Further, this change is progressive. Having this in the soul, one is entitled to have it in the body also at His coming. (iii) Paul then turns to the greatest problem of all--the relationship between slave and master. When the apostle was told to wash away his sins, calling on the name of the Lord, blood does not seem to have been meant, but water. In Christ all these barriers were broken down. The New Testament is unsparing in its condemnation of the gossiping tongues which poison truth. Its basic idea is the desire for that which a man has no right to have. Now he may have the blessed enjoyment of communion with Christ, but it is a Christ crucified on earth. Colossians 3 I. Colossians 3:2 says, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things," or, as the NET puts it, "Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth." To set one's mind on something is to choose to think about it, influencing one's goals and guiding one's course of action. In point of time the world had grown comparatively old before Jesus appeared. It, therefore, represents more fully than any other of Paul's epistles his doctrine of the person and preeminence of Christ. Can we speak it, remembering that he will hear?" And it's beautiful. But for all that a gap was left on which, when filled up, types might more or less bear, wholly different from the history, and not more answering to the prophecy. Christian life and growth come from God through a direct relationship between the believer and Christ. In it is another kind of blessedness and glory; for it a new order of existence appears; and not least of all beings we ought to understand this difference. May the word of Christ dwell richly in you with all wisdom. The Jew looked down on every other nation. "Know this," he said, "no whoremongers, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. But don't lose touch with the chap in front of you.' Indeed we may say that Paul presents the gospel as the display of divine righteousness beyond all, while he alone develops in his epistles the mystery of Christ and the church. He who keeps fast Christ thus, in conscious union with Him, could never be craving after angels. They had done with Him, and, as far as will was concerned, they had done with Him for ever. But, even in making your living, if you will do things heartily as unto the Lord, it will open up many opportunities for you to witness. Treasures are often hidden for the sake of keeping them safe. Matthew Henry :: Commentary on Colossians 3 Chapter 3 I. But God has even now a far greater purpose at heart. And perhaps this may be the key to what we are next told: "And ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea." The slave must not be content with eye-service; he must not work only when the overseer's eye is upon him. Now, you may be making your living by working there at that office, or factory, or wherever. Since men have a certain knowledge of Christ's death, they are striving to die. He does not mean, as he does a little afterwards, depraved appetites, which reign in earthly men, nor even riches, or fields, or houses, nor any other things of the present life, which we must, use, as though we did not use them,(1 Corinthians 7:30) (433). Such is not the Christian life, which is really the life of Him that died and rose again. Pleonexia ( G4124) is basically the desire to have more. III. They have undoubtedly taught that which is consistent with it and even supposes it. In the one they are waiting to be taken to heaven in an actual sense; in the other they belong already to heaven by virtue of their union with Christ. Ought I not to wait to enter the same glory with the Christ of God? "You must not only seek heaven; you must also think heaven." How is it?" No doubt Simon the Pharisee was a good man; but Jesus was more than good, he was chrestos ( G5543) . Such is God's word, and are we, or are we not, entitled to say so now? We should be like a dead thing to it, unmoved and unaffected towards it. To a Jew a man of any other nation was unclean; when he became a Christian, every man of every nation became a brother. I wonder, then, if we can read Col. 3:4 as referring to the present and future before the parousia. The Christian ethic is one of mutual obligation, in which the rights and the obligations rest with every man. Am I to court the honour of those who refused Christ, and gave Him a cross? Now comes the positive character to be borne) "Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved." The whole point therefore of this epistle is a recall to Christ Himself, because of what had crept in through Satan's wiles. Wherein is the difference? So it is said here, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." THE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS OF THE CHRISTIAN ( Colossians 3:18-25 ; Colossians 4:1 ). Since we are raised from the death of sin, and are made to live anew, the great object of our contemplation should be the heavenly world. The Father has made them meet already for the inheritance of the saints in light; and this, too, fully taking into account the awful state of the heathen world, and their past personal wickedness when drawn to God in the name of the Lord Jesus, "who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love: in whom we have redemption [through his blood, is added to the Ephesians] even the forgiveness of sins.". The Holy Spirit brings in that which completely judges and sets aside all such speculations. In it there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free man. Without Him all sinks at once into dissolution. And as if this were not enough, we are farther told that He is before all things, and by ( ) Him all things consist. It introduces another situation Paul assumed to be true for the sake of his argument (cf. Had they prayed more, the result might have been to better purpose. No one, no thing, can add to Christ's power, lustre, or value in any one respect. Satan being invariably the personal and persistent antagonist of Christ, whatever is God's purpose in Christ becomes peculiarly the object of Satan's hatred and hostility. Masters, on your part provide for your slaves treatment which is just and equitable, and remember that you too have a master in heaven. This is a very good general rule: "Be as much in earnest for heavenly and eternal things, as ye formerly were for those that are earthly and perishing.". And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. He it is, the Holy Spirit of God, who we are warned not to grieve. it is impossible to look for it from human nature. He it is finally who gives vigour for all the holy conflicts we have to wage with the adversary. We must and do judge all things as they are. Have you renounced these hidden things of the world? In fact, Thayer gives their definitions as the same, "to direct ones mind to a thing, to seek, or strive for" (658). Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all ( Colossians 3:11 ). The veriest victims of Satan, the open enemies of Christ, the fiercest powerless let them be, but the fiercest in their will of opposition against God are precisely those that God has already reconciled to Himself; and this where Satan had but just appeared to conquer in leading them to crucify Christ., In that field of blood where His ancient people joined the idolatrous Gentiles, and indeed incited them to plant the cross for their own Messiah there it is that God's grace has established a righteous deliverance for such as He has reconciled. The Christian ethic insists on chastity, regarding the physical relationship between the sexes as something so precious that indiscriminate use of it in the end spoils it. You come to that space from time to time in the prophets. When we not only believe with the heart, but are ready, when called, to make confession with the mouth. Hence he infers that we must seek those things which are above. It is born and nourished from above; and the perfection of its life is reserved for that state. Ha, ha. Our true life lies in the other world: You are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God,Colossians 3:3; Colossians 3:3. ( Matthew 11:30). We must not dote upon them, nor expect too much from them, that we may set our affections on heaven; for heaven and earth are contrary one to the other, and a supreme regard to both is inconsistent; and the prevalence of our affection to one will proportionably weaken and abate our affection to the other. When the Christian was baptized, he put off his old clothes when he went down into the water and when he emerged he put on a new and pure white robe. But now ye also put off all of these; [not just these more overt sins of the flesh, but put these off too, put off] anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. At this point we come to one of the main and distinctive objects of the epistle. But not a few of those that were baptized from early as in later days turned out untrue to the glory of Christ. Continue to teach and to admonish each other with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. One cannot therefore be quickened together with Christ without having one's trespasses, yea, all (for if not all, none) forgiven. The Christian is one with Him. [Note: See Cleon L. Rogers Jr., "The Davidic Covenant in Acts-Revelation," Bibliotheca Sacra 151:601 (January-March 1994):81-82; John F. Walvoord, "Biblical Kingdoms Compared and Contrasted," in Issues in Dispensationalism, especially pp. Judge these same things, and they may become of some account to the glory of God. "And not holding the head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.". I'm dead to the flesh that I might be alive unto God in Christ, living after the Spirit. And what was to be done? James notoriously presents what many think hard in my judgment quite reconcilable, equally inspired of God, and most important for man, but not the same thing, nor for the same end. Had it been possible, consistently with other plans of God (which it was not), for Him to be the last (in point of fact) born here below, He had been the first-born all the same. For you have. There are many portions of the scriptures that do not by any means suit or suppose the estate and path of the Christian. It's heaven on earth. Under both Jewish and Greek laws and custom all the privileges belonged to the husband and all the duties to the wife. People will say, "How is it that on Monday you can be so happy; you're whistling. They needed to learn especially the vanity of all that man's mind delights in. 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