Colossians Lesson 3-4
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1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
1. How does your translation have the phrase “set your hearts on things above”?
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1 (NIV)
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1 (ESV)
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1 (NASB)
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Colossians 3:1 (NLT)
So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Colossians 3:1 (MSG)
Since you became alive again, so to speak, when Christ arose from the dead, now set your sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven where he sits beside God in the place of honor and power. Colossians 3:1 (TLB)
Since you were raised from the dead with Christ, aim at what is in heaven, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1 (NCV)
1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
2. What is Paul getting at here? What does it mean to set our hearts on things above?
Colossians 3:1–4 commands us: “Set your hearts on things above.” And what are those things that are “above”? “Kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.… And over all these virtues put on love” (3:12, 14). As God works in our lives, change is produced in human relationships.
Compassion and love, among other traits, are important in witnessing. People respond to love much more readily than to ideas and concepts. You can try to witness to people by sticking tracts in their faces and demanding answers, or you can witness by developing loving relationships and demonstrating that Jesus is the reason you act as you do.
Can you see how much sense it makes to be loving and alive in Christ when you witness? Instead of speaking time-worn phrases, you can share living, vital truth. And people will respond when they see your love for God and for others.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3. In verse 2 he said, “Set your mind.” Is that the same thing or something different?
Occasionally we ought to just leave the Greek alone which goes: “The up think.”
4. The ESV has a more literal rendering of this word: Seek the things that are above. Practically speaking how do we seek the things that are above? What difference does it make down here?
What has happened to you has huge consequences for your life. And it begins with what you now seek.
Jesus said that the life of the Gentiles (by which he meant the pagan nations who do not know God) is characterized by what they ‘seek’. ‘The Gentiles seek after all these things’, he said. ‘What shall we eat?’ ‘What shall we drink?’ ‘What shall we wear?’ (Matt. 6:31, 32). A person seeks what they are anxious about (see Matt. 6:25–34), what matters to them, what they know they need, or perhaps just what they very much want.
If we had adequate self-understanding and could see our own hearts clearly, we would see how what we seek is what dominates and shapes our lives. What we seek determines what we think about, how we spend time, the decisions and choices we make.
Here, then, is the power of the Christian life: having been raised with Christ, our ‘seeking’ is given a whole new direction. Seek the things that are above. Look upward. Paul spoke earlier of ‘the hope laid up for you in heaven’ (1:5). Your new life has a direction and a goal, a purpose and an end that is magnificent. Lift your eyes. Lift your heart. Look where you are headed. Seek the things above.—Woodhouse, J. (2011). Colossians and Philemon: So Walk in Him. Focus on the Bible Commentary (181–182). Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus.
5. “Seek” makes me think of the childhood game, “Hide and seek.” It reminds me of a time when I lost something. What does this teach us about Christian living?
Once again we see the same principle: if you want to live the resurrection life that Jesus has provided, then seek that new, powerful life by setting your mind and keeping it set on things above, not on things on the earth.
The Apostle Paul is simply saying that if you and I want the good life, then we must keep our mind on good things. Many believers want the good life, but they are passively sitting around wishing that something good would happen to them.
Often, they are jealous of others who are living in victory and are resentful that their own lives are so difficult. If you desire victory over your problems, if you truly want to live the resurrection life, you must have backbone and not just wishbone!
6. He says to set our minds on things above. What is above? What are we to set out minds on?
As Christ dominates your thoughts, he changes you from one degree of glory to another until—hang on!—you are ready to live with him.
Heaven is the land of sinless minds.… Absolute trust. No fear or anger.… Heaven will be wonderful, not because the streets are gold, but because our thoughts will be pure.—Lucado, M. (2004). Everyday blessings: Inspirational thoughts from the published works of Max Lucado. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
7. Write the initials YBH by verse 5. It stands for, “Yes, but how.” How do we put to death whatever belongs to our earthly nature?
This one is for you, teacher:
Preaching the Bible is designed to equip people for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16).
That kind of preaching is used by God to accomplish a progressive pattern of sanctification—men and women becoming more and more like Christ (Rom. 8:29).
Therefore, the effective preacher must continually consider how a given application addresses the universal need for all Christians to “put to death … whatever belongs to [their] earthly nature” (Col. 3:5 NIV) and “lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness” (James 1:21).
Bryan Chapell refers to this concern as the “fallen condition focus” and Haddon Robinson calls it the “depravity factor.” While many of today’s preachers avoid this topic, both men highlight an essential interest in how the application of the passage addresses people’s sin, their need for Christ, and the guidelines for Spirit-empowered obedience.
Asking how the ancient application addresses and remedies the universal problem of human sin will quickly uncover the most obvious and urgent aspects of the passage to be applied in any age.
The topic may be culturally distant, as oxen and fields, but the call to deny our sinful desires of greed and selfishness is an applicational truth we must address to our modern audiences. Is apathy, covetousness, independence, or laziness the concern behind the truth being presented in the passage? Once identified, the purposeful concern of the text will clearly call for a direct transference to the hearers of our day.—Fabarez, M. (2002). Preaching that changes lives (46–47). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers.
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
8. Compare Colossians 3:5 with the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:29. What did Jesus say that was similar?
Jesus spoke of this same idea when he said: “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away” (Matthew 5:29). Obviously neither Paul nor Jesus was recommending literal surgery, for sin does not come from the eye (or the hand), but from the heart—the evil within.
Centuries past in England, if a pickpocket was caught and convicted, his right hand was cut off. If he was caught again, his left hand suffered the same fate. One pickpocket lost both hands and continued his occupation with his teeth!
Physical dismemberment cannot change the heart. “Put to death,” as Paul uses it, means to discard evil practices and, here in Colossians, to get rid of the twin evils of sexual sin and covetousness.—Hughes, R. K. (1989). Colossians and Philemon: The supremacy of Christ. Preaching the Word (96). Westchester, IL: Crossway Books.
9. Of the things we are to put to death—how many of them are sexual sins?
Specifically, there are four elements of sinful sensuality which must be executed.
The first is “immorality” (porneian), from which we get the word pornographic.
It means every kind of immoral sexual relation.
Chastity was the one completely new virtue which Christianity brought to the world.
Paul’s call was radical to the pagan culture in its day, and it is almost as radical today.
As you voice Biblical morality, you often will be labeled a moral brontosaurus!
The second element of sensuality which we are to kill is “impurity,” moral uncleanness.
This is wider and subtler than physical immorality, for it embraces the lurid imagination, speech, and deed of a sensual heart or filthy mind.
The third element is “lust,” the shameful emotion which leads to sexual excesses.
Paul used the same word to describe the “passionate lust” of the Gentiles who do not know God (1 Thessalonians 4:5) and the “shameful lusts” of homosexuality (Romans 1:26). The fourth element of sensuality to be discarded is “evil desires”—wicked, self-serving, rapacious lust. What a deadly quartet we have here, and Paul said it must be slain outright—executed!
10. This is a good reminder we all need to think clearly on. We all need to be reminded of this. What price to those who have an affair pay?
The following is an incomplete list of what you have in store after your immorality is found out.
• Your mate will experience the anguish of betrayal, shame, rejection, heartache, and loneliness. No amount of repentance will soften those blows.
• Your mate can never again say that you are a model of fidelity. Suspicion will rob her or him of trust.
• Your escapade(s) will introduce to your life and your mate’s life the very real probability of a sexually transmitted disease.
• The total devastation your sinful actions will bring to your children is immeasurable. Their growth, innocence, trust, and healthy outlook on life will be severely and permanently damaged.
• The heartache you will cause your parents, your family, and your peers is indescribable.
• The embarrassment of facing other Christians, who once appreciated you, respected you, and trusted you, will be overwhelming.
• If you are engaged in the Lord’s work, you will suffer immediate loss of your job and the support of those with whom you worked. The dark shadow will accompany you everywhere … and forever. Forgiveness won’t erase it.
• Your fall will give others license to do the same.
• The inner peace you enjoyed will be gone.
• You will never be able to erase the fall from your (or others’) mind. This will remain indelibly etched on your life’s record, regardless of your later return to your senses.
• The name of Jesus Christ, whom you once honored, will be tarnished, giving the enemies of the faith further reason to sneer and jeer.—Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes by Charles R. Swindoll
6 Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient,
11. Verse 6. Would you like the Christian faith better if there were no mention of the wrath of God? What is great about having a wrathful God?
Enjoying a God who is love, all love and unconditional love, may be hard to understand. But it is a pleasant thought. It may be difficult to grasp, but it is not difficult to like the idea of a God who loves me.
Considering a God of wrath is another matter. How can we enjoy a God who we may feel is angry with us? And there are plenty of verses that speak of God’s wrath. The God of the Old Testament seems to be a bit edgy.
You do not have to talk to many Christians before you find one who does not enjoy God precisely because of this quality of God. People do not take the exit from enjoying God because of his love; many do so because of his wrath.
In order for us to enjoy God as he is we must have a clear understanding of what it means to enjoy a God of wrath. It is in the book; all through the book. We must deal with it.—Josh Hunt. The God We Enjoy.
12. How is it possible to love a God of wrath? Can we love a God we fear?
The idea of fearing God is not incongruous with loving God or enjoying God. I fear electricity, but I enjoy its benefits. I had (and still have) some fear of my Father in that I would not treat him with disrespect.
This was not only because I loved him, but also because I feared his wrath. We tend to think this idea of fearing God is unpleasant and want to rid our religion of the fear aspect.—Josh Hunt. The God We Enjoy.
13. What is great about having a God of wrath? What do you love about a wrathful God?
God’s wrath has another positive, enjoyable side.
I mentioned earlier that there is a part of the image of God that is in all of us. We have a part of the wrath of God stamped into us. This usually goes hay-wire and expresses itself in foolish outbursts that are very different from the way God would act. But the reflection of God’s wrath is still there.
There is something in our bones that sees injustice and can spot it with eagle eyes. The fall is evident in that we are especially sensitive to injustices that affect us personally. But there is something in us that says, “That is not merely inconvenient, or in bad taste, that is just wrong and ought to be punished.” We cringe when we see the guilty go free.
And the good news of a wrathful God is that he has marked a day when he will settle the score. The part of His wrath that was not propitiated in Christ will pour in on all injustice. We can enjoy knowing that our God is not a wimp. He will take care of every injustice with fairness and firmness.—Josh Hunt. The God We Enjoy.
13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.
14. What does verse 13 imply?
There are really only two ways a relationship can go bad—I can offend you, or you can offend me. Most of my suggestions on good people skills focus on the former. The latter is equally important—don’t be easily offended.
The Bible says, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13, NIV) Bearing with others assumes there’s something to bear with. It assumes you will irritate me. There is a place to confront and a place to let it go. Easily offended people are seldom used greatly by God.—Josh Hunt. Make Your Group Grow.
15. When do we bear with one another and when do we need to deal with things? Say, in a marriage, when do you need to deal with something and when do you just bear with one another in love?
The great theologian Ernie (from Sesame Street) sings a song about this. He says, “I am messy, and you don’t like it messy, but you don’t mind too much because you are my friend. That is a friend. That is a pal. That is what friends are for, not minding.” There is great wisdom in Sesame Street.—Josh Hunt. Enjoying Marriage.
15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.
16. Verse 15. What does it mean that we let the peace of Christ dwell in our hearts?
Colossians 3:15 encourages us to let the peace of God “rule” in our hearts. The word rule is actually the term we use as “umpire.” In other words, the peace of God ought to be the umpire of our lives, helping us know the right things to do and calling into question the mistakes we make.—Jeremiah, D. (1996). How to be happy according to Jesus: Study guide (100). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
17. Verse 17. Does God care how hard you work?
18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
18. Verse 18 is somewhat controversial. What do you take this to mean?
The parallel exhortation in Ephesians expands this simple command: “Wives be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church … But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their own husbands in everything” (Eph. 5:22–24).
In spite of its straightforward clarity, Paul’s simple statement has been widely challenged in our day, even by those claiming to be evangelicals. Many argue that Paul’s teaching on this theme is not Spirit-inspired, but reflects his chauvinistic, rabbinic attitude toward women.
Such people seek to usurp the role of God and decide for themselves which parts of Scripture are inspired. Still others insist that Paul is mistakenly commenting on Genesis 2 instead of Genesis 1. Genesis 1, they argue, teaches the equality of the sexes, and is divinely inspired.
Genesis 2, which implies the headship of the man, is viewed as a later, uninspired rabbinic gloss. That argument, however, rests on the thoroughly discredited documentary hypothesis of the composition of the Pentateuch.
Finally, some insist that Paul’s teaching on authority and submission was cultural, and does not apply to our society. None of the critics, however, would argue that Paul’s statement in 3:19 is cultural and that men are no longer required to love their wives.
All the attacks on this straightforward principle for behavior deal devastating wounds to the marriage. When a woman submits to the loving leadership of her husband and follows God’s intention for her, she is fulfilled and so is the husband. Efforts to reverse or confuse the duties of wife and husband destroy the blessing each is to be to the other.—MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1992). Colossians. MacArthur New Testament Commentary (165). Chicago: Moody Press.
18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19 Husbands, love your wives and don’t be bitter toward them.
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they won’t become discouraged.
22 Slaves, obey your human masters in everything. Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord.
23 Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people,
24 knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ.
25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong he has done, and there is no favoritism.
19. Verse 18ff. Does this say anything about who balances the checkbook or who cleans house?
The New Testament gives two commands to husbands about their wives.
Love them (Eph. 5:25, 28; Col. 3:19).
Lead them (Eph. 5:22, 24; Col. 3:18; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 3:1).
Love them and lead them; that’s it.
Nothing about balancing the checkbook.
What’s wrong with a husband who likes to clean the house or a wife who enjoys mowing the lawn? If a wife cleans out the garage, has the man been emasculated? Surely not.
If a husband loves his wife and cooks her dinner, is he less of a man than if he changes the oil? So a man loves cooking oil over motor oil! What’s the big deal?
If your wife enjoys balancing the checkbook and taking care of the finances, let her. If you love her, encourage her to do something she loves.
Together, work out guidelines for spending. Pray with each other over big purchases. Determine the best investments you can both make.
A real man leads his wife to the things she loves to do.—Lucado, M. (2011). Max on life: Answers and inspiration for today’s questions. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
20. What does it mean to be subject?
Be subject to is from hupotassō, and means “to subject oneself.”
It has the concept of putting oneself under (hupo), not by compulsion, but willingly. The term is used in Luke 2:51 to refer to Jesus’ subjection to His parents, and in Luke 10:17, 20 to describe demons being subject to the disciples.
In Romans 8:7, Paul employs the word to speak of being submissive to the commands of God’s law. His use of it in Romans 13:1, 5 refers to the necessary submission of every person to governing authority, which is established by God. In both 1 Corinthians 15:27–28 and Ephesians 1:22, the verb looks to the time when all things in the universe are made subject to Christ and God in eternal glory.
Paul’s word to wives is be submissive to your husbands. They do not submit to some detached, impersonal authority.
Rather, they submit to the man with whom they have an intimate, personal, vital relationship. Ephesians 5:22 adds the word “own” (“your own husband”) to demonstrate the uniqueness of this exclusive submission.—MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1992). Colossians. MacArthur New Testament Commentary (167). Chicago: Moody Press.
21. What are some common misconceptions about submission?
It is helpful to note several misconceptions about submission. First, submission does not imply inferiority. [5 highlights] Galatians 3:28 clearly affirms that spiritually there is no difference between male and female. Jesus submitted to the Father during His life on earth, yet He was in no way inferior to Him. Second, submission is not absolute. [5 highlights] Obedience in this passage is reserved for children and servants. There may be times when a wife must refuse to submit to her husband’s desires (If they violate God’s Word). Finally, the husband’s authority is not to be exercised in an authoritative, overbearing manner. The wife’s submission takes place in the context of a loving relationship.
That wives submit to their husbands is fitting in the Lord. The Greek form in this phrase expresses an obligation, a necessary duty. It is how He designed and commands the family to operate.—MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1992). Colossians. MacArthur New Testament Commentary (167). Chicago: Moody Press.
19 Husbands, love your wives and don’t be bitter toward them.
22. Verse 19. Back in the day, which do you think was the more shocking, or hard to understand statement: verse 18 or 19?
In Ephesians 5:25, Paul wrote, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church.” Obviously, in spite of the failings of the church, Christ has continually loved her with grace and forgiving mercy and thus has never become bitter because of the church’s many sins.
Paul addresses two commands to husbands. First, they must love their wives. The present tense of the imperative agapate (love) indicates continuous action. The verb itself seems best understood in the New Testament to express a willing love, not the love of passion or emotion, but the love of choice—a covenant kind of love. [5 highlights] It could be translated, “keep on loving.”
The love that existed from the start of the marriage is to continue throughout the marriage; it must not give way to bitterness. The willing, covenant love in view here is the activity of self-sacrifice. It is a deep affection that views the wife as a sister in the Lord and the object of a promise to be kept.
The love that Paul commands sees the wife as a weaker vessel to be cared for while at the same time a fellow heir to grace (cf. 1 Pet. 3:7), a best friend, and life-partner. Such love was expressed by Isaac for Rebekah. “Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her” (Gen. 24:67).—MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1992). Colossians. MacArthur New Testament Commentary (167–168). Chicago: Moody Press.
22 Slaves, obey your human masters in everything. Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord.
23. Verse 22. Apply this idea to work. What does this teach us about our work?
Paul wrote, “Don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being Christian doesn’t cover up bad work.”
Maybe it would help to put a little sign on your desk: “For God’s sake—do your best!”—Ortberg, J. (2010). The me i want to be. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.[1]
[1] Hunt, J. (2013). Colossians (pp. 42–61). Josh Hunt.