Please have your Bible open at the passage indicated above as you mad this article. The writer takes it for granted that you will do this, and consequently all his references to Scripture are in the briefest possible form.
THE fact of the believer’s identification with Christ in His death and resurrection has already been before us in verse 11 and 12. We have now to see that it is not a mere doctrinal notion, something existing only in the region of theory. It is a FACT, and intended to exert a very potent influence upon our lives.
In verse 20 we get the words, “dead with Christ”: in verse 1 of chapter 3, the words, “risen with Christ.” So complete was the identification that His death was our death, His resurrection was our resurrection. It may be remarked however that in both cases there is an “if.” Yes, but not as expressing doubt but rather as furnishing the basis of an argument. If this, then that. It really has the force of “since.” Certain things are incumbent upon us since we have died with Christ: and again certain other things should mark us since we have been raised with Christ.
Since we have died with Christ our true interests lie clean outside the world and its rudiments, or, elements. Having died out of the world system we cannot proceed as though we are alive in it. That is the argument of verse 20. The world, and particularly the religious world, has its many ordinances concerning the using or not using of perishable material things. According to these ordinances we should not handle or taste or touch this or that. But if we really understand our identification with Christ in His death we find ourselves outside the world where ordinances have their sway, and that of course settles all such questions for us in a very decisive way. There were many ordinances connected with the law of Moses, which was given to curb men in the flesh. They have no validity as regards men who are dead with Christ.
But the point here is not so much as regards Jewish ordinances but rather those that are “after the commandments and doctrines of men”; ordinances which never did have any divine sanction at all. Such are the ordinances which ritualism enforces upon its votaries today.
In our Bibles verse 21 and the first part of verse 22 are printed in brackets. In the New Translation all verse 23 save the last six words is printed in brackets also. This makes the sense of that verse clearer. The words in the first bracket give us samples of the ordinances which the Apostle had in mind. The words in the second bracket tell us certain things which characterize these ordinances. They have an appearance of wisdom, being marked by “will worship,” (i.e., voluntary worship) and humility and the neglecting of the body instead of giving it the honor which is due. And then the words not enclosed in brackets read, “subject to ordinances... after the commandments and doctrines of men... to the satisfying of the flesh.”
What a searching condemnation of ritualism it is! All these elaborate ordinances may look like the voluntary rendering of homage in great humility. The asceticism connected with it looks very lowly. The dress, the girdle of rope, the poor food and the fastings and neglect of the body may appear to be very holy and very wonderful; but in point of fact it is all according to purely human teachings and all ministers to the satisfaction of the flesh. In true Christianity the flesh is disowned and refused. In ritualism it is fostered and gratified. That is the condemnation of ritualism.
The counterpart to our identification with Christ in His death is our identification with Him in His resurrection. The effect of the one is to disconnect us from man’s world, man’s wisdom, man’s religion. 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 2:3 unfold the blessedness into which we are introduced.
There are things which find their center in Christ seated in heavenly glory. They are “things above,” that is, things which are heavenly in character. On these things our minds and affections are to be set, and not on earthly things. At the present moment Christ is not in manifestation here, He is hid in God. Now He is our life, and all the hidden springs of our life are consequently hidden with Him in God. The day approaches when He will be manifested, and then we shall be manifested with Him in glory. It will be quite clear in that day where our real life is found.
It is, alas! not nearly so clear today. Yet our life today lies just exactly where it will then. This is what makes this truth so very practical. The unbeliever necessarily lives and moves and has all his thoughts in “things on the earth.” As a fallen creature estranged from God he knows nothing else. Still there is a very great danger of our getting absorbed with earthly things. Hence the need for these exhortations.
The fact is we have an altogether new sphere of life. Our interests center in the right hand of God, and not in our homes or businesses, however important these may be in their place as furnishing us with occasions for serving the will of God. We set our minds upon things above, not by reposing in arm-chairs indulging in dreamy and mystical imaginings as to things that may be in heaven, but rather by setting our minds supremely upon Christ, and seeking in all things the furtherance of Heaven’s interests. The British ambassador in Paris sets his mind upon British things by seeking British interests in French circumstances, and not by continually sitting down to try and recall to his memory what British scenery is like.
As risen with Christ, then, we are lifted into His heavenly interests and permitted to seek them while still on earth. A position of extraordinary elevation, this! How little do we go about as those who are risen with Christ into another region of things, and that a heavenly one! How much do we get our minds clogged with earthly things! The Apostle recognized how great and how many the hindrances are and hence he exhorted us to mortify certain things. The “members which are upon the earth,” of which he speaks in verse 5, are not of course the actual members of our bodies. The term is used metaphorically as indicating certain moral, or rather immoral, features of an earthly nature which characterized us more or less in our unconverted days. We now have heavenly interests and therefore these purely earthly features are to be mortified; that is, put to death.
Put to death is a strong and forcible expression. Our tendency is to parley with these things, and sometimes even to play with them and make provision for them. Our safety however lies in action of a ruthless kind. Sword in hand, so to speak, we are to meet them without any idea of giving quarter. We should rather meet them after the fashion of Samuel who hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord.
But there are other things besides those specified in verse 5, which we must have done with, and these are mentioned in verse 8 and 9. It is not now, “Mortify,” 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.
Notice how much the things mentioned in verse 8 and 9 have to do with our tongues, and consequently with our hearts which express themselves thereby. Sins of the tongue are terribly common even among Christians. We all know the kind of words that are provoked by anger, wrath and malice. Would any true believer blaspheme? Hardly, yet how very easily it is to fall into speaking of God and of divine things in a light and irreverent way. How easy too it is to utter unsavoury things with our lips, even if we do not go so far as “filthy communications.” And what about lying? An Ananias or a Sapphira may still be found. And we may go further and assert that every one of us who possesses a sensitive conscience knows right well that it is no easy thing to stick to absolute and rigid truth in all our utterances.
Truth, however, is incumbent upon 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 exhortations to put off and put on in verse 8 and 12 are based upon it. Conversion means that we have learned to judge and condemn and refuse the old order of man and his character, and to put on the new man which is God’s creation and partakes of His character. We do not for one moment say that we understood this or realized it at the moment of our conversion. But we do say, in the light of this Scripture, that this is what was really involved in our conversion, and that it is high time that we do understand and realize it.
In this new man the distinctions of this world — whether national, religious, cultural or social — simply do not exist. Christ is everything, and in all who have put on the man, for the new man is a reproduction-of Himself.
Just what the old man is and what the new man is, is not easy to grasp, and still less easy to explain. In both expressions we have a certain character of man personified. In the one you have the Adam character, in the other Christ. Only it is not just idealism but a real transaction. The Adam order is judged and we have done with it and put on Christ and consequently the character of His life. We put it on however ‘not just as a man may don a new coat, but rather as a bird dons a new dress of feathers after moulting. The new character grows naturally out of the new life we have in Christ.
In verse 12 to 15 we find portrayed the character that we are to put on. It is just the opposite to those things that we are to put off according to verse 8 and 9. We are to put off the characteristics of the old man because we have put off the old man. We are to put on the characteristics of the new man because we have put on the new man. What we are to be hinges entirely upon what we are. We are the elect of God— if indeed we are believers — holy and beloved of God. From this flows what we are to be. Grace always works thus — first what we are, then what we should be.
In these verses CHRIST is in evidence. It is His character that we are to wear. If a standard is set as to the forgiveness we are to accord to others it is, “as Christ forgave you.” The peace that is to rule in our hearts is “the peace of Christ,” for so it should read, and not “the peace of God,” as in our Authorized Version.
Also the word, “quarrel,” in verse 13 is really “complaint,” as the margin of a refence Bible shows. Have we ever heard of any Christian having a complaint against another? Ever heard of a complaint I we should reply. Why the air is frequently thick with complaints! The difficulty would be to discover any Christian company without them! Well, see what is enjoined upon us in connection with such — forbearance and forgiveness; and that after the pattern of Christ Himself. For this we need the humbleness of mind, the meekness and long-suffering mentioned in verse 12, as well as the charity, or love, which verse 14 enjoins. Love is the bond of perfectness for it is the very nature of God.
The peace of Christ is that of which He spoke in the upper chamber the night before He suffered. “My peace I give unto you,” He said. It is that rest of heart and mind which results from perfect confidence in the Father’s love and perfect subjection to the Father’s will. In our chapter we are reminded that we are called to this peace in one body. Consequently, the peace ruling in all our hearts, an atmosphere of peace pervades the whole body. The closing words of the verse, “and be ye thankful,” are significant.
The men of this age are peculiarly marked by thankfulness — see, 2 Tim. 3:22For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, (2 Timothy 3:2). They see the hand of God in nothing, and if perchance things go well with them they only say “My luck was in.” It is our privilege to see the hand of God in all things, and, walking in His fear, to trace His ways with us in a thankful spirit.
The peace of Christ is followed by, “the word of Christ,” in verse 16. His word gives us all the direction we need and it is to dwell in us, to have its home in our hearts. Further it is to dwell in us richly. Our hearts and minds are to be filled with it in all wisdom. We are not only to know it but also to know how to apply it to all the problems that life presents to us. And we are to be so filled with it that it overflows from us, and we communicate it the one to the other. In our every-day dealings the one with the other we are to be able to instruct each other in that which is His will, and also to warn each other against all that would divert us from His will.
Further we should be marked by praise and song. Only our hymns and songs are to be spiritual in their character, and the Lord is to be the Object before us in them — they are to be “to the Lord.” Moreover we must be careful as to our own spiritual state even in our singing. Our songs are to be with grace in our hearts. Singing which springs from a mere spirit of jollification is nothing worth. When the heart is filled with a sense of grace then we can sing to the pleasure of God.
Finally every act and detail of our lives is to be under the control of the Lord, and hence done in His Name and in the spirit of thanksgiving. This comprehensive word closes these more general instructions. The next verse begins to take up things in a more particular way.
F. B. Hole.