Colossians 3:1–17

In Colossians 2 we are risen, and Colossians 3 begins, "If then you have been raised with Christ." It is the "if" of argument. It introduces the consequences and results that flow from this fact.

The believer has both died and risen with Christ. Here he is viewed not as seated in the heavenly places, as in Ephesians (Eph. 2:6), but as still walking on the earth, while Christ is sitting at the right hand of God (v. 1). So His place is where our true blessing lies. We are to seek the things that are above the level on which we walk. He Himself is our true Object and delight. We cannot ignore our relationships here, or the need to provide for our own bodies and families. But these are not to be the chief occupation of our minds.

Sometimes the question is asked, What are these things? They are all the things that mark out the place where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. They are the whole scene of glory of which He is the centre. And we belong to this place because He is there.

Christ on the cross is the clear witness to the failure of all men's schemes. Christ in glory, at the right hand of God, is the sure sign that God will carry out His purpose. The things above are all those things that depend on Christ at the right hand of God, and that God has purposed for the glory of Christ and the blessing of man.

By these words God challenges His people to search earnestly and diligently for heavenly blessings. He tells them to give their minds to these things. A man who seeks one clear aim in life, and makes that one thing his business, is likely to succeed. The same diligence should mark the Christian as he gives his soul to the things above, where Christ is. "Seek those things" means no weak or half-hearted action, but eager and intense purpose. If the mind is set on these things, the whole life will be formed by the things the mind is set on.

We set our minds on things above, not by sitting back in armchairs and dreaming about what may be in heaven, but by setting our minds above all on Christ, and seeking in everything to advance Heaven's interests. The British ambassador in Paris sets his mind on British things by seeking British interests in French circumstances. He does not do it by sitting down again and again to recall what British scenery looks like. As risen with Christ, then, we are lifted into His heavenly interests and allowed to seek them while still on earth.

The reason for this is found in our position: we have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God. It does not say, "we must die." Man cannot do this by his will: we cannot deny will by will. Nor would the will of the flesh ever do it. If it acts, it does not give up its place. We have died: this is the precious, comforting truth about the Christian, because Christ died for him. He has received the life of Christ, and all that Christ did for him in that life belongs to him. The life that the power of temptation, guilt, and the attacks of sin belong to no longer exists for faith.

Colossians 3:3 states the teaching with the authority and truth of God: "You have died." Faith counts on it in Romans 6:11: "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin." 2 Corinthians 4:10 shows it worked out in daily life. So we are dead to sin, to the law, and to the world. We are crucified with Christ, counted dead according to the word of God, and counting ourselves dead.

Christ is this life. He is hidden in God, and the world does not see Him until the day of His appearing. So our life is a hidden one by its nature... This life takes its character from Him who is the soul of it. A world that has rejected the Son of God, and found no glory in the Lord of glory, cannot know it... But that is no denial of its being in us here — it implies the very opposite. It is our possession of it that gives us this character.

Hidden from the men of this world. It is not hidden from us, for it says "your life."

The world cannot see the source of the Christian's life. It cannot see the One the Christian lives for. But the world should be able to see "Christ in you."

Your life is hidden with Christ in God, and therefore you cannot be robbed of it. Our Lord treats us as fathers treat their small children. They put jewels above the reach of small arms. Otherwise the children would reach up, take them down, and soon lose them. Our Lord has done the same with our spiritual life. Jesus Christ is the high chest in which our Lord has hidden our life... So long as this life is not harmed, all other troubles are only knocks on the heel.

The moment I believe in Jesus, I am called to count myself dead. I am never told to die, but I am told to put to death my members that are on the earth. A man under the law will try to die with all his might, but he will never succeed. A Christian has died, and his life is hidden with Christ in God. So he puts to death his members on the earth, living in the power of the life he has in the Son of God.

Here he does not speak of the church when it comes to our position... He speaks of us individually. Each one truly has his own life in Christ, but as his own; this is not our union with other Christians. It is the individual character of the Christian, to whom Christ, the Head, is everything.

"Our life is hidden with Christ in God; and when Christ who is our life shall appear," and so on. Here Christ is spoken of as being our life. So we are said to "dwell in Him, and He in us" — the strongest expressions there could be. But this is just what makes the difference with Christ, and shows that the life is not something we have in ourselves. He is our life. He dwells in us.

A risen Christ is our life, and He is beyond death. So we have resurrection-life — a life that lives beyond death's reach. It is not a prolonged natural life, but spiritual life; not life for a time, but forever — eternal life.

Right now Christ is not on display here; He is hidden in God. He is our life, and so all the hidden springs of our life are hidden with Him in God. The day is coming when He will appear, and then we shall appear with Him in glory. It will be quite clear in that day where our real life is found.

The theory was to add what they could to Christ. The aim was to increase the saints' blessing and security, and to make a present display to His glory. The Apostle shows them that their life is hidden with Christ in God. So, though they have the most perfect security, it is in keeping with Christ's place — hidden, and not displayed yet.

What assurance and confidence this inspired language gives! Could anyone say it more definitely? … And how could it be any other way? If Christ, who is in the glory, is our life, how could He appear in glory without us? There is no such thought in His loving heart. We know from His own words that He wants us with Him where He is.

But our life will certainly be displayed in the future. When Christ appears, we also shall appear with Him, and in glory, no longer in circumstances of weakness and trial. First we will have been taken up to be with Him at the Rapture. Only then can we come with Him on the day He appears.

The Lord Himself refers to this when He says, "The glory that you have given me I have given to them … so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." (John 17:22-23.) The world will then know, because it will see Christ revealed in glory, and the saints displayed in the same glory with Himself.

Because you are dead, because you have this new life, even Christ, and so are dead and risen with Him — put to death what is earthly in you.

Then comes the other side, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you." Life there and my old life here cannot go on together.

The Apostle shows them that their life is hidden with Christ in God. So they have the most perfect security. But it matches Christ's own place: hidden, not yet displayed. You are dead. You have this new life, even Christ. You are dead and risen with Him. So put to death your members which are on the earth.

The apostle does not allow that we have any life here. He talks of our members: "Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth." Notice how different this is from dying to sin. Putting to death is the opposite — it is power. If I say, "I must die," that means I am still alive. Christ having died, we have died... Now I have the place of power to put to death every evil the flesh would produce. You are dead; therefore put to death your members. If you let them act, it is the flesh.

You have been urged to put to death — that is, a very practical matter — your members which are on the earth. These are not the parts of your body. They are the moral members of a sinful fallen nature: the ungoverned lusts and passions of the body. Given free rein, they lead to the dishonouring of the physical members of the body.

What a humbling thought! People so blessed — dead, as we have said, and risen with Christ — are here told to put to death what is most shameful and shameless. It is really what man is; and that is the only nature we had as children of Adam. These are, in the strikingly forceful language of the Spirit of God here, called the members of the man.

The love of money is such a deadly root of evils that one danger comes first: its power to draw people away from the faith. This may help explain the strong language in Ephesians 5:5. There a covetous person is called an idolater, just as Colossians 3:5 declares covetousness to be idolatry... The love of money is at least included in that unsatisfied greed which becomes an absorbing, idolatrous passion that shuts out true homage to the true God.

If sexual sin is no special trap for us, its twin brother covetousness may be. Let us beware. It has been truly said: "The slippery path of sin is always walked with faster and faster steps. The first sin tends to weaken in the soul the authority and power of the one thing that can stop us committing greater sins. That is the Word of God, along with the awareness of His presence, which gives the Word all its practical power over us."

They are called members because they are things that cling to the flesh. Since we have crucified the flesh, let us also put to death all of its activities. The force of the Greek verb here is to have this matter settled once, not to have to keep on doing it. The child of God should judge these evils — sexual sin, uncleanness, passion, and so on — so completely that they have no influence over him at all.

As to the "members which are on the earth," they are not said to be crucified. The old mortal body and its members, prone to evil, are still present, and they have to be subdued... To mortify is to put to death. We cannot put to death what is already dead. Mortification, then, is a continual killing, if one may say so, of the members and of their deeds.

Because you are dead, because you have this new life, even Christ, and so are dead and risen with Him, put to death what is earthly in you. And what is that? Sexual sin, impurity, uncontrolled passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. That is what they — and what we — really are. It is a wonderfully strong and pointed way of presenting the truth. God is not mocked. Grace does not hold back His judgment — not in the verdict of His Word now, and not later, when He carries it out.

Sons are those who show the typical or distinctive traits of their fathers. The Bible often uses this idea of representing a parent in moral matters. So the "sons of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2) are people whose conduct shows disobedience as clearly as a son resembles his father.

"The sons of disobedience" are those who have heard the truth, but have rejected it. The Jews in Paul's day were, as a class, the sons of disobedience in a special way, but the same is fast becoming true of the Christian world. Yet God will judge people for their wicked deeds, though the crowning sin will be disobedience to the Gospel.

We think it very unsound and dangerous to teach that people will only be judged for rejecting the gospel… Scripture says the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience because of these things — and not merely because of their rejection of the gospel. (Col. 3:5-6)

Scripture plainly declares God's wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people. It will surely fall on the children of disobedience. Rom. 1:18; Col. 3:6… How pointless, then, for false teachers to speak only of the love of God, and to say that because "God is love" there will be mercy for all in the end. There is grace for all now, but there is just as surely a day of wrath coming, for God is righteous.

It is because of these things that God's wrath comes on the ungodly, who are characterized as children of disobedience (v.6). These things therefore certainly have no place in a believer's life. Before being saved, we walked and lived in them, but under the wrath of God! Christ's salvation totally changes this.

You walked in those things, he says, when you lived in them. But the walk must follow the character of the life. What a disgrace to walk in things in which we do not live!

These are very simple, but very telling words. As the hymn writer puts it: "By nature and by practice far, So very far from God". We have these two elements in these two verses, practice — "you too once walked" — and nature — "when you were living in them". We do what we do because we are what we are.

"In these you too once walked, when you were living in them." They are not supposed to be in them now that they are in Christ. They had walked in them, like other Gentiles.

In the past these believers had walked in these things, and in them they had found their life. In those days their evil walk matched their unconverted life exactly. Now, as Christians, the apostle urges us to walk in a way that matches the new life.

It is because of these things that God's wrath comes on the ungodly, whom verse 6 calls children of disobedience. So these things have no place in a believer's life. Before we were saved, we walked and lived in them — and we were under the wrath of God! Christ's salvation changes all of that.

This is a striking verse. It shows the clear change that had come into the lives of the Colossian believers since conversion. The things listed in verse 5 were once their way of life, but they were finished with them now. Those around them, no doubt, still lived that way. For these believers there was a separation: they lived differently.

God is acting on that blessed basis. The sacrificial death of your Saviour and mine has settled the righteous claims of God once and for all. Because of that, He makes this appeal to us: "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you" — the very things you walked in when you lived in them. God never calls us to any practice without giving us the power to obey.

We need to remember that we too were once in the condition we now dislike in others. This should humble us and make us patient with them. Such evils mark everyone: some things may stand out more in some people than in others, but all have the same nature that produces them. In us, nothing could change this but the grace of God in Christ. Others need that same grace if their condition is to be any different.

So the three ways in which the flesh expresses itself are: corruption, violence, and lying. In verse 3 of this third chapter of Colossians we get corruption; in verse 8, violence; and in verse 9, lying. Unless you see these three forms of the flesh's expression, it seems strange that lying comes in here.

But there are other things besides those listed in verse 5 which we must be done with, and verses 8 and 9 mention them. It is not now "put to death," but "put off." We once lived wrapped up in these things like a garment. When people looked at us, that is what they saw. But they are to be seen no more. The ugly garment that once marked us out is to be visible no more. We are to put on another garment, as we shall see when we reach verse 12.

Now Paul urges them to put off those features of the "old man" that the natural conscience may find less offensive. They were not only to "put to death" the gross sins in which they once walked.

If I get angry, it is proof that the will of the old man is not broken. Anger is not a lust; but if you are living in grace, you do not fly into a passion. There is the power of a life that does not do these things, and that masters the thing that does them. We find anger and violence in Satan, who is a murderer; corruption and violence in men… I am to put off the movements of the old nature.

Verse 8 uses the same form of the verb as verse 5. We are once and for all to have put off such things as anger, wrath, malice, vile language and lies. A believer has no excuse for not controlling his temper. And he should thoroughly judge as evil the slightest tendency to hold on to hard feelings.

Notice how much of verses 8 and 9 has to do with our tongues. That means it has to do with our hearts, which speak through them. Sins of the tongue are terribly common even among Christians. We all know the kind of words that anger, wrath and malice provoke. Would any true believer blaspheme? Hardly — yet how very easy it is to speak of God and of divine things in a light and irreverent way. How easy too it is to say unsavoury things, even if we do not go as far as filthy language.

In Scripture this does not always refer to speaking evil of God, which is what the word is now limited to. The same Greek word appears as "railing" in 1 Timothy 6:4 and Jude 9, and as "evil speaking" in Ephesians 4:31. It could well read that way in other places too.

It is sweet to see how the truth that we died with Christ brings deliverance from nature in all its forms, whether corruption or violence. It is the judgment of the first Adam as a whole; nothing is spared… God wants His children to enjoy the fullest comfort. Indeed, no one can be holy in practice until he is happy… If we are called to put off anger, wrath and the rest, it is because we are dead.

The old man is what accounts for lying; the old man is false, full of deceit. There is not, there cannot be, thorough truthfulness in nature as it is now. We see this from the first. Adam was false as soon as he sinned. Cain was false too. Other evils, such as violence, show up at times in some people and not in others. But all are false — lying you do see in everyone.

The old man and the new man speak of two natures. Both are found together only in someone truly born of God. The old man, palaios (Rom. 6:6; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9) is a term used of that sinful nature which governs the unconverted, and which we all inherit from Adam. It is also called the flesh, and sin… Before his conversion the man walked by the dictates of the old or former man. That is to mark him no longer. For that old man has been crucified with Christ; that is, God dealt with it in judgment at the cross.

It is not now, "put to death," but, "put off." Once we lived wrapped up in these things as in a garment. When men looked at us that is what they saw. But they are to be seen no more. The ugly garment that once characterized us is to be visible no more. Another garment is to be put on as we shall see when we arrive at verse 12.

Put these off, because "you have put off the old man [faith has done it] and put on the new." You are done with the old in its very nature, and you have put on the new. So do not bring out the fruits of the old — the sour crab apples of the old tree.

We have put off the old man. When did we do this? We put him off in the day when we trusted Christ as our Saviour. The exhortation in this chapter is to put to death the members of that old man which are listed for us here.

Fellowship is the object here. Lying and deceit are marks of the old man. In verse 9 the Christian has put off the old man with his deeds. So honesty in our dealings with one another makes for brotherly confidence.

We find in Col. 3:9, "Do not lie to one another." There it is a matter of practical life. But in Eph. 4:25 we have, "having put away lying, speak truth" to each other… In Colossians the call is only to refuse the practice of lying. Here the thing itself is looked on as gone, and the call takes the positive side.

In Ephesians the ground for not lying is that we are members of one another. Here it is treated as inconsistent with our having put off the old man and put on the new man.

Truth, however, is required of us because we have put off the old man and have put on the new. This is what we have done in our conversion, and the calls to put off and put on in verses 8 and 12 rest upon it. Conversion means we have learned to judge, condemn and refuse the old order of man and his character. It means we have put on the new man, who is God's creation and shares His character. We do not say that we understood or realised this at the moment of our conversion. But in the light of this Scripture, this is what our conversion really involved, and it is high time we understand and realise it.

These expressions do not refer to particular people. They describe different orders of men, each having certain characteristics... Also, "new man" does not mean simply a fresh man, the way we speak of a new man appointed to fill some position. It implies an order of man that is new in the sense of being entirely different from the old man.

The Greek word for "new" does not mean repaired, or even renovated, the way you might renew an item that has fallen into disrepair. It means what is absolutely and radically new, something that had not existed before. It is the same word we find in Colossians 3:10, the "new man."

We use the word 'new' in two senses in English. We speak of a 'new fashion,' and of a 'new coat.' "Renewed in knowledge" in Colossians 3:10 is a completely new thing, like a new fashion. "Renewed in the spirit of your mind," in Ephesians 4:23, is like a new coat, constantly renewed by the grace and Spirit of God.

The first man was innocent; he was not righteous but innocent... To be righteous and holy you must have the knowledge of good and evil... Colossians uses another expression of great importance — "renewed in knowledge according to the image of him that created him." There is a positive knowledge of God. It is not just that sin is absent. I have a positive knowledge of God Himself, and what God is gives the new man his character and essence.

Our renewing is according to the image of Christ. No lower standard is put before us. He Himself is the image of God. Notice again how this renewing is connected with the mind. The reading should be "renewed into full knowledge." How important it is, then, that our thinking should be in the direction God has indicated.

The Creator is Christ; in Colossians all creation owes its existence to Him. The new man is formed after the pattern of Christ.

Likeness is in distinct qualities; "image" is the complete presentation of the person. So in Colossians 3:10 they were renewed in knowledge according to the image — the complete presentation of what He was, and of all that He was. That is a wonderful position and calling.

This new man is "renewed", a word that implies it is daily gaining new strength. This fresh strength is found in the knowledge of the One who has created the new man. As we grow in the knowledge of Christ, we become like Christ. He is the perfect expression of the new order of man.

In this new order of man there are no national distinctions, such as Greek and Jew. There are no religious distinctions, such as circumcision and uncircumcision. And there are no social distinctions between ignorant and learned, or slaves and free. The old man may indeed include many kinds of men, such as Jews and Gentiles. But all of them are marked by certain evil features. The new man is an order of man in which "Christ is everything, and in all". Christ is everything as the perfect pattern and object; and Christ is in all to form the character of the new man.

So in this region or circle — that of the new man — all that is of the flesh has disappeared. Only Christ, and what is of Christ, remains. Christ is everything, for that is the force of the expression, and He is also in all. It is Christ as the object before us and Christ within us, and there is nothing besides.

Do we desire to know, not merely what Christ will be by and by, but what Christ is now? Then, according to the mind of God, He is not only "all," but "in all," that is, in all Christians. He Himself is the whole spring and character of Christian conduct. He is our life... It is not merely a question of right and wrong, of what we ought to do or be. This was law. But now it is a question of being consistent with Christ who is all and in all. And what then is the standard of our consistency? Christ, and Christ as He is in the presence of God.

While awaiting the glory when God will be all in all, Christ dwells already in His saints. He has formed in them the new man, in whom also He is all and in all. The old man can have ordinances and philosophy, but to the new man Christ is all.

The words "that God may be all in all" in 1 Corinthians 15:28 are often confused with the close of Colossians 3:11. Colossians applies now, the other not until the end of the millennium... Even now Christ is all and in all. His death and resurrection have blotted out, before God and to the eye of faith, all that is merely human and earthly in those who are one with Him.

There may be different nationalities in an assembly, but they are all one "in Christ"... The closing chapter shows this beautifully. Paul writes of Onesimus, the former runaway slave, as "one of you," that is, "a faithful and beloved brother" in the assembly. We then get Luke, "the beloved physician." What a contrast socially between the slave and the doctor!

As Christ is all and in all, so we have to seek to act on this always, only prizing in one another what is of Him... The Christian is in constant danger of sinking into thoughts of natural qualities — the things that make men attractive. The point of faith is to rise above all this.

When individual conduct is in question, some of these distinctions are not only recognised but clearly provided for. But when believers are looked at simply as members of the body of Christ, all differences merge. They "are one in Christ Jesus," and Christ becomes "all and in all."

Our walk and practice could never secure this place of privilege before God. Our standing in blessing is wholly the result of the grace of God that has reached us through Christ. The walk cannot secure that position of privilege. But the position is meant to govern the walk.

The Gospel does not expect to find ready-made saints: it makes them. It is preached to sinners, not to saints, and the first thing is to receive it as a sinner... All such things are fruits of the Gospel. So the Gospel must be received first, and the fruits follow.

As "the elect", God chose us "before the foundation of the world" for heavenly blessing, according to His purpose. As "holy", He sets us apart for Himself, out of this present world. As "beloved", He cares for us every step of our journey through it.

In Colossians 3:12 the apostle uses of Christians the same terms as are used elsewhere of Christ... Compare Isaiah 42:1, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights." ... Matthew 3:17 says, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." God in His grace speaks of us as He speaks of His own Son. So let us "walk in the same way in which he walked" (1 John 2:6). Those who are beautiful before God should also be beautiful before men. Our practical state should correspond to our standing.

If a person loves me, that draws out love in return. So knowing God's love and God's delight creates bonds of affection that do not exist without it. Being accepted does not only mean my sins are gone, so that I could stand before Him. I am the object of His delight... So the Christian should walk through the world knowing he is loved by God. With that, we do not want the world. Without it, we have to turn to something that puts self at the centre.

Mercy is grace to those who depend on us in some way, and who are in special need. Kindness does not always mean meeting a real need... It serves the happiness and comfort of others who may have no special need. Lowliness looks at self; meekness looks at others. Lowliness thinks low thoughts, or no thoughts, of self; meekness gives way to others.

We see tender mercy in Him when He was "moved with compassion" (Matt. 9:36). We see kindness in His gentle dealings with Judas, right to the end... Meekness (not standing up for His rights) shows all through His life. It showed even when Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) hated Him, persecuted Him, and were determined to crucify Him. He opened not His mouth (Isa. 53:7). Patience (bearing up under constant suffering) marked His entire life.

These graces have to be put on. They are meant to be seen on the outside, but they come from the life within... The fragrant oil of the sanctuary was poured on the head of Aaron, the high priest, and it ran all the way down to the hem of his robes. Christ is the Head of the body. All that delights God rests on Him in perfection. But the whole body must carry the grace of the Head.

It is the Christian's privilege to show the character of Christ in a world where people are not like Christ at all. And to do so not only in one circle, or on one special occasion, but in every circle the Christian is called to move in.

Long-suffering has more to do with trying circumstances. Bearing with one another has to do with trying people. We rightly speak of a person showing great forbearance when provoked. This provocation may be general — something that calls for the forbearance of all. There may also be personal wrongs, which would give the one wronged just cause for complaint. Such personal wrongs call for forgiveness. The measure of the forgiveness is to be even as Christ forgave us.

To bear with the other does not only mean carrying the burdens of others. It also means bearing with their weaknesses. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus did with His disciples. They had a lot of flaws, but He was ready to bear with them. It may even be that we must bear with the brother himself if he has become a burden to others. And we should not forget that Paul says: "bearing with one another." This is not a one-way street. Today, I may be the one who must do this; tomorrow, others may have to bear with me.

This may be the most difficult of these instructions. It assumes that my brother (or my sister) has sinned against me. How did our Lord react when they nailed Him to that shameful and cruel cross? He prayed for His enemies: "Father, forgive them" (Luke 23:34). He sets the example. So our standard is: "as Christ has forgiven us"! And how has He forgiven us? First, He did it completely. Second, He did it at once. Third, He did it willingly — from the depths of His heart… To forgive means to grant the grace to take something away. So the one who forgives shows grace, and the one forgiven receives it.

There is to be forgiveness should there be occasion to blame another. The wording "any … against any" perhaps covers not only individual complaints but difficulties that may arise between families and so on.

I do not say this lightly. When believers live and walk together there are sometimes difficulties. Something a brother or a sister does may hurt us deeply, and we say, "I cannot forgive this." On our own we cannot forgive. But we can when we realise how much God has forgiven us in Christ… Does this not sometimes happen among believers? We have been forgiven such a great debt in Christ, and yet we are sometimes unable to forgive our brother or sister.

We must always keep a spirit of forgiveness. Whenever we have a complaint against anyone, we must hold him in our hearts as already forgiven. And we learn when to speak that forgiveness out loud: when the person we blame confesses the sin.

Think of the measure of His forgiveness. He has not only pardoned all our sin and hostility against Himself. He has made us members of His body… He can have nothing against us for ever, since we are members of His body. How could the head of a body keep up a quarrel with any member of it, or hold hard feelings against it?… But we are also members of one another. To be unforgiving, impatient and hard toward one another denies in practice the whole truth of the body of Christ. To be unforgiving upsets everything. It blocks all joy and progress, grieves the Holy Spirit, dishonours the Lord and delights the devil.

We are to add love to the mercy, the kindness, and all the other qualities. All these blessed activities of the new man are to spring from love. If we show mercy, or kindness, or forbearance, or forgiveness, it should be because we love our brother.

To the Colossians he says, "Above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness." It completes all the rest. Without it there is a gap that no mix of the other qualities can fill.

It is not, as some translations put it, "Above all these things put on love", as if love were a separate quality standing above all the others. Add love to the mercy, the kindness, and all the other qualities. All these blessed activities of the new man are to spring from love. If we show mercy, or kindness, or forbearance, or forgiveness, it should be because we love our brother.

There is more in love than simple kindness and forgiveness; it goes beyond these. Love always brings in God, being the activity of His nature. In His nature He is light, but the energy of that nature is love going out in goodness to others.

But all this is not natural gentleness. He says, "Above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness." This is the real love of God. It perfects a thing and makes it divine. It is not the mild nature we see so often, with no power to resist and no firmness of character — the kind of person who cannot say "no." Many people find it torture to say "no," even when staying silent would grieve the Spirit. That is human kindness, not divine love. This bond of perfectness is a holy thing.

It is quite true that love between believers is a sweet and precious fruit of grace. It is precious in the heart that is full of it, and precious as it grows between them. But it is not the love this verse means. When love between believers becomes an end in itself, other believers become the motive and the rule of our conduct. Then our conduct is as uncertain as the state of the believers we happen to meet. So the apostle says, "Above all these put on love, which is the bond of perfectness."

It is called the 'bond of perfectness' because it binds in two ways. First, it binds these different qualities together by keeping their divine character. They belong to the moral nature of God, which every believer shares. They must never turn into, or be mistaken for, a naturally pleasant manner. Second, when the life and character of Christ show in these qualities, believers are held together in practice, and the local church keeps its unity and its witness.

I will always find something in my brother and my sister which does not invite me to show love. But there is no need to wait for an invitation. Because the love of God has been poured out in my heart, I can love the other without finding a reason in him or her to do so. Love is the bond of perfectness. Love is not everything, but without love everything is nothing.

Be united, closely united, united in that charity which is the bond of perfectness. No blessing without that; nothing will be lacking where love abounds… But if there are imperfections it is love and union which will prevent their bad effects.

Colossians 3:15 — Here it is the peace, not of God as such, but of Christ. All critics of note allow this, on the authority of the best manuscripts and versions. The general strain of the letter, and of this verse, is in its favour.

The first concerns the conscience, the second the heart, and the third is to guard the heart. The first, peace with God, the believer has as a result of being justified by faith... The second, the peace of Christ, is Christ's gift to His people (John 14:27). It is what He enjoyed on earth, in the middle of all He passed through in His testimony for God. And it is to rule in our hearts.

How easily we can meet every difficulty if we have the peace of Christ in our hearts! Go down to your shores when the storm is blowing and the winds are raging. See the waves crashing and breaking on the surface. But go far down below that troubled surface, and everything is perfectly calm. It is the same with the Christian while he passes through the storms here.

It was that rest of heart and mind which comes from perfect confidence in the Father's love and perfect submission to the Father's will.

Notice: the word of Christ dwells where the peace of Christ rules. This last one decides all questions. It is the umpire or court under which the heart rests.

It is the peace of Him who is now raised from the dead, in calm, tranquil triumph over all things. We are not told to make peace rule, but let it rule, for the only hindrance to this is an unsubmissive will.

The peace is not only to preside in our hearts. We are to enjoy it together in the Christian company, for to this we have been "called in one body". The oneness of the body needs peace between the members if it is to grow with the increase of God.

So it is peace, but not an isolated spirit — not as having finished with one another, but on the contrary clinging to everyone, despite everything. Suppose something painful troubled me about someone in fellowship. Should I let it trouble me so much that I stay away from the Lord's table? That would be adding wrong to wrong. I am never allowed to give in to trouble about such matters. I have the right to let the peace of Christ rule in my heart.

"Be thankful," for I receive everything from God. I cannot be thankful for everything if my will is not broken. But the moment I look to God as the One who counts the hairs of my head, I glory in tribulation. I count every trial and exercise as all joy.

Here is what it means to act in the name of Christ, or, as in this scripture, in the name of the Lord Jesus. It is to act on His behalf, and under His authority. The Christian stands to Christ as an ambassador stands to the ruler who sent him. His Lord's will is to govern everything he does.

I can only use His name if He authorises me.

Doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus is more than the thought that we belong to Him. It carries the thought of perfect grace. Yet the title is "the Lord Jesus," not "Christ" alone, and that brings in our relation to His authority. Grace never weakens that authority, and the result is that we give thanks to God and the Father through Him.

Young believers, when their hearts are drifting from God, often ask questions like these. What harm is there in going to such a place? Can I not go to a concert? To a flower show? I answer, Yes; if you can do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. This test applies to every department of life. Christ is now to be everything in my life. Lip and life are the only two channels by which we can express anything, and Christ is to come out in my words and my ways.

If a thing cannot be done as service to Christ, it should not be done at all. That makes the matter much simpler. It is our sweet privilege to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, and to the glory of God. We sometimes hear people speak of "a secular calling," as contrasted with what is "sacred." We doubt that this distinction is right. Paul made tents and planted churches, but in both he served the Lord Christ.

Verse 17 is a very simple direction, but how it sweeps things away. If you are going to buy a house — are you doing that in the name of the Lord Jesus? It is the motive that governs us. My life is not made up of heroisms, but of a hundred different little things; do them all in the name of Christ: it is everyday life. Suppose I am living three-quarters of my day without Christ, I then have to make an effort to get back. Christ at the bottom of my heart, and blameless conduct at the top — no one can reproach me, but in between the two there is just a man. When I look back over today, has it been for Christ?

The verse closes with "giving thanks to God the Father through Him." We are to give thanks in every circumstance. The Lord, when rejected by Israel, could say, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth". Paul could sing in the inner prison, with his feet locked in the stocks. These instructions show how tightly two things are tied together: the character of Christ in believers, and the way they live day by day.

We learn to appreciate it as being dear to the Father. We ask of the Father in that name because it is the centre around which all the Father's glory circles. The day is coming when every knee will have to bow to that name. Before that day dawns, if we understand the Father's thoughts about that name, it will be our joy and privilege to let our words and actions show, in some small measure, that the Father has taught us to value it.