1. Things to put off 3:5-11On the basis of their position in Christ, Paul urged his readers to separate from the practices of their former way of life. He did this to enable them to realize in their experience all that Jesus Christ could produce in and through them. Three imperatives indicate Paul’s main points: consider as dead (lit. put to death, Colossians 3:5), put aside (Colossians 3:8), and do not lie (Colossians 3:9). read more
B. The proper method 3:5-17"Colossians 3:1-4 has provided the perspective from which the daily life of the Colossian Christians should be lived out. Now follows more specific advice that should help them the better to carry out the thematic exhortation to ’walk in him’ (Colossians 2:6)." [Note: Dunn, p. 211.] read more
Such behavior will bring God’s wrath eventually. That is, God will discipline Christians as well as non-believers who practice these things. These activities normally characterize the unsaved, so Christians are to lay them aside (Colossians 3:8; cf. Matthew 5:29-30; Romans 8:13; Ephesians 5:3-14)."The Christian must kill self-centeredness; he must regard as dead all private desires and ambitions. There must be in his life a radical transformation of the will, and a radical shift of the centre.... read more
The Christian’s Risen Life and the Duties it entails1-4. Resurrection with Christ and the heavenly life.Paraphrase] ’(1) Seeing then that at your conversion you shared not Christ’s death only, but His resurrection, go on to participate in His heavenly life, in that heaven where He is, and where He sits at God’s right hand. (2) Let your whole thought be set on heavenly, not on earthly things. (3) For you died with Christ, and your life in union with Him is a hidden life in God. (4) It is not... read more
Colossians 3:5-9 contain the negative section of St. Paul’s practical appeal, drawing out the consequences of the “death with Christ,” in the mortification of all tendencies to impurity, malice, and falsehood. For these are the opposites to purity, love, and truth—the three great attributes of God, and therefore the three chief graces of man. read more
[5.Practical Exhortation, General.(1) NEGATIVE.—To MORTIFY THE OLD MAN, by fleeing from—(a)Uncleanness and lust (Colossians 3:5-7);(b)Wrath and malice (Colossians 3:8); (c)Falsehood (Colossians 3:9).(2) POSITIVE.—To PUT ON THE NEW MAN, making Christ our “all in all.”(a)In love and peace, as shown in mercy, humility, patience, and forgiveness (Colossians 3:10-15);(b)In thanksgiving (Colossians 3:16);(c)In living to the glory of God (Colossians 3:17);(The whole of this section stands in close... read more
On the Heights Colossians 3:1 What are the things that are above? Does the Apostle mean the things that belong to the future life? Well, they do belong to the future life, and it is well for us to think of that life, and to think that we shall live in it, and that these things are the things that are current coin there. But he means the present life, for he exhorts us to seek these things, and to have them now, the things that abide, of which death cannot rob us, the things which belong to... read more
Chapter 3 SLAYING SELF THE FOUNDATION PRECEPT OF PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY Colossians 3:5-9 (R.V.)"Mortify therefore"-wherefore? The previous words give the reason. Because "ye died" with Christ, and because ye "were raised together with Him." In other words, the plainest, homeliest moral teaching of this Epistle, such as that which immediately follows, is built upon its "mystical" theology. Paul thinks that the deep things which he has been saying about union with Christ in His death and... read more
III. THE PRACTICAL RESULTS: LIVING AS RISEN WITH CHRIST (3-4) CHAPTER 3 1. The life hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:1-4 ) 2. The contrast: The old man and the new man (Colossians 3:5-11 ) 3. Manifesting Christ (Colossians 3:12-17 ) 4. Relationships (Colossians 3:18-25 ; Colossians 4:1 ) Colossians 3:1-4 Risen with Christ; such is the believer’s position. “Ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.” These are the great truths of Christianity: The believer dead with Christ;... read more
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Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Colossians 3:1-6
IV. EXHORTATIONS TO PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN LIVING 3:1-4:6Paul moved from doctrine to practice, from the truth to its application in daily living. He began this next major section of the epistle by setting forth a basic principle. Then he explained the proper method of living. This led him to discuss the Christian’s fundamental relationships. He concluded this section by summarizing the essential practice. read more