First, Paul is reminding us:
Whose and who we are
Where our true home, citizenship, is
Where it is then we should place our hearts and minds
Isaiah 58:1-5
Colossians 3:1-4 So if you have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above where He is seated at the right hand of God.
Setting one’s affections and desire upon, striving to obtain (Phil 3), look for and forward to and allow these feelings to motivate
2Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth - of this world.
We must practice this - dwelling on all that Jesus is, did, does, is doing, and will do
We are being exhorted to therefore put to death our earthly nature - the attitudes and desires of our flesh
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Away from (the old life)
Die-off or away from - with a focus on the separation that goes with the “dying off/away from” - we are alive, we have life, but we have “died to the life here on earth”
This dying off stresses the significance of the separation that always comes with “divine closure” - the ending of what is “former” (or, used to be) to bring what naturally follows
A little side study - Romans 6
Col 2:20 “if you have died (to the is world and principles - away from them; to renounce them) with Christ, why, as if living in (belonging to, or being of) the world do you submit to them (those principles and their decrees)?
Rom 6:2, 8-12 “never may it be (that we) who died to sin (and this world) that we would still, shall we, live in sin… now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. 9for we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die: death no longer has mastery over Him. 10the death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God. 11in the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. (James 1:14-15 - energizing the flesh; therefore Gal 5:13 - do not indulge the flesh) 13Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness. (instead Gal 5: keep in step with the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh - giving it energy; Gal 5:22 but instead bearing the fruit of the Spirit, or righteousness, or Christlikeness - Matt 5:10; Rom 6:22)
3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Life real and genuine: "a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last forever"
This “dying to self and the world” is an active and decided, appreciative and grateful - a joyful (Col 1:11-12) “I love you” to God for the life now had - possessed and possessed by - as compared to the life (of sin, destruction, death, and condemnation - John 3:17-18) I once had. Having been given life in Jesus, I now know life in, of, and to this world, was…
To continue to love this world could be an expression of one who has not truly received God’s love in its fullness - James 4:4; 1John 2:15-17
Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature - flesh:
Make as dead; render weak, impotent
Corpse-like, lifeless, to view as a corpse, i.e. without life; to regard (but not “make”) as dead, inoperative;
To mortify, deprive of life or energizing power; to cut off (sever) everything that energizes or energizing power - to cut off (sever) everything that energizes - especially sin.
To deprive of power, destroy the strength of
To “put to death” is not to kill or “make dead”, but to deprive - it is the equivalent of:
Being in the world, but not of it - being an alien or stranger (Jo 15; 17; 1Pet 2:11)
To not love the world or anything in it
To not indulge the flesh as to gratify it
Entertain (Prov 6 “do not look down her way”)
Indulge (Gal 5 “do not indulge the flesh”)
Follow
Do whatever you want
Ever-increasing desire to do more (
3:5-9 But now you must also put away all the following - whatever belongs to your earthly nature - flesh: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
This is not a matter of actually killing the flesh as to render dead (without life) lest we kill our body and mind, but to take away its power by not indulging and then converting it to its proper place - realigning our thoughts, musings, feelings with Jesus and His life and character (2Cor 10)
…since you have taken off the old self - with its practices
3:10-11…and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, put on heartfelt… 12Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
And this leads us back to Isaiah 58:6-14… we will treat people as we think and feel about them, we will think and feel about them as we allow ourselves.
