Colossenses 3
Albert Barnes · Citado em PreceptAustin
Colossenses 3
Barnes explains that Paul's logic is…that there was such an union between Christ and His people, that in virtue of His death they become dead to Sin (Ro 6:11+); that in virtue of His resurrection they rise to spiritual life (Ro 6:4+), and that, therefore, as Christ now lives in heaven, they should live for heaven (Eph 2:6+), and fix their affections there (He 12:2+, 1Pe 1:13+). Alexander
Colossenses 3
Barnes says that The argument here is, that since Christ is there, and since He is the object of our supreme attachment, we should fix our affections on heavenly things, and seek to be prepared to dwell with him. F B Hole writes that The counterpart to our identification with Christ in His death is our identification with Him in His resurrection. The effect of the first is to disconnect us from man’s world, man’s religion, man’s wisdom. The effect of the other is to put us into touch with God’s world and with all that is there. The first four verses of chapter III unfold the blessedness into which we are introduced. (Hole, F B, Colossians) Matthew Henry… The apostle, having described our privileges by Christ in the former part of the epistle, and our discharge from the yoke of the ceremonial law, comes here to press upon us our duty as inferred thence. Though we are made free from the obligation of the ceremonial law, it does not therefore follow that we may live any way we wish. We must walk the more closely with God in all the instances of evangelical obedience. He begins with exhorting them to set their hearts on heaven, and take them off from this world: If you then have risen with Christ. It is our privilege that we have risen with Christ; that is, have benefit by the resurrection of Christ, and by virtue of our union and communion with Him are justified and sanctified, and shall be glorified. Hence he infers that we must seek those things which are above. We must mind the concerns of another world more than the concerns of this. We must make heaven our scope and aim, seek the favour of God above, keep up our communion with the upper world by faith, and hope, and holy love, and make it our constant care and business to secure our title to and qualifications for the heavenly bliss. And the reason is because Christ sits at the right hand of God. He who is our best friend and our head is advanced to the highest dignity and honour in heaven, and has gone before to secure to us the heavenly happiness; and therefore we should seek and secure what he has purchased at so vast an expense, and is taking so much care about. We must live such a life as Christ lived here on earth and lives now in heaven, according to our capacities. The question we each need to ask ourselves is "What are we seeking?" If for example you say you are too busy to do any regular Bible Study, then you are too busy! Something is wrong with your priorities. Parenthetically Paul is not referring to seeking the way the classic Greeks sought… their search was for ''knowledge'' and involved a philosophical investigation. The Gnostics would teach yes we are to pursue "gnosis" but it doesn't necessarily make any difference how one conducts their life. What are you seeking? Test Yourself Here's a three part test that will give a succinct summary of what you are really seeking. The three part test involves your checkbook, your calendar and your home. The Checkbook Test - This shows what you do with your money, and therefore shows what you truly value. The Calendar Test - What do you do with time? Your "day timer", outlook express or calendar will very likely demonstrate that no matter how "busy" you are, there are certain people or things for which you are still able to find time. The Home Test - Look at the items you have accumulated over the years. What are the things you have displayed? Here is a variation - 3 most important "books" - The Book (Bible), Hymn Book, Check Book The point is that the things that we devote time and money to have captured our minds and our hearts. Thinking about and being involved in those things results in habit trails developing in our souls. We keep returning to those thoughts. Do those thoughts take you to the divine things, the things above? Obviously it is easier and more natural to think about and love earthly things because we can see them, hold them, collect them, etc. Yet that is exactly what we are to do with the things of God… to prioritize the thoughts about the things above. We must discipline ourselves for godliness (1Ti 4:7, 8+), so that cultivate a mindset which loves and thinks about what God Word, about which the psalmist writes "Forever, O LORD, Thy word is settled in heaven." (Ps 119:89+). As we let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly (Col 3:16+) we do we will find the Spirit renews our thinking focusing it more and more on eternal things, not on the things on this earth which is passing away (1Jn 2:17+). Colossians : the teacher's outline & study Bible (borrow) emphasizes our need to comprehend the truth of our risen life in Christ, reasoning that this is the only way we will ever be able to truly live the Christian life… How many times have you heard the expression: "Don't put the cart before the horse"? This is a clever saying telling us to do things in the right order. There are many Christians who put the cart before the horse in their relationship with Christ. They work towards the cross of Christ instead of working away from it. (Ed: Jesus has obtained the Victory at the Cross. Our goal and challenge is to learn to live in light of His Victory). This kind of mindset boils down to this simple formula: My work (my obligation to God) + God's provision for me (His grace) = The basis of Christianity This is a false basis for Christianity. This kind of life is simply based upon works. God has a better plan for life than this. The basis of the believer's new life is this: God's provision for me (through His work on the cross) + My gratitude (I serve Him) = The true basis of the believer's new life Moule on "seek those things which are above" - As the exile seeks home (He 11:14), or as a thing gravitating seeks its centre. The precept bears full on the problem last in view, how to meet "the indulgence of the flesh." It is best met by the looking-away of the soul, heavenward, Christ-ward, in the recollection of its new and eternal life in Him. The "things above" are thus "sought" both as the goal of hope and the antidote to temptation… Grace only can fix the "affection" heavenward; but the Christian, none the less, is to use thought and will in the matter. (The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges - The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon) “Seek those things which are above” - from sermon by C H Spurgeon Oh seek to know on earth the peace of heaven, the rest of heaven, the victory of heaven, the service of heaven, the communion of heaven, the holiness of heaven: you may have foretastes of all these; seek after them. Seek, in a word, to be preparing for the heaven which Christ is preparing for you. You are soon to dwell above; robe yourselves for the great festival. Your treasure is above, let your hearts be with it. All that you are to possess in eternity is above, where Christ is; rise, then, and enjoy it. Let hope anticipate the joys which are reserved, and so let us begin our heaven here below. If ye then be risen with Christ, live according to your risen nature, for your life is hid with Christ in God. (CLICK FOR SERMON) The submarine is made to travel under the water. Yet, every submarine is equipped with a periscope by which it seeks those things that are above. It travels in the water, but the well-being of those in it depends on a knowledge of what is above. We live in the world, but we must set our minds (affections) on things above, for we are citizens of a heavenly country. Look upon Christ and He will draw you upward. J C Philpot Devotional - How many there are even of those who desire to fear God who are kept down by the world, and to whom it has not lost its attractive power; who are held fast, at least for a time, by worldly business, or entangled by worldly people or worldly engagements. Their partners in business or their partners in life; their carnal relatives or their worldly children; their numerous connections or their social habits; their strong passions or their deep-rooted prejudices, all bind and fetter them down to earth. There they grovel and lie amid, what Milton terms, "The smoke and stir of this dim spot which men call earth;" and so bound are they with the cords of their sins that they scarcely seek deliverance from them, or ever desire to rise beyond the mists and fogs of this dim spot into a purer air, so as to breathe a heavenly atmosphere, and rise up with Jesus from the grave of their corruptions. But if, as members of his mystical body, they are already risen with Christ, as it was not possible for the Head to be held by death when God loosed the pains thereof (Acts 2:24), so neither shall they ever be buried in the grave of carnality and worldliness. They must rise spiritually if they rose mystically. If interested in the reality of Christ's resurrection, they must know the power of Christ's resurrection.