Ephesians 1-3 is doctrine (spiritual blessings in Christ, predestination, salvation by grace through faith, Jews and Gentiles united in one body, the mystery revealed). Ephesians 4-6 is practical (the 5 “walks” or conduct Christians should have, and stand up to the devil using the armor of God).

Colossians is very similar. Both letters were written while Paul was in “house arrest” in Rome for 2 years (Acts 27,28). But in the Colossian letter Paul is fighting specific heretical teachings about Jesus. The first two chapters are doctrinal, stating the preeminence of Jesus Christ. They deal with the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ is sufficient for all our spiritual and doctrinal needs. He condemns the false teaching of asceticism, mysticism, Jewish laws being bound on Gentiles, and gnosticism (at least early gnostic thinking if not full blown gnosticism of the 2nd century). Please refer to my last blog to read that discussion and see a couple of very good short videos.

The last section of Colossians is practical. Since Christ is all-sufficient for our spiritual and doctrinal needs, we don’t need to be distracted by human philosophy, religious rules, visions, asceticism, etc. The last verse of chapter 2 gets us ready for chapters 3-4: “22 according to human precepts and teachings? ²³ These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”

So, now Paul is ready to talk about the real issue facing Christians, and that is how to “stop the indulging of the flesh”. Someone can be a great debater of doctrine, or a very strict religious rule keeper, but if he/she then lives in lust, adultery, hate, jealousy, greed, etc. then all his religion is worthless.

3:1  If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have 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.

These 4 verses set the tone for chapters 3 and 4. 2:¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.” You were raised from spiritual death and made alive in Christ. So, what should I be seeking? What should be the main priority and purpose of my living? It should be seeking the kingdom of God. It should be things that are above, i.e. spiritual things. Set (phroneó: To think, to set one’s mind on, to have a mindset) on things above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God, on spiritual things. Can you picture Jesus sitting at God’s right hand somewhere in heaven. He is watching everything I do and say. HIs Spirit is working on me to help me fight the flesh and be a good example of a cleansed sinner. What is he thinking about how I am acting? Is he pleased or displeased? Am I in total submission to him? What does he want me to work on in my life? What plans does he have for me?

Romans 8:⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set (phroneó: To think, to set one’s mind on, to have a mindset) their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” I like that word for “set”, i.e. “one’s mindset”. (AI) “A person’s mindset is a set of beliefs that influences how they think, feel, and act in different situations. It also affects how they perceive the world and themselves.” Is my mind set on the things of the flesh or the things of God? Do I spend most of my time thinking about materialism, pleasure, fulfilling my lusts of the flesh, eye, and pride of life? What is my mindset? Is my mindset on spiritual beliefs and things? Is that spiritual mindset strong enough to guide me and stop my from “indulging in the flesh” (2:23)?

So, if you have the proper spiritual “mindset”, here is what you will do. You will “put to death” earthly, sensual thought, deeds, words, and lusts. 3:⁵ Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” You will “put away” these things: 3:⁸ But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” You have been re-created by the grace of God into a new spiritual person, constantly cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Now act like such a cleansed sinner should act. You don’t have to be perfectly sinless in putting off these old self practices, but you must make a sincere effort to do so.

Picture being given a new white beautiful dress or a sharp all white men’s suit. Your old clothes are covered in dirt, mud, grease, paint, and holes. You are so thankful for the new clothes that were given to you out of love and compassion. You put off the old clothes and put on the new. How hard would you try to keep that new white dress or suit clean? If you wore it all the time, you would probably spill food or drink on it, or get it dirty, but you would try your best to keep it clean. And if you get it dirty, you have this magic “stain remover” that you quickly apply so that your dress or suit remain white. To me, that is the example of putting off the old self and putting on the new.

Having sincerely tried to put off the old self and old sinful practices, you will try to put on the new self and new practices. 3:¹² Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony (teleiotés: Perfection, maturity, completeness).” In the New Testament, this word is used to describe the process of becoming spiritually mature and fully developed in faith and character. A Christian who is not a loving person is not a mature Christian. He will have little influence on others for Jesus no matter how religious he is or how doctrinally sound he is.

One could do a sermon on each of these new attitudes and practices that we need to “put on”, but their meaning is quite easy to understand. How hard am I trying to work on putting on these? For example, do I have compassion for those less fortunate and the lost? That’s not just to “feel sorry” for them, but to help them. On a scale of 1 to 10, how am I doing in each of these areas? And “above all these put on love”. Would people call me a “loving person”? Love makes one compassionate, kind, forgiving, and patient.

3:¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” The peace of Christ will rule (brabeuó: To rule, to arbitrate, to decide, to govern: From the root word βραβεύς (brabeus), meaning “an umpire” or “a judge.”) in our hearts. It will be an umpire or judge to tell you, “No, your feelings for that person or the way you are treating that person is not right: change your attitude and action.” It will be an umpire that will call fouls on you when you violate the rules of Christian conduct. You were once alienated from Christ, an enemy of God due to your sin, but the grace of God has brought you into a state of being reconciled to God and peace with God. That peace is a spiritual peace with God and it brings an inner peace in your hear with your inner self and your dealings with all people. A person who has a troubled, sinful inner self will not be concerned about being kind to others. A person at peace with God and self will say, “God has been so good to me, saving me, and I want to share that peace with others and help them to find that peace.” 3:15 “and be thankful” for what God has done for you.

Let the word dwell (enoikeó: To dwell in, to inhabit) in you richly. Not just “dwell in you” but “dwell in you richly”. The way the word gets in you is by reading, studying, and meditating on the word of God. But, as the SEC radio slogan says, “it’s not that you schedule your child’s birth around college football games, it just means more than that”. It means that the word of God lives in you and influences and guides you in everything that you do. Of course, you have to know what the word says, thus the reading and studying. Once the word gets in your mind and heart, picture the Spirit of God constantly urging you to apply what the word says to your life. The Spirit through the word nudges you to not do something bad that you were about to do and urges you to do something good that you need to do. My mom wrote long letters telling how she felt about things. I read those letters at times and it is a constant reminder of what she would want me to do. Her spirit speaks to me through those written letters. It’s the same with the Spirit and the word of God. Hebrews 4:² For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” But the word is only “living and active” if you are intent on letting the Spirit energize that word to influence and guide you. I am a full preterist in doctrine and feel that I can really help people understand the Bible in context in such a way that it will increase their faith in Jesus and the word. That means a lot of the word in my mind. But I struggle to let the Spirit use the word to help me put away certain bad thoughts and deeds, and put on love, compassion, and kindness. That’s what I need to work on! How about you?

The word dwelling in you will also motivate you to teach (didaskó: To teach, instruct) and admonish (noutheteó: To admonish, to warn, to instruct) one another. A good way to do this is with singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts. Psalms were singing the 150 psalms of the Old Testament. Hymns were praise songs sung by a congregation. Spiritual songs would be any song that the Spirit led them to sing about our new life in Christ. This is not just a command for the assembly on Sunday morning. It is not a command that would forbid singing songs with instrumental music. The Greek word for psalms is psalmos and is derived from the verb ψάλλω (psallō), meaning “to pluck” or “to play a stringed instrument.” 5568 psalmós – a psalm (“Scripture set to music”). Originally, a psalm (5568 /psalmós) was sung and accompanied by a plucked musical instrument (typically a harp), especially the OT Psalms.” That doesn’t mean that we can only sing psalms with an instrument, but it certainly does not rule out using an instrument to sing psalms with. My church has made such a big issue of non-instrumental worship, even calling the use of instruments a sin, perhaps a sin that would condemn one’s soul. That is sad. It has caused division instead of eliminating it.

Finally, 3:¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” That covers it all, doesn’t it. Whatever you do in word or deed, do it by that authority and command of the head, Jesus, always giving thanks. Let a thankful heart be always in you. If someone saved my life, I would be always thinking about what they did for me and how I could show gratitude to them.

That leads Paul to state the commands for wives to submit to husbands, husbands to love their wives, children obey their parents, fathers don’t provoke your children, slaves server your masters as if you were serving Jesus himself, and slave masters to be fair and kind to their slaves.

A few personal instructions close the letter to the Colossian church. “3:² Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. ³ At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— ⁴ that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.⁵ Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. ⁶ Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” This speak of God’s providence opening doors for the preaching of the gospel. Organizations like Eastern European Missions are constantly looking for and finding open doors for printing and distributing Bibles and children’s Bible story books all over the world in many languages. Paul was in prison in Rome and yet God opened a door for him to preach to the imperial guard (they guarded the emperor) (Eph 1:13). The Colossians are told to pray for God to open a door for Paul to preach the gospel. I don’t know how intercessory prayer works, but it works.

Salt preserves and adds flavor. Our speech should be seasoned with salt. We should be encouragers when others are frustrated and pessimistic. We should be praising and thanking God when others are cursing. We should be peacemakers when people are arguing and fighting. We should be giving a special word to someone who needs it. We should be able to make a defense to anyone who asks us about the hope we have in Jesus (1 Peter 3:15). Especially to non-Christians, outsiders, who are watching us closely to see if we really are sincere Christians.

Then some very personal comments. Several names. Tychicus would carry the letter to the Colossians. Onesimus was the runaway slave of Philemon who was converted in Rome by Paul. Philemon was a member of the Colossian church. Aristarchus was a fellow prisoner, actually with Paul on his 3rd journey and as a prisoner with Paul on the ship to Rome. Markm the cousin of Barnabas, was back in favor with Paul after Paul rejected him going on the 2nd journey b/c he left them on the 1st journey. Jesus called Justus comforted Paul in prison. Those 4 men were the only Jewish Christians that helped him in prison. Most of the Jews in Rome who came to hear Paul preach in prison rejected His gospel message. The physician Luke who traveled with Paul on his 3rd journey and was with Paul in Rome. Demas was still in grace at this time (and in Philemon 24) but later left Paul, loving the present world (2 Tim 4:10). Nympha was a member of the church in Laodicea and had a house church in her church. Archippus was told to fulfill his ministry, maybe as a pastor in the church at Laodicea. The Colossians were to pass their letter to the Laodicean church and then read the letter Paul wrote to the Laodiceans, which we don’t have. Paul wrote this letter with his own hand.