Text:
4 When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, 6 for which the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience, 7 among whom you also walked in times past when you lived there. 8 But now you also must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian nor Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
the explanation:
Here, the Apostle Paul emphasizes the radical change resulting from faith, which is a new birth that results in the death of purely human emotions and in its place the believer gains a penetrating divine insight that enables him to discern the truth of existence and seek the path to true life. Through faith, the human being is completed and through it man realizes himself as he is revealed in his original being created “in the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1:26).
The believer passes through death buried with the Lord Jesus in baptism in which he is also raised with Him (see Colossians 2:11-13). As a result of this event, the believer’s life becomes in the Lord’s care and is preserved until the last day: “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:2-3). When Christ, who is our life, appears, you also will appear with Him in glory.” The talk here is about the resurrection of life again at the coming of the Lord Jesus at the end of time. The believer took the pledge of life in baptism and will receive the fullness of life when he appears in the procession of the Lord Jesus at His final coming.
“Mortify your members which are on the earth.” The condition of true life is complete renunciation of submission to the inspirations of flesh and blood and looking forward to life within its divine framework, “If you have done the things that are above, not the things that are on the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). The things above are far removed from “fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and greed.” The focus of these five vices is lust, which is the movement of the empty soul to fill its emptiness. The teachers of the Jewish law equated greed with idolatry, and the Apostle Paul says, “The love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10), but the Lord Jesus warns, saying, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for when a man has plenty, his life does not consist in the possessions he has” (Luke 12:15).
“The wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” The talk here refers to the final judgment. It is not meant that God punishes based on emotions that are aroused in Him against those who indulge in these lusts, but rather that these sinners will deprive themselves of the gift of life because they have consumed their lives in indulging in sin and have not entrusted them to the Lord Jesus. The Colossians had their share of a life of sin before faith, and this does not mean that after faith they are not exposed, and therefore the writer reminds them of this and warns them again to stay away from sin, as he commands them to put away “anger and wrath and malice and blasphemy and filthy language.” He calls them to combat these vices by baptism. Therefore he says: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility and gentleness, longsuffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another…. And as Christ forgave you, so you also must do” (Colossians 3:12-13).
“Put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man.” The old man is “that which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22). But the new man is the one created according to God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). This change is not as easy as changing a garment, but rather the meaning is that the features of the new man completely obliterate all the features of the old man and no trace of them appears at all. This becomes clear to the friends and acquaintances of the believer when they find themselves before a completely different person, a person whose presence is an expression of the presence of God. Therefore the apostle Paul said, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27).
“The new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of his Creator.” Therefore, the new nature of man is not a final nature that stands still, but is constantly renewed. This does not mean that it grows old and corrupts, but rather that it takes on more and more “the image of its Creator.” Therefore, the image of God, which was distorted by sin, is revealed more and more through the knowledge of God, and the more it is revealed, the more the knowledge of God is multiplied, and thus the believer returns to the divine ideal in his being.
“Neither Greek nor Jew, neither circumcised nor uncircumcised.” Uncircumcised means remaining uncircumcised and refers to non-Jews. A barbarian is one who does not speak Greek and is therefore considered uncivilized. As for the Sketes, they are nomadic tribes centered in southern Russia. They used to inhabit the plains and used to invade cities in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Lord Jesus destroyed the fence of enmity between all of these, and became the unifier of them all, as He is the focus of the believer’s life and his ultimate goal. All of these placed their lives in the care of the Lord Jesus, and they died to their enmity and were united by divine love in Him.
Quoted from my parish bulletin
Sunday, December 11, 1994 / Issue 50
