Aleethia!

In the last passage, Paul told us to kill our old nature, to stop living the way non-Christians live. Here he begins to lay out the type of lifestyle a Christians should model. This is the result of the philosophy he taught in verses 1-4. This is what the Christians life should look like.

When he tells us to “Put on” this new lifestyle, we see that it is intentional. It is something we have to purpose to do. Living as Christ isn’t an accident.

Paul tells us we should live this way for three reasons; we have been chosen by God, set apart for his purposes, and loved by him.

To be “chosen by God” is to be one of the elect. I know this can be a contentious doctrine for some of you. But here it is, right at the foundation of Paul’s reasoning for living the Christian life. This is the same word translated “elect” in other places. It is used of Christ (being the Messiah), angles (the holy angles in opposition to fallen angles), and people (as the church). What does the Bible mean when it refers to people as elect, or chosen? Wayne Grudem defines it this way.

Election is an act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure. ¹

Paul goes on to say that God’s elect are holy. To be holy means to sacred, pure, morally blameless. When applied to anything other than God himself, it means to be set aside for his service. This is what it means to be a ‘saint’. All Christians are saints. We are made pure by Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross, and set apart for God’s service. Our living differently from the world is not to be an effort at holiness, it is the result of the holiness imparted to us by Christ. Important difference!

And finally, Paul says we are “beloved”. Which means simply › Continue reading

This post is part of a teaching series on the book of Colossians. All of the lessons in this series can be found here. In the first lesson we outlined the book. In each subsequent lesson we look at one small section of the outline and seek to answer five questions concerning the text.

In this section of Scripture we’re looking at the Colossian error of mysticism or spiritual elitism. In our last lesson Paul spoke out against legalism that had sprung up as a result of the gnostic teaching taking place at Colossae. In these two verses he’s battling against an attitude of superior spirituality based on mysticism or visions and revelations.

In verse 18 he tells the Colossian believers not to let anyone “disqualify” them. This is the only place in the New Testament this Greek word is used. It literally means to act as a judge or umpire, to decide against, to declare unworthy of the prize. The idea of judging builds on verse 16, but here it is more serious. Here it is judging a person’s fitness for eternity. Think of sporting event, “let no one make a bad call against you, that results in you loosing the event.”

Part of this judgement involved “insisting on asceticism.”

When you insist on something, you demand to have it, not accepting anything else. The word translated as “asceticism” literally means humility or lowliness of mind. Someone who insists on humility is someone who is proud of their humility. If you think you have humility, especially if you tell others you are humble, you are not. Humility is so difficult to achieve. Pride is so easy to possess.

The second thing they insisted on was the worship of angels. › Continue reading