Fully Alive

Huw Williams | March 2015: Highfields Book of the Month

By Larry Crabb - (2013) Grand Rapids: Baker

Crabb is dedicated to hearing God's voice in the Bible and is quite prepared to reject every other assumption we have made, if necessary. It is wonderfully clear and incisive teaching. 

"So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them." (Gen 1:27)

What did God mean when he created men and women in his own image? What does it mean to even begin to live as the kind of men and women God created us to be? Before I read this book, I thought I could have a pretty good shot at answering those questions. I'd read the usual stuff. I could tell you what complimentarian and egalitarian means. I could even tell you which one I was.

Now on the other side of reading this book, I know that in fact I didn't have a clue. And I now realise that I was very much part of the wider problem in the contemporary church as to knowing (or not) the difference between biblical teaching and general assumptions when it comes to understanding biblical manhood and womanhood.

In Part 1 of 'Fully Alive', Larry Crabb begins at the beginning (imagine that) with a very readable but theologically solid look at how Genesis 1 and 2 define manhood and womanhood, and how men and women are designed to display the beauty of God in their unique ways. It is a refreshing way to begin a book on this subject, Crabb is dedicated to hearing God's voice in the Bible and is quite prepared to reject every other assumption we have made, if necessary. It is wonderfully clear and incisive teaching.

Having established the Bible's definitions, Crabb then goes on to work out the effects of the fall on our persons, in an examination which goes right to the heart of all our relationships in typically profound and helpful ways. As usual with Larry Crabb, it doesn't always make for comfortable reading, but for the open and honest reader it makes for a powerful invitation to repentance. Parts 3 and 4 of the book show us how reclaiming the kind of God-displaying life (being 'Fully Alive') we were created for is possible, only through the life of the Spirit in the gospel of Christ.

I read this book months ago, and find that I am still profoundly moved by it as I continue to mull it over, apply it and prove it in daily life. 'Fully Alive' is the kind of book I want to buy for everyone I know who might read it - yes, I think it is that important. I am convinced that Crabb exposes crucial issues in this book which are too important to ignore, not least the fact that while the church fails to engage with what it truly means to be human, to live out God's plan for us as men and women, we do ourselves, our church families and all those around us a tragic dis-service. It is simply inadequate to reduce these issues to controversies over theological positions.

I cannot commend this book to you highly enough. I have to be honest, I am giving up reading most contemporary Christian writers these days, older books do me so much more good; but I am always glad to make an exception for Larry Crabb. And I am especially grateful that I did for this book. Read it.