexes
- respect for slaves needed to be applied in a society whose masters had total control.
Today's society is similarly taken up with angels; 'higher' forms of spirituality, gender roles, and the world of work. These can critically distract the church and make it lose sight of the fact that Jesus is sufficient for a fully-developed life.
Paul reminded the Colossians of Jesus' unique person (being both God and man), of his work on the cross, of his exaltation to the supreme place in the universe. In short, that Jesus was all they needed. In coming to know him, they had been given new life which not only produced a new relationship with God, but also new relationships between believers, be it that of male and female, parents and children, or masters and slaves.
Christians today have to affirm the reality of Christ in these same key areas.
Derek Tidball
Derek Tidball is visiting scholar at Spurgeon's College, London. Previously, he served as principal of the London School of Theology, where he lectured in pastoral theology. He is appreciated as a Bible expositor at conferences and conventions for which he is much in demand.
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Christian Focus
"Billed as readable, reliable and relevant commentaries for lay people, Christian Focus' 32 Bible studies aim to combine substance with simplicity. Derek Tidball's study of Colossians is very readable but profound, and comes "thoroughly recommended" by Spring Harvest regular Stephen Gaukroger."
"Commentaries on Bible books seem to fall into one of two errors. They are either wonderfully scholarly but with relatively little contemporary application or they are humorous and interesting, but sit fairly loosely to the inspired text. Derek Tidball's book on Colossians helpfully avoids both these traps. Derek's clear, thoughtful and sensitive scholarship makes sure that we genuinely understand what Paul really meant to say to those early Christians in Colosse. Our understanding of the first century times and of this small church will be greatly enhanced by this book. However, Derek is unwilling to leave us in the first century. The book provides helpful illustration and application to real life at the end of the twentieth century. I thoroughly recommend this book to all those who have a passion for God's word, and an equal passion to see it lived out and applied in personal lives and churches'. Everywhere."
Stephen Gaukroger
Director of Clarion Trust International