We Shall Rise! (Hallelujah!)

Finding a subject for Sunday’s sermon always presents a challenge.  Not because we run out of good material for preaching.  Let it never be said!  Who could exhaust the pages of Scripture?   I for one can say that the more I attempt to preach through the various books of the Bible, the more I find them inexhaustible.  I recently spent three weeks on Proverbs 3:5-7 in our Wednesday night service.  And when I finished, more subject matter came to mind that I had not covered.  I am currently preaching through the Book of Acts on Sunday mornings.  The series began in January of 2009.  I just preached through the first part of chapter 12.  I had to move on from chapter 11, even though I had more that I wanted to do.  The Bible is always that way.  It is impossible to “run out” of good material.

The challenge of finding a suitable subject for preaching has nothing to do with a lack of suitable material.  Rather, the refrigerator, the deep freeze, and the pantry are so packed full of good things that I sometimes find it difficult to choose which one.  It is like the menu at a really great, four-diamond restaurant with a world-renowned cook.  You know that everything on that menu will be outstanding, and you just can’t decide which dance you want your tastebuds to do.  The Bible is so full of great truths and power-packed verses that we sometimes find ourselves tossed between texts like a boy in a ball closet.

Never is this more true than at Easter.  I’m a “series” guy.  I like to preach a series of some sort, often through a particular book of the Bible.  But at Easter, I always take the time to preach on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and on the promise of the resurrection of the saints.  But what to preach?  There are so many wonderful texts to choose from.  We can do the resurrection story itself, or cover any one of the hundreds of verses and passages that deal with the resurrection.  Of all the doctrines of grace, it is the most chock full of rich goodness.  We shall rise!  Hallelujah!  Because He lives, we shall live also!  We shall be caught up together in the clouds with the dead in Christ that rise first.  We shall meet the Lord in the air.  And so shall we ever be with the Lord!  Christ has gone to prepare a place for us, and since He has, He will come again, and receive us unto Himself; that where He is, there we may be also!  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed!

What a day that will be!  But, anticipating that great resurrection morning, we are reminded that the resurrection is for the here and now as well as for then.  And you hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.  Christ came that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly.  Having received the gift of God, we live the resurrection life (Colossians 3:1-3).  Let’s live it up, then!

A Tall Order (Colossians 3:17-25)

Gnosticism taught that evil was inherent in the material realm, and thus even the human body was intrinsically evil.  Paul refutes this Scripturally in several ways.  In chapter 1 and verse 21, Paul points out that the Colossians were in the past “alienated and enemies in (their) mind,” and that this was so by wicked works. Like Christ, Paul taught that it wasn’t what entered the mouth that defiled the man, but rather what exited the mouth that defiled him, because the mouth expressed what was in the heart, and the heart is evil above all things, and desperately wicked.  Like so many believers in our day, the Colossians focussed on externals to the neglect of the internals.

But we must understand that  God wants clean hearts.  Not that we have no regard for the outward appearance.  Just that we must understand what comes first.  We are not made clean from the outside in, but from the inside out.  The outside reflects (or rather, projects) what is on the inside, and not the other way around.

With that in mind, Paul addressed the issue of externalism in chapter 2, and now he puts the stress on the inside man in chapter 3.  All these things that must be mortified, that must be put on and put off, that must be done, have to do with the inside man.  And in verse 17, Paul gives the ultimate rule for the inside man.  This rule, when kept, will cover all the rest.  But it is a very tall order.

The rule extends to everything we do.  Paul is very emphatic here.  The English word “whatsoever” is translated from four Greek words.  The Greek word pas is the common word for “all,” and Paul uses that word.  But he also uses a three-word phrase (ho ti an) in addition to the word “all” that basically means “whatever.”  So, Paul wants us to understand that everything, whatever we do is bound by this rule.  He shows the full extension of his meaning here by saying “in word or in deed.”  In other words, whether you are speaking or doing, every word and every action is bound by this rule.

And what is the rule that binds all that we say and all that we do?  We must do it all “in the name of our Lord Jesus,” and we must be giving thanks to God as we do it.  The name of the Lord encompasses everything that He is.  When we are baptized, we are baptized into His name, and thus are given His name, publicly taking the name of Christ, or “Christian.”  And Paul says that everything we do, whatever it is, whether speaking or working, we are to do these things as Christians, as one who bears the name of Christ and represents Him.

This is a tall order, but essentially God requires us to faithfully represent Christ in all our discussions, in every conversation, in our joking, in our blogging, in our fellowship, in our arguments, in our debates, in our complimentings, in our rebukings, in our criticisms, in our every word.  If saying it would be an unfaithful representation of the name of Jesus Christ, if we cannot give thanks to God even as we say it, then we have transgressed this rule.

Essentially, God requires us to faithfully represent Christ in every job, in every effort, in every project, in every task, in every action, in every plan, in every priority, when we take a vacation, wherever we go, whatever we do, whenever we work, in every casual trip or entertainment or business or decision.  All our work, all of our actions must meet this requirement, that they faithfully represent our Lord Jesus Christ.  If our doing it would not faithfully represent our Lord, if we cannot give thanks to the Lord even as we do it, then we have transgressed this rule.

Paul extends this rule to wives (v. 18) in their work as wives, and to husbands (v. 19) in their work as husbands.  He extends the rule to children (v. 20) in their work as children, to fathers (v. 21) in their work as fathers, and to servants (v. 22) in their work as servants.  And then, he rephrases this rule (vv. 23-25), expanding on the idea and extending the implication beyond mere words and deeds so that the rule encompasses the thoughts and intents driving these words and deeds.

Part of doing all in the name of the Lord then includes diligence.  In verse 23, Paul uses the same four Greek words, translated “whatsoever” as he used in verse 17.  And everything, whatsoever we do, we must understand that we do not faithfully represent Christ when we do it with a slack hand, half-heartedly.  Doing it for men is not faithfully representing Christ.  We must do it as if we are doing it for the Lord.  And that would be due to the fact that we actually are doing it for the Lord.  We do it for the Lord, knowing that the Lord will be giving us the reward of the inheritance, and that we serve the Lord Christ.  And along with that, we know that God will be rewarding the unfaithful along with the faithful.  And there is no respect of persons in this, any more than there is in our salvation (vv. 10-11).

It is, as we said, a tall order.  But through our faith in Jesus Christ, we can fill it.

Don’t Forget Your Belt! (Colossians 3:14)

I’m not sure I understand the whole belt thing.  A guy can wear the nicest clothes, perfectly pressed, creases sharp, necktie perfect, shirt crisply starched, shoes polished to a high gloss, but if he forgets his belt, he looks half-dressed.  Something about a belt makes the outfit complete, and when forgotten, the missing belt stands out.

My son is a willowy ten-year-old.  My wife bought him a new belt, which he was naturally anxious to wear.  The only problem was that the belt was too big.  He somehow managed to weave it through the belt loops and get it buckled, but there was visible space between the belt and his pants.  It just didn’t look right.  As we pointed out to him, your pants aren’t supposed to hold your belt up.  Your belt should be holding your pants up.

The belt completes the outfit.  It ties all of the parts together.  It is odd that this one piece, when missing, makes us look half-dressed.  If a man dressed in a belt only, we certainly wouldn’t say that he was half-dressed.  But with the belt missing, that little part makes us look only half-dressed.  Incomplete.

In Colossians 3, Paul compares Christian living to the daily exercise of getting dressed.  We have clothing to put off (v.8), and clothing to put on (v. 12ff).  In the fourteenth verse, he tells us that there is something we must put on over all of our clothes, in order to bind them all together.  We generally refer to this article of clothing as a belt.  “Above all these things,” Paul says.  The word above is the Greek preposition epi – which is most often translated “upon.”  The idea is that you put these things over top of all your clothes.  But not like a jacket or a cape.  Because we put this one thing over top of all our other clothes in order to bind them together — charity is the bond of perfectness.  The word for “bond” refers to that thing which binds all the other things together.  In the apparel industry, that is commonly referred to as a belt.

So, in the Christian life, Paul says, “don’t forget your belt.”  In another place, Paul urges the Christian soldier to gird his loins with the truth.  Isaiah says that righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins (Isa 11:5).  But here, Paul says that all of these garments that we must put on, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, and forgiveness, all of these garments are held together by love.  Charity is the bond of perfectness.  So, charity completes the outfit.

We should know this.  Though we bestow all our goods to feed the poor, and though we give our bodies to be burned, without charity it profits us nothing.  Without charity, our kind words are like banging a gong.  Without charity, all our gifts and understanding and knowledge and faith amounts to nothing.  The greatest of these is charity.  A Christian may be kind, humble, meek, patient, even forgiving, but without charity, none of these things matter.  Our charitable contributions are hypocisy without charity.  In other words, we can easily manufacture kindness.  But genuine kindnesses come out of a heart full of love.

What then is this “charity,” that ties all of the other good things together?  Before I answer, I hope you won’t mind if I recommend to you the commentary series of Dr. James Qurollo.  He does an excellent job of pure exegesis, and offers some outstanding helps for understanding why the KJV translates words a certain way.  He is also my Greek teacher, for which I am very grateful.  In his commentary on Colossians, he gives a wonderful explanation for why our Authorized Version uses the word “charity” rather than “love.”

Occassionally, someone will argue that the KJV uses “charity” rather than “love” simply because that is the way they spoke in Old English.  But agape is actually translated “love” more often than it is translated “charity.”  According to Strong’s, out of 116 occurances of the Greek word agape, the KJV translates it as “love” 86 times.  So, our Authorized version must be using charity on purpose.

Dr. Qurollo argues that the word charity, if transliterated into Greek, becomes the Greek word that means “grace” or “favor” – xaris. He argues that the translators of the King James used the word charity in order to emphasis that this love was shown as a favor, or as a grace.  In other words, this love is given as a gift, unmerited and undeserved.  Charity was given without regard for whether or not it would ever be returned.

This kind of love, Paul says, is the bond of perfectness, the belt that completes the outfit, tying everything together.  Without this kind of love, our bowels of mercies are lacking.  In another place, Paul said, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”  When love is offered as a grace, as John Gill said, it adds a glory, lustre, and beauty to all the other virtues that Paul urged us to put on.

And in addition to that, charity binds the members of our local church together as well, knitting their hearts as one, completing the union that we have in Christ.  Truly then, charity is the bond of perfectness.

Of Human Pride and Prejudice (Colossians 3:10-12)

The World State

Oh, how I love Humanity,
With love so pure and pringlish,
And how I hate the horrid French,
Who never will be English!

The International Idea,
The largest and the clearest,
Is welding all the nations now,
Except the one that’s nearest.

This compromise has long been known,
This scheme of partial pardons,
In ethical societies
And small suburban gardens—

The villas and the chapels where
I learned with little labour
The way to love my fellow-man
And hate my next-door neighbour.

- G.K. Chesterton

Human pride is a curious thing.  It makes a man happy that he is not as other men are, especially those really conceited people who think they are better than everyone else.  It especially makes him thankful that he is not at all like his neighbor.  And, all things being equal, it makes his neighbor equally happy not to be at all like him.

When it comes right down to it, we can find just about any reason — or for that matter, no reason at all — to be proud.  We have all joked about those who are very humble, and very proud of it.  One man is proud that he has never been proud.  Another man is proud because he is nothing.  But in nearly all cases, men develop a sense of pride because they feel that they really are something.  Their warrant for believing so might be the result of having been born with a particular skin color or nationality.  It could be the result of having a particular religious creed.  Men pride themselves in their athletic abilities or intellectual prowess.  Some take great pride in their financial status, others in their popularity.  Ego-massaging is a major industry in today’s culture, ranging from brand name clothing to watches to cell phones to ringtones to energy drinks.  Consumerism is driven by pride: the pride of having, the pride of spending, the pride of wasting, the pride of frivolity, the pride of life.

Among the believers who lived in Colosse, the Gnostics held a certain snob appeal.  They offered a “higher plain” on which to dwell — a higher knowledge, a higher sanctification, a higher Christianity.  Gnosticism appealed to just that part of man that was not quite so sanctified, not quite so understanding, not quite so Christian.

As I have been studying my way through Colossians 3, I noticed that verse 11 doesn’t seem to fit with the greater context.  Paul is speaking of those things to mortify, those things to put off, and those things to put on.  Why does he, out of the blue, start talking about there being “neither Greek nor Jew, circiumsicion nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free?”  I couldn’t see how this fit with what Paul was saying.

Beginning in Colossians 3:5, Paul counterbalances the teaching of the first part of his epistle.  He first addressed the immediate error being taught in Colosse: an overbearing asceticism that threatened to rob them of their liberty and joy in Christ.  But other Gnostic error taught a form of “Christian” hedonism that Paul also wanted to refute.  So, Paul teaches the right balance in the realm of pleasure and enjoyment.  Just as the former errors were best refuted by our position in Christ, so the latter errors were best treated in the same way.

We have put off the old man, and put on the new.  But the old man’s old ways still stay with us to some degree, and we must mortify those old ways, and strip them off.  We must kill the old deeds, and strip off the old attitudes.  And we must do this because we have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.  You see, our position in Christ prevents our needing to deny ourselves all pleasures.  And our position in Christ prevents us from indulging in pleasures and fleshly lusts.  We have put on the new man.

What new man?  The one who is renewed in knowledge (epignosis – full knowledge) after the Creator’s own image.  And in that new man, there are none of the distinctions of rank and importance that the Gnostics thought were so necessary.  Paul here strips away the snob appeal of Gnosticism and shows instead the glory that is in Christ.  For in Christ, this new man is not distinguished by nationality (neither Greek nor Jew), by ritual (circumcision nor uncircumcision), by intellect (Barbarian, Scythian), or by social standing (bond nor free).  Rather, Christ is all, and in all.

Having put on the new man, we must put off those old attitudes, those old prejudices and conceits.  God does not distinguish the way men do.  The State U wants to know your ethnic pedigree, your skin color, your parents wage grade, and your credit score.  Christ makes a different distinction.  With Christ, men are divided into one of two categories, each according to seed.  You are of the seed of the woman, or else you are of the seed of the serpent.

If you are of the seed of the woman, than Christ is all, and He is in all.

Things to Put Off, Things to Put On (Colossians 3:8-12)

I saw a man at a wedding once.  I should add that he wasn’t just at the wedding.  He was getting married.  As in, they like called him “groom” and stuff.  He was standing at the front, waiting for his bride to walk down the aisle.  He had his hair combed, his face shaved (except for that patch of hair surrounding his mouth).  He wore a rented tux, complete with bow tie, cumberbun, and shiny pants with the racing stripe down the side.  And, he wore tennis shoes.  High top, Converse tennis shoes.

I tried not to stare at his shoes.  But then, he stepped up on the platform.  His shoes were right at eye level.  I struggled valiantly to focus on the event.  But I just couldn’t help myself.

Paul uses a metaphor in verses 8 through 12 of Colossians 3.  He instructs the Colossians to “put off” (v. 8), and he instructs them to “put on” (v. 12).  He tells them to put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of their mouth.  He tells them to put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering… and above all these things, charity, which is the bond of perfectness.  God does not want His people clothed with anger, with wrath, with malice, and etc.  Rather, God wants them clothed with mercy, with kindness, with humility, and so forth.  So, Paul urges these brothers and sisters to strip off those old attitudes, and to dress in a new attitude.

Central to this dressing and undressing is another putting on and putting off that has already occurred.  Paul tells them to “put off these… seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.”  This putting off had already occurred, and was already completed.  You have put off the old man with his deeds, and thus there are some other things that you must put off.  One putting off is done, and one must be done.  And the first putting off is essential to the second.  You have put on the new man, and thus you have other things you must put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved.  You must adorn the new man appropriately.  This first putting on is central to the second.

I suppose that some might think Converse Tennies “cute” when worn with a tux.  Maybe that is what the bride thought when she picked it for him.  She probably thought it went well with his souped hair-do and goatee.  But something about the Tennies screamed “inappropriate.”

And that is why Paul wants you to strip it all off.  Don’t just strip part of it. When you change your outfit, you need to change it all.  Take off the jeans and T-shirt, the tube socks and sneakers.  Then, put on the suit, the dress shirt, the necktie, the dress socks, and the dress shoes.  Don’t mix the two outfits.  You’ll feel a whole lot better.

How often do Christians, having put off the old man with his deeds, still carry around the old man with his attitudes. That’s what I’m talking about, man!

“Because,” not “In Order To”

Paul says, “Mortify therefore…”  So, Paul is concluding the thoughts contained in the preceding verses.  We can’t help but notice how Paul builds his case, proposition upon proposition, to lead to each succeeding conclusion.  At the beginning of chapter three, Paul says “If ye then be risen with Christ…”  He has already proved that the Colossians are in fact risen with Christ (2:12-13).  ”Seek” in the first verse is imperative, “Set your affection” in the second verse is also imperative.  Since they are risen with Christ, they must seek and regard those things which are above.  And they must do this because they are dead, and their life is hid with Christ in God.  The command is the result of the condition.  Whereas the verbs in the first two verses were imperative, in verse 3 we find that “are dead” and “is hid” are both indicative, showing the reality of the action.

Now consider the statements of the third and fourth verses: you are dead, your life is hid with Christ in God, and when Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory.  Since this is the case, Paul concludes in verse five, you must “Mortify your members which are upon the earth.”  Notice again the logical order.  He says “therefore.”  The false teachers and their step-children (Finney included) want you to believe that we mortify our members which are upon the earth “in order” to hide our life in Christ.  They want us to believe that “in order to” be fully sanctified, in order to obtain “the victorious Christian life” we must mortify our members which are upon the earth.  Not so.  Paul says, “therefore.”  “Because.”  Not “in order to.”  Because you are dead, because your life is hid with Christ in God, because Christ is our life, because you will appear with him in glory, therefore you must mortify your members which are upon the earth.

This is another way of saying, “live up to your calling.”  God has already hid your life in Christ.  In the third verse of Colossians 3, the phrase “is hid” is a perfect passive.  The action is completed in the past and continues on indefinitely.  It is a “perfectly” completed action.  The voice is passive, so the action was completed by a third party — God has hidden your life in Christ.  And since He has done this, you must live like it, mortifying your members that are upon the earth.  And I would add that it is only natural that one whose life is hid with Christ in God would mortify their members which are upon the earth.

Scofield puts a header between the fourth and fifth verses of Colossians 3: “Christian living, the fruit of union with Christ.”  I find this very helpful.  Mortifying our members is fruit — the result of a life that is hid with Christ in God.  Christ is the vine, we are the branches, and the fruit that is naturally produced as a result of this union with Christ includes self-mortification.

The difference between “because” and “in order to” is vast and vital.  We can picture the difference by simply considering our own children.  On the one hand, a child feels that he must conform to rules in order to maintain his good position in the family, that any stumble puts him on the outs, and possibly defrocks him.  That child feels a constant pressure to perform, so that his performance is nothing more than eyeservice.  This sort of thing might be necessary and acceptable for a toddler.  Should it continue into the teen years, however, there will begin to be a resentment, a genuine chafing at the slavery.  At some point, parents must begin to develop in their children a sense of belonging, and a resultant sense of responsibility.  “Son, you are expected to behave this way, not so that you can be a part of the family.  You are already a part of the family.  You don’t need to worry about whether I am going to let you sleep in the house tonight or not.  Instead, you need to behave this way because you are a part of this family, and this is what we expect from members of our household.”

Is there a difference between the two?  Absolutely.  And the difference will be seen most vividly in the resultant attitude demonstrated by the children.  If the transition between “in order to” and “because” is never made, those children, when they become older, will begin to resent and chafe.  On the other hand, if the transition is made, those children will delight in doing what is right.

We must make this difference very clear, lest we lead people back into bondage again.  The Christian who mortifies his members “in order to” obtain complete sanctification becomes a slave to every new measure for brokenness that can be invented.  The Christian who, finding his life hid with Christ in God, mortifies his members because of this relationship, that Christian is free indeed (John 8:36).  There is joy in serving Christ when we remember that we have nothing to earn, nothing to keep.  We are free, for the Son has made us free!  We are honored to bear His colors, to wave His banner, to bear His cross, to carry His name, to be His people.  And as a result, we want to walk and live and talk in a manner fitting for children of the king.

The Disciplined Life (Colossians 2:20-3:3)

When we read the first three verses of Colossians 3, we automatically think that Paul is speaking against worldliness.  He urges us to “set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”  To most preachers, that is an argument against materialism.  And to be sure, we can make a lawful application to materialistic worldliness here.  But that is not Paul’s primary point.  In fact, Paul’s point is just the opposite.  Far from repudiating all the pleasures that this life can afford, Paul instead repudiates those who would deny themselves the lawful pleasures that this life can afford.  In other words, Paul exhorts against a different kind of worldliness here.

You might notice the phrase that begins chapter three: “If ye then be risen with Christ…”  The Greek words are ei oun — “if therefore.”  Paul connects this statement to the point he made at the end of chapter 2.  There, Paul gave three warnings to the believers at Colosse: beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, and etc., and let no man beguile you of your reward.  The false teachers, including Gnostic false teachers, wanted to strip them of their liberty in Christ.  Paul urges these believers to resist the Gnostic chains.  And he does this on good ground… you are dead in Christ from the rudiments of the world.  If you are dead from the rudiments of the world (and you are), then why would you act like you are living under these rudiments, and in particular, why are you subject to ordinances (the Greek word is the present passive indicative form of dogmatizo) (touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using;)?  All of these ordinances are after the commandments and doctrines of men.  Earlier, Paul warned the Colossians to beware of these rudiments of the world, these traditions of men (2:8).  Now he shows them why.

These pseudo-standards, these acts of voluntary humility, all of them have a show of wisdom.  As Scofield pointed out, they give you a reputation for superior sanctification.  The word for “shew” in verse 23 comes from the Greek word logon.  I found this interesting.  The word logos is often translated “word,” and of course, we recognize that this word is often used for Jesus Christ in the New Testament.  The Greeks used logos in a variety of ways.  Our word “logic” is derived from logos, and the Greeks used logos to refer to “reason” in argumentation.  In rhetoric the three artistic modes of persuasion are ethos or ethical proofs (proofs that rely on the reputation of the speaker); pathos or pathetic proofs (proofs that rely on the emotions of the audience); and logos or logical proofs (proofs that rely on argumentation).  But the Greek idea of logos runs much deeper than this use.  To the Greek, logos was a person’s identity, his reputation, his name in the community.  In Colossians 2:23, Paul is saying that your being subject to these ordinances gives you a name, a reputation for wisdom.  And this reputation for wisdom is found in three areas: in will worship, in humility, and in neglecting of the body.  Will worship has to do with self-imposed and self-invented service.  The humility is of the sinful kind described previously — it is fake, pharisaical humility that is all put on, that is all feather and plumage.  “Neglecting of the body” speaks of the practice of ascetic discipline, “hard treatment of the body.”  In other words, a very rigid form of self-discipline and self-denial.  And Paul says that while these three things give one the reputation for wisdom, they are of no value — “not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.”  They do not serve to remove the lusts of our flesh, nor do they ensure greater victory.

So, Paul has a low view of the disciplined life, or at least of the kind of disciplined life being promoted to the Colossians.  “Since you are risen with Christ,” he says, “seek those things which are above… Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”  And he gives a good reason.  “You are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

Does Paul find no value in a disciplined life?  Didn’t Paul say that he kept under his body and brought it into subjection so that he would not be a castaway?  Did he not urge us to be temperate in all things (I Corinthians 9:25)?  Did he not urge us to mortify the deeds of the body (Romans 8:13)?  Did he not say, “I die daily” (I Corinthians 15:31)?  What are we to think of this argument?

Paul opposes the kind of ascetic lifestyle, the kind of self-discipline promoted among the Colossians.  Not that he opposed the disciplined life.  But that he opposed the disciplined life for the sake of reputation, for the sake of impression, for the sake of discipline.  When Paul exhorted the believers in Colosse to set their affections on things above, not on things on the earth, this is what he was speaking of.  This will worship, this humility, this neglecting of the body was nothing more than seeking those things which are beneath, and setting affection on things on the earth.

Paul instructs these believers that there is no need for your neglecting of the body in that sense, for ”ye are dead.”   Before you were risen with Christ, you were dead to the things of God, to spiritual things.  Now, you are risen with Christ, and therefore you are dead.  You are dead to carnal things, including carnal exertions that can be summarized by the wonderful phrase in chapter 2, verse 21: “touch not, taste not, handle not.”  Paul asks the question directly in verse 20 of chapter 2: “why, as though living the world, are ye subject to ordinances?”  He repeats it as an instruction in the first three verses of chapter 3.

Every January, we have a time-honored tradition of making “New Year’s Resolutions.”  Every February, we have another time-honored tradition of breaking “New Year’s Resolutions.”  Perhaps some perspective would be helpful.  When we set our resolutions in order to make ourselves better humans, better people, or to ensure better success in our earthly pursuits, we have set our affection on things on the earth.  It is no wonder that we fail in this.  Only in cases of extreme self-centeredness do men achieve ultra-discipline, and success through it.  We must avoid this sort of earthly pursuit.  Self-discipline does not make you a better man.  In some cases, self-discipline is worse than no discipline, because it can remove a man’s need for and reliance upon the Lord.

Rather, we must seek Christ, because our life is hid with Christ in God.  We must not seek Christ in an earthly way, but we must seek Christ where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  Part of this seeking those things which are above involves mortifying our members which are upon the earth (Colossians 3:5).  In this context, Paul speaks often of self-discipline.  But self-discipline for the sake of recognition and admiration and success in this life is worldly.  Perhaps not a materialistic kind of worldliness.  But it is very worldly nonetheless (I John 2:16).

Sinful Humility (Colossians 2:18-19)

When the Revivalist movement swept Canada and the United States, holiness and humility got a little extra face time.  And, as far as that goes, we’re fine with holiness and humility getting some props.  We certainly need to emphasize these things.  So long, that is, as we emphasize them Biblically.  And that brings up one of the glaring ironies of the Revivalist movement, still strongly promoted in some circles in our day.  Because the “holiness” and “humility” preached among the Revivalists is not true holiness or humility.  In fact, we might argue that they are sinful holiness, and sinful humility.

Revivalistic holiness is not Biblical holiness.  It is nothing more than moralism.  Moralism sets up a false standard.  Rather than preaching what is right and acceptable according to the standard of God’s Word, moralism preaches what is moral according to the times.  A false standard produces a false holiness, and false holiness is sinful holiness.  As we have discussed previously, we must presuppose the authority of God’s Word in defining our standards of righteousness and holiness.  “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”  Paul warns us to “beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”

There might not be any one man who has been more guilty of preaching the rudiments of the world and the traditions of men than Charles Grandison Finney.  Finney absolutely denied the doctrine of original sin, preached that man was basically good, denied the doctrine of Substitutionary Atonement, denied that Christ’s atonement paid for the sin of any man, denied that the new birth was supernatural, believed that Christ died for a purpose not for people, and preached that salvation is the result of men repudiating sin, continually repenting and staying clean, in order to keep in good standing with God.  In short, Finney based his theology on logic rather than on Scripture.  As a result, Finney developed standards of holiness based on moralistic values and the traditions of men, rather than presupposing the pure standard of God’s Word.  Finney preached a form of Christian perfectionism that exalted the self and relied on the flesh in order to obtain holiness.  This kind of holiness, the kind that is generated from the sinful flesh, can only be sinful.

But we like Finney.  And Finney wanted holiness.  We want holiness, so we like the holiness that Finney preached.  Do you want to defend the Finney standards?  Do you think that a wrong standard is better than no standard?  Or perhaps you would defend Finney by saying, “at least he preached holiness.”  Then perhaps you should consider this… So did the Pharisees.  Finney is not the first to develop his own standards of holiness.  The Pharisees, in fact, beat him to it by more than a millenium.  What do you think of the kind of holiness that the Pharisees indulged in?  Would you consider Pharisaical holiness to be true holiness?  Christ didn’t (Matthew 23:3).  To be sure, they were very tedious about keeping all of the traditions and laws that they had invented.  They were expert gnat-strainers.  They also excelled at heavy-burden-binding (Matthew 23:4).  But they were not so scrupulous about keeping God’s law, especially the weightier matters (Matthew 23:23) like judgment, mercy, and faith.  Their kind of holiness is very unholy, for it fails to observe the whole of God’s law.

The same can be said for the kind of humility — I believe our modern day apostles of revivalism call it “brokenness” — preached by the revivalists in the Finney tradition.  The humility they promote mirrors the kind of humility that Paul was speaking of in Colossians 2:18.  Granted, he was referring to Gnostic humility.  But false humility is false, whether Gnostic, Finneyistic, or perfectionistic.  In the case Paul describes in Colossians, they were worshipping angels, as if they could not go directly to the Lord but instead relied on an intermediate agency to bring their requests to God.  They promoted this kind of thing in the name of “humility.”  They believed that praying through angels made them more humble.  But their humility was not the result of a Scriptural understanding of God.  Rather, it was a “voluntary humility.”  The Greek word for “voluntary” is a participle form of the word thelos, which means “will” or “desire.”  It means to take delight in, to devote oneself to a thing, delighting in it.  The idea is that they were humble for the sake of being humble, because they delighted in humility, rather than because they were humbled by a proper view of God.  It was a gratuitious kind of humility, and they developed a fixation on humility itself as an end.  This kind of humility is sinful.  This kind of humility actually produces pride and makes a man more self-absorbed, because he becomes enamored with his own humility.  This is the kind of “brokenness” or humility promoted amongst the modern-day Finneyists.  This kind of humility strips a man of all actual humility, and instead vainly puffs him up by his own fleshly mind.

Paul said, “Let no man beguile you of your reward” in this sort of humility.  The phrase “beguile you of your reward” comes from a single Greek word, katabrabeuo.  The prefix kata means “against,” and brabueo means “to act as a judge or empire.”  A.T. Robertson tells us that the word brabeus is used for the judge at the games, and the word brabeion is used for the prize awarded to the victor.  The Gnostics warned these Colossian believers that if they did not humble themselves and seek the mediation of angels, that they would lose their reward.  But Paul warns the Colossians that if in fact they followed Gnostic teaching, the Righteous Judge would strip them of their prize.

Instead, they need to hold fast the Head, which is Christ (v. 10).  From the Head, all the body by joints and bands has nourishment ministered to it.  By the Head, the body being knit together (v. 2), increaseth with the increase of God.  Revival, holiness, and humility, contrary to what Charles Finney taught, are not natural results of human effort.  Rather, they are the result of God working in us, producing in us that vital life and communion that increases us with the increase of God.

Contrary to the Fundamentals of Revivalist Preaching, revival is never the result of meritorious power with God.  Obtaining new heights of holiness and new degrees of humility do not make us especially powerful with God.  I believe that Charles Spurgeon was addressing the perfectionism preached by Finney when he said, in his sermon “Power with God,”

when we speak of having power with God, we must not suppose that any man can have any meritorious power with God. It has been thought, by some people, that a man can attain to a certain degree of merit, and that, then, he will receive heaven’s blessings; — if he offers a certain number of prayers, if he does this, or feels that, or suffers the other, then he will stand in high favor with God. Many are living under this delusion; and, in their way, are trying to get power with God by what they are, or do, or suffer. They think they would get power with God if they were to feel sin more, or if they were to weep more, or if they were to repent more. It is always something that they are to do, or something they are to produce in themselves, which they are to bring before God, so that, when he sees it, he will say, “Now I will have mercy upon you, and grant you the blessing you crave.” O dear friends, all this is contrary to the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ! There is far more power with God in the humble acknowledgment of sinfulness than in a boastful claim of cleanliness, — much more power in pleading that grace will forgive than in asking that justice should reward; because, when we plead our emptiness and sin, we plead the truth; but when we talk about our goodness and meritorious doings, we plead a lie; and lies can never have any power in the presence of the God of truth. O brethren and sisters, let us for ever shake off from us, as we would shake a viper from our hand, all idea that, by any goodness of ours, which even the Spirit of God might work in us, we should be able to deserve anything at God’s hands, and to claim as right anything from the justice of our Maker! [1]

He went on to point out the pride of those who think themselves to have obtained a higher sanctification…

Have you ever tried to go to God as a fully-sanctified man? I did so once; I had heard some of the “perfect” brethren, who are travelling to heaven by the “high level” railway, and I thought I would try their plan of praying. I went before the Lord as a consecrated and sanctified man. I knocked at the gate; I had been accustomed to gain admittance the first time I knocked; but, this time, I did not. I knocked again, and kept on knocking, though I did not feel quite easy in my conscience about what I was doing. At last, I clamoured loudly to be let in; and when they asked me who I was, I replied that I was a perfectly-consecrated and fully sanctified man; but they said that they did not know me! The fact was, they had never seen me in that character before. At last, when I felt that I must get in, and must have a hearing, I knocked again; and when the keeper of the gate asked, “Who is there?” I answered, “I am Charles Spurgeon, a poor sinner, who has no sanctification or perfection of his own to talk about, but who is trusting alone to Jesus Christ, the sinners’ Savior.” The gatekeeper said, “Oh, it is you, is it? Come in; we know you well enough, we have known you these many years, and then I went in directly. I believe that is the best way of praying, and the way to win the day. It is when you have got on your fine feathers and top-knots that the Lord will not know you; when you have taken them all off, and gone to him, as you went at the first, then you can say to him, —

“Once a sinner near despair
Sought thy mercy-seat by prayer;
Mercy heard, and set him free,
Lord, that mercy came to me;” —

“and I am that poor publican, who dared not lift so much as his eyes towards heaven, but smote upon his breast, and cried, ’God be merciful to me a sinner,’ and he went home to his house justified rather than the brother over there, who talked so proudly about the higher life, but who went home without a blessing. “Yes, my brother, you are strong when you are weak, and you are perfect when you know that you are imperfect, and you are nearest to heaven when you think you are farthest off. The less you esteem yourself, the higher is God’s esteem of you. [1]

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^[1]Spurgeon, Charles H.: Spurgeon’s Sermons: Volume 52. electronic ed. Albany, OR : Ages Software, 1998 (Logos Library System; Spurgeon’s Sermons 52)

Presuppositions and Asceticism (Colossians 2:16-17)

Paul here summarizes the point he has been making in the previous verses.  You might notice the train of thought which Paul, ever the logician, uses.  He is wrestling with God on their behalf, that their hearts might be comforted with strength by a full assurance and full knowledge of the mystery of God in Christ.  And he says this (v. 4) lest any man should beguile them with enticing words.   He uses the word therefore in verse 6 — in verse 5 he points out their order and steadfast faith in Christ.  In verse 6, he concludes that since they have received Christ Jesus the Lord (as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus…), so walk ye in him.  He expands on his meaning in verse 7.  When you received Christ Jesus the Lord, everything was of Christ.  In the same way, your Christian life and walk must be rooted and built up in Him.  He is the foundation and He is the building.  Beware of those who would spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, would carry you away captive from Christ.  Christ is the fullness of God, and you are made full in Christ.  The body of the sins of your flesh are put off by the circumcision of Christ.  You are buried with Him, and you are risen with Him, and you are made alive together with Him.  He has removed the contrariness of the law, and has made an open show of the lawyers who so severely prosecute you even now.

You might notice yet another therefore, this time in verse 16 — Because Christ is the foundation and the building, the ultimate starting point and the ultimate ending point, and because Christ has obliterated the “handwriting of ordinances that was against us,” let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days…”

Paul has been making a point in all of this.  Christ is the Lord.  He has spoken to us in the Word of God, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, and in those Scriptures He has revealed to us what we are to believe concerning God, and what duties God requires of man.  This must be our first and ultimate starting point, our most fundamental, rudimentary presupposition.

Paul has been making this point to combat the Colossian error.  We don’t invent our own ways of being holy.  We don’t make up our own rules, or set boundaries that God doesn’t set.  Notice what Paul says in verses 16-17.  “Let no man therefore judge you…”  The first word of that sentence in the TR is a Greek word of negation.  The sentence would literally read “not therefore anyone you judge.”  Greek does not depend on word order for meaning in the way that English does, so an unusual word order is used for emphasis.  In this case, Paul gives a very emphatic “not.”  Let NO man judge you.  The “you” is accusative, so it belongs after the verb, and it is emphatic to boot.  Paul emphatically does not want any man judging them.  Why?  Because Christ is the judge.  Our holiness is given by Christ, kept by Christ, and judged by Christ.  Man does not give our holiness, nor does man determine what holiness is, or chart the course for holiness.  Most certainly then, man has no right making up his own rules for holiness or judging your holiness (or lack therefore) by his own standards.

So this thing of standards is a matter of whose standards we use.  Men want us to live by man’s standard.  God demands that we live by Christ’s standards.  We are not judged by man’s standards.  Let no man judge you in eating or drinking — whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Let no man judge you in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days.  Paul elaborates on this extensively in I Corinthians 8, and in Romans 14-15.  Note what he says in Romans 14:5ff, “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.  He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.”

This is Paul’s point — that we must live by faith.  Romans 14:22-23 states this directly: “Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.  And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”  Let God be your judge, and be concerned what He thinks of you, not what we think of you.  For all of these things, all of the eating and drinking, all of the holydays and new moons and Sabbaths,  every one of these things are “a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.”

Paul is setting up a contrast in verse 17, between shadow and substance, between skia and soma.  Shadow requires substance.  Air does not cast a shadow, neither do mere ideas or theories.  So, the law is not simply a picture, a sketch, or an outline.  It is more than an ideal.  The law is a shadow, and the shadow is cast by the substance of God’s true holiness.  For the body, the substance is Christ’s.  The word for Christ here is in the genitive/ablative case.  This is an example of the richness of meaning contained in the very words of God.  Genitives have a wealth of possibility attached to them.  In this case, the context would allow for this to be a genitive of possession, a genitive of relationship, and an ablative of source.  The body, the substance of the law, is Christ.  It is derived from Christ, and the fullness, the meaning, the righteousness of it can only be realized through union with Christ.

The Gnostics preached asceticism, but that was not the point of the law to begin with.  The point of the law was to make a difference between the clean and the unclean.  That implies that there was a difference between the clean and the unclean to begin with, contrary to the Gnostic teaching that the material world was evil.  Through Christ, the ceremonial prohibitions of the law were ended (Acts 10).  But Gnostic error turned the law into an issue of abstinence.  God never intended for the law to be ascetic.

And that brings us to the issue here.  Our standards must come from God.  We do not have liberty to “make things up as we go.”  Most certainly, we must strive to live according to God’s law, in obedience to Christ.  But we do not make up our own rules, nor are we beholden to the whims of men.  Since Christ is the ultimate authority, we take our standards from the Word of God.   Presupposing Christ, we live by His law.  He has given us every good thing to enjoy, and we enjoy it, receiving it with thanksgiving.

You Aren’t Adding to Your Holiness (Colossians 2:10-15)

Thus far, Paul has used an indirect approach in addressing the errors promoted by false teachers in Colosse.  His introduction reminds me of the way the nurse introduces the shot.  She sets it on the table next to me.  She opens up several of those alcohol swabs and wipes.  She sort of thumbs the spot.  She addresses it with the alcohol wipe.  Then comes the big stick.  Ouch!

We all know what is coming, and by the time the alcohol wipe touches the skin, we know that it is coming soon.  We know why it is coming, and why we need it, and we are quite sure it will help.  But we can’t help wincing a bit when it finally comes.  Consider this the final wince before the shot.  The shot comes in verse 16.  But meanwhile, we’ve got that alcohol wipe, and it is high time we applied it.

Between the Gnostics, the Essenes, and the Judaizers, the believers at Colosse were confused.  Before they were saved, when they were dead in their sins and the uncircumcision of their flesh, they understood that they were in bondage.  It didn’t always feel like bondage, but once they converted, they understood that it really was bondage.  Because of false teachers, however, they were really beginning to feel that they were in more bondage than before.  The rules and restrictions and ‘can’t’ lists seemed to grow exponentially.  They had to be circumcised, they needed to respect all these new holy days, they had to stop eating food they enjoyed, they had to keep the sabbath, they had to “touch not, taste not, handle not.”  Every time they turned around, there was a new rule.  Basically, they found that they had to give up everything they enjoyed, and replace it with all sorts of things they did not enjoy.

I find no evidence in the book of Colossians that these believers were resentful of this new kind of bondage.  If they were chafing at the rules or thinking about turning back, Paul gives no indication.  From all appearances, they were ready and willing to go along with the form of ascetic Christianity being taught by false teachers.  For this, I believe that they deserve a little credit.  But here is the point when Paul steps in to reverse the trend and send them back in the right direction…

You are in Christ, and in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.  Being in Christ then, you are filled (complete – v. 10).  How complete are you?  Well, you are already circumcised.  What’s that, you say?  You’ve never been circumcized?  But you are, though.  You are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands.  The body of the sins of your flesh are put off by the circumcision of Christ.  You are in Him, remember?

Would you repeat that question?  You were asking if that means you don’t need to be circumcised after all?  That’s correct.  You already are, remember?  With the circumcision made without hands.

That’s not all either.  You are buried with Christ also.  You are buried with Him in baptism by immersion (sprinkling doesn’t picture burial).  So, you don’t need to give up life and living.  What’s that you just asked?  You wanted to know if ‘living’ would get bad stuff on us, the way dirt makes us dirty?  You wanted to know if we aren’t supposed to die to the things of this world, and stop enjoying things?

Wait, wait… one question at a time please.  Yes, I have heard that definition of Puritanism — the haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy.  But that is really just a slander… No, you don’t have to fear pleasure and lawful enjoyment.  No, you won’t need to die to pleasure, that’s what I am saying.  You are buried with Christ already.

How’s that again?  Yes, exactly… this means that you already died with Christ (see Romans 6).  Not only that, but you are risen with him through the faith of the operation (the Greek word here is energeias – energy) of God, who raised Christ from the dead.  You see, you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh.  But now you are risen with Christ.  He has quickened you together with Christ.  The word is sunzōpoieō, and it indicates that you are not made alive by yourself, but that you are joined together with Christ in being made alive.  So, yes, you are free to live, because you are alive with Christ.

Jesus Christ died, buried, and revived.  He quickened you together with Himself when He saved you.  In quickening you, he forgave you all trespasses.  He also did something else for you, something that the false teachers like to ignore so that they can plunder you of your liberty in Christ.  When Christ quickened you, forgiving you all trespasses, he also obliterated the bondage of the law.  As a matter of fact, you know how those Judaizers and pseudo-religious leaders are always harrassing you about your need to be circumcised and to submit to the ceremonial law?  Well, let me tell you about them.  You see, when Christ was nailed to the cross, they thought that they had triumphed over Him.  But in fact, He was triumphing over them.  When He gave up the ghost, He shocked all their sensibilities, for He prayed, “Father, forgive them…”  He shocked their sensibilities even more, for He ripped the veil of the temple in two.  And then, on the third day, He made a show of them openly in that He arose from the grave.

Now, they want you to think that holiness is found in keeping yourself from touching so-called “defiled” things.  They want you to believe that you become more holy by keeping all of their feasts and holy days and sabbaths.  But you should understand that your righteousness and holiness is not in yourself.  It is found in Christ.  Be holy, for sure.  You must, because you are in Christ.  We’ll be getting to that shortly.  But for right now, understand that you can keep all of their laws, but you aren’t adding even one speck to your holiness.  Your holiness (forgive me for repeating myself) is all wrapped up in Christ.

Some final thoughts…

I know of a church that requires Christians, before they can join the church, to sign a covenant with the church promising that they will not have a television, that they will not watch professional sports, that they will not participate in any team sport, that they will not watch any movie with a rating above a “G,” that they will turn down commercials on their radio, that they will only listen to one of the two radio stations approved by the church, that they will never skip family devotions, that their ladies will never wear cullottes, that their men will never wear shorts, that they will never go to a restaurant on a Sunday, and that they will not drink Coca-Cola.  If they will not promise all of these things, they cannot join.

I believe that Paul’s point in Colossians 2 would reject this sort of thing.  God has quickened us together with Christ, and He intends that we would live.