Amidst the steady increase of studies on believers as sons of God in Paul's letters, Colossians' development of this concept is the key to furthering the vision and concepts of sonship and filial identity. This book redresses the neglect of Colossians by investigating the character and function of believers' sonship in the letter, particularly as that is related to Christ's own filial identity and shaped by the Old Testament. Following a survey of sonship to God in the Old Testament and Judaism, Dr. Peter C. Moore examines Christ's sonship in the opening thanksgiving of Colossians, the poetic praise of 1:15-20, and the reference to circumcision in 2:11. These passages reveal Christ's sonship to be an integrative concept, encompassing his divinity and messiahship and drawing together multiple expressions of the Old Testament hope for Israel's redemption and creation's renewal. Building on this filial Christology, Moore traces the development of believers' sonship to God in the opening and body of Colossians. The author shows how Colossians routinely ties their sonship to Christ, the Son, conditions it by a similar complex of Old Testament promises and employs it for believers' protection and perseverance.

The book concludes by examining how Colossians' presentation of sonship supports, clarifies, and supplements the portrait of believers as sons elsewhere in the Pauline corpus.