Colossians 3:12
by Dr. Grant C. Richison
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Colossians 3:12
"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender
mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering"
In this verse we come to the third of seven divine directives in chapter
three: "Put on." First the negative, "put off," now
the positive "put on." We must discard the old garments before
we put on the new. We must put off the behavior of the sinful self and
put on the garments of our life in Christ. We put off six garments of the
old man and put on eight garments of the new man.
The command to "put on" certain virtues begins with an appeal
to our status with God. If the believer is aware of his relationship to
God, he can live the Christian life as it should be lived. Paul appeals
to three prerogatives to motivate the Colossians: they are "elect,"
"holy" and "beloved." These are titles God gives to
those who know him.
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"Therefore"
"Therefore" harks back to verse ten: "put on the new man."
Now that we have put on the new man, this is how we are to be outfitted
for the new life in Christ. The garments listed in verses 12-14 look good
on the our new man. They fit him. They befit him. They are characteristics
of those with Christ.
It is not enough to "put off" something; we must "put on"
something. We must put off the sins of verses 8 and 9, anger, etc. but
we must also put on "tender mercies," etc.
We need to deck ourselves out in the new man. The Christian never looks
better than when dressed in the garments of the new man.
PRINCIPLE: New character demands new characteristics.
APPLICATION: The logic of commitment to the Lord goes something like this.
If we owe all to the Lord, he should have all of us. This is the logic
of love. There is a close connection between God's grace and our response
to him. Grace and gratitude are from the same word in the Greek. The virtues
in the following list root themselves in our election.
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"as the elect of God"
The first title to which God appeals to live the Christian life is "elect
of God." We are God's elect. This is one of the greatest titles conferred
upon the child of God.
"Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?" (Rom. 8:33).
"Knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God" (I Thes. 1:4).
"Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they
also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory"
(II Tim. 2:10).
"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification
of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:"
(I Pet. 1:2).
"Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according
to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords
with godliness" (Titus 1:1).
Election has to do with the plan of God. As long as a believer is alive
on earth he is in the plan of God. There is no way for us to get out of
the plan of God. We can lose the benefits of God's plan by stepping out
of fellowship with God but we cannot get out of the plan of God. God thinks
of us in terms of billions of years.
"Election" is a doctrine many people dislike and some even hate.
Can you imagine a Christian hating a Christian doctrine! This is because
man is so proud. He wants to totally understand all of God's working.
He hates mystery. He refuses to grant God the privilege of selection.
The Bible teaches election as plain as our face (as disconcerting as that
may be)!. It makes no difference whether we understand election or not,
the Bible teaches it. Whether we can harmonize or synchronize election
with free will is irrelevant, inconsequential and insignificant; it is true
just the same. If we knew everything about anything God teaches then we
would be as smart as God.
We cannot get on our theological high horse and say, "I do not believe
it." If we say that, then we are saying that we do not believe the
Bible. We cannot pick and chose what we want to believe about the Bible.
If any part of the Bible is suspect, then it is all suspect. We cannot
say "I will believe this about the Bible but not believe that."
We believe it all or we believe none of it.
The believer shares the election of Christ. When we learn about our status
before God we can then "put on" certain virtues. All believers,
good, bad or indifferent are elect. Whether we are spiritual or carnal,
mature or immature, God views us as elect.
If you commit some terrible sin, God still views you as elect. You are
in the plan of God. Our guilt will tell us that we are no longer a part
of the plan of God. The way back into fellowship with God is not through
guilt but through understanding our position before God in Christ. An attitude
defeated by guilt will not dynamically live the Christian life.
Although we need conviction for our sin, guilt is not the answer to get
back into fellowship with God. We need to understand that we are elect,
holy and beloved. If we get back into fellowship by what we do, we tend
to put our nose in the air and self righteously parade our own effort.
We yield to approbation lust.
PRINCIPLE: God appeals for us to live the Christian life on the basis of
our election.
APPLICATION: Some people feel that elect, holy and beloved do not refer
to every believer. "That cannot refer to the carnal crowd."
No, this is not an appeal to great believers. Every believer is elect,
holy and beloved. You may be the worst believer who ever lived. You may
be the most carnal Christian imaginable. You may have committed sins that
shock both yourself and the Christian community. You may have violated
all ten commandments. Yet you, in God's eyes, are elect, holy and beloved.
The Bible teaches both the election of God and the free will of man. We
cannot harmonize these two doctrines in our finite mind. If we cripple
one of these doctrines by the other we have error. If we believe in the
election to the exclusion of evangelism, missions and whosoever may come,
that is error. That is fatalism. On the other hand, if we believe in the
free will of man to the exclusion of election, that is error. God expects
us to accept both doctrines at face value. We must believe both equally.
To believe one without the other is to become lopsided. Bible balance
is to believe both. Almost every Bible doctrine has two sides -- the divine
and the human. We go on a tangent if we emphasize one without the other.
Election is a vital doctrine for Christian living as we shall see in successive
studies.
God appeals to three titles of the child of God to live the Christian life:
"elect of God, holy and beloved." Today we come to the second
title.
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"holy"
"Holy" means separated unto God. This means that God can take
the worst believer and by his grace can turn him into someone who is holy,
set apart unto God.
God calls us holy in Hebrews 3:1, "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession,
Christ Jesus."
The word "saint" is the same word as "holy." God calls
Christians "saints" (holy) in Colossians 1:2, "To the saints
and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse." The meaning of
holy, saint, sanctification, holiness is set apart.
Hebrews 12:10, "For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed
best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness."
Hebrews 12:14, "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without
which no one will see the Lord."
I Peter 1:15,16, "But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy
in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.'"
PRINCIPLE: God appeals to our status of being set apart to live the Christian
life.
APPLICATION: Some are afraid of the word holy because some people have tried
to trademark it into a special meaning of people who are spiritually spooky!
When we receive Christ as our Savior, God sets us apart to himself positionally.
Because we belong to God who is set apart and unique, we are to be uniquely
like him. Then we become raw material for God to work upon. He will begin
to chisel us, sand us down and steel wool us into his likeness. God carries
on this work until he makes us exactly like the Lord Jesus. God will complete
that work when we Jesus comes again.
The third and last title to which God appeals to live the Christian life
is "beloved."
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"beloved"
The grammar of the word "beloved" indicates the permanence of
God's love when he chose us. This means that we are always the objects
of God's love which never changes (Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:9-11, 19). God is
immutable in his love which means that his love never changes toward us.
God's love can never change under any circumstance toward us. Our love
may wane toward God. As a member of the human race all of us are unstable
to some extent.
The Father loves the Son with an infinite amount of love. When we enter
into union with Christ, God accepts us in the beloved one (Eph. 1:6). Therefore,
the Father loves us with the same amount of love that he has for the Son
-- an infinite amount.
"Beloved" means the object of love. No believer has the right
to say that "No one loves me."
Jeremiah 31:3, "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love."
Romans 1:7, "To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints."
Romans 5:5, "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God
has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates (proves) His own love toward us,
in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
PRINCIPLE: God gives endearing titles to God's people so that they will
live out their Christian lives on the basis of their prerogatives in Christ.
APPLICATION: Christians should live out what they are. They should live
out what is becoming to them. It is becoming to those who hold such titles
to be loving towards all men.
If God thinks of Christians with these titles (elect of God, holy, beloved),
every Christian ought to think of each other this way.
The list of virtues here are the opposites of the list of vices just denounced.
Social sins were just exposed. Now he challenges people to social virtues.
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"put on "
"Put on" is the parallel of the preceding "put off."
Having removed the clothes (characteristics) of the old man, God wants
us to put on the clothes of the new man.
"Put on" means to put on a garment. We cannot put on our position
in Christ. It is already on the believer. Our position before God was
put on at the point of salvation and it goes on forever. We cannot put
on our election. We can only put on our experience based on our election
or position.
"Put on" means to develop, function. God orders us to put on
eight garments.
PRINCIPLE: God expects us to approximate our daily condition to our heavenly
condition.
APPLICATION: God wants us to wear his spiritual garments. It will not do
to let these garments hang in the closet of the Word of God. They will
not do us any good there. We must wear them.
God expects us to approximate our daily condition to our heavenly condition.
He wants us to put off the sins of the disposition but he also wants us
to put on the disposition of the new man. It is a robing procedure. We
cannot put on the robes of the new man until we have put off the rags of
the old man. It is not befitting a Christian to come to God wearing the
rags of criticism and bitterness. We cannot put on the robes of praise
over those rags. We need spiritual attire for a spiritual walk.
The first garment God with which wants us to clothe ourselves is "tender
mercies."
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"tender mercies"
General meaning: compassion, pity, tender hearted. Empathy is ability to
identify with someone else and put ourselves in their place. "Tender
mercies" is putting feeling into action and words.
Literally, "tender mercies" mean bowels of sympathy. The people
of the first century believed that emotions originated in the stomach.
We have an idiom that says, "I have a feeling in my gut." Do
you allow your emotions to feel for others?
Mercy is grace in action. It means to appreciate grace in your soul.
"Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of
love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy"
(Phil. 2:1).
"And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
just as God in Christ forgave you" (Eph. 4:32).
"Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another;
love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous" (I Pet. 3:8).
God wants us to be full of compassion, full of pity toward others. One
of the garments God wants us to clothe ourselves with is the garment of
empathy. Is your heart callused toward others? Are you hardhearted toward
people who hurt?
Since we are the objects of mercy, we should show mercy (Lk. 6:36).
PRINCIPLE: God expects us to clothe ourselves with empathy.
APPLICATION: Clothes make the man. Clothes in Scripture signify character
(Isa. 64:6). The church will be arrayed in fine linen. The first line
of clothing God wants us to don is "mercy."
The world is heartless today. It has become indifferent to suffering and
hurt. We have become mechanical in our dealing with others.
We are a number in the information age. Computers do not deal with my name
but my number. A computer cannot tell how I feel. I cannot tell the computer
that it has made a mistake. It simply sends me a notice of billing and
I pay it.
Even our medical doctors run patience through their offices without taking
time to know them. Do you have a heart of compassion to those who are around
you?
The second line of clothing with which God wants us to don ourselves is
"kindness."
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"kindness"
Is kindness letting the whole human race run over you, one at a time or
by the dozens? No, kindness is generosity, goodness. It is the relaxed
attitude when someone says something unkind about us in our presence or
behind our back.
Do we become bitter, angry, upset, vindictive, implacable, or hostile when
someone says something bad about us? If we have these attitude sins in
our mind, we cannot execute kindness. Kindness is a relaxed mental attitude.
Kindness does not mind other people's business but stays loose and relaxed
and does not hate anyone, seek retaliation, or use revenge tactics.
Kindness is a disposition of courtesy. God does not want to soften our
minds but make them tender towards others. Are we considerate of other
people who suffer? Do we enthusiastically lift up someone who has fallen
low?
Kindness is also practical helpfulness. It is not the person who is overtly
sweet. These people may think horrible things about others but they are
"sweet!" They may think in terms of bitterness and jealousy and
hatred but they imbue sweetness and are kind outwardly.
Kindness manifests compassion. This is action that comes out of empathy.
It may take the form of a kind word, an invitation to lunch, an offer to
help.
"Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor
giving preference to one another" (Rom. 12:10).
"And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
just as God in Christ forgave you" (Eph. 5:32).
"But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared"
(Tit. 3:4). We seldom think of God as kind. We normally think of him as
love, just and truth.
PRINCIPLE: Kindness is the manifestation of compassion.
APPLICATION: We may be righteous but we may be not kind, gracious or sympathetic.
We might not do things wrong but we may be rigid and not compassionate.
Are you kindly disposed toward other believers?
The third article of spiritual clothing that God wants us to put on is "humility."
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"humility"
Humility is orientation to the grace of God. It is not self-effacement.
We do not have to wear black and carry a solemn expression. We do not
have to confirm to tradition. We do not have to look like an undertaker
to be humble!
This does not mean to eliminate thinking about yourself. We need to think
about ourselves if we are going to operate properly as a human being. If
I get up in the morning and come to work without a shower, a shave or combing
my hair, am I spiritual? No, I am a nut! Obviously it is not wrong to
brush your teeth!
Humility is not self depreciation. It is rather acknowledges that what
we have is from God (orientation to grace). We did not earn our salvation.
"Serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which
happened to me by the plotting of the Jews" (Ac 20:19).
"But in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself"
(Phil. 2:3).
Humbleness of mind means that we have the right estimation or evaluation
of ourselves. Most of us have an exaggerated estimation of our ability,
capacity, worth and gift. No one shares such an exalted estimation of us
as we ourselves. We overrate ourselves. No one else overrates us. We
have a tendency to think more highly of ourselves than anyone else. "For
all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus" (Phil.
2:21).
It is difficult for us to care about others when we do not have this garment
of humbleness of mind. Pride is the last citadel to capitulate to King
Jesus. The contrast to humility is self-sufficient arrogance. We estimate
ourselves above other people.
The word means lowliness of mind. Jesus applied this term to himself in
Matthew 11:29. Humility is the opposite of arrogance.
PRINCIPLE: Humility is orientation to grace.
APPLICATION: There is a divine and a human side to humility. One the divine
side, God wants us to accept that fact that we are a finite creature dependent
upon God. On the human side, every Christian is of royal lineage, therefore,
we should never express arrogance toward each other. In both, humility
is a recognition of God's provision of grace in our lives.
The fourth garment of spiritual clothing we are to don is "meekness."
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"meekness"
Some people think that it is wrong to have good posture. A humble person
stands round shouldered. He makes squeaking noises like a mouse. A humble
person never uses strong language; he does not even raise his voice. He
is as if he were a little mouse that makes little noises.
Meekness is a term that is difficult to understand because of its usage
in the English. The English has lost the essence of its meaning. It is
more than gentleness. It carries the idea of strength. Both Moses and
Jesus were called meek.
Meekness is inwrought grace. It demonstrates our dependence on God (Gal.
6:1; I Cor. 4:21; II Tim. 2:25; I Pet. 5:5f). Dependence on God spurs meekness
in our relationship with fellow believers.
Meekness is a lowly attitude toward others; it is not weakness. Meekness
is a tempered character one realizes that what he has is from God. This
person is not overbearing.
Jesus is said to be meek in Matthew 11: "Take My yoke upon you and
learn from Me, for I am gentle (meek) and lowly in heart, and you will find
rest for your souls. 30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light"
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there
is no law" (Gal. 5:22,23).
"Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual
restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest
you also be tempted" (Gal. 6:1).
"Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and
receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls"
(Jam. 1:21).
"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct
that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom" (Jam. 3:13).
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give
a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you,
with meekness and fear" (I Pet. 3:15).
PRINCIPLE: Meekness is inwrought grace.
APPLICATION: A meek person is someone who understands that who and what
they are is from God. Do you acknowledge that everything you are and have
is from God?
The fifth garment of spirituality the believer is to "put on"
is "longsuffering."
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"longsuffering"
Longsuffering is self-restraint. In the face of provocation we hold steady
(1:11). Although we have the power to take revenge we do not exercise that
power. Although we might resent someone for what they do to us, we choose
not to become resentful.
Despair, bitterness or cynicism does not drive the longsuffering person.
He does not succumb under duress. He holds self-restraint in the face
of provocation. He withholds retaliation and is not prompt to punish others.
Longsuffering is patience through long sequential stages of trial.
Longsuffering is associated with hope in I Thes 1:3; mercy in Ro 2:4; I
Pet 3:20
God is longsuffering with us (Rom. 2:4; 9:22). Why should not God ask the
same of us (James 5:7-11)?
Longsuffering is patience for the long haul. Most of us can suffer for
a short time. Few can endure monotony or trial for long. We need to have
courage for the great trial and patience for the ongoing trial.
A believer who is longsuffering orients to pressure, adversity and suffering.
God can only bless us by suffering in time. God cannot bless us by suffering
in eternity because there will be no suffering in eternity.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there
is no law" (Gal. 5:22,23).
"Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for
all patience and longsuffering with joy" (Col. 1:11).
PRINCIPLE: Longsuffering is the capacity to suffer a long time without provocation.
APPLICATION: One of the most difficult character traits to develop is the
ability to suffer for a long time. That is one of the hardest things God
calls upon to do. Many of us can put up with provocation so much as it
is not for very long. God wants us to suffer long both the mischief of
men and the rebukes of God's providential working.
God is long suffering with us, why should not we suffer long with others?
To suffer for a short time is bearable but to suffer for a long time, that
is quite another matter.
Copyright © 1995, Dr. Grant Richison. All rights reserved.
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