Translated by Qwen.

Father Augustus Bisping's Commentary on Colossians 3:1-5

Colossians 3:1-17: General Ethical Instructions

Col 3:1-17 The Apostle begins the paraenetic (exhortatory) part of his letter with the general admonition to strive after the higher, heavenly things, to put off the old life in sins and vices, and to embrace the new life in all virtues. Then he turns specifically to husbands and wives, to children and fathers, and to servants and masters, laying upon their hearts in brief and forceful words their mutual duties. Finally, after exhorting them to prayer and to prudent conduct toward non-Christians, he concludes his letter with personal news, greetings from friends in Rome, and commissions.

Col 3:1-5. Lachmann connects verses 1-4 closely with what precedes and begins a new section only at verse 5. But this is incorrect, for verse 5 contains only a conclusion drawn from what was said in verses 3 and 4. The polemic against the false teachers has come to an end with 2:23; here the true paraenesis begins with the words: "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth."

The οὖν [therefore] connects this sentence as a conclusion back to 2:12ff. There the Apostle had said that in baptism we were buried with Christ and through faith raised with Him. Since now Christ, our Redeemer and our Head, has ascended into heaven, it follows of itself that our thinking and striving must also be directed upward. There Christ, the God-man, sits at the right hand of the Father, that is, the governance of the world has been entrusted to Him; He is therefore the Lord, and upon Him we must always fix our gaze.

Col 3:2: τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε ["set your minds on things above"] is an intensified repetition of τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖτε ["seek the things that are above"]. Not only your seeking and striving should be directed upward, but your entire thinking and mind should be fixed on the higher things. τὰ ἄνω [the things above] is the same as τὸ βραβεῖον τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως ["the prize of the upward calling"] in Philippians 3:14.

Col 3:3-4. The reason why it is necessary to strive after heavenly things: "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."

They have died in baptism with respect to the old, earthly man; therefore, with regard to earthly things, sense and susceptibility should be lacking in them as in the dead. Their true life, with respect to the new man, is hidden with Christ in God; therefore their entire striving should also be directed toward the divine. The Apostle calls the life of believers "hidden" because the higher life of grace, the life in the inner man, is veiled from the eyes of the world and incomprehensible to the understanding of worldly men. He calls this life "hidden with Christ in God" because God is, as it were, the element into which the believers are taken up with Christ their Head, and in which they are concealed. No one can penetrate into this element of life, since God dwells in unapproachable light.

Christ is the true life of believers; He, the Head, is the one who lives in His members. When therefore Christ, who until now rules and triumphs only in hiddenness, shall one day at the last judgment appear externally in glory as Victor over all enemies, then also His members, who are now still hidden, will gloriously come forth in the resurrection (cf. commentary on Romans 8:19).

Col 3:5. Conclusion drawn from the preceding general exhortation: "Therefore [οὖν] put to death [νεκρώσατε] your members which are on earth: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

If, according to verses 3-4, believers have died with respect to the old man, if their true life is hidden with Christ in God, if they are destined with Christ for future glorification, then it would be contradictory if they still allowed the old sinful man to live within them. No, they must put him to death—νεκροῦν. The imperative νεκρώσατε ["put to death"] is placed emphatically at the beginning and chosen with reference to ἀπεθάνετε ["you have died"]. Although they have died with Christ, nevertheless the sinful nature still continues to live in them; this they must mortify.

The sinful nature in man is here presented under the image of a body; the individual members of this body are then the various vices and desires. These individual members we must mortify within us, so that thus the whole body of sin may die off. νεκροῦν τὰ μέλη ["to mortify the members"] is equivalent in meaning to σταυροῦν τὴν σάρκα ["to crucify the flesh"] in Galatians 5:24.

As members to be mortified, the Apostle names first of all the sins of the flesh and covetousness: partly because they are the strongest and formed the principal vices of heathenism, but also because from them all other directions of human nature become poisoned.

πορνεία [fornication] is extramarital but natural [sexual sin]; ἀκαθαρσία [impurity], however, is likely unnatural lust; πάθος [passion] is the inner susceptibility for such sins; Geilheit [lustfulness, sensuality] is the burning desire which then expresses itself in evil desires (ἐπιθυμία κακή).

With Estius and others, to depart here from the proper meaning of πλεονεξία [covetousness, greed] and to take the word in the sense of "insatiable lust" (insatiabilis cupiditas turpium voluptatum)—for this there is no sufficient ground. The case is different in Ephesians 4:19; cf. what was said on Ephesians 5:3, 5.

CONTINUE