The Higher Way I. Base Text: Colossians 3:1-17 II. Context and Interpretation A. Paul and Timothy write to encourage the Christians of Colossae to stand firm in the faith according to the Gospel they heard, not be deceived by arguments rooted in philosophy, tradition, mysticism, Jewish customs, and the like (Colossians 1:1-2:23) 1. Paul and Timothy wrote to the Colossian Christians ca. 59-61; did not know them face to face; Paul thanked God for the Colossian Christians and their trust in the Gospel promoted around the world, praying they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will with all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk worthily of the Lord (Colossians 1:3-12) 2. God has made Christians sufficient to partake in the inheritance; Jesus as the image of the invisible God, firstborn of creation, to whom and through whom all things were made; all things consist in Him; given preeminence in all things; all the fullness dwells in Jesus, and all things in heaven and on earth reconciled to God through Him (Colossians 1:12-20) 4. The Colossians had been alienated from God, but God has reconciled them to Himself in Jesus, and will continue as long as they remain grounded and steadfast in the Gospel and its hope; Paul as minister of Gospel preached everywhere (Colossians 1:21-29) 5. Paul strives for Colossian Christians to be comforted, united in love unto the riches of full understanding so none may deceive with persuasive speech; they should walk as they received Jesus, rooted and established in faith, full of thanksgiving (Colossians 2:1-7) 6. Paul warns the Colossian Christians against being plundered through appeals to philosophy and the elements of the world, not according to Christ, the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form, above all rule and power; Christians as circumcised in baptism, cutting off the life in the flesh; Christians made alive in Jesus through forgiveness of sin, cancellation of record of debt, triumph over principalities and powers (Colossians 2:8-15) 7. The Colossian Christians were not to be judged for not observing Jewish customs; they should not be led astray by those puffed up by mystical experiences, nor to submit to asceticism, which is will worship but without benefit in overcoming temptations of the flesh (Colossians 2:16-23) B. Paul now turned to encourage the Colossian Christians in the practice of their faith; he anchors such exhortation in what has come before, insisting on the way of Jesus as the higher way (Colossians 3:1-17) C. Seek the Higher Way (Colossians 3:1-4) 1. Paul returned to the theme explored in Colossians 2:12-13: the Colossian Christians were raised with Christ through baptism and were made alive together with Him; thus, if they were raised together with Christ, they should seek the things above, where Christ is, at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1) a. Right hand of God: cf. Psalm 110:1; Matthew 26:64, Acts 2:34, 7:55 b. Raising of a spiritual nature in this passage; a hope and guarantee of future physical rising 2. To this end the Colossian Christians are to set their minds on the things above, not on those on the earth; they died, their lives are hidden with Christ in God; when Christ is manifest, so will their lives (Colossians 3:2-3) a. As considering oneself dead to sin in baptism, Romans 6:3-7; in Christ, Galatians 2:20 b. A compelling presentation of the “now, not yet” of salvation: we are raised with Christ, should seek the higher way, but are as dead, awaiting manifestation of glory in life in Christ 3. Paul has now set the theme for the exhortations toward conduct (paranesis) which follows: seek what is above, what is life; put to death what is on the earth, what is death D. Putting Sin to Death (Colossians 3:5-11) 1. Paul then condemned the sorts of behavior which manifest the kind of fleshly desires which turn away from God and dissolve relationships; they are part of the old life, and should be set aside (cf. Ephesians 4:1-32) 2. Colossian Christians are to put to death their “earthly members”: sexually deviant behavior, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness/greed, which is idolatry; the wrath of God comes upon the disobedient for these things; they walked in them, but are to no longer (Colossians 3:5-7; cf. Ephesians 5:1-5) a. Five vices listed here, contrasted with five virtues to come (Colossians 3:12) b. Sexually deviant behavior, uncleanness, passion, and desire are to all be understood with primarily sexual reference, condemning not only acts of sexual deviance, but the thought and feeling processes that go into them or would pine for them; all consistent with behavior in the pagan world c. Some would see a sexual aspect to covetousness/greed, yet not as likely; covetousness as idolatry, in light of Matthew 6:24, making a god out of aspects of the creation and giving them the glory due to God (cf. Romans 1:24-25) 3. Colossian Christians are also to put away anger, wrath, malice, reviling, obscene talk, and should no longer lie to each other, for they have put off the old man and have put on the new man renewed in knowledge of Jesus (Colossians 3:8-10; cf. Ephesians 4:21-32) a. All terms for sinfulness in speech, corroding trust, poisoning minds, alienating people from God and each other b. Exhortation to change speech behaviors rooted in transformation in Jesus, which itself must be continual 4. In Jesus no Greek or Jew, uncircumcised or circumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and in all (Colossians 3:11; cf. Galatians 3:28) a. Barbarian: those of non-Greek civilization; later used as we use the term b. Scythian: nomadic tribes of the Central Asian steppes, proverbial in the ancient world for being wild, uncouth, unpredictable, and dangerous c. Not, as so many today imagine, an elimination of national or other forms of difference; in other places, Paul speaks to Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians as Jews and Gentiles, and later in Colossians will speak of roles of master and slave (Ephesians 2:11, Philippians 3:1-8, Colossians 3:22-4:1) d. Instead Paul is reinforcing the message of God as not showing partiality (cf. Romans 2:11): in Christ each man or woman stands with equal value and integrity before Him; no one gets a pass or special treatment because of nationality, class, etc. E. Putting on the New Man (Colossians 3:12-17) 1. Paul then exhorts the Colossian Christians regarding how they should behave as new men and women in Christ Jesus; the exhortation really continues from Colossians 3:12 through Colossians 4:6, but we will focus on Colossians 3:12-17 for our purposes today 2. Having “taken off” worldly behaviors, Christians are to “put on” a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and longsuffering, as God’s elect, holy and beloved (Colossians 3:12) a. God’s choice, setting believers apart for His purposes, and loving them all to the end of them becoming more like Jesus, aligned with God b. What marked the life and ministry of Jesus? Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and longsuffering (e.g. Matthew 9:36, 11:28-30) c. Meekness: strength under control, not a doormat 3. Christians must also forebear one another and forgive one another their complaints against one another as Christ has forgiven them; above all they must put on love, which is the bond of perfection (Colossians 3:13-14; cf. Matthew 6:14-15, Ephesians 4:32) 4. Christians must allow the peace of Christ to rule in their hearts; they were called to this in one body; they should be thankful (Colossians 3:13; cf. Ephesians 4:3) a. Christ as securing peace by killing hostility on the cross (Ephesians 2:15-18) b. Peace representing the end of inner conflict; peace toward others as seeing them as human, not projecting one’s insecurities or weaknesses on them, able to consider their desires and needs 5. Christians must have the word of Christ dwelling in them richly, teaching and admonishing in all wisdom with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in their hearts to God (Colossians 3:16) a. Word of God as providing sustenance, strength, equipment: Deuteronomy 8:3, 2 Timothy 3:17 b. As in Ephesians 5:19, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs as means by which Christians teach and admonish one another; not exclusive, of course, but Paul’s referent in the passage c. How much nuance to understand in psalms vs. hymns vs. spiritual songs disputed: perhaps different styles of song, perhaps difference in type; all three reflected in Psalms d. Such singing directed toward one another while done in the heart with grace toward God 6. Whatever Christians do in word or deed to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God through Him (Colossians 3:17) a. “In the name of” is “by the authority of”; clearest demonstration of need for authority from God in Christ for all we say or do b. A message not detached from context: letter of Colossians has been all about the glorious Christ, His great power and authority, and so it is right and really expected that we look to Him for authority for how we talk and act c. Giving thanks not to be overlooked; a reminder of our dependence on God’s grace, love, and mercy which He exercises by His power F. Paul thus explained in exhortation to all how they may follow the higher way, manifesting the character of Christ, turning away from the ways of the world III. Application A. The Higher Way 1. Paul followed the rules of good ancient rhetoric: after setting forth his “theological” case, exhortation regarding conduct follows, as in all his letters 2. In Colossians Paul did much to exalt and glorify Jesus the Christ as the image of the invisible God, the author of creation, the head of all power, the head of the church, in whom Christians find fullness and satisfaction (Colossians 1:1-2:23) 3. His exhortations regarding conduct, then, flow from this exaltation of Jesus: if Christians are made alive in Him and raised up with Him, then they must elevate their thinking and conduct! 4. While there is a good channel for the sexual impulse, and God did make sexuality as good (Genesis 1:1-2:24), sexuality has been greatly corrupted in the fall and has become a main driver of worldliness, earthliness, and thus ungodliness: for good reason Paul strongly warns ex-pagans away from not only deviant sexual behavior but also lust and passion to that end (Colossians 3:5) 5. God made a good world for our use, but in the fall we have been corrupted in desire, and want to exploit and hoard beyond our needs, flattering our desires and pursuing some kind of permanence in this world; Paul indicts all such covetousness as idolatry, for it is not really trusting in God for provision, but in one’s own resources or resourcefulness (Colossians 3:5) 6. God made man to be one with Him and with each other; their passions have been corrupted and they use it to hurt, harm, and alienate one another in the name of puffing up the self in anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk, and lies (Colossians 3:8-9) 7. These are the ways of the world; but Christians have put on the new man, to be continually renewed in Christ, and thus are to exhibit Christ’s character in love, compassion, humility, meekness, and longsuffering, maintaining peace, saturated in heart with the word of God in Christ, singing in exhortation, and doing all things in the name of Jesus, thankful for God in Christ (Colossians 3:12-17) 8. These exhortations are timeless, as relevant to Christians today as they were for the Colossians almost two thousand years ago 9. We therefore easily decontextualize them and use them as part of our exhortation project all too often rooted in a self-help mentality: stop doing bad things and start doing good things; what’s wrong with you; why aren’t you stopping the bad and doing the good? 10. We must resist such decontextualization here: Paul has just concluded warning the Colossian Christians against asceticism in will worship (Colossians 2:20-23); he grounds all of Colossians 3:1-17 not only in God in Christ, not even only authorized in God in Christ, but empowered through Him! 11. Yes, we must strive to embody the characteristics of Christ in our lives, but that is precisely the point: it is not a bunch of disconnected “do this, don’t do that” forms of exhortation and warning, but a comprehensively manifest package in Jesus, all of which is designed for our true health, our true wholeness, our true thriving! 12. To seek the higher way is to be aligned with God’s purposes manifest in Jesus according to the way the creation was established; the way of the world is a fraud, a masquerade, promising enjoyment but only providing bitterness, misery, hostility, and ultimately death 13. May we strive for the higher way! B. Emphasis on the Sexual 1. Christians these days are accused of being too obsessed with what people do in the bedroom 2. While there is room for critique of the ways in which many who profess Christ have wanted to address matters of sexuality, in reality, emphasis on concerns about sexuality go all the way back to Paul himself 3. Romans 1:18-32: the depravity of paganism manifest in sexual deviant behavior 4. And so four of the five vices Paul lists in Colossians 3:5 take on sexual connotations, leaving many other forms of sinful behavior out 5. Paul will address other forms of sinful behavior in other contexts (cf. Galatians 5:19-21, etc.); yet, as with modern society, so with ancient Rome: pagans can get on board with the difficulties with murder and theft and things of that sort, but what Christians see as sexual sin is easily justified by pagans 6. Thus we have Romans 1:18-32 and 1 Corinthians 6:13-20 getting right to the heart of the matter 7. Sexual depravity in thought, feeling, and deed leads to dehumanization of the person committing such things, focusing on physical pleasure to the exclusion of the emotional, spiritual, and relational elements of sexuality; they dehumanize the object of sexual desire, turning them into objects for pleasurable use and dispensed with easily 8. One’s view of sexuality says much about one’s view of God, oneself, and their relationship to the world and others; is it about satisfying desire, or about human thriving as God intended? 9. Sex is not all important, but it remains extremely important, and we should learn from Paul’s continual emphasis on it C. The Rule of the Peace of Christ 1. It is easy to accept the truth of Colossians 3:15 and move on, but we do well to meditate upon the rule of the peace of Christ, the calling in the one body in Jesus 2. Peace is no mere absence of hostility, but the killing of hostility (cf. Ephesians 2:11-18) 3. We must truly die with Christ to have His peace rule in our heart: we must die to the temptations to sin against others in anger, wrath, slander, judgmentalism, etc.; we must die to ourselves, no longer being ruled by our inadequacies, insufficiencies, and insecurities 4. Christ killed the hostility by being vulnerable, wounded for our iniquity, dying for our sin (cf. 1 Peter 2:18-25): if we want peace in our lives, we must stop putting up defenses against others, allow ourselves to be vulnerable with each other, cognizant of our own insufficiencies, etc., and to look at one another as fellow humans 5. Such is absolutely part of the “forebearing one another” of Colossians 3:13; we have been called into one body, and we are to seek to preserve that unity in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3); we need to be vulnerable toward each other, to accept one another, to be committed to one another, and not give up on one another 6. God offers us peace in Jesus, but it is a costly peace: we must give up our hurt, our apprehension, our fear, our smug senses of superiority, our feelings of justification for blame for others, and our insecurities; the exchange is worth it, but painful D. Teaching and Admonishing in Song 1. What are we to make of Colossians 3:16? 2. It is no mere prooftext against the use of instruments; it is no mere throwaway verse to establish authority for singing and then to move on 3. After all, why do we sing? Is it only to pass some time before the sermon? 4. As Paul sets forth, it is a means by which we manifest that the word of Christ dwells in us richly; it is how we teach and admonish one another 5. This was well understood by the great evangelists of the 19th and early 20th centuries; they made sure to find the best song leaders to set the tone for the preaching 6. Songs teach the Gospel in a way sermons never can; one good hymn is worth a hundred lessons 7. Singing brings us together; singing manifests our unity in Christ, as our voices join together; good songs stir the heart and spirit as much as the mind, as we speak to each other in the song the Gospel and its life 8. In times of distress, songs will be there as words cannot; in the hour of trial, songs speak where words fail (cf. Acts 16:25) 9. If songs have inspired and sustained resistance movements, how much more can they sustain Christians on their journey?; the songs of the saints ascend before God; the saints must be singing on the higher way to the resurrection! E. All Things in the Name of Jesus 1. Colossians 3:17 is crucial to the faith: we must speak and do all things in the name of Jesus 2. We must have authority for all we do! 3. We must turn to Jesus as the treasury of all knowledge and wisdom; we must turn to Jesus to know how we should speak and live; we must turn to Jesus, the image of the invisible God, to seek after Him (Colossians 1:15, 2:3) 4. We are wise to keep asking by what authority we say and do the things we say and do; we must anchor them in what God has made known in Christ; we must be wary of self-justification and attempts to baptize culture into Christ, and sift what is truly godly from what everyone, especially ourselves, would like to be godly 5. May we truly do all things in the name of Jesus! F. Renewed in Jesus 1. In Ephesians 4:23 Paul wished for Christians to be renewed in spirit; in Colossians 3:10 Paul spoke of Christians as renewed unto knowledge of the image of their Creator 2. This renewal is a continual thing; it is not a one time deal 3. All the things mentioned about the higher way are both continual and progressive 4. Over time we may get dulled in hearing, weary in resistance, and begin justifying the earthly desires in us; we must constantly find refreshment in Christ and turn away from such justification 5. As we grow in Christ, we ascertain more ways in which we must be renewed in the image of our Creator; certain difficulties must be overcome in order to manifest deeper difficulties 6. We would be overwhelmed if everything had to be fully renewed at once; God works with us throughout our lives 7. But this means that the work is never done; we must continually work to put off the old man and put on the new man; we must continually submit to the peace of Christ, teach and admonish in song, seek authority for our words and deeds 8. And we must continually and progressively work to stop trying to improve ourselves by our own unaided efforts, and prove ever more willing to trust in submission to God in Christ, and trust in Him, not us! IV. Conclusion A. Paul’s paranesis in Colossians begins strongly: we have been raised with Christ, so we should live according to the higher path B. We must turn aside from and put off the vices of the world C. We must put on the ways of Christ and work to embody His character D. May we seek to follow Jesus in all things, be renewed after His image, sing the songs of the saints, and obtain the resurrection of life! E. Invitation Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth (Colossians 3:2). Christians have been raised with Christ in baptism, having been made alive in Jesus. Christians therefore ought to focus on that which is above, the ways of God manifest in Jesus. Life in the flesh, reveling in the corruption of the creation, brought forth only death. May we live according to the ways of Jesus and be saved! 2: And have put on the new man that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him (Colossians 3:10). Christians must put off and set aside the old ways and old man of sin leading to death: sexually deviant behavior, sexual passions, covetousness, malice, slander, lying, wrath. They must instead put on the new man renewed by knowledge of Jesus, the image of God. They then manifest His characteristics: love, humility, compassion, kindness, meekness, and longsuffering. May we be more like Christ and share in His resurrection! 3: And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which also ye were called in one body; and be ye thankful (Colossians 3:15). Christians must kill all hostility in their hearts and manifest the peace of Christ in their hearts. There can be no room for inadequacy, fear, or insecurity; we must see one another as fellow humans, loving one another, forebearing one another. We encourage one another with the fullness of the Word of Christ in us in song. May we live in peace and proclaim Jesus in song for eternity! 4: And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:17). Paul spoke wondrously of Jesus: the image of the invisible God, the reason for the creation, empowered over every principality and power, the treasure of all knowledge and wisdom, the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. Thus, as servants of such a Lord, we ought to say and do everything in His name, that is, by His authority. Man’s ways have led to death; God’s ways in Christ lead to life. May we seek to live according to the ways of Jesus and obtain the resurrection of life!