The Process of Sanctification

Colossians 3:9-11 “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.”

1. INTRODUCTION

a. The believer must put off their sinfulness (3:9)

b. The believer must put on their renewed life in Christ (3:10-11)

2. BODY

a. The believer must put off their sinfulness (3:9)

i. Our justification starts in 2:10-15. In this section, we saw what God in Christ has done for us. This section speaks entirely of what He has done and nothing what we have done. Following that section, everything is if these things are true about you, then do these things. Paul gives instruction that if truly God has justified you through the finished work of Christ, then you must do these things. This is what begins the section on sanctification.

ii. So with that logic in mind, 3:1-3 reminds us of the same thing. Paul starts off with if you have been raised with Christ, if your position in Christ is complete in Christ, then you must do these things. Paul’s command in 3:2 is set your minds on the things above. If truly you have been raised in Christ, then set your mind on the things above.

iii. So with that understanding, Paul is telling us in verse 9, that we should lay aside the old self with its evil practices. Then he goes on to tell us to put on the new self. So what do these terms actually mean? The best way to understand it is in light of the verb that Paul uses. Paul writes that we are to put off the old self and put on the new self.

iv. What these verbs tell us is that the old and new self are like clothes. Our old self are like old clothes that we have, that for some strange reason, we love putting them on. We have wore these clothes for such a long time and we used to love wearing them in public, but now, with holes and such, we wear them as pajamas because we still love how it feels and how it looks. There’s something about these clothes that we love that we can’t let go off.

v. Well Paul is telling us, that the old self are these clothes that we love. It’s like our sin. We love to hold onto our sin because it makes us feel comfortable. We are comfortable being this way because well we are sinners and it makes me feel better. This is why the words here for put off the old self makes sense. Paul is telling us to grow up and stop living with these clothes. Rather, lay these things aside. Put them away and don’t do these things because it corrupts our new clothes if we put that on and do these things.

vi. This is why Paul’s instruction to our walk in sanctification, by first putting off. One of the best examples of this is found in Genesis 3:7. In Genesis 3:1-6, the serpent convinces the woman, to eat from the tree of life and in verse 6, she ends up eating from the tree and like a good wife, knowing that the man won’t eat if she doesn’t prepare him food, she gives him the food to eat and he ends up eating.

vii. I love this verse because it shows us how sinful we are. Adam probably should have asked his wife when she gave him this snack, like where did you get this snack? I never saw this snack before. And immediately he should have thought about the tree from which God told him not to eat. If God told him not to eat of it, he should have known the color or the way it looks. But the fact that simply, she gave Adam this to eat and he ate, goes to show that he wasn’t thinking much about it even though God told him not to eat from it.

viii. Immediately in verse 7, their eyes were both opened, and they felt shame and they covered themselves. This is the first part of sinfulness. We wear our old clothes to cover up our imperfections and put on our favorite clothes to make us feel better.

ix. Then in Genesis 3:8-20, we see God have a conversation with Adam and his wife, and through this section, God provides the first Gospel presentation by telling Adam and his wife in verse 15 that your seed (Adam’s) and her seed (Eve’s), her seed would put a bruise on your head. We know the seed here refers to Christ as women don’t have seeds. The seed here refers to how Christ would be born to a woman but the father of the child would be God through the divine seed.

x. We know the famous verse 16 that women would have pain in childbirth and that her husband would rule over her because of the sin she committed. Then in verse 20, finally God names Eve. Until this point, she’s been referred to as woman. Finally here, God calls her Eve. Then the most important verse, verse 21. Verse 21 says, The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

xi. This is the Gospel right here. The context tells us that they were involved in sin and they would face punishment for their sin. At the point of weakness, in the words of Romans 5:6-10, Christ died for the ungodly and He covered us with His righteousness. Well, God covered Adam and Eve here in their sinfulness. It was nothing that Adam and Eve had done but rather, God was the one who covered them with skin. This idea of God covering them with sin implies that this was the first animal that was killed to cover Adam and Eve’s sinfulness. This goes to the imagery of the blood on lambs on the lampposts of the people in Israel during the Passover in Exodus 12:5-13. God tells Israel to get a year old unblemished male lamb and kill it and put its blood on the two doorposts of the house. The significance of this blood on the doorposts tell us that all those who have the blood of the lamb will live through death. Similarly, God killed this animal and covered them with the skin, to cover them of their sin.

xii. What this verse 21 tells us is that they took off their clothing. The clothing they had made for themselves in verse 7, they took off because they had to put off their old clothes to put on the new clothes that God had given them.

xiii. What is the old clothes? In verse 9, Paul tells us do not lie to one another. Paul had gone over the abusive things we could say with our tongues. I don’t think we could say that the greatest thing we could do is lie to each other but we do know that lying destroys relationships. If you’ve ever been in a relationship and you can’t trust the other person, your relationship is over. We don’t know why Paul wrote this but we know that lying is destructive so he tells us to lay it aside. We must put this all aside and take this off of ourselves.

b. The believer must put on their renewed life in Christ (3:10-11)

i. After we put off, Paul tells us in verse 10-11 that we must put on. Paul instructs the listeners that since they have put aside the old self, now they are to put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him. Paul says this a little different than what he wrote in Ephesians 4:22-24 as well as Romans 12:2. There are similarities here where in Romans 12:2, he speaks of the renewing of the mind as well as in Ephesians 4:23 but then adds in 4:24 that you put on the new self which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

ii. When we take all of these verses together, Paul is telling believers what the correct response to God’s justification is. God has put to death His son so that we might have new life. Because of His death, we have died in Christ. This death caused our sins to die with Christ and when He rose again from the dead, we received newness of life with Christ. Through this newness of life, God calls each believer to put on the new self. Put on your new clothes and live with a renewed knowledge of God.

iii. What does it mean to live with a renewed knowledge of God? Well if we look at our own selves, it’s not like we have changed much. The most significant change is our minds.

iv. When Paul speaks about the renewed knowledge of God, Paul is speaking not just intellectually. We don’t just understand God as if everything is merely cognitive. A renewed knowledge is not just unlearning and relearning things. There is that involved but it is more than that. Renewed learning is to have this knowledge of who God is, but more importantly, it is to do according to what Christ has called us to. It is to live according to the standard that God has provided. This is why Paul has written in verse 8 and 9 that we are to put these things aside. A person with Christ’s image doesn’t just know these things. The process of sanctification is this. We don’t just know things we are supposed to do. We actually desire to do them and we do them.

v. Here’s the catch 22. This doesn’t mean that we can actually do these things. This is why Paul is telling us, put on these things. Put on the new man, the new identity you have with Christ. This new identity that is in union with Christ, has spiritually destroyed and replaced the old self and is what allows us to conquer our sins in this life. This is what it means in the Bible when it tells us that sin no longer has dominion or control over us. We are not mastered by our sins. We don’t identify with our sins. Our new identification is with Christ.

vi. The best way to understand what this is speaking of is to understand our citizenship. When we deal with the old person, we are dealing with someone who has a citizenship that is outside the US. When you are in the US, without a US Citizenship, you don’t have access to all the benefits the citizen receives. Well, through Christ, or in this case, through your parents, you became a legal US Citizen. Now as a US Citizen, you have access to all the benefits of being a US Citizen.

vii. This is basically what Paul is telling the believer. The first process is to put away your old citizenship. It is to understand that your old citizenship has been done away with. Instead, now use the new citizenship you have received through the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are now a citizen of Heaven and you enjoy the benefits of being His child.

viii. Paul goes on further to explain that this new self is continually being renewed to who Christ is. It means that through this new self, God is teaching you and growing you to become the child of God you are supposed to be. Verse 11 then speaks of this renewal. How is God working in us and growing us? In verse 11, Paul writes that there is no distinction now, of race or status. The image that we have now is Christ’s image.

ix. This is why Paul writes that there is no difference now in every believer. It doesn’t matter what your skin color is, your language is, your status in society is. Everyone in Christ, is equal. What is the standard? It is Christ is all and in all. Christ is the highest good in our lives. We desire to give Christ the glory in everything. What does this mean? It means that we desire to live lives that please God in everything.

x. What does it mean to live a life that pleases God? That you do everything for Christ. One of the areas Christians fail to understand the most is Christian testimony. The question should be, if an unbeliever saw me, what would they think of Christ? This tension is always the hardest to keep but we should always keep this in mind. Our lives are not ours anymore. We belong to Christ. Let’s live mindful of this.

3. CONCLUSION