Angelic Conflict part 342: Future work of Christ [Bema seat] – Col 3; Rom 8:29.Title: Angelic Conflict part 342: Future work of Christ [Bema seat] – Col 3; Rom 8:29.
Col 3 is a great place to see the difference between good and evil.
Col 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Col 3:2 Set your mind [phroneo] on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
Col 3:3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Don't limit God by setting your mind on the things of the earth.
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Col 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body [suppression] as dead to [put to death your earthly members] immorality [fornication, Gal 5:19], impurity [uncleanness, Gal 5:19], passion [inordinate passion], evil desire [kakos - bad things of 2Co 2:5], and greed [desire to have more], which [singular - covetousness] amounts to idolatry.
Col 3:6 For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come [but not upon the believer],
If the wrath of God is going to come in the form of the returning Christ with us along with Him to put an end to these things then does it make sense for us to walk in them now?
Col 3:7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.
A continued list of bad is given in verses 8 and 9. Col 3:8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger [abiding and habitual], wrath [boiling agitation], malice [desire to injure], slander [injuring the name of another], and abusive speech from your mouth [low and obscene speech].
Col 3:9 Do not lie to one another [meaning it is still going on], since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
Col 3:10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge [continued intake of doctrine] according to [after the manner of] the image of the One who created him
Some religions will not allow the image of God to be made in any likeness, while others have many images. Idols are engraved images which are unimportant to the Church for they are not God but demonic. Paul would instruct that it was not sin to eat food sacrificed to an idol because the idol was nothing and restraint was only commanded if eating would cause a weaker believer to stumble. Yet the believer is to bear the image of God, certainly not in his overt appearance, but in his thinking as one who represents God as an ambassador on this earth.
Christ is the image of God, Col 1:15.
Col 1:15 And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.
The believer is to be conformed to Christ's image:
Rom 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;
Simple algebra in application of the transitive property will lead one to conclude that being conformed to Christ is the expression of the image of God in this world. We were created in the image of God and in a sense we remain that, though fallen, since we all possess a personality (intellect, sensibility, and will) but in Christ we bear a different image of God which is the new creature and this image is far superior to the image portrayed by even our perfect, unfallen parents.
Col 3:11 — a renewal in which there is no distinction [there cannot be when all believers are in union with Christ] between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
Under equal privilege and equal opportunity no believer, no matter what nationality, economic status, or any other factor by which men categorize themselves will prevent them from renewing the new creature through learning and believing the word of God under the instruction of the HS.
Vincent comments: "National, ritual, intellectual, and social diversities are specified. The reference is probably shaped by the conditions of the Colossian Church, where the form of error was partly Judaistic and ceremonial, insisting on circumcision; where the pretence of superior knowledge affected contempt for the rude barbarian, and where the distinction of master and slave had place as elsewhere."
Then comes a list of divine good or fruit that are directed towards others.
Col 3:12 And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved [sanctified and loved], put on [expression: aorist imperative: to be obeyed at once] a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
"put on" - evndu,w[enduo] = to envelop in or cloth in. "to become so possessed of the mind of Christ as in thought, feeling, and action to resemble Him and, as it were, reproduce the life He lived." [Thayer]
The heart we are to put on is to be in the manner of our election, as those who have been chosen of God, sanctified and loved. In other words, Eph 4:1 Walk in a manner worthy of your calling. We have been elected in Christ to have His life, life that is Him, and to share in His inheritance through all manner of prosperity or undeserved suffering that will come our way. The aorist imperative of put on means to start now if you haven't been. When we cloth ourselves in Him through the word of God and the filling of the Spirit there will be very real and recognizable manifestations that we can see in ourselves and that is the heart that contains these divine expressions.
Col 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
Col 3:14 And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
"Love is the outer garment which holds the others [virtues] in their places." [Lightfoot]
All virtues are bonded together in virtue love and thus making that which is complete. Perfect bond is better translated as a complete bond or mature bond. Mature or complete would mean that they, the virtues, are in good working order.
"But two things cannot be held together without a third; they must have some bond of union. And the fairest bond is that which most completely fuses and is fused into the things which are bound." [Plato]
Agape love is that bond.
As we have defined agapan love: A mental attitude love from mature virtue that recognizes the value of an object, which produces a preference and a regard for its benefit, without sin, nor motivated by any affection or attraction.
Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience [vs. 12] bearing with one another, and forgiving each other [vs. 13], and love [vs. 14] are all virtues directed towards others and stand in contrast to how the flesh would like to deal with these people.
Compassion or judgmental; kindness or selfishness; humility or arrogance; gentleness or callousness; patience or impatience; bearing with one another or competing with one another; forgiving each other slandering one another; love or indifference. There is constantly a conflict of passions and desires in the heart. Of tremendous advantage to the believer that he may choose God's passion and desire is the peace of Christ in the heart.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Christ left peace or tranquility of the heart as a legacy to His Church.
Joh 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
"Rule" is brabeuo, an athletic term meaning to be umpire. The conflict in the believer's heart is between the flesh and the Spirit, between good and bad and the peace of Christ must umpire in order to make the proper choices.
When the temptations come to do the wrong thing, say for instance, the temptation to be bitter rather than compassionate, the peace of Christ allows me the tranquility to evaluate my thinking and reason with God as to the hurt that bitterness brings to myself and others and that it is not of Christ but in opposition to Him. In this way the peace of Christ umpires my heart.
If I have made the wrong choice I simply acknowledge it, an agreement with God that what was done was sin, and then with the peace of Christ restored to my heart I can clearly make any mental attitude adjustments that are necessary. For instance, if I recognized my bitterness in a situation and acknowledged that it was sin, then I adjust whatever way of thinking or pattern of thinking that was causing that bitterness. If I was bitter at a person then I was focusing on their flesh, so do I go on looking at their flesh or do I make an adjustment in my soul concerning that person. If it's a believer I should recognize that their flesh has been crucified so why am I looking at it? If it's anybody I must recognize that I am the judge of no one. If there is peace umpiring or ruling in my heart then I can calmly make these adjustments and thus make for even greater peace in my heart.
Lightfoot says: "Where ever there is a conflict of motives or impulses or reasons, the peace of Christ must step in and decide which is to prevail." [Lightfoot]
This individual peace will extend to the body of Christ in the local church creating a unity in the members.
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
"Dwell within" is the Greek word enoikeo [in and dwell] and it means to live in a home or to be at home. The believer is to so yield himself to the word of God that there is a certain at home-ness of the word in his being.
The word of God is the mind of Christ. If the word of Christ is richly at home in your heart then Christ is also.
Eph 3:16-17 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell [katoikeo: down and dwell] in your hearts through faith
While enoikeo speaks on indwelling a home katoikeo speaks of settling in to a home fixedly or permanently.
The soul should not be a place of conflict, tension, uneasiness, stress, or division. The soul should be your ultimate home, made together with your Husband. |