(A look at Colossians 3:1-5)
The apostle Paul’s writing is characterised by reasoned argument. He begins with great spiritual truths and reasons through to the walk of those who believe. He always has one end in view – to build up the saints so that they know the abundant life (see John 10:10).
Let’s follow his reasoning in the first few verses of Colossians 3.
The call
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1-3)
Paul reminds the believers in Colosse of the fundamental truth to which they would have testified in their baptism – that they were not only joined with the Lord Jesus in His death, but they were also raised with Him in His resurrection. This is something that God has accomplished, and this is the ground of our salvation. Paul spells it out in more detail in Romans 6:1-11.
Why did God do this? Because it is not only our sins that separate us from God, but also our sin – that rebellious and corrupt nature out of which our sins arise. But in Christ, God has put the sinner to death and raised him up again. This has accomplished much more than our forgiveness – we are not simply forgiven sinners, we are a new creation in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Ephesians 2:10).
Because this truth forms the basis of our relationship with God, heaven is open to us, and Paul therefore calls the believers to “seek those things which are above”, no longer bound to the earth (see also John 17:14).
The difficulty we have with this is that we don’t feel that the sinner has died at all. Our sinful nature is a very present reality, and as we go on with the Lord, we become even more aware of it. But Paul is not talking about what we should be feeling, but what God has done in the spiritual realm. He is describing our standing before God, not our present state. It is very important that we distinguish our standing before the Lord as His redeemed children, from our state or present condition, but never, as we shall see, to excuse a self-centred, lazy or sinful life.
The promise
When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)
Paul assures the believers that they shall be totally free from sin when Christ appears. John writes of the same coming transformation:
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (1 John 3:2)
Christ is now our life – that is, He is the life that, through the Holy Spirit, has raised our previously dead spirit to everlasting life. Receiving His life is new birth. When the Lord Jesus returns in glory and is seen by the world, then the glory of the life that is in us will also be seen by all.
The answer
Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)
We can see here that Paul is fully aware that sin is still present in us, and that in this life it is a potent force to be reckoned with. But because the believers have died with Christ and are risen with Him, he tells them to put that sinful nature to death. In Romans 6 he encourages the same response, where, after challenging the believers to account themselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ, Paul writes:
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. (Romans 6:12)
Paul is certainly not saying that by human willpower we can become righteous. His message is that having been redeemed by the Lord and sealed by the Spirit, we can and should walk in the risen life that He has shared with us. This is made clear in Romans 8.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. (Romans 8:12-14)
We cannot defeat the sinful tendencies of our nature alone, nor in one day. We are told to continuously seek and to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading so that we are not controlled by sin. He is able to transform our lives so that the Lord Jesus Christ’s risen life will be increasingly seen in us.
The call is to live as those for whom heaven is open, His promise is that we shall be changed completely when He comes, and our answer is to turn from this sinful nature to the Spirit, so that the Lord Jesus can reign in and through each one of us.
Very beautifully put and explained, supported by and based on the truths of God’s word.
The Lord bless you Brother Neil.
We are blessed indeed, are we not? So much lies before us!
Amen to above, dear brother Neil!
May the Lord bless you & use you to be His powerful voice in this wicked generation in the last days that we are living!
Also may all of us to continually present our bodies, as a living sacrifice, holy & acceptable to God! (Rom12)
To CHRIST JESUS BE ALL THE GLORY!
Jenia
Praise the Lord brother that there are saints like you to encourage and to pray for the brethren! I very much appreciate your encouragement to me.