Colossians 3:8-11 - Put off the Old Self and Put on Christ (Session 18)

This episode is a verse-by-verse Bible study of Colossians 3:8-11, exploring the historical context, theological meaning, and faithful application of the passage within the Christian faith.

Have you ever wondered how to truly live out the teachings of Jesus Christ in your daily life? We're going to tackle this question head-on, exploring the wisdom of the Apostle Paul and his transformative teachings. We're talking about shedding our old selves, ridding ourselves of anger, malice, and deceit, and embracing a new self of truth and kindness. This isn't just about doctrine, it's about a personal transformation that affects every aspect of our lives, including our speech and our relationships.

In this spiritual journey, we also confront the dangers of Gnosticism and its threat to Biblical teachings. We'll dive into the concept of daily renewal, unity in Christ, and the essence of the Abrahamic covenant. We'll grapple with the profound revelation that salvation is available for all—Jews and Gentiles alike—through faith in Jesus Christ. This is a journey of discovering the power of faith and its ability to shape our lives. Join us, as we challenge ourselves to live our faith more authentically every day.

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:16

In the Bible. It talks a lot about the Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine and theology around him, but it also talks a lot about common everyday things and how to live. Today we're in a section of Colossians where it talks about normal, everyday how do we go about our lives? It tells us things that are very practical, tells us what to take off and what to put on, just as if we were to change a set of clothes for a different purpose. Maybe you have a set of clothes for one thing and a different set of clothes for something else. Well, you take off one and put on another for a different purpose, and that's what the Apostle Paul is going to tell us about today.

Speaker 1 0:56

And that's one of the things that he stresses is putting on the new self, and you get that picture of actually putting on a new set of clothes or putting on a robe or something like that. And we'll get into that as we go through our journey today, in this session of Reaching and Through the Bible.

Speaker 2 1:12

And if you have your copy of the Word of God, you might want to open to Colossians, chapter 3. We're going to start in verse 8. And, just as a reminder, the Apostle spent the better part of two and a half chapters talking about who is Jesus Christ and how we're saved. So he has now turned a bit of a corner and is telling the Colossian church how do we go about putting these things into practical use and how do we go about living the Christian life. Let's go ahead and read. He is about to give us a list of things that we are not to do. And, steve, if you could read in Colossians, chapter 3, starting at verse 8 and going down to verse 11.

Speaker 1 1:55

But now, you also put them all aside. Anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive speech from your mouth Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices and have put on the new self, who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, scythian, slave and free man, but Christ is all and in all.

Speaker 2 2:30

In this section. He starts off in verses 8 and 9 with a list of list of things that the Christian is not to do, and he talks there don't be angry or have wrath or malice or slander or abusive speech. We could spend a long time, steve, talking about all of these. Start off with this abusive speech part, and I find that that's something that in our day, is a constant challenge. The Christian should have clean speech. We should have speech that edifies. We should not have a dirty mouth. We should have clean speech and, as it says here, to abusive speech is the way our translation says. How do we go about doing that and how important is that really.

Speaker 1 3:14

I think that one way that we do it is just what Paul is telling us here hey, that was your old self and you need to put on your new self. Your new self doesn't talk that way. Your new self doesn't treat people that way. As we go through here, we're always looking at how we should be ourselves out in the world in general, but especially with our fellow believers and our fellow Christians. We need to be sure that we don't treat them this way. Said it before, I think that people don't completely understand how we're supposed to treat fellow Christians, but Paul is clear here Don't abuse the language that you speak with them, the way that you talk to them. Don't abuse it and don't be angry with them.

Speaker 2 3:58

What I find interesting is in you and I, steve, we pointed out earlier in the book that the apostle dealt with what we call legalism, which was okay rules about certain foods or the keeping of days or the keeping of holidays, things like that. He condemned those things. But here he's saying stay away from things. But it's broad categories of motivations. If we look at the list again, he says to avoid things like anger, wrath, malice, slander. These are broad categories of internal motivations of things, and if we get rid of things like anger and wrath, then we don't have to have all the specific rules about how to live, specific daily things. That's the difference between what he's saying here, which is clean up the heart and then you won't have to worry about all these minor, petty external rules.

Speaker 1 4:56

And the verb that he used here, put aside it connotes or it gives you the idea that this is something that you can control. It isn't something that you can't control. So as you have these things, he says, put them all aside. Live your life in a way where they don't even come up and they're not a part of your life at all.

Speaker 2 5:17

And the end of verse eight. End of verse nine. He says lay aside abusive speech from your mouth. And again, Christians should say things that's edifying. The words that come out of our mouth should build people up or at least speak truth. But we shouldn't really have to worry about cursing or things like that. Christians should have a clean, edifying mouth. But then in verse nine, look at what he says do not lie to one another, since you lay aside the old self with its evil practices. Now what I find interesting here, steve, he is writing to the people in the church and he's telling the people in the church don't lie to one another. And I find it interesting that he would have to say that. So we ask a question why would he have to tell Christians inside a church don't lie to one another?

Speaker 1 6:09

I thought the same thing as I went through it. I kept scratching my head. It seems to be kind of out of place with all these other items. Not that lying is not as equal with all these other items that he mentioned here, but it kind of hit me. You know, I wonder how much of lying or not telling the truth is a part of our lives or part of their lives. We had this saying oh, telling a white lie. So a white lie is something of. Well, it's mostly true, but there's a little bit of untruth in it. That's called a white lie. It's not a complete lie, that's the way that we describe it, but a lie is a lie and some people justify it. Well, I don't want to hurt their feeling. Therefore, they don't tell the truth and the bottom line is no, you just need to tell the truth.

Speaker 2 6:57

Well, I remember when we were dealing with the 10 commandments of course it's one of the one of the top 10 lists that says don't bear false witness. When we were talking about that we said how would the world change if suddenly everyone told the truth, if nobody was lying to each other or any of the other commandments, if suddenly lying was disappeared? Then we would have a much, much more improved world. I just find it interesting that he pulls out lying separately and says don't lie to one another. The world is full of lies and it tends to creep into us. And I would say that, yes, christians are capable of lying. Perhaps we shouldn't, but we're capable of that and we need to be very conscientious amongst ourselves. We need to police ourselves and make sure that I'm not lying and that we don't lie. Then, if you look at the end of verse nine and on into 10, at the end of verse nine he gives another description of this radical change from the lost person to the saved person. People are right with God, have, quote laid aside the old self and put on the new self. Laid aside the old self and put on the new self. We should ask ourselves do I have a new me. Do I have a new self to put on? That's one of the questions how do I get a new self? Well, they get a new self by being regenerated.

Speaker 2 8:23

What I think here he's talking about, steve, is that he's not talking about a salvation experience. Salvation experience was talked about previously in the book, where God affects this creation of a new self. Here is a command to the Christian. So he's saying lay aside the old self and put on the new self. I take it to be. It's not a salvation experience because I don't put that on myself. What I put on myself is how do I live in a daily basis? I think that's what he's talking about. He's talking about how do I then go about living my daily life? And he's saying you live your daily life by walking in the new ways, by doing the new things, by living the values that we've learned from the Lord. That's what he means.

Speaker 1 9:10

Well, he also identifies the old self with its evil practices. And what do you do when you practice something? It becomes a way of life, it becomes something that you do over and over again. You usually practice something to become better at it, and so he's saying here, look, put all that stuff, you put all of those evil practices away. It's not a part of your life anymore.

Renewal and Unity in Christ

Speaker 2 9:34

If I don't have a new me to put on, then I need to get right with the Lord. We can learn some interesting things here by looking at the verb tenses. Look again here. At the end of verse nine it says you laid aside the old self with its evil practices and have put on the new self, who is being renewed to a true knowledge. The laying aside part is something that we do, but the renewal part is passive voice. That's happening to us. So I think what this is saying is I can make a decision here to act according to the new self on a daily basis. But that new self, God is causing that to be improved. God is renewing that new self on a daily basis through knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying. What I do is make the conscious decision. I am going to live according to what the new way of living, the new motivation that's within me and God then causes that new self to be renewed and regenerated, and that's an ongoing process.

Speaker 1 10:38

And you made the key words there daily process. It is something and that's what the words give you the idea of. It's a daily thing. Daily you remind yourself hey, that's the old self. I'm not going to live the evil practices from the old self. What I'm going to do is I'm going to purposely put on the new self and the things that go with the new self. So it is something that's done daily. We get up in the morning and we say I remind myself, I'm putting on my new self, I'm not going to live the evil practices that I did before and I'm purposely going to walk through this day trying to be as Christ-like as I can.

Speaker 2 11:17

Again. Notice the verb tense in verse 10 and have put on the new self, who is being renewed. That's an ongoing process. He's being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him, which is Jesus Christ. He's saying there that the self is being renewed by God and the result is this knowledge of Jesus Christ. Now, focus on this word knowledge for just a second. I went back and counted.

Speaker 2 11:47

Knowledge is talked about five times so far in the book of Colossians five times. I think it's fairly clear that what he's speaking against is this idea of this Gnostic cult, this Gnostic false teaching. The Greek word gnosis means knowledge. He's saying here that the true knowledge comes to Jesus Christ. He says it five times because he wanted to hammer home this idea that you don't need to follow these guys.

Speaker 2 12:16

The Gnostics were saying oh, you can get secret knowledge if you come, join us and follow our ways, and you can get this direct knowledge directly from the Lord. We don't have Gnostics per se running around, but we do have people. They de-emphasize the Bible and emphasize direct knowledge from God. Hey, just ask God, he'll give you a word. Well, no, open up the Bible and you'll get a word, because what he's saying here is the true knowledge comes from Jesus Christ. Well, where do we get that knowledge? It's in the Bible, now that was given to us by the apostles that revealed him. If we look to Jesus as revealed in the Scriptures, that's where we get the knowledge, and he says that five times here in the book of Colossians.

Speaker 1 12:59

I absolutely agree that what you described here that's the direct message that Paul is addressing as these false teachers. Something else that comes to mind, though, that we might be able to take away from this. What I think about is Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman at the well, and as they go through that exchange, one of her first questions is after she starts to realize who Jesus is, she goes where is it that? Where's the true place to worship? And that's because the Samaritans worshipped on Mount Garazine, and, of course, you had the temple that was in Jerusalem. Jesus' answer to her was you don't understand who I am, but there's going to come a time whenever you'll be able to worship in truth and in spirit, and so this also comes to mind that we have the truth through the Scriptures and we have the Spirit in the Holy Spirit. We have the ability to know the truths and come to true knowledge in Christ and also to worship Him through the Spirit and the Holy Spirit that we have with us.

Speaker 2 14:02

I just find all that to be just tremendous. Verse 10, if we look at verse 10 again says that we are renewed in Christ. We used to be disobedient, but now we act in a new way. We have a new way of going through life. That's how the Christians should view things is. We don't have the old self, we don't have the old way. We've been renewed to walk in a newness of life. That's what the emphasis here is on this radical transformation that he talked about earlier in the book. Now that we're in this new life, we need to put on the new self and learn more of Jesus Christ. Then look at verse 11. No Greek or Jews, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free. So before we get into the details of all that implication, what's the main point of that, Steve? What's he saying there in verse 11 when it talks about the differences in Greeks and Jews and circumcised? What's his point?

Speaker 1 14:59

Well, he's just talking a very broad term, that there's no distinction between people, groups, or whether they're rich or poor, or whether they're enslaved or whether they're not enslaved, no matter where they live. We're all together in this body of Christ. Paul mentioned earlier about the mystery that had been hidden, which means that the Gentiles and the Jews together are in this body of Christ of believers here. That's the general and the direct thing that I believe he's talking about. He's just saying look, we're all together, there's no longer any distinctions. We're all in together in one body of Christ.

Speaker 2 15:37

Some historical background will help here. I think prior to Christianity, people had this idea that your national ethnic identity was the same as your religious identity. So if you are from a particular country, then you were that religion. Go to a different country and a different religion, and people had this idea I can't be a different religion because I'm not from that country. What he's saying here is those distinctions are now gone away and one of the things that helped that was this idea of Roman citizenship.

Speaker 2 16:17

When Rome came in, they brought this new idea of oh, you can still be a citizen of your country and a citizen of Rome, so you could be a Jewish citizen or a Greek citizen and be a citizen of Rome or not.

Speaker 2 16:37

That idea is that, oh, I could stay here and be a citizen of Rome, carried over into Christianity, I can still be my ethnic origin, whatever country I'm from, and be a Christian, and I could be a citizen of the eternal kingdom and a citizen of my earthly kingdom. That's one of the things he's saying here is that there's no distinction between these national origins. You don't have any advantage because you're some particular ethnic origin or national origin or something, and no disadvantage. Some of these people he lists here barbarian Scythians. They were pretty low on the totem pole, so to speak. And he's saying just because you're born in a rich place or poor place or an advantage place or a disadvantage place, all that goes away before God. You can be right with God and be from any social status or any economic status or any national origin or religious status and still be in Christ.

Speaker 1 17:40

And in that great I mean that is a great hope that we have, that it doesn't matter who we are. If you're a believer in Christ and you're in Christ, you have salvation. That gives hope to everybody, among all the nations, and this is how, whenever God spoke to Abraham and said you're going to be a blessing to all the nations, this is it. This is what has happened. This is the fruition that came about for the blessing of all nations. All nations can be in Christ and be in the body of Christ.

Speaker 2 18:14

The message to us is that the Whatever we've accomplished or failed at in our life has no bearing before God. I could be a superstar, great athlete or smartest person. I've accomplished a lot of things. That doesn't get me any points with God. Also, I could be the biggest failure that's ever walked the top side of the earth, and that still doesn't keep me away from God. People have said the ground is level at the foot of the cross. Anybody can be right with God. Just because I have some earthly advantage doesn't give me any advantage with God. That's what he's saying.

Speaker 2 18:52

Let's read the verse again. He says here in verse 11, a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, sithian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all in and all. So a slight rabbit trail, steve, if we may. There are some Christians that take this passage and when it says there's no distinction between Jew and Greek, some teachers over the centuries have taken that to mean that God is done with the Jewish nation, that there's none of the Old Testament promises to Jews are done away with. I think you would agree with me that that's not what this verse is saying. So let me go through it a little bit here and kind of see the flaw and the logic in that. So here's a question Look at it again. If somebody is a slave and becomes a Christian, do they stop being a slave?

Speaker 1 19:49

No, they don't. They might become free at some point in time, but at the point that they came into Christ, if they're a slave, they're still a slave.

Speaker 2 19:57

And likewise, if somebody is a free person and they become a Christian, do they stop being a free person?

Speaker 1 20:03

No, they don't.

Speaker 2 20:04

No. If someone is circumcised or uncircumcised and they become a Christian, do those things suddenly go away, those distinctions?

Speaker 1 20:13

No, not from the physical sense, no.

Speaker 2 20:15

If somebody is Greek and they become a Christian, do they stop being Greek? No, they don't. So if somebody is Jewish and they become a Christian, do they stop being Jewish? No, they don't. So that's where I think the first issue comes in. Is suddenly people think that if somebody is Jewish and they become Christian, they have to stop being Jewish.

Speaker 2 20:39

Well, no, and I think part of the confusion here happens and, steve, you and I have probably heard this many times over the years Jewishness is both a ethnic origin and a religion. So there is the Jewish religion and then there's the Jewish national heritage. If somebody is born a Jew, they could be a practicing Jew or not. I think what he's saying here in this passage is if you're born Jewish or born Greek, you're still one in Jesus Christ. It's not just because you're Jewish or doesn't give you an advantage, and just because you're Greek, you don't have a disadvantage. He's not saying you're no longer Greek or no longer Jewish. And if we were to carry this to our day, if somebody was French or German or Russian or Italian and became a Christian, they don't stop being French or German or Russian or Italian. There's still those national origins. So if somebody is Jewish and they become Christian, they're still Jewish.

Speaker 2 21:41

Likewise, if somebody practices the Jewish religion, practicing the Jewish religion would be observing the Sabbath days, keeping the dietary laws, observing the holidays, etc. Etc. Can somebody say I'm going to follow those things, I'm going to observe the Sabbath, do the dietary laws and I'm going to be a Christian, I'm going to practice the Jewish religion and be a Christian. Those things aren't mutually exclusive. Paul tells us in Romans 14, if somebody wants to observe the days, praise the Lord. If somebody wants to keep the dietary laws, praise the Lord. So you can say I'm going to be a follower of Jesus Christ and I'm going to keep all the Jewish religions things. There's no conflict there.

Speaker 2 22:30

Now, where it gets to be a conflict is if I say, oh, because I keep the Sabbath day, then now I've earned righteousness before God. Or because I keep the Jewish dietary kosher laws, now I've earned righteousness before God. Or just because I was born in Jewish ethnicity, then now I'm suddenly right with God. No, that's where we have to say no, no, a thousand times. No, it's faith in Christ that makes us saved before God, not our religious practices or ethnic origin. Steve, why do you think people have this confusion. I've heard many people say oh, if you're a Christian you can't be Jewish, and I just, I completely don't understand.

Speaker 1 23:17

Well, I think part of it is an earlier session. We talked about a systematic theology and some of the systematic theology, while it's good, some people take it to the extent that they read that system back into the scriptures and there is a part of system theology that says God is through with the Jewish people and I think that's a derivative of where they come up with this so that they don't need to be Jewish anymore. But we see examples in scripture. But Peter and the apostles were still go after the resurrection. They were going to the temple. That's where they were preaching that Jesus has been resurrected was at the temple and they were going there. We see Paul. He was going back because he had a vow. He went back to Jerusalem in order to go to the temple to relieve the vow. Whenever it was finished, whenever he went back during one of the times, the leadership said hey, we see that the condition against you is that you're teaching against the law. In order to show them that you're not teaching against the law, we want you to sponsor these three guys who have taken a vow and for their purification. So they did that.

Speaker 1 24:24

The early Jewish people that were believers in Christ, they still went to the temple what it was. I'll use the example of the Passover. They still observe the Passover because the Passover commemorated them coming out of Egypt. That didn't stop whenever Jesus came and he was resurrected. But what happened was was that Jesus was the Passover lamb. You would now associate, as you went through that Passover feast, that the actual Passover lamb ultimately was Jesus Christ and you would associate it with that. But it doesn't mean that you had to stop observing the Passover feast. And there are Jewish believers today that still observe the Passover. But some of those Jewish rituals that have to do with atonement and salvation, yes, you find the fulfillment in those in Jesus Christ, and as long as you continue to understand that Jesus and they do because they are believers in Jesus Christ as long as you understand that that's where your salvation is in, then you don't have a big conflict there.

Speaker 2 25:35

So I want to just summarize this one more time, just because it does get confused so many times.

Speaker 2 25:41

If someone is born an ethnic Jew and they say I want to observe the Passover and all the holidays and I want to observe the, be a faithful Sabbath keeper, and I want to keep the dietary laws and I want to do all the Jewish religious things, but I deny Jesus Christ as the Messiah, that person is lost and separated from God and they will not be in fellowship with God because of their Jewish religion.

Jewish Traditions and the Abrahamic Covenant

Speaker 2 26:09

However, if the same person says I was born ethnic Jew and I want to do all the Jewish religious things, keep the Sabbath, keep the kosher laws, the holidays, and I accept Jesus Christ as my savior, and I'm going to say that what gets me to heaven is Jesus blood and his faith in his blood. And I'm just doing it because I'm just doing the religious things because I want to, that's fine, there's no problem with that. There's no problem with the Jewish person saying I want to practice the Jewish religious things, as long as they say none of those things are going to buy me credit with God, they're not going to buy me righteousness. My only righteousness is through Jesus Christ. That's the distinction, but I think people get that confused.

Speaker 1 26:58

We also have the opposite side of the coin, where then we have Gentile people that want to turn around and say oh, then now I need to follow these Jewish traditions. And, once again, if you want to observe Passover as a Gentile, that's okay. If you want to do it, if you want to observe the Sabbath as a Gentile, that's okay, as long as you acknowledge and that you're a believer and then you're in Christ and that none of those law keeping has anything to do with your salvation.

Speaker 2 27:31

So we just said that the law keeping and the ethnic origin has nothing to do with our personal salvation before God. That said, you and I, steve, have made a point several times in our ministry here that the Abrahamic covenant which was made with the nation of Israel is still in effect. There's a distinction between the individual Jewish person's salvation relationship before God and there's a distinction between that and what God is doing with the Jewish country, the Jewish nation, in his grand plan, and that what God's doing with the Jewish country is still in effect. In that sense there's still God's chosen people. Am I correct?

Speaker 1 28:17

You're absolutely correct. The three main things from the Abrahamic covenant was I'm going to give you this land, I'm going to make you a great nation, and there's going to be a seed that's going to come from you that's going to bless all the other nations. That third part Paul makes clear in Galatians is that seed is Jesus Christ and it's due Jesus Christ. Sacrifice, death, burial and resurrection is how it provides a blessing to all the nations, because now anybody in this passage that we're talking about can become a believer in Jesus Christ and have salvation. So that third part of that Abrahamic covenant has been fulfilled through Jesus Christ. But the other two great nation in the land is still part of the Abrahamic covenant, and the reason why is because God says it's a everlasting covenant. So, glenn, how long is everlasting?

Speaker 2 29:13

It lasts ever, it lasts everlasting. So two more questions, just to make sure that this gets hammered home clearly In dealing with salvation before God, our salvation relationship before God, is there a difference between a Jew and a Gentile in how they are saved before God?

Speaker 1 29:38

No, they're both. Salvation for anybody is through faith in Jesus Christ.

Speaker 2 29:43

That's true. Jew, gentile, any ethnic origin, any religion. There's one way of salvation. Old Testament, new Testament, again, as it says here Jew or free, Jew or Gentile, slave or free, there's one, it's faith in Jesus Christ. Next question are any Jewish people automatically saved before God just because they're Jewish?

Speaker 1 30:09

No, they're not, and the term chosen or chosen people, referring to the Jewish nation, means that they're set aside for the purpose of what we've talked about in other sessions and other books that we've gone through in order to be a blessing and to bring about the Messiah, jesus Christ. That's what they're chosen for. But within the nation itself, they all have to make a choice whether they're going to believe or whether they're not going to believe, and that was always the case, in that, through the people of Israel, you had people that believed in God and had faith in God, and people that didn't. So just because they're chosen, set aside, doesn't mean that they automatically have salvation.

Speaker 2 30:54

And where that error comes from is there's a passage in Romans, in chapters nine through eleven. There's one phrase in there that talks about because of this, all Israel will be saved. But we'll get to that when we get to Romans. But taking that verse and saying that every ethnic Jew is automatically saved before God is an error. It is a great, grand error because too many other times in the Bible it says by grace you have been saved through faith Ephesians two, eight and many other places. The only way anyone, jew or Greek, is saved as being in Christ If they have faith in Christ, true faith, and they're saved, and if they don't, they're not. So with that we will wrap up for today and we've still got great things to do here in the book of Colossians. Be back with us next time as we reason through the Bible.

Speaker 1 31:51

Thank you for watching and listening. Thank God bless you.