Colossians
Colossians was taught by Dr. James Modlish

Chapter Three
(Lesson Three - 3:1-25)

 

Outline Of The Chapter:

I. Introduction

II. The Believer's Union With Christ, Now And Hereafter (1-4)
III. Living The Resurrected Life (5-25)

 

I. Introduction -

In chapter three we find the solution to the problem of putting the flesh down. The entire chapter is practical and deals with the positive approach that the Christian should take in order to "increase with the increase of God" (2:19).

 

II. The Believer's union With Christ, Now and Hereafter - (1-4)

The passage states that one part of the Christian remained dead (vs. 3) after the other part "arose" (Rom. 7:1-41). The new man who came up out of the grave with Christ (Eph. 1:20; 2:6) is already "above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." (vs. 1); therefore, his affection should be located in that place, not the place where his dead corpse has been buried (Rom. 6:1-6).

What are some of the things that are above?

[1]. New Jerusalem (Gal. 4:26)
[2]. The throne of God (Rev. 4:1-4)
[3]. The departed saints (1 Thess. 4:14)
[4]. Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 4:16)
[5]. Our rewards at the Judgment Seat (2 Cor. 5:3-10)
[6]. Loved ones and relatives (1 Thess. 5:10)
[7]. The eternal truth of God's Word (Ps. 119:89)

(See Phil. 1:23; 3:20; Eph. 1:3; 2:6; 4:24 Matt. 6:19,20; Jn. 12:26; 2 Cor. 5:14,1 1 Cor. 3:23).
 

III. Living The Resurrected Life -

"That I may know him# and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his suffering, being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." (Phil. 3:10,11)

This section "spills over" into chapter four where it ends at (verse 6). Herein we are exhorted to "put off" and "put on"

[1]. In personal life (3:5-17)

[2]. In domestic life (3:18-4:1)

[3]. In relation to the world (4:2-6)

What follows is very much self-explanatory We will note a number of thoughts that deserve special consideration.

Verse 11: "Christ is all, and in all" - He is Body into which the believer is placed and this body is a new creation... He is the regenerator within the individual believer who restores the image which Adam lost when he sinned. I

Verse 16: Compare this passage with the similar passage found in Eph. 5:18,19; Acts 4:31. It could easily be determined that the filling of the Spirit could be equated with the Word of Christ dwelling in us richly.

Verse 24: "The reward of the inheritance' is the Millennial reign (Eph. 5:5; Gal. 5: 21; 1 Cor. 6:9). The inheritance is an earned reward, and it is the absolute opposite of salvation by grace (Rom 4:14). Rewards come from service..."for ye serve the Lord Christ." Service will count as "suffering" for Christ (Rom. 8:16-22) and it entitles the Christian to a literal, visible, earthy piece of property at the Advent of Christ (Lk. 19:11- 27). The "joint-heir" of Gal. 3:29 shares in the Jewish, earthly, literal, visible, political Kingdom for 1,000 years. (Rev. 20:1-7)

 

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