Colossians 3

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:30:35utc

3:1-17

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, Therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.

You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.

But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices

And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

In the remainder of this epistle Paul gives some very practical advise regarding our life as Christians on earth.

1. 3:5-8 regarding personal sanctification.

2. 3:9-17 mainly regarding relationships within the church.

3. 3:18-21 addresses relationships within the family.

4. 3:22-4:1 pertains to the relationship between master and servant.

5. 4:2-4 is a request for intercessory prayer.

6. 4:5-6 gives advise regarding relations with unbelievers and

7. 4:7-18 contains personal notes and greetings.

1. Personal sanctification. 3:5-8.

As we read these verses again, it becomes clear how important our own initiative is in the matter of sanctification. God does not do for us what we should do for ourselves. We will not automatically be promoted to perfect sainthood; sanctification is a process in which we participate and in which we grow. It is also not so that, when we surrender to the Lord, the devil will withdraw politely and sin will fade away

by itself.

Jesus defeated the foe for us, and He included us in it when He provided for the purification of sin. But there are other victories which we will have to gain over ourselves and those are the most difficult ones. He who conquers himself is stronger than he who conquers a city.

That is why Paul declared before that we should "Set our minds on things above, not on earthly things." Our vision of glory will determine what we do with our earthy urges and lusts. D.L. Moody once used the beautiful image of a baby who played with a pair of scissors. He dropped the scissors when his sister held up an orange in front of him. That illustration expresses the essence of our putting to death whatever belongs to our earthly nature.

Every man has impure desires, but not every man commits fornication in the physical sense of the word. Nobody escapes the definition of adultery which Jesus gives in Matt. 5:28: "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

"Whatever belongs to your human nature" is rendered in the KJV as: "your members which are upon the earth." This expression suggests that some of our members would be in heaven and some on earth. This cannot be literally true, of course. But the image pictures the essence of that contradictory combination which we humans are. We are destined for God's glory and at the same time we live in the gutter. It needs no explanation that this cannot continue to be so; we have to remain in either one or the other condition. One of the two will have to be eliminated. Paul's thought may be based on Jesus' words in Matt. 5:27-30: "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." Here too, it is obvious that Jesus does not advocate amputation of members of our body, but He shows how radical we ought to be in our rejection of sin.

Both Paul and Jesus say those thing in connection with sexual sins. This does not mean that there are no other sins, or that sexual sin is the greatest sin. In fact, I take sexual sin to be a lesser one. But because almost every man has sexual desires, sins in this realm form the easiest port of entrance for the enemy. If we can reclaim our sexuality from the power of the enemy and bring it under the dominion of God, we have denied Satan an important bridgehead in our life.

Sex within the bond of marriage, accompanied by love and a sense of responsibility, surrender, and obedience is an expression of the most intimate relationship of man with God. Paul calls the becoming "one flesh" the profound mystery of Christ and the church. In Eph. 5:31,32 he says: "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery; but I am talking about Christ and the church." If we go wrong in our sexual life, we make a parody of the most holy and intimate relationship that exists: the love between God and us.

Sin almost always enters our life via the eye. That is how it began. Gen. 3:6 tells us: "The woman saw ... took ... and ate." Job teaches us an important lesson when he says: "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl' (Job 31:1).

"Put to death," "gouge it out," and "cut it off" belong to the same category of admonition. We cannot trust ourselves, and consequently we have to be radical in the measures we take against ourselves. It is not sufficient to make promises to ourselves not to commit certain sins. It is not even enough to make those promises to God. Only if we confess before God what we are, and if we put our trust in Him to change us, will we be delivered from impurity, desire, and passions of the wrong kind. Only God, the Holy Spirit, can protect us from the wrath of God. Faith and unbelief, willingness and unwillingness will keep on battling within us, but the Lord can make us share in His victory.

2. Relationships within the church. 3:9-17

Changes in our relationships begin with the recognition of the fact that we are no longer what we were. We have taken off our old self with its practices and have put on the new self. It is our responsibility to be renewed constantly in His image.

There may still be "anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips," If this occurs in our relationship with others, we must confess it as guilt. Those things do not just go away by themselves. To have to go to a fellow human being and to ask for forgiveness is a very humiliating experience. This feeling of shame is salutary. It will help us not to fall into the same trap again.

Our greatest help will be, though, when we see that God is in the process of renewing His image in us. Jesus was serious when He said that He would build His church. He straightens our warped desires and purifies us inwardly and brings us into a relationship in which we are being healed and we can then become healers.

The first thing that must disappear in our new relationship with others is lying. We may ask ourselves if this piece of advice is really necessary. We may suppose that we may have to tell this to people in churches in Asia, but we do need to admonish Christians who belong to a Western culture? The answer is of course, Yes! In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the father Polonius says to his son Leartes: "This above all, to thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."

The problem starts on a higher level. We can only be true to our "own self" if we are true to God. Lying to others always indicates self-deception, and that self-deception means that the Spirit of truth is not in us. If we lie before God, we devaluate our words, that devaluation is nothing less than lying. It is in our speaking that we show how true we are. The more genuine we become the more our words will resemble the Word of God. Truth is the most essential part of the renewal of God's image in us.

Another vital evidence of our inner renewal is the disappearance of discrimination in our thinking about and in our conduct toward other people who belong to a different race, culture, class, or caste than ours; because we see them as bearers of God's image. In the context of the text this pertains to fellow believers, fellow members of the body of Christ, fellow Christians

are people who have been washed from their sins by the same blood as we were.

It becomes so much easier for us to behave as Christians if we realize what we have become in Christ. Much of our deceit and finagling is a defense against our feeling of inferiority. The realization that God loves us, that He has sanctified us and chosen us, allows us to be compassionate toward others: to be kind, humble, gentle, and patient. Each of those words that Paul uses in vs. 12 is worth a separate study.

When Paul says in vs. 13, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you," he doesn't mean to say that we would necessarily be ahead of other in spiritual things. Our being forbearing and forgiving is no proof of superiority. To the contrary, we can only bear with others and forgive others if we realize that God bears with us and has forgiven us. I ought to say that if the Lord has forgiven me that much, the least I can do is to forgive others their faults. Jesus illustrates this in the parable, in Matt. 18:23-35, of the slave who received forgiveness himself, but did not want to forgive others.

The fact that we must continue bear with each other implies that no one on earth reaches perfection. Gal. 6:2 says: "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." Literally the text says: "Bear each other's difficulties," in the sense of idiosyncrasies that irritate. If we can see ourselves as irritating people who sometimes get on other people's nerves, we ought to be able to bear the irritations of others. After all, we are all in the middle of the process of renewal and rehabilitation. God is not finished with any of us. Jesus emphasizes this in a unique way in Matt. 7:3-5 where He uses the image of the speck and the plank. We read: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." Note that He calls those who see the speck but not the plank "hypocrites." The Holy Spirit judges us very sharply for the faults in ourselves to which we are so blind!

For the second time Paul uses the expression "put on," as if it pertains to a piece of clothing we wear. In a sense the image is very fitting. In our nakedness we are vulgar, dirty people. That is the way in which Adam and Eve saw themselves (and each other?!) after their first sin. We read in Gen. 3:7 that their eyes were opened and they saw themselves as naked. But in vs.21 we read: "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." God covers us, but He does not cover up our sins. The cover He gives to us is only the beginning of our rehabilitation; the process of purification takes place under the cover of the new man and of the banner of love. As we start to love, that love develops roots in our heart also.

In vs. 15 Paul says the same things that he says in Phil. 4:6,7; the peace of Christ in our hearts and gratitude are mentioned. In the Philippian epistle it is called "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding." Paul speaks there from personal experience. In the letter to the Colossians, peace is presented as the result of the church's healthy functioning as the body of Christ. Peace and harmony among members of the body is one of the goals of God's calling. The ekklesia, "the called-out ones," come from the confusion and darkness of this world to the peace of Christ.

Paul finishes this statement with the exhortation: "Be thankful." The sin that ultimately caused the fall of the people of Israel in the desert was ingratitude. In Num. 16:13 the people said: "Isn't it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert?" The suggestion is that God had led them into the desert with the purpose of killing them. There was no realization that they had been redeemed from their enemies who had wanted to kill them and that God kept them alive in the desert in a supernatural way.

A lack of gratitude comes from shortsightedness. For us who are on earth it is sometimes hard to understand why God does certain things in a certain way. It seems that God could have avoided problems and traumatic events, such as, the massacre of infants at Bethlehem. In Ps.103:7 we read: "He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel." It was not given to the people to understand His ways; they only saw His deeds.

Ps. 138:5 says about the kings of the earth: "May they sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great." This presupposes that they would have insight in the "why" of God's acts; not that they will only admit that God did everything in the most efficient and effective way, but also that the way God acts is part of His glory.

Ps. 25:10 declares: "All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant."

Ps. 77:13 - "Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God?"

Ps. 145:17 - "The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made."

The apostle Paul concludes in pure worship as he speaks about the ways of the Lord. In Rom. 11:33 he says: "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!" If we acquire this kind of insight we will have no problem with gratitude.

A practical help which is of vital importance in the overall functioning of our spirituality is found in vs. 16. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." The primary meaning of this is probably that we should be full of the message of the Gospel. The facts of salvation: the incarnation, the crucifixion, the death and resurrection should be constantly and vividly before us. We must determine that we want to fully understand the words Christ has spoken and that we commit some of them to memory. Some part of the Gospel of John lend themselves very well to this method. In John 14-17 Jesus Himself stresses the importance of His words. Some examples are John 15:3,7; 17:14; 14:10,15,21,23,24,26.

The word of Christ makes us wise men who can teach and correct others. Paul indicates that a process is taking place in this respect. There is an exchange; we are all on the giving end and on the receiving end. We admonish others and we are being admonished by other. No one owns the whole truth; therefore we are to admonish one another.

This makes us praising people. Paul recommends praise, not in the first place as an outward demonstration, but as an inner one, from our heart toward God. It cannot be helped, of course, if the mouth overflows from a the heart that is full. But very often outward demonstrations are a cover up for inner emptiness. People who habitually say, "Praise the Lord" are often more bent on convincing themselves than on praising the Lord. All this does not exclude a praising of God in fellowship with one another, but Paul's admonishment will help us to avoid the traps.

The Word of Christ will make us witnesses of Christ who are conscientious and full of gratitude. If everything we do is done in the Name of Christ, we live in this world as His representatives. This is the result of Jesus' command in John 20:21, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

I am trying to imagine how obedience to this command would influence my acts and attitudes in this world. There is much in my conduct that strives to keep outside of this mandate. Speaking and working, the words I say and the deeds I do, are all included in this command. The realization of this makes me more and more aware of the fact that if I live like this, the Lord will have to live His life through me.

3:18-21

"Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged."

3. Relationships in the family 3:18-21.

In these verses Paul addresses the women as wives of their husbands and the men as marriage partners and in their relationship as fathers to the children.

a. The submission of wives to their husbands

This kind of admonition we find also in the other apostolic epistles, like Eph. 5:22 and I Pet. 3:1. Peter's argument is that submission may be a way to draw an unbelieving husband to the Lord. Paul penetrates the core of the matter in Eph. 5:22-33 by showing that marriage is a shadow, a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. Relationships in marriage should correspond to the relationship of the church with Christ. This means that obedience and authority should be of the same kind as in the reality which is being portrayed.

In modern times the admonition for wives to submit to their husbands sounds archaic and irrelevant. Emancipation of women is an established fact, and it has generally been accepted. We will not try to prove that this emancipation is the result of the preaching of the Gospel, although that is true. I believe that most of the verses in which submission is preached indicate that the emancipation of women in the first century because of the Gospel went so fast that the surrounding cultures could not keep up with it, and for that reason the testimony of the Gospel suffered. It was so that pagan and Jewish outsiders would not be shooed away that women were asked to remain silent and to retreat to the background

There is no indication in the Bible that a woman would be inferior to man. In the Old Testament five women are designated as prophetesses. (Miriam, Deborah, Hulda and Naodia [the woman who opposed Nehemiah] and Isaiah's wife). In the New Testament are Anna and the four daughters of Philip in Acts 21:9. Prophecy uttered by women was generally accepted in the New Testament church (See I Cor. 11:5). And that in Christ all differences between sexes and classes are wiped out is clear from Gal. 3:28 where Paul says: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

Therefore, the submission of a wife to her husband as head of the home has nothing to do with male superiority because a man is not above a woman. It is also not because a man is more intelligent than a woman, since in some cases the opposite is true. The reason for the submission is to give expression to the reality of the relationship of Christ to the church. In this respect do many women fulfill their roles better than the men. It has to be admitted that it is easier to give expression to the role the church plays than to the role of Christ. It is easier to give oneself soul and body than to love another and sacrifice oneself for that person, as Christ did for us. That is one reason that often women are better representatives of Christ than men are. If they learn to give themselves to their husbands, obedience to Christ becomes easier also. The opposite is also true.

On the other hand it will be easier for a woman to submit if her husband fulfills the role of Christ well. It is not too difficult to submit to one who shows in every respect that he is willing to protect her with his own life. If we consider the situation in which we live in this world and if we are aware of the condition of our own heart, it is not amazing that the role both partner are supposed to play is played so poorly.

b. Men and the love for their wives

I have often wondered why Paul directs the admonition to love only to the men, as if love would not be a requirement for women. I believe that Paul takes it for granted that love comes more naturally to a woman than to a man. This is an unspoken compliment for the women. The advice "do not be harsh with them," is also not very flattering for the men. Paul knows his people.

In Eph. 5:25-33 the exhortation is more elaborate and penetrating. The man has to keep the image of Christ before his eyes continuously in his relationship with his wife, and he has to endeavor to express in his words and deeds towards his wife what Christ has done for both of them. In a certain sens, this goal is as unreachable as the stars. But, if it is true that marriages are made in heaven, they have to be lived in heaven too. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, there is no guarantee that a marriage will not end up in a shipwreck.

In I Pet. 3:7 Peter says more or less the same as Paul. He calls the woman the "weaker partner" (KJV - "weaker vessel"). Peter also puts man and woman on the same level because they both receive the same heritage. A unique remark Peter makes is about the man's prayers being hindered. What he is actually saying is that relationships in our marriage affect our relationship with God. The opposite is true also. If there is love for God, there will also be loving and honoring of one another in the marriage.

In vs. 21 Paul gives the same challenge as in Eph. 6:4, using two verbs with the same admonition: "embitter" and "exasperate." The Holy Spirit gave the apostle a deep psychological insight. It is true that fathers should demand obedience of their children, but this ought to be done in a reasonable and constructive way. We have the duty to educate our children, not to train them as we do an animal. Our children are bearers of God's image, just as we are, and as such they have the right to express their personality. To demand absolute obedience with the intent to "break their will" amounts to ungodly tyranny. Our children should be able to discern in us the love and authority of Jesus Christ, so that they will be able to submit to the real authority when they grow up. After all, a father's authority is derived from the authority of Christ.

J.B. Phillips gives an interesting paraphrase of this verse: "Don't overcorrect your children." It is amazing to see how many educators act out of fear that they will not be able to keep the situation in hand. I remember the screaming of teachers in the elementary school I attended as a kid. They tried to create an atmosphere of fear because they were afraid that they would not be able to maintain order.

4. The relationship between employer and employee. 3:22 - 4:1

"Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism. Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven."

Our present social relations are very different from those in Paul's time, but this doesn't mean that these verse are irrelevant to us. Paul was not trying to change the existing structure of the society of his time. We read nowhere that he disapproved or approved of slavery. If we reproach him for this lack of moral insight, we have lost sight of all historical perspective.

It needs no argument that slavery was never ordained by God as marriage and family were. Slavery was a problem of enormous proportions, and we can hardly blame Paul for the fact that, from his perspective, he was unable to look over the mountain in front of him.

We do better to realize that Paul's advice contains the seed that would lead about eighteen centuries later to the abolition of slavery. But there are some clear spiritual and practical lessons which we can apply directly to our time.

a. There are more important things in life than social injustice.

This is not meant to be a fiat for slavery or any other form of injustice. But Paul puts the importance of the Kingdom of Heaven and the preaching of the Gospel above the problems of society. There came a time, however, both in Europe and America, when maintaining slavery became a hindrance to the preaching of the Gospel. In Paul's time the opposite was true. Abolition of slavery would have hindered the spreading of the Gospel.

b. Slavery does not diminish the worth of a human being in the eyes of God.

As the apostle says in I Cor. 7:22 "For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave." In Paul's days there were masters who were slaves and slaves who were free. We should make a difference between the seed and the peeling of the fruit.

c. There is a relationship between obedience to man and obedience to God.

Slavery was, in a sense, a paradoxical expression of the obedience a man owes to God. Because slavery in the human society is usually accompanied by injustice, it is rather difficult to see the image and its meaning. In our relationship with God, there is no question about injustice. There were situations in biblical times in which slavery was not synonymous with injustice, as when a man sold himself to pay off his debts. In Ex 21:5,6 we even read that it is possible for the slave to say: "I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free"; therefore he would become a bond slave who served out of love.

The principle Paul expounds in these verses is that our work ethics are based on our relationship with God. If we love God we will obey Him and if we obey God we will submit ourselves to human authority. If our obedience is based on fear of men, then we are indeed poor creatures. But if we obey because of love for God, we are free men inwardly. A shining example of this is in the life of Joseph who served Potiphar and the jailer because he had surrendered his life to God. His testimony has spoken clearly throughout the centuries.

I Cor. 7:21 indicates that Paul does not favor a defeatist attitude. He urges slaves to become free men if they have a chance. The main thing is that we serve the Lord in everything we do. Paul considered himself to be a servant or slave of Christ and a "prisoner of Christ Jesus" (See Phil. 1:1; Tit.1:1; Philemon vs.1). I remember complaining about the monotony of the work I had to do at one of the large banks in Amsterdam. The Lord dealt with me by asking if I thought that He would trust me with tasks in the Kingdom of Heaven if He couldn't trust me with simple additions of figures.

In the parable of the talents, the Master of the slaves says: "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" (Matt. 25:21). And in Luke 16:10-12 Jesus adds: "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?"

The recompense, but also the punishment for injustice committed, is contained in the admonitions to the slaves, not in those to the masters. A slave who cheats his master is just as much a thief as a master who mistreats his slave. God looks upon us as men, not as masters and slaves.

Also, the masters should not lose sight of the fact that they are not the highest authorities. Any authority one man has over another is delegated authority, and it is temporary. Anybody who exercises authority will have to give account. If we keep this in mind it will keep us from corruption.