Colossians and Philemon

The Knowing the Bible series is a resource designed to help Bible readers better understand and apply God's Word. These 12-week study lead participants through books of the Bible and are made up of four basic components: (1) Reflection questions help readers engage the text at a deeper level; (2) 'Gospel Glimpses' highlight the gospel of grace throughout the book; (3) 'Whole-Bible Connections' show how any given passage connects to the Bible's overarching story of redemption, culminating in Christ; and (4) 'Theological Soundings' identify how historic orthodox doctrines are taught or reinforced throughout Scripture. With contributions from an array of influential pastors and church leaders, these gospel-centered studies will help Christians see and cherish the message of God's grace on each and every page of the Bible. The books of Colossians and Philemon complement each other as two New Testament texts that gloriously display the gospel and its implications for how God's people should live today. Written around the same time, both letters resonate with the apostle Paul's overriding passion to magnify Jesus Christ as the supreme manifestation of God's redemptive purposes.

Christopher A. Beetham (PhD, Wheaton College) is senior editor of biblical languages, textbooks, and reference tools at Zondervan Academic. Previously he taught for a decade at the Evangelical Theological College and the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, both in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is the author of Echoes of Scripture in the Letter of Paul to the Colossians and Colossians and Philemon, and editor of The Concise New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis.