"Pauline Christology" by Gordon Fee

I treated myself to the latest book from the wonderful Gordon Fee - "Pauline Christology - An Exegetical/Theological Study" - as a treat for getting my full time job in Birmingham and am immensely enjoying it. Any fans of Fee's "God's Empowering Presence" will want this latest book as he fashions it in a similar and outstanding way. He carefully works through all the Pauline texts dealing with the Person and work of Christ just as he did in "GEP". However he has made a few subtle touches which make the book far more readable and accessible including putting the English translation of the Greek words that he uses.

There will be some areas of disagreement which will be no surprise to anyone who is familiar with Fee and his viewpoints. One particular area that interested me was how he wrote with and dealt with the "Subordination of Christ to the Father". While I am nothing compared to Fee's awesome intellect and command of the Bible, I was a bit bothered by the way that he seemed to be arguing against the fact that Christ is subordinate to the Father because of the whole issue of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. (Many will be aware that Fee was a consulting editor on the book, "Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity Without Hierarchy").

That difference aside, the book is a glorious wealth of insight into the Person of Jesus Christ and what He has and is accomplishing for us - at Calvary in the past and in heaven ruling and reigning in the present. I have put my particular favourite quotes on the "Underlined Bits" blog - which focus particularly on the work of the Holy Spirit causing us to cry out "Abba! Father!". This quote in particular moved me greatly;

"Here is the ultimate evidence that we are God's own children; we address God with the same term of intimate relationship that Jesus Himself used. We are not slaves but children. The Spirit has taken us far beyond mere conformity to religious obligation. God Himself ... has come to indwell His people and He has sealed that relationship by given to them the language of His Son, the language of personal relationship. For Paul and us this is the ultimate expression of grace".

It is an outstanding book and one that I know I will end up referring to as often as "God's Empowering Presence" and I heartily recommend it to anyone and everyone who desires to understand a little more about Jesus Christ - our Lord and our Saviour.

I note that Gordon Fee will be shortly publishing "Galatians - a Pentecostal Commentary" which will also be on my must-have list!