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Understand the Context

In the first chapter of Colossians, the apostle Paul emphasized the gospel’s power for emancipation and transformation.

It possesses power to free believers from sin’s power and Satan’s control, as well as to make repentant sinners into mature and faithful followers of Christ and witnesses to others.

In the second chapter, the themes of forgiveness and freedom are the focus.

False witnesses and teachers aside, forgiveness of sins comes only through God’s gift of His Son as sin-bearer.

Being fully forgiven, repentant sinners find through Christ the freedom to live a God-honoring life.

Moving on from these doctrinal truths, the final two chapters of Colossians focus primarily on practical issues of living a Christian life that honors Christ.

To be sure, this distinction between the doctrinal and the practical is one of emphasis.

The opening two chapters do contain important practical matters and the final two chapters are certainly not without doctrinal truths.

[LifeWay Adults (2020).

(p.

114).

Explore the Bible: Adult Leader Guide - ESV - Fall 2021.

LifeWay Press.

Retrieved from https://read.lifeway.com]

Or as one commentator put it, the first to chapters deals with things that come in through our ears, the last two deal with what happens between our ears.

There have been numerous books and ministries built around the principles found in today’s passage so there is no way we can delve too deeply into these verses but our goal today it to take away a least one transformative truth that we can build on and grow more into the likeness of Christ our Lord.

Explore the Text

Although the beginning “if then you” is an accurate translation of the Greek text, for a modern English reader the word “since” conveys the better meaning behind the words.

The statement about the Colossian believers being raised with Christ is not in question but is the position assumed to be currently true and thus it is being built upon through the rest of the passage.

In my studies this week one of the language tools I used identified 6 commands and 2 mandates in our 17 verses of the day.

The first command is here to “seek the things that are above”.

This imagery is one of searching out until it is found and grabbing hold of it once possessed again.

It is not a casual looking around but a diligent, purposefully pursuit.

To help us know where to hunt, these “things” are “above, where Christ is” which is in contrast to earthly things mentioned later and the human wisdom, philosophies, and rituals mentioned in the previous chapters.

If what we are looking for is in the presence of our Lord, then they will be of the upmost benefit for not only our spirit but the mind and heart as well.

To further emphasize the benefit and righteous aims, Christ’s position of authority over them is established by his place in the heavenly throne room.

Images of Psa 110:1 “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.””

would certainly come to mind for any readers that had Jewish backgrounds like Paul’s.

This imagery also helps us connect our pursuits back to the preeminence of Christ and His authority over the things we can see but more importantly for today’s passage the things not seen.

Once we find those things not of this world or based in the elemental principals or plausible arguments of the day we are to “set your mind” on them, our second command.

Both of these commands are “active”, so they are not a single action but are to be continuously done.

Look for those things that are Christ like and guide your mind into His presence, once you find them dwell on them constantly so as not to be deterred from them, go back, look for some more and repeat until glorified.

Paul is not telling us by way of the Colossians to be so “heavenly minded that we are no earthly good” but more closely to the idea that we are of the “most earthly good because of our mind is being filled with heavenly ideals”.

We are to pursue righteousness and let it come out in our daily activities.

Our actions tend to follow where our mind is focused, when our mind is wrapped up on earthly entanglements then our actions usually are guided that way too.

Paul stresses again in the next verses how this should not be true of the person who is “raised with Christ”.

These two verses seem to have had the most varied and contrasting interpretations in the things that I read.

“Hidden” implies both concealment and safety; both invisibility and security.

He is not yet glorified, but he is secure and safe in Christ.

In fact, Christ is his very life.

Christ said He was going where “the world will not see Me anymore” (John 14:19).

[The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures.

Ed.

J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck.

Vol. 2. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985.

680.

Print.}

their hidden life is secure, unable to be touched by anyone.

{New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition.

Ed.

D. A. Carson et al. 4th ed.

Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994.

1272.

Print.]

This interpretation, which takes life in the sense of quality or essence, is preferred to the view that looks to the return of Christ as the time when those who are saved and thus belong to God will be identified.

[Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon.

Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011.

Print.

Understanding the Bible Commentary Series.]

I am going to accept the English translations and use the context of the letter to interpret the figurative language being used.

“Died” therefore points back to the “being raised” in verse one and is a statement of the reader’s justified position in Christ as a believer.

Being “hidden” points back to Col 1:26 “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.”

We are pursuing spiritual things that cannot be seen with human or unregenerate eyes and may continue to be hidden to our earthly neighbors or persecutors.

If we are properly focused as our first two verses imply, then Christ “is” our life and when He is revealed or appears - be that in the physical eschatological sense or the daily repentance and sanctifying sense - His glory will shine through us toward others and no longer be “hidden” from them as God has revealed Himself to them.

When we seek and set our mind on Christ and His heavenly position then His glory is revealed in and through us as we daily pursue His righteousness and allow it to be revealed in part to those we are living life next to.

In order to set or minds on Christ and His working within us we must take our minds off of other things.

Paul now gives us the next command about those things which oppose a heavenly mind set.

My question and one of the commentaries raised it as well was, If I died in verse 3, why do I have to “put to death” these things?

Paul’s letters to the Romans and Galatians help us understand this better.

We have “died” to sins eternal hold on us but as we are “raised” with Him to new life on this earth we will continue to be bombarded by its sin and the pursuit of ungodly.

Our spirit is new, alive, and hidden away from the taint of this world in Christ.

Our body and mind however struggle to allow this true to have its preeminence on a moment-by-moment basis therefore we must put these things to death or “mortify” them as often as they appear.

Let’s look at our first list of 5 vices again.

Depending on how the words are defined, how you group or divide these can vary.

Most scholars agree there is significance to the items on the list, but few seem to agree on what it is.

All agree these are in opposition to the list of godly traits in verse 12 and not things that are above or in Christ.

I personally see a literary progression which Paul seems to use in most of his letters.

I also like using the grouping that Paul defines for us in Col 3:17 “And whatever you do, in word or deed”.

Porneia, where we get our word pornography, is the sexual immorality.

This is an “action” or improper fulfilment of the God given desires for sex through non-marital means.

“Impurity” is a moral uncleanness in more than just a sexual context and also seems to include the thoughts with the actions.

This appears to begin the downward progression from most physical and outward vice to the more mental and inward sin.

Passion can be either good or bad, but in this context, it is the negative.

Other translations use the word “lust” which helps the modern reader with the negative connotation and continues a sexual nature to the list.

This is another progression which can be seen as the first on the list was just wrong use of godly passion, now the imagery of desiring of ungodly things.

Finally, the covetousness is so overwhelming in the person’s mind that they have completed replaced God as the object of worship with something created or worse yet imagined.

Idolatry alone brought down God’s wrath in the Old Testament, but the wording apparently is unclear if the “these” point to one or all 5 of the vices lists.

Paul’s point however is that they are all against God’s will and we should remember what kind of hold and addictive nature each of these had within us.

This is a good list to use when telling others about what Christ has freed you from.

We were there and “lived” in them but now we have died to their eternal hold and Christ works in us to remove their daily pull away from a life “in Him.”

Paul is writing to the believers in Colossae and does recognize that they “were” living this way suggesting that they “are not” now.

However, we know that the taint of sin from our lives on this earth is not so easily removed.

Although they are “dead” to these things and are not probably actively participating in them, when the mind is not set on Christ and we are not actively searching for more of His presence in our lives and heart, we like the Colossians, will fall back to our old thought habits.

We may not act on the “sexual immorality”, but Christ holds us to a higher standard now and we cannot even “lust in our heart” (Mat 5:28).

Our next verses point to our heart issues even more directly.

We “were” like the first list and that was taken care of in a past tense, this list is with us today in the present tense and must be dealt with “now.”

Our last list was a mix of actions and words, this list is mostly about words that we may actively use.

The first list seemed to be more internal and sinfully meeting “my” needs whereas this list seems to be directly outward toward others and their debasement.

The first is anger, followed by its companion sin, wrath.

While we might use these terms interchangeably, Paul likely meant for the readers to think of anger as a smoldering persistent feeling of the heart, while wrath is the sudden outburst of that feeling.