Sword in the Fire

B. Put on the New. 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. 12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lor...

II. True Spirituality in Action. A. Put off the old. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filyour language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, -Paul removes spirituality from the theoretical and demonstrates here what setting “your mind on things above” looks like. -“put to death”: This is a moment that we choose to make a clean break with sin. Paul uses this term in Romans 8, but in that case the word is to slay or execute. In this passage the word to put to death has the sense of killing by wearing out. It is used to describe Abraham’s old wo...

I. True Spirituality: 1-4 IF then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. -This passage is really a continuation of 2:20ff. Paul talked about dying in Christ, which is always related to the baptismal experience when the Christian is united with Christ in Baptism. In being united with Christ, the Christian is placed into the very life of Christ. And just as he participated in the death of Christ, he also participates in Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and sitting at the right of the Father. The Christian should live in the fullness of this experience, keeping one’s mind vigilant and attentive to the presence of God. -Paul is making a contrast with legalistic spirituality of the ...

2. Religion of Pride 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not* seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, “let no one cheat you “ To embrace this Gnostic faith was to forsake what Christ had done for the Church. -”worship of angels” The Gnostics of Colossae had incorporated the Jewish belief in angels as part of the emanations that would bring them back to God. This is unnecessary because Christ is the fullness and angels are merely His ministers. Angels no doubt assist in our salvation, in that they protect us and pray for us, but they are not the mediator between God and man. - Pride - Within this heresy and all heresies and corruptions of the truth there is an element of pride. There is a sense that man can peer into the mind of God, grasp God’s mysteries and save oneself. Rather than boldly accepting the faith which had been delivered to them by Paul...

B. Review of the Faith you were taught. 11In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made wiyout hands, by putting off the body of the sins* of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. 11-13: Paul in this passage reviews the faith that had been given to them. He forms it in such a way as to combat the strain of Gnsoticism that was subverting the purity of the Gospel. This form of Gnosticism had been combined with...