Bible Study

Colossians 3:12-17. Virtues that begin with love.

Colossians 3:12-17

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (ESV)

The chosen ones have their confidence in God not on the basis of their faith (“con fide” with faith) but on the basis of their having been chosen by God. The putting on of qualities is not a “front” or a false representation of who we are and what we aspire to. Putting on these qualities is like those in the military who are preparing themselves for conflict, not as in donning a costume to act the part like one may perform in a play.

The qualities that we are to put on:

Compassionate hearts (bowels of mercy, literally) referring to the center of our emotions and the tender connection we have with others. We feel it in our “gut.”

Kindness. The principle “by which we make ourselves amiable.” This quality makes us easy to live with. This is the inner principle, that describes our inner motivations in what we do, rather than the outward manifestations of our actions (see Calvin, ad loc., Colossians 3:12-13). Kindness comes from deep within us and is not concerned about how it looks or who is impressed with how we react.

Humility. To have a thought about yourselves that is small, not grand. “Small thinking” of one’s self it to consider yourself as one who could serve everyone in your fellowship. Great thinking would be the opposition of humility and it would make us unteachable, and incapable of serving others.

Meekness. The gentle spirit of the redeemed, presents itself with unassuming sweetness. The outward manifestation of the quality of the Christ-like heart. Kindness in appearance and in speech. Calvin, “as, however, it frequently happens, that we come in contact with wicked and ungrateful men, there is need of patience that it may cherish mildness in us” (Calvin, Commentaries, Colossians 3:13, 213).

Patience. The long-way-to-anger. Not the short way. Not the explosive way to anger. The long, slow, thoughtful, reflective, enduring way to anger. To be like Christ in our anger.

Forgiving one another. The verbal for of the word “grace” is used. “Gracing one another” means that the motive and power, the force and essence of forgiveness, is in the grace that we have received from God. If God has been gracious with us, we, therefore, must be gracious with others, especially those who share the experience of the grace of God infusing our life with the life of Christ, as Christians in the Body of Christ.

Love. Christ’s love.

“As, however it is a thing that is hard and difficult, he confirms this doctrine by the example of Christ, and teaches, that the same thing is required for us, that as we, who have so frequently and so grievously offended, have nevertheless been received into favor, we should manifest the same kindness toward our neighbors, by forgiving whatever offences they have committed against us” (Calvin, Commentaries, Colossians 3:13, Colossians, 213).

These qualities come into reality in the day-to-day relationship that we have with one another. We may think we are kind, until it is necessary to endure an insult or a shun, or a lie, or an outburst from someone. Then your kindness may be short and your anger quick. An untested kindness may think Biblical kindness is easy, when it is, in fact, miraculous. Most marriage fights could be stopped immediately if kindness were used by one of the two. If both possessed and used this kindness, the fight would never have started in the first place.

Love before all.

These values (vss 12-13) are chosen. We value others and treat one another with honor. We value everyone because we have been forgiven. Paul saw that he was indebted to all because of the grace he received from God. He wrote, “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish” (Romans 1:14 ESV). Regardless of their reaction to you, your reaction to them should be filled with love, no matter what the circumstance.

Vs. 14 tells us that this kindness (and all the virtues described are driven not by duty, but by love. The translations generally have, “Above all these things,” but it is more “Before all these things, put on love.” Love is first in line and importance over all these virtues. The love we put on prepares the heart and mind for all the other qualities that flow out of the heart of love. Calvin says that all that is not regulated by love is “faulty” (on Colossians 3:14). He states is a complicated way that if we don’t love first, all that follows will be a failure. Here are Calvin’s words, “nothing in our life that is not well regulated [by love] if it is not directed toward it, but everything that we attempt [apart from love] is mere waste.”

Every relationship is to bring honor and glory to God and, especially in the Body of Christ, they are to express the character of Christ that is being formed in everyone who is touched by the Infinite grace of God. When infinite grace pours through your life, you have infinite grace to give to others, infinite forgiveness, infinite forebearance, kindness, gentleness, and the rest. The love that God has poured into your heart (Romans 5:5) now pours love out of your heart to others, especially those who share the experience of the love and grace of God in their lives, but not just to them.

In the Body of Christ we learn what true kindness is. We see true gentleness lived out. We watch with amazement true, wonderful, perfect patience. Because people are living the lives of redeemed people, filled with the love of Jesus Christ, and then he adds himself, living in them. Christ is in them.

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Colossians 3:1-10 Setting our minds on Christ in Heaven.

Colossians 3:1-10 Heaven as destination and as fulfillment.

It is one thing to say that you must live for Jesus. It is a very different concern to say that everything you do must reflect your love for him. To live for Jesus can be as simple as saying a prayer in the morning or being kind through the day. Having Christ affect the attitudes, the savor, the direction, the implications, and the tenor of all you do, is very different.

Lightfoot (on Colossians 3:1) says, “All your aims must centre in heaven, where the Christ reigns who has thus exalted you, enthroned on God’s right hand. All your thoughts must abide in heaven, not on the earth. For, I say it once again, you have nothing to do with the mundane things: you died, died once for all the world: you are living another life” (Colossians, 208).

The hidden life.

There is now no outward splendor of the Christian’s life. Your life is hidden, for now. It is hidden with Christ in God. This means we are now to center all our aims in Christ. Our focus is on the Person of Christ. He rules over the entire Universe at the Right Hand of God – the place of supreme authority and power.

You now make decisions, choices, create attitudes, build faith; walk faithfully, because your life, your truest life is now hidden with Christ. Christ is now residing physically in Heaven, and you must keep your attention focused on him there.

Your life is lived out here in this place, reflecting our incorporation into Christ and directly impacting your soon-to-be-revealed eternity with God where you will live and reign with him forever. Your hidden life with Christ is lived today by focusing your attention on the One who redeemed you, who indwells your lives by the Spirit of Christ, and in whom you draw your confidence, are assured of his good pleasure and grace toward you, and by living with him daily, you begin a relationship that will continue forever and ever — the relationship of the one who lives by faith and who is every moment, “in Christ.”

The conflict.

We are still on the Earth. But we are positioned, our standing is in Heaven. We must live on this planet, breathing, eating, working, loving. But our true life isn’t here at all. What is worse is that our nature (our members) is infected with sin so thoroughly that we cannot escape the impact of sin. Even in our most devoted moment, we are assaulted and insulted by our sinful selves. We live on the Earth and we can be quite Earthy. But that is not our truest selves. That is not our redeemed life. That is not what we could be by faith and faithfulness. The NIV translates Colossians 3:1 “set your hearts on things above.” We must turn our Earth-bound, Earthy hearts toward our Savior who lives in Heaven.

The false and the true.

The Earthly system is filled with lies and with unkept promises. Ever sin promises us a kind of joy or freedom that we longed for, but then it disappoints and then it kills us. The claims of the world are impressive to us. We love the new cars, the smell of perfume, the taste of the expensive steak. But they are all fleeting.

Our lives are lived on Earth, but they are redeemed to live for God. Our values are not the utilitarian doctrines of the person who just desires more fun and stuff. Our values have been captured by the God who, in a short time, will reveal himself with great splendor and shouts, with trumpets and overwhelming power, to be only God and Savior of those who trust in him.

The world would entertain us to death, lest we think for a second about what happens when we die. Rather that living for God now, the Earth would have us live solely and supremely for ourselves. The short-sightedness of the world’s view of things is astonishing. It is as though the Earth is a city at the base of a giant mountain, a mountain with millions of giant boulders about to cascade down on the village, but the people refuse to see the danger, or flee to safety. The picture of Pompeii before and during the eruption of Vesuvius is a telling parable about the nature of humans to refuse to think in terms of eternity or, most surely, the God who made all things and who will judge or redeem all people.

Calvin writes that he sees the conflict between “those fruitless exercises which the false apostles urge” versus “true exercises in which it become Christians to employ themselves.” (Commentary on Colossians, ad loc. Colossians 3:1). The challenge is to see the false system, the system of lies and then to view, to cast the gaze much higher to see the true and the eternal, where “Christ is.”

Some key versus on the world.

(Jesus) John 15:19 – you do not belong to the world …

John 16:33 – in this world you will have tribulation …

John 18:36 – my kingdom is not of this world …

(Paul) 1 Corinthians 3:19 – the wisdom of this world is foolishness …

(John) 1 John 2:15 – do not love the world or anything in it …

How do we seek the things above?

Calvin, “When in our minds we are truly sojourners in this world, and are not bound to it.” “Let your whole meditation be as to this: to this apply your intellect – that is your mind.” It is thinking of Christ (who is above) “that we may adore him, and that our minds may dwell with him.”

All the Earthly things have nothing for the believer in Christ. All will perish. All will be taken away, even gold. Isaiah 55:2, “why do you spend your money for what is not bread?” The institutions of worldly glory seem hollow and they taste like death. They do not deliver on their promises. They focus on people, fame, success, money, beauty, and the opinion and praise of others. Human science fails even to see the existence of God and rejects all who would begin with God as the source of all knowledge and insight. They would choose randomness and the wisdom of people over the Christ of history and his redemption — the grandest act of all time and in the whole of eternity. God came to Earth! To live among us! To die for the sins of his people. And to crush death and sin and Hell forever. It hardly makes the news in this day of great human wisdom and with more communication that can be imagined. Yet the world fails to communicate God. He has already spoken.

The point of division. Do we live as citizens of Heaven or of the Earth?

The danger. There is the implication that it would be a tremendous tragedy and an offense to God not to bear up while we are in the world, to abide in Christ, to refuse to die to sin, or to break with the world. On that glorious Day when Christ is revealed from Heaven as Victor, our true union with him will be made manifest; what was hidden about our lives in Christ will be made known for all to see. So those who served Christ well and who died to self, will be honored. Those who did not will not be rewarded, though they may welcomed into the presence of Christ. But those who have a false faith, who impersonated Christian faith but never saw Christ seated and never knew true salvation and did not have a living relationship with Christ, they will be separated from the true Christians in judgment and by eternal separation from God. So they, too, will be revealed to their sorrow and final judgment.

Put to death your “earthly members.”

Colossians 3:5 – what is tied to the Earth, to sin, to our members (various parts, tied into a mass of sin and corruption) must be put off and put to death. Including: Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness. Lightfoot notes that passion is passive (easy to remember), but that evil desire is active and results in specific sins we commit actively. We are warned against passive and active sins. Both should be put to death.

Every true Christian will know the mortification, the putting to death, of sins. It is absolutely impossible for a true believer, a person who is indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, whose life is hidden with Christ in God, to continue to sin and to sin and to sin. There must come a break with sin and putting to death of many sins that had entrapped us when we came to Christ.

Every true believer becomes more and more like Christ. They come to resemble Christ in their character and in the motives behind their moral choices. They do not merely belong to Christ or are forgiven by the work of the Cross (as wonderful and important as they are), but they come to love Christ and he becomes the center of every choice and action. How could he not be that important to the one who loves him more than anything on this Earth?

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Colossians 2:6-15. His victory, our conquering power.

Colossians 2:6. “As you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord – so walk in him.” The daily life of the Christian is to be lived out, experienced “in Christ.” The experience of salvation is the opening of faith and trust in God through Jesus Christ. Faith in him is primary and essential. It is that faith that is alluded to by “receiving Christ” and it is absolutely critical to continue to exercise faith in Christ throughout all our life from that point forward.

There are three considerations here in reply to the question, “How, then, did we receive Christ Jesus, the Lord?”

1.)    Faith, trust in Jesus, in his redeeming work (life, death, resurrection), and in his Person. The content of faith in Jesus Christ and his work for us.

2.)    Receiving Jesus Christ, “the Lord” may be pointing to the submission of the Christian to the Lordship of Christ, not merely receiving him as the Savior. Much has been made of this distinction (Lord or Savior) but is it not abundantly clear that he is both? But receiving Christ Jesus the Lord and living with him as Christ Jesus the Lord is instructive to our faith in the way we should live every day. He is Lord of our lives the day we were saved. He is Lord every day we
“walk” with him.

3.)    Calvin sees in this call “so walk in him,” a hearkening back to Isaiah 30:21, “This is the way, walk in it.”

We have three metaphors given in the text to explain what it would mean to have steadfastness of faith (a result of “walking in him”).

1.)    The first is to “walk.” The metaphor is representative (as noted above) of living one’s life. It is a continuous exercise, not a starting and stopping, a beginning and ending over and over, but an unending journey. This is not the life of a sluggard, but it is being intentional, directed toward a goal, and being purposeful in walking with Christ every day. The emphasis is doing the same sort of activities repeatedly (praying, studying, loving God, serving people, etc), and approaching these tasks with a view of doing them for the rest of our lives, step by step, day after day. It may be good to remember that “walking” was the chief form of transportation in that day and that virtually all travel was done in this manner. Walking was the way you got anywhere and it was a difficult way to travel. This is the metaphor for the Christian life that appears throughout the New Testament (Romans 6:4; 8:4; 13:13; 2 Corinthians 5:7; 10:3; Galatians 5:16; 6:16; Ephesians 2:10; 4:1, 17; 5:2, 8, 15; Philippians 4:17, 18; Colossians 1:10; 2:6; 4:5.; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 4:1; 4:12; 2 Thessalonians 3:11; 1 John 1:6, 7; 2:6; 2 John 1:6; Revelation 3:4; 21:24).

2.)    The second is to be Rooted. An agricultural term referring primarily to the roots of a tree, but other plants as well (compare Psalm 1, tree planted by rivers of water …). The root is set in Christ. The tree is not merely stable because of the root-system, but all its nourishment comes from the root-system. There is a living connection, a dependency upon Christ, through whom your life, your strength, your sustenance, and your purpose and direction flow.

3.)    The third is to be built up. An architectural term referring to the foundation that is lain for a house (see Calvin, 178, on Colossians 2:7).

The walk, the root, the foundation lead to the firmness, the steadfastness of the faith that the true believer has. This has come into their lives through Epaphras, “just as you were taught.” He was a faithful teacher and he gave them everything they needed to grow into maturity of faith in Christ.

“Abounding in thanksgiving.” This was the result of that walk, that good root, and that firm foundation.

A warning follows.

2:8 “See that no one takes you captive by deceitful philosophy (see next paragraph on the translation) according to human tradition.”

The phrase, “philosophy and empty deceit” is to be considering one idea, “deceitful philosophy.” The Greek has a definite article before “philosophy” and no article before “deceit” with those words liked with the connective “and” (kai), modifying “philosophy” with the idea of deceit, or making it “deceitful.” The NIV catches this (other translations, as well), deceitful philosphy.”

Human traditions spring from within the minds of men. They are rules and practices that men invent (perhaps with noble motives) to help men relate to God more effectively, more closely, or to qualify men to stand before God and to be accepted by him. The problem is that God has forbidden any approach to him that he does not authorize. It doesn’t please God for us to invent our own religion. He alone opens the way to him. And he warns people over and over again with the most terrifying language to only approach him in the ways that he has established, namely, through Christ and those signs and seals of worship that point to him and his work, and in no other way.

The human traditions are related to the “elements of this world.” This phrase is a phrase from the philosophers of that era and it seems to represent a notion in ancient — developing  and very early– Gnostic thought that the world was evil and that God was good. (Some scholars don’t write “Gnostic” for this seems to give the notion that this was ripe and finished, so they write it “gnostic” implying that this was just beginning to gain some traction in the ancient world.)

In this gnostic (or Gnostic) scheme, God had to create many steps or intermediaries to make it possible for us (evil) to relation to (good) God. Paul picks this up as representative of the attempts of men to work their way to God. The elements of the world, the strategies of this world, whether it be through circumcision (as a universal rite to earn favor with God) or lack of work on the Sabbath (somehow distinguishing people as worthy of God’s favor) but all the while missing the true nature of God and the work of Christ in redemption. Christ comes to this sinful world, he comes in the likeness of sinful man and for sin, and the philosophers completely miss the miracle. They try to redefine Christ’s incarnation as a philosophical leap, not God becoming a human being and being born in a manger in Bethlehem. The miracle is missed, and the elements of this world seek to silence the work of Christ, his incarnation, his redemption, and his God-hood.

2:9, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” Paul takes on the Gnostics in hand-to-hand combat. Christ as the fullness of God would be impossible for the Gnostic because God and the material world were completely alienated from one another. But Christ comes to the Earth, is born of a woman, dies a sinner’s death, is raised by the power of God, and now reigns in Heaven with the Father and the Spirit. The Christian message is not what men think up. It is what God has done.

2:11–12 “In him you also were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands  …” The rite of entry into the Jewish family was circumcision (for every Jewish male). But now there is a “circumcision” a rite of entry for everyone, for male and for female, and for Jew and for Gentile. The circumcision was not about physical cutting, it was now about baptism. God has changed the rules for inclusion in his nation, his people, his covenant. It is now by faith in Christ and the sign and seal of that inclusion is no longer circumcision, it is water baptism.

The incorporation into Christ is seen in our dying with him and being raised with him in baptism. This through “faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead.” So it is faith, not rite, nor parentage that brings us to a relationship with God. It is faith in him who raised the dead, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Redemption applied.

2:13–15 This listing of God’s work in redemption from this section is thrilling to any believing heart:

God made you alive together with Christ (through baptism)

God has forgiven all our trespasses

God has cancelled “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands … setting them all aside, nailing them to the cross.” The Cross of Christ is where our debt to God was cancelled.

He conquered all the powers of this world (“the rulers and authorities” meaning the demonic and all forces who stand against God and his Christ) and demonstrated their defeat by shouting their true, evil, nature and illuminating their shame for all to see. He did this by triumphing over them in the Cross of Christ Jesus. Sin, death, and hell, are defeated foes. Christ is the Conqueror.

(more to follow on Sunday)

 

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Colossians 1:21-2:5. Christ brings his people to maturity.

Colossians 1:21-2:5 Christ in them.

1:21 – Their former condition and their current life in Christ. There are three sets of triplets in this section of Colossians.

Before coming to Christ.

1.)    Alienated (1:21)

2.)    Hostile

3.)    Evil deeds

Now their standing in Christ by redemption in his blood.

1.)    Holy (1:22)

2.)    Blameless

3.)    Above reproach

The quality of the life of the believer in Christ.

1.)    Stable (1:23)

2.)    Steadfast

3.)    Not shifting from the hope of the gospel

The recipients are described before their faith; after they believed;  and the hope for their completion (“perfection”) as they live the Christian life until death.

1:22, “but now” (in the ESV, “and he now”) describes the break-point between what they were before their believed and what they are now.

The change came about through the work of Christ in which “he has reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (1:22).

To these triplets is added the condition or test of the validity of their faith, “if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel …” (1:23).

Afflictions of their behalf. 2:1-5.

There is a shift in 2:1-5. Paul is concerned about the way the church was facing this disruptions and doctrinal challenges of their day (see below a discussion about Gnosticism). Notice the aspirations Paul lists for his friends at Colossae:

(2:2) Discouragement  — he wants their “hearts to be encouraged.”

(2:2) Being pulled apart — he wants them to be “knit together in love.”

(2:2) At risk of missing the whole of the Gospel — he wanted them “to reach all the riches of full assurance.”

(2:3) Threatened with Gnostic faith changing the meaning of the gospel — “in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (gnosis).”

(2:4) Risk of being “deluded” — “be fully taught, to know the truth of Christ.”

Paul shared the difficulty of his current life, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake …” His imprisonment was part of his sufferings. But it could be his strivings on their behalf in prayer and the concern he had for them to finish well and not be “deluded” or that they may not finish unto the end (teleion), to maturity.

The purpose for which Paul “struggled” so for these people was so that their hearts would be “encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance.” His struggle would result in their assurance and love.

2:3 – All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

The Gnostic or (“insipient Gnostic”) religion was growing in this area. They held that matter was evil and that spirit was good. If God (spirit) was to communicate with matter (bad), he had to create many stages and steps between spirit and world by which he would communicate. The goal would be to gain, even in earth, the knowledge of the spirit (God). This was a philosophical religion that worked against the claim that God became flesh, that God would come to this planet and that God would die for sinful people and love them with all his heart.

Gnosticism stood against many claims of the gospel of Christ. Paul was not dealing with Gnosticism as a threat to the Christian gospel, he saw the gospel as vastly superior to any form of Gnosticism, so much as he was using the motifs and language of the Gnostics arguments to present the Person and Work of Christ to these people in terms that were important at that time. He also seemed to be laying out some strategies by which the Colossians could present the claims of Christ to those who were familiar with the Gnostic ideas (and other competing notions about God there would come up from competing religions and philosophies that came into conflict with the claims of Christ in the Christian Gospel).

2:4 – “So no one may delude you with plausible arguments.”  The Greek culture was filled with arguments. The Socratic method of questions and answers was in every corner of the culture. In schools, in pagan worship, in philosophers who traveled around (“itinerant philosophers” they were called), so it would be expected that the new faith of Christianity would be subject to many objections, questions, and queries. Some in the new church were led astray and turned after other religions; or they sought to wrap the claims of Christ around some other religion or philosophy. Much like today, people take what they have and they often blend Christianity into it.

In Haiti it is common for many Fetishites try to use some of the elements of Christian worship (particularly from the Roman Catholic mass) and attempt to incorporate their symbolism and worship. In mainline Christianity, a dominate political party may influence official policies on abortion or gay marriage more than Christian tradition or the creeds of the church. In both cases, there is a break from the message and the understanding of the Christian message because it is incorporated into an alien system. Christianity, may have many denominations and church government systems, but there is always a connection about the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, from Greek Orthodox, to American Charismatic. The faith in Christ and the cross is the same. The Gnostics (or “proto Gnostics” or “insipient Gnostics” – scholars don’t know what to call the group) were active in the area and they tried to define Christ in Gnostic terms. Paul was addressing some of these assertions in Colossians, using some of their language and pouring Biblical truth and Christology into those concepts to establish the glory and identity of Christ and to explain in common terms the meaning of redemption and salvation. Just like we should do today with our modern culture and vocabulary.

Paul is confident. 2:5, “to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.” These nouns, “good order” and “firmness” are borrowed from the Roman legion. They are terms that describe the order of the army and their fitness for duty. Paul’s imprisonment in Roman and his daily interaction with the Roman guard gave him new words to describe what the church is like when people in it move toward maturity (“perfection”).

Summary.

When you have faith, you have faith in Christ.

It begins a process of spiritual growth, unto maturity, or “perfection.”

It establishes new relationship with others who are also “in Christ.”

It gives you wisdom and understanding of yourself, God, and the universe.

It places a burden on you to tell others about Christ.

It directs your life toward order and stability.

It focuses more and more of Christ.

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Notes on Colossians 1:9-20. The work of God in people. The Christ who works in people.

Notes on Colossians 1:9-20

Colossians 1:9-20 lays out the work of God in the lives of those who believe. This may be the reason Paul was so quick to give thanks to God for these who believed. They were sharing in the work of God in their lives, and this work is astonishingly wonderful and praise-worthy to the extreme. Paul’s praise for Christ is sublime.

Just listing the work of Christ in the lives of those who believe is benefitial.

He begins with the prayer that God’s people would have a fuller knowledge of God’s will:

1:9 — that they may be filled “with the knowledge of his will.”

But there is the practical exhortation that they might not merely affirm something to be true, but that the truth of the Gospel would be transformative in their lives.

1:10 — so they may “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” and to be “fully pleasing to him.”

The petition that they would be “fully pleasing to him” is a high and extrordinary request and a life-long ambition of every true believer.

Paul goes further requesting that they would be fruitful and that they would not only know God’s will but that they might increase in the knowledge of God — something that is very different from knowing the will of God.

1:10 — the result of that would be that they would be “bearing fruit in every good work” and “increasing in the knowledge of God.”

1:11 — they would be “strengthened with all power” according to “his glorious might”

They were to receive the power and might of God. Paul ties this power to the resurrection of Christ from the dead and he includes believers as those who would share in that same power working in them, see the prayer of Ephesians 1.

1:11 — that they would display “all endurance and patience” and that these qualities would be manifested “with joy.”

Paul is always grace-centered in everything he writes and in all he teaches. The qualification to inherit the blessings of glory, is something that God does for and to them, it is not based on anything out of the lives of these Christians who are the heirs of the kingdom of God. God qualfied them. He did this through the cross of his Son. God alone qualifies those who are heirs.

1:12 — he turns to thanks to God the Father “who has qualified [them] to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”

Paul joins with his recipients in the description of their former lives: “he delivered US.” He, too, had lived in terrible darkness, as we know. Paul adds his voice to their’s in the declaration and confession about their past lives.

The use of “light” may point to the very presence of God, in the Shekinah of the Old Testament, and at the Transfiguration, in the New.

1:13-14 — he begins to conclude his prayer by restating how “he delivered us from the domain of darkness (in which we used to live)and “transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

The section that follows (1:15-20) is all in praise to “his beloved Son.” Here Paul drives out a sequence of praise and an offering of glory to Jesus Christ. He presents the majesty of the Beloved Son of God who has delivered us from darkness.

1:15-16– He is the image of the invisible God. The Firstborn of all Creation. He created all things. “All things were created through him and for him.”

The eternal connection with the Father and the preexistence of the Son before anything else was created is made clear.

1:17 — Christ “is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

This is his eternality. Before anything was made, he was alive. Uncreated, Creator.

1:18 — He is “the Head of the Body, the Church.” “He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”

The position of Christ as the head of the church is established. This would imply that Christ is the Head of the church in Colossae, as much as the Church in Jerusalem or anywhere he is worshiped and loved.

1:19 — In Him “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”

God’s fulness dwells. He is now part of God, but he is the fullness of God. The Trinity breaks language apart, but the principle is held forth that Christ is the fullness of God.

1:20 — through Him “to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

The work of Christ on the Cross is the supreme action of the beloved Son, and it is his most glorious work for God the Father, and it is redemption for us who believe. Making peace was unimaginably costly to God.

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Colossians 1:1-5. Faith, love, and hope.

Colossians is about the supremacy, the all-superior nature of Christ, and his impact and influence in the lives of those who know him.

1:1 — Paul’s greeting identifies him as laboring “by the will of God.” It is easy to throw that line around, but for Paul’s apostleship and the validity of all he wrote in the New Testament, it is a matter that must either be affirmed or denied.

If he was the Lord’s apostle to the Gentiles, if Jesus Christ appeared to him and commissioned him to take the Gospel to non-Jewish people across the known world, then his words and life must be given a more serious consideration than a man who was self-deceived or insanely impersonating a man on a mission for God.

Perhaps the most definitive defense of Paul (from a human perspective) is from those who heard him and who knew him, and who believed because of his life and the brilliance of his presentation of Jesus Christ. Perhaps his ability to teach and to direct them to Christ and then to take his place as their brother, and “faithful brother” with those who believed, is most revealing about the nature of Paul’s religion. He was just one of many who knelt in worship before Jesus Christ as the Beloved Son of God. “Grace to you and peace ….,” he said.

1:3 — It is odd to our minds that Paul would thank God as he remember these friends in Colossae. It would be more to our liking that he would thank God for people, rather than while remembering them to be moved to thank God — as though it were God who was first and most importantly involved in what Paul observed in those people — God was working and moving within them. We thank God for people, he thanked God for God. His prayers for them resulted in him worshiping. We do it very differently today, spending our time lauding people rather than in praising and thanking God. When we thank God for people,  we are really (are we not?) thanking people. Certainly there are times to be very grateful and to express thanks to people and there are occasions in the Bible when that happens, but the kind of thankfulness to the God of salvation, who is working in peoples’ lives, seems more rare today and it ought to be recovered as a more focused way to pray to the God who is working decisively in peoples’ lives.

Paul remembers their faith in Christ Jesus (1:4), and for the “love you have for all the ‘saints’.”

Paul’s love for them seems focused on what God had done in them. It was God who gave them faith (see Ephesians 2:4-6). It was God who made them alive. It was God who sent the Savior. It was God who drew them into his love. It was Christ who dwelled in their hearts. It was overwhelmingly God’s work that Paul saw in them, and it was God who was to be thanked.

“And because of the hope laid up for you in Heaven (1:5). Hope is a promise about the future. A secure hope is a promise made by someone who tells the truth and who has the capacity to keep his/her word. The hope of the believer is basedon the truthfulness of God and the power of God to do what he has promised, therefore, it is a secure and reliable hope. The Christian hope is a secure as the nature and Person of God, as reliable as his nature, and as sure as the promises of his Word.

Hope is important because of the death and disease, the tragedies and effects of sin, that come into all our lives. Without hope, all of these trials (which are normal and to be expected in every life) would lead us to despair. A superficial hope based merely on ungrounded optimism or a happy outlook, cannot sustain us when grave difficulties come.

Hope comes from God — hope is “laid up for you in Heaven” 1:5. The Protector of our hope is Jesus Christ. He holds our hope. He makes our hope secure. He places our hope in Heaven and he guards our hope with his irresitable and supreme power. We have no substantial hope in ourselves, at all. Christ gives us his life, his victory, his resurrection, his God-sized perfections, and his Word that we may have hope in him.

Faith, love, and hope.

In Colossians 1:3-4 the trinity of character traits: faith, love, and hope appear. These three traits show up most famously in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (ESV). Here in Colossians 1, they are mentioned once more, not aspirationally, as in 1 Corinthians 13, but as a report on the lives of these first century believers’ lives.

Faith is central to our life with God. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (ESV) Ephesians 2:8 reminds us that “by grace you have been saved through faith….” Faith begins our relationship, our connection with God.

Love.

The second quality in the trinity of traits is love. We notice that the order in 1 Corinthians is different. But the order may not matter as much as the content of the concepts. There is a progress from faith to love to hope, considered chronologically. Faith comes, then the love for God and the love of people follow, then the hope of Heaven is realized by promise and then experienced through death.

The love of Christ for his people in redemption is without comparision. It is the grandest, the most glorious love that could be known. Yet, the love of the Father for the Son is promised to be shared with those who are the disciples of Jesus Christ (see John 17:24-26). God’s very love within himself he deems to share with those for whom he would lay down his life.

The necessity of love for eternity.

If Heaven were to exist without love, re;ationships, long, long, relationships between those who were there  would be exhausting and disappointing. It would be more like Hell than Heaven. Love is necessary for eternity because only when love has been made perfect can people live with God and with one another for ever.

With the love of God and the love within God’s peple being perfected in glory, the experience is too great for our imaginations — we have never known perfect love on this Earth. The only taste we have is found in the descriptions in the Word of God about Heaven and the world to come, We have never been perfectly loved by another human being, except Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the Son of God. But in this broken and sin-assaulted world, we have trouble even remembering the love of God in our hours of trial and through our disappointments in other people.

All the more, we see that the love of God’s people, even the love we experience while living here on earth, and without the vantage place of glory, this love in God’s people is an incredible love and a love that has solidity, constancy, true motives, and astonishing beauty. The love “for all the saints” is a worthy and wonderful love that should be experienced in every faithful church, and in the lives of every faithful believer.

We are to love like God loved because “God has poured out his love into our hearts” by the Spirit who lives within us (see Romans 5:5).

Hope.

Biblical hope is expectation of a future. It is a gift yet to be received, but faithfully and securely promised. It is a portion that we are fully assured that we will receive. Hope rests in  promises that are absolutely certain to be kept.

The hope laid up in Heaven refers to the promises Christ himself has made by his own words – and he cannot lie, seeTitus 1:2, “in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began” (ESV)

The hope in Heaven is protected by the resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead. It is assured by his Kingly power, from the One who is seated at the Right Hand of God on the Throne of Heaven. He is the Ruler over All. His promises are kept as no other promises. They are more sure than any other promises that have ever been made.

Paul concludes this introduction: “Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the Gospel.” (1:5b).

Faith, love, and hope. The centerpieces of the Gospel of God.Image

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Finally, rejoice.

Is this a well-wish, or a goodbye?

Paul is facing death. He has probably months, if maybe 2 years before he is killed by Nero. He writes to his dear friends, to call them to faith, to encouragement them to measure everything by Jesus Christ, and to remember what they learned about living for God from him when he was with them.

Paul often called his followers to live as he lived. Every pastor should live this well, and be so bold.

The church was being assaulted by bad teaching. There was a lot of confusion in the air. There were people being torn apart by the internal debates about the Law and what to follow in the Law and what is now “fulfilled” by the death of Christ.

Paul writes from prison, his eyes are on his people. He is not calling for attention or sympathy, he is calling his people to rejoice!

Philippians 3

3:1 “Rejoice” is a word of encouragement. Or it can be a greeting. It can mean, “Rejoice,” “Celebrate.” Or as greeting, or salutation, it can mean, “Farewell”, Goodbye.” In this context, it could turn in either direction. The call to rejoice fits. Telling them “Goodbye,” in the light of the closeness of his death, also fits.

He could be covering both wings with one word. Paul is saying “good bye” and he is also sharing his unflappable joy with those he ministers. The typical Greek greeting in “caire” “xaire” (here the 2nd person singular, vocative, “Hi” in English) is the same word translated “rejoice” in Philippians 3:1.  Something to ponder: Was he saying “good bye” or simply “rejoice”? Or both?

The reader who is paying attention would ask, “Why Paul would say to his friends that  “calling them to rejoice” “is no trouble to me”?  How could calling them to rejoice ever be “trouble” for someone? Unless they were severely handicapped incapable of writing or in great pain.

Why would it be trouble to Paul or safety to the people to whom he is writing? The word “trouble” in this phrase, means “irksome” or “tedious.” But why would it be trouble, or irksome, or tedious to call people to rejoice? If there were a hint of “farewell” in his first phrase, it could be that though he is facing an imminent death, the over-powering  love he has for his people is so strong that it is no disruption of his few remaining days, of his weeks before his execution, to be reminded of his dear friends, and to have the honor of calling  them to rejoice. It was neither  too much for him to take the time, it  was a worthy  interruption to his difficult days and he desired to send them his final greetings to them in spite of  his circumstances. He cherished them more than his comfort and more than thinking about his coming sufferings.

We see that these letters were not written in a protected cloister, but in the reality of prison and trials an impending torture and death. So the context here, as always, is everything. Lightfoot says that the words seem aimed as some actual or threatened evil (Lightfoot, Philippians, ad loc). Paul appears to hear the call to “rejoice” as being in some manner out of kilter with the current situation of the Philippian church. He writes to their situation, not his own.

Walking through the verses in Philippians 3.

3:1  “Finally.” Paul is pulling together the last section of this letter. Here he says, “Rejoice.”  This comes up in 2:18 (“rejoice”) and 4:4 “rejoice, rejoice” 2x.

Rejoicing is a theme.

Rejoice appears across the book of Philippians (all ESV):

  • Philippians 1:18

What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Yes, and I will rejoice,

  • Philippians 2:17

Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.

  • Philippians 2:18

Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

  • Philippians 2:28

I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.

  • Philippians 3;1

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

  • Philippians 4:4

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

  • Philippians 4:10

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.

The language of family. 

“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.”

He speaks of Epaphroditus as “my brother” in 2:25.

But he speaks of Timothy in 2:22 as “my son.”

“Children of God” are mentioned in 2:15.

“My beloved” in 2:12.

When Paul begins the letter in 1:12, he says, “I want you do know, brothers.”

He calls the Christians “saints in Christ Jesus” in 1:1. If he calls “God our Father” in 1:2, then we all are brothers and sisters.

The warnings.

There is a pattern in Paul’s letters of “warning against prevailing danger” at the end of his letters (Lightfoot, Philippians, ad loc.)

  • 1 Corinthians 16:22 there is a reminder of the Lord’s coming and the ethical requirements for us who will stand before him.
  • Galatians 6:15 Paul summarizes his argument in the midst of the circumcision controversy, “circumcision is nothing; uncircumcision is nothing –“
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:14 – he confronts what was a “spirit  of restlessness” (Lightfoot), “the idle, the fainthearted, the weak.” And adds a command, “Be patient with them all.”

The threats were fierce and those who opposed them were without moral constraint. In Deuteronomy 23:19 people were called “dogs” who engage in godless worship practices, some of which were most detestable. Paul here refers to the Judaisers as “dogs.” Those who required obedience to the Mosaic law as a pre-condition of coming to faith in Jesus Christ were seen as just as evil, just as confused and misled, as those who worshiped false gods. It is a searing denunciation. The dangers were strong and those who opposed him were fierce enemies, like dogs would be.

The Gospel compared to anyone and everything.

Paul remembers his heritage, his training, and his practice. He was without peer in his seriousness and commitment to the faith of Judaism. And he was dead wrong. He presents his turn-about as “whatever he considered gain, he now counts as loss.”  This is a reflection of Jeremiah 9:23-24, where the same idea is presented in a much different  context.

This conflict is laid out so that Paul can bring his own experience in coming out of Phariseeism and being a persecutor of the church (even imprisoning several and perhaps killing some Christians before his conversion).What a statement to be made by a man who once resisted and terrorized Christians!

The case is made, Philippians 3:3, “We are the circumcision.” We are the true people of God, not they. We are the people of promise, not they. We are those who obey the Law and fulfill it, not they. We are those who received the Lord’s Christ, certainly not they. We are the ones who worship God in the Spirit, not they. We are the true people of God, not they. This is a bold statement of the singular place of Christians in the Kingdom of God. Only by Christ alone. Only by Faith alone. Only by Grace alone. Only by Scripture alone. Only to God be the glory, and to him alone.

Christians have faith in Christ.  “We put no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3b). These principles apply in one overarching theme:  The Gospel is our greatest value. We treasure what God has done for us in Christ more than anything that we could ever do in our service to God or in our sacrifice, or in our family heritage, or in our zeal for God. All of that means nothing compared to the grace of God and the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:4-6 – Paul’s Curriculum Vitae.

He was circumcised on the 8th Day, as required by the Law of Moses.

He was born of the tribe of Benjamin. This was one of the few tribes that survived the Exile and was one of only two surviving tribes (with Judah, not considering Levi that didn’t have an allotment of land, but dwelt with the other tribes).

He was an extremist in the keeping of the Law. He was a Pharisee.

He was zealous, even a persecutor of the Church.

With regard to his righteousness under the Law of Moses, he was blameless; there was no one who could accuse him of failing to keep the Law.

Renunciation.

Philippians 3:7, “Whatever gain Ihad, I count as loss for the sake of Christ.”

Philippians 3:8, “I count everything as loss …”

The renunciation of all achievement, all status, all earned righteousness, all rights are all counted loss. The renunciation of our achievements, our status, our importance, our religion, come into our lives because Christ becomes more and more dominate, supreme, beautiful, and glorious to us throughout our lives, the more we walk with him and love him more and more.

His renunciation.

Follow the perspective of Paul as he describes his faith through the verbs from 3:8-3:11

I count everything as loss. I have suffered the loss of all things.   That I may gain Christ. That I may know him. That I may become like him. That I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

There is a complete shift in Paul’s understanding, his view of himself. There is a new values-system, which Christ as the focus and sole end point.

Keep the goal in mind through all of life.

The goal is clearly set out in the personal call to this followers in the verbs that he chooses in 3:12-21.

I press on (3:12), “Forgetting what lies behind and straining to what lies ahead.”

“Let us hold true to what we have attained” (3:16). The holding true to the principles of faith and obedience, following Christ, laying everything aside, all is assured by the call to “hold true.”

“Keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us” (3:17). The practical example of the devoted life impacted many believers in the early church. They showed them how to live.

The last, “we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (3:20). The physical return of Jesus Christ or the ascension of the believer be with him as our death is comfort and encouragement to live for Christ and to serve him, “whether we live or whether we die.”  That is an unfamiliar call in today’s church.

The same power that transforms our lives is the same power that will transform all things and bring them all under his dominion and Kingship forever. What happens in us is connected to what Christ does to the whole of the Universe.

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Christian unity and the “mind of Christ”

Philippians 2:1-2

With Paul, you have to pay attention to how his argument is built. One good way is to keep tract of the verbs. See how they interact one with another and you will have a good sense of how he is building his thoughts. His writings require quiet and concentration. You will not succeed in understanding much if the TV or music is playing. Paul gives a list, as he often does, of qualities that are important in the life of a Christian. He is focusing especially on concepts that reside in our thinking, since this is obviously the theme of this part of Chapter 2.

Complete my joy … have the same mind … have the same love … being in full accord and of one mind … count others more significant than yourselves … look not on your own interests … look on the interests of others … have the mind of Christ. Thinking the same way is important. Having the mind of Christ is the goal.

The workmanship of God

The work of God in those filled with grace makes them unafraid in opposition, content in the leadership and presence of God to “comfort and to guide,” and assured of good fruit and usefulness in their labors for God, “for God is at work in you … ” They learn, therefore, to rejoice over every complete proclamation of the Gospel regardless of the motives of the preachers. Let God sort them out. If the Gospel is being proclaimed it is a good thing that the message about the love and death of Jesus Christ and his victory and salvation is told to more and more people. Motives are sticky. Truthfully, are your motives really all that pure?

Proof of his workmanship — graces in the lives of those who believe.

These are operations that are present in every believer’s life and they are there because God is doing these things in us. He presents a set of graces that come into our lives, grow within us, and these are the source of much that happens in us, as we live in the Body of Christ. These traits and actions are the benefits that we receive from the Body of Christ and they are the ministry that we offer to other Christians with whom we are connected in the Biblical Local Church.

“If there be any …”

It is a bit ambiguous in English to say “if there is any” because it could mean “if there were any, but we are not sure about that … ” In this use of the phrase, the meaning is that we have a degree of uncertainly or there is a low probability these qualities may or may not be present in the local body of Christians. In this first understanding of the phrase there would not be certainty that they thing that is referred to actually exists at all. You might say, “If there were any winning lottery tickets in my pocket, we could retire.” But the chances of that are slim.

But there could be another way to take the phrase, “if there be,” to be a first class condition. It is like this: “if or since this is true, then we should take the following actions.” Example: “If we have a flat tire, we need to change it as quickly as possible.” This is not puzzling about whether or not we have a flat tire, it is charting a course for what to do since we are experiencing the tiring going flat.” This makes sense of the phrase we are studying.

Paul is not wondering whether these things are true or not (“do we have comfort?” “do we have fellowship?”, etc.) , he is giving instructions about the how these principles work because they are present in us. This little phrase means here: “Since it is certainly true that these are gifts and graces are most important in our lives, let us pay attention to them and take these actions because these qualities matter and we have them.” This is the way this “first class condition” was intended. This is a strong way of charting a course of action based on real gifts and graces that we have received from God in the Church of Jesus Christ.

If there be any encouragement. Philippians 2:1. Encouragement means to have someone come alongside of you in a time of testing, trial, or grief. It was the common practice to have an attorney or friend, some family dignitary or influential person to come and “stand alongside” of an accused and to speak on their behalf. This is one use of the term. It can also describe someone who can assist you, help you understand something important, or stand with you in your legal defense in a trial or legal proceedings.

We understand the work of encouragement most clearly because this is the chief work and it is the Name give to the Holy Spirit by Jesus in John 15. The work of encouragement is a primary work of the Holy Spirit of God and he is called the “Comforter” which is the same word used here. The ESV: “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me” (John 15:26 ESV).

We see that the ESV, uses the title “the Helper.” But is that the best translation? Here is the phrase in Greek: “ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὁ παράκλητος …” In English: “But when the Helper comes …” (ESV). The word we are looking at is παράκλητος, paraklêtos [sounds like the bird, parakete, but with an “l” and ending in “os”; no relation in meaning, just something that will stick in your brain forever]. But the “Paraclete” is much more than a “Helper.” There is skill or relationship implied in this help, an expertise or commitment necessary for help and comfort to come. He stands in defense. He comes alongside to help. He is an advocate (an attorney at law) for the defendant. He is one who comforts in distress and meets our needs in crisis. He brings our case before the Father. He reveals Jesus Christ within our lives. Much more than a helper to applaud or merely assists us when we are tired. Much more than a helper. A Comforter, An Advocate, An Intercessor, The Protector, The One who Prays on our Behalf, and The Counselor (as in lawyer and as in one who gives us counsel). Helper is not rich enough and the linguistic reach of the word is not broad enough. But we see that the work of encouragment is the work of the Spirit, but he involves us in this important work as well.

If there is any comfort (Philippians 2:1). Comfort refers to aid or assistance from another person when you are in distress. This is a word for what a person needs when there is great confusion, emotional pain, or a shock or loss has occurred. The comfort is what is needed after you have experienced a death or loss in the family, or gone through a long and difficult trial or a terrible accident and you need encouragement, strength, wisdom, and help to recover. You have experienced something that has come into your life with such force that it has turned everything in your life upside down. At that moment you need others to come and comfort you so you can be restored. Comfort of this sort is not superficial nor if it for trivial events or small matters.

If there is any fellowship (participation or sharing). This is the key word in the New Testament that describes the internal relationships and connection within the church. There is a sharing of life and a connection that comes when we experience and have in common the same commitments and loves. What is more, we also participate in one another’s faith so that my faith is helped by your faith. You are helped by others also, and when the time is right, your faith is also encouraging and supportive of them. We not only share, we participate in and have fellowship, team spirit, and we share an esprit de coups within the body of Christ that is strengthening (see Acts 2:42, where this work, κοινωνίᾳ appears) and that permits the Body to work with great effectiveness and power. This participation or sharing is crucial to everything that happens in the local church. If sharing and fellowship is poor, the church will not be impactful. However, when one Christian is successful or blessed within the church, all in the church share in that blessing. When one is hurting or grieving, all in the church participate in that loss or trauma. We share our lives with God and then we share them with one another.

If there is any affection. This is an important word for the local church. It is about the love and strong emotions that we have in defense and protection of one another. This would be like the reflex of a father or mother when their child has been hurt or treated unfairly. The response is viseral and deep. This is the deep-felt love and concern that Christians share with one another because of our connection by faith to the same Lord and Savior. We share our lives and we care about what happens to each other. This is an intense and liberating relationship to have. It is also a wonderful experience to experience with people who care deeply for you and who can shout about it and celebrate their affection for you with joy in the presence of God.

The last in the list is sympathy. If there is any sympathy. This word also appears in Romans 12:1; 2 Corinthians 1:3; here in Philippians 2:1; Colossians 3:12; Hebrews 10:28; and Hebrews 10:28. For a similar term see Luke 6:36, and James 5:11. This is the merciful and compassionate concern for others, emphasizing the care that we provide for them, the contact that we maintain with them in their lives. This care often flows out of the ministry of God’s Spirit through us. The Spirit gives us the experience of his comfort, that we, then, pass on to others (see 2 Corinthians 1).

Paul has already prays with thanks over these Christians who were living in Philippi, both for their partnership with him in the Gospel (1:4f), and for their love (see 1:9f). Now in 2:1ff., he wants his joy to be complete (J.B. Lightfoot, ad loc. Philippians). Faith, Love, Joy.

“Have the same mind.” This could be seen an an invitation to cultish obeisance and rendering our personal thoughts and understanding as unimportant or unvalued. Having the same mind can mean something very unhealthy when it is about making people have exactly the same opinions about everything, and/ or having an uncritical acceptance of the leader’s thoughts and directives without review or right of refusal.

But the Christian seeks the same mind, by pursuing Christ together. We have a similar mind-set because we experience the same Lord Jesus Christ. We love what he loves, more and more and his desires and will become first and foremost in our lives. So we are finding new ways to serve and glorify his name that come because this essential unity that Christ has created within us, not that was imposed upon us. Our faith and obedience unite us in common values, common goals, and common motives. In such a community there is great creativity and freedom. There is love that rules over matters of taste and style and method and unity over essentials of faith and life.

[A short footnote. This is the same set of principles that were popularized by the Puritan pastor, Richard Baxter, but they are to be accredited to Marco Antionio de Dominis (1560-1624), the Latin of this aspiration is: In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas. Translated into English: “In essentials, Unity; in non-essentials, Freedom; in all things, Charity.” A good and balanced statement of unity within the Body of Christ. This statement also happens to be the motto on the seal of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, which adds to their seal the phrase, “Truth in Love.”]

Having the same mind means that our thoughts are captured by the greatness and by the lordship of Jesus Christ working in us. This is not a call to uniformity. We do not walk together just to be alike. But we walk together because we really love each other. Our call to unity in Christ, focused on his glory, give our lives for his service and it directs us to go wherever he wants us to go. Paul is insistent that this unity be present and he repeats the call several times in this section (see 2:1, 5). This is laying the foundation for the humility of service and to have the mind of Christ. These go hand-in-hand. The love you have for other believers in Christ is dependent on the content of your thinking about Christ and the decree to which your mind is becoming more and more aligned with the mind of Christ with others who are experiencing the same wonderful, matchless gifts from God. “Have this mind in you that was also in Christ Jesus” is the goal.

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Grace from one to another

Both Ephesians and Philippians were written about 60 AD when Paul was imprisoned. He was in Rome. He loved the people in Philippi. They loved him and they were praying for his release from prison.

Paul was not so much concerned about his freedom as he was about his boldness.The entire first chapter comes to a focus when he says that his concern was “that I will not be ashamed” “whether I live or die” (see 1:20). His chief concern was not to be ashamed “in the day of Jesus Christ” and to finish well.

Handing off the people in Philippi to other leaders and giving them the duty, the responsibility of living lives that bring honor to God, Paul encourages them by the principle that they are not doing the work of spiritual growth; they are not doing the things that effect change and character in them. It is God who is working in them (1:5).

The principle that God is working in them does not mean that their lives will be easy or pain-free. He begins here with the story of his opportunity with the Praetorian Guard in Rome and that, apparently, ALL of them came to Christ. What an amazing thought! That the entire guard heard the Gospel and came to faith through the imprisonment of Paul. Paul shared with the Philippian church that the Gospel has been advanced in Rome, and that he has been defending it against those who were opponents of it. The promise that God is working in you both to do and to will his good pleasure, is tied to the sobering fact that we are called to do difficult things and to submit to circumstances over which we have no control, but God will use us and empower his Word and spread his Gospel through our faithfulness to him who is working in us. This theme goes through 1:20 where Paul flatly states that believing and suffering go hand in hand.

So Paul calls the people for great boldness in their lives (1:14). In 1:13-18 Paul uses a series of comparitives, The Whole, The Rest, Some, Later, Former, Everyway, Pretense, and then Truth. This is a clear way of showing that not everything goes the way we want them to go. But that God is working everywhere and we should be on the lookout for the things that God is doing, and not be surprised if there is opposition or failure, flattery or poor motivations, all the while lining up against faithful, God-filled, obedience, and fruitful people who are God’s workmanship. But in this world there are always, the rest, some, rivalry, and pretense. Be on guard.

Verse 1:17, Paul shares his chief motivation: That Christ is Proclaimed. What a wonderful statement of purpose! Paul rejoices in the proclamation of the Gospel and in it he rejoices.

The prayers of God’s people work together with the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit of God. “Through your prayers and the help of the Spirit” this “will turn out for my deliverance.” The phrase “for my deliverance” is “ἐν τῷ σώματί μου, “for my salvation.” So the deliverance could be his release from prison, that is a kind of salvation. Or it could be his death and faithful testimony about Christ, and that is also a kind of salvation, the Heavenly kind. He wants to be unafraid and full of courage (1:20) for his day of trial.

Paul’s confession

“To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul understands that the Gospel of God is a life and death, Heaven or Hell proposition. There is nothing more important. Nothing is more urgent. Nothing is more wonderful or hopeful than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He can say, “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Christ is his life. If he dies he only gains glorious access to his Savior without the impediments of sin.

Are you torn between wanting to die to be with Jesus and wanting to live so you can work harder and harder doing more and more difficult tasks for God? Paul was (1:23).

Practical exhortation.

“Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ” (1:27). Paul prays that they would not be frightened by anything or anyone. Paul was certainly not afraid. It is fair to say that if you are afraid of anything, there is a deficiency in your faith.

Your have been graced. It has been given to you by Jesus Christ (ὅτι ὑμῖν ἐχαρίσθη τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ). The word “given” is the verbal form of the word “grace” that is so important for the Christian faith. Paul is saying that “It has been graced to you.” “It is by the working of his grace in you… that you should not only believe in him but to suffer for his sake.” (1:29). Grace becomes the power, the reason, the controlling direction within us that allows us to engage in great faith and to endure terrible suffering.

Grace that comes to you works in you. That grace leads you, protects you and delivers you. But it doesn’t keep you safe from conflict, opponents, or suffering. To think otherwise is to have never have read the New Testament. People who believe pay a dear price to be faithful. And they consider the Gospel to be worth their sacrifice and their lives, if need be.

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Bible Study

Redeeming our warfare

A study of Ephesians 6:10-23.

Introduction from Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ sermons on Ephesians 6 (The Christian Warfare). “Finally” engages the attention of the reader, calling for a review of all that has been said before in the book of Ephesians. The statement in 6:10 is the summary of the entire argument.

The last section is divided into two parts, 11-12 and then verse 13 to the end, the specifics.

Chapters 1-3 lay out the fundamental themes of the Christian faith. Those chapters describe Who a Christian is, What a Christian is, and How they have become who they are.

In the second half of Chapter 3, it is, quoting Lloyd-Jones, “The glory and the exalted character of the Christian life,” (12). That you might be filled with the fulness [the British spelling] of God and experience the privileges that belong to such a life (12).

What follows is the appeal to live in a manner worthy of your calling. Continuing in Chapter 4, “walk worthy of the calling by which you have been called.”

Chapter 4:1-16 is the Church. Then practical instructions through 6:9.

The final section is broken simply down into two sections: 6:10-13 a General Exhortation. 6:14 to the end, the Particulars of how to go about doing what is set forth in 10-13.

Chapter 6:10-13. The battle is not about teaching people to live moral lives. The battle is not about raising children who are successful and responsible. The church is not to be engaged in matters touching simply on race relations or poverty or women’s rights or social justice. Rightly understood, all these matters are impacted by the Christian faith. But apart from the fulness of Christ, there is no point to engage in any programs of societal betterment, or social improvement. Families or businesses cannot be helped by moral instruction apart from the life-giving Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. To propound that the church is just an agency of societal management or a force to restrain human evil is to do great harm to the glorious vision of the Church of the Living God. We are much more than a society for the improvement of civilization. But where the Gospel is proclaimed and believed more nations have been rescued from the effects and consequences of sin than any other influence in human history.

Notice that the instructions given in Ephesians are not a curricula but a series of commands.

Chapter 6:10 — the life of the Chirstians must be lived in the strength that God provides. Our frailty is profound. We sin and slip, then we soar and reign. The heart of Ephesians (to choose one verse) is 3:18, “that we may be filled with the fulness of God.” His power is working in us (3:7). We are “alive together with Christ,” 2:5. The “power that raised Christ from the dead” is at work in us who believe. Therefore, we are to “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” Our strength is not sufficient to stand. Our power is not able to engage the enemies of God. Our abilities are not able to withstand an assault on those who would scheme to destroy our assurance, fill us with fear, throw us into confusion, deny the power of God, or disconnect us from the presence and power of God.

The command to be strong in the Lord contains a calculation regarding the strength that the Lord has and a comparison of his strength with our own. We would not, in our moment of trial, want to depend on another human being who was as weak as we are. We would want someone who was capable, able, sufficient for the moment of trial to deliver and to give us aid and assistance. We do not trust God like we would trust in or admire another human being. The strength of the Lord is without limits. It is holy and wise, pure, kind, full of grace, redeeming, and great (and much, much more).

The reason we need the strength of the Lord is that our adversary, the Devil, is working schemes that are designed to hurt and to maim us, our faith, and our standing before God. The Devil works by schemes, he orchestrates events, he stacks the blows to your heart so that there is no light impact on you, rather it is that the blows become all you can do to endure them and to survive their assault.

It is when we are being attack by the schemes of the evil one that we need God’s power, if we are to survive. The easy-to-face-and-conquer temptations need no additional strength. You manage them well. But those are not in view. It is the powerful succession of events, one after another, that requires the power and presence of God in your life to live through them to the glory of God.

Not all sorrows are schemes. Not all problems come from the Devil. Not all sin is originated from the Evil One. Some of our sin comes from within us. Some of our problems come just by the nature of our fallen world and the mistakes of people, governments, politics, or leaders. People are fallible and they sometimes fail and fall and it can fall on us.

The schemes of the evil one last for enough time to accomplish their work. They are not easily dismissed. They are not settled in a day. You are tempted to give in, to give up, and to stop trying. Your obedience is severely challenged. Your heart is at risk of losing hope. There is a challenge that comes against the promises of God, the goodness of God, and the love of God. There is offered to you something you desire, something you long for, hope for, something precious in your heart, that is put at risk, but if you will deny, pull away from, or reject the promises of God, they will be yours.

The temptation is tremendous at this point, you cannot stand in your own power and strength. You are not able to reason or to have wisdom needed to see through the schemes. The schemes always contradict, contravene, or conflict with the will of God for your life. And the confrontation is deeply felt and terribly divisive within your heart and soul.

Schemes can be in the form of relationships that discourage you and that wound your heart. Such relationships may be held apart from your heart for a while, be over time the incessant power of the discouragement, the negative frame of mind, the insipient evil behind the words and promises of the relationship, bring hurt and sorrow that is deeply felt and that is difficult to overcome. It is a scheme.

Schemes work against the way your think about your life and about you see God and his place in you. Ephesians 2:2 reminds you that you know what it was like to “walk in darkness.” You know full well what it was like to live apart from God, to disobey his will, to be separated and alienated from God. But no longer. Now you are brought close, you are filled with the fulness of God. You know the power of the resurrection, and much more.

The Devil seeks to blind your eyes (2 Corinthians 4:4). Blinding the eyes means that we cannot see nor can we trust in, the truth of God, his presence, his power and redeeming love. People who are blind (who live in darkness) live their lives apart from God. They deny the God who made them and they live as though there were no God (a-theists, “no-god”).

Schemes can appeal to our pride as in 1 Chronicles 21:11, where David was stirred by Satan to “count the number of his people” when God specifically instructed him not to. David wanted to measure the strength of his army and the size of his nation. But God wanted David to trust in the God. The simple admonishion to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” is contrary to any trust in the size of an army or in the strength of the nation. But David ordered the nation to be counted and God was very displeased with him.

Lloyd-Jones summaries the schemes of the evil one in these areas: Assurance of faith (doubting one’s faith is true, or holding a false faith while thinking you are a Christian); Cults (false teaching); Self (the seat of human sin); Quenching the Spirit (wilful disobedience that offends the Spirit of God within) ; Temptation and Sin; Discouragement; Worry and Anxiety (fear is a great power in the evil one’s hand); Truth versus False Zeal (doing wrong things for the right reasons, or doing good things without the proper motive-set); and Worldiness. These topics are broad and very diverse, and you can see how varied the schemes may be. They can fall in many areas of the heart, the mind, the spirit. They can come from a misunderstanding of the Gospel (zeal). They can be fed by worry and fear. They can entice us to embrace the things of this world instead of pleasing God in how we live our lives. Be on guard!

In chapter 6:13ff Paul gives us the specifics on how we are to be strong in the Lord. The list includes these matters:

Truth, Righteousness, Gospel, Faith, Salvation, the Word of God, and Perseverance. These are matters that do not require great learning to understand. They rest at the center of the Christian faith and they can be understood as to the meaning of each term, by a young child.

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