If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.”
– Colossians 3:1-11 ESV1
People who are into archaeology enjoy digging up bones. They uncover them, brush the dirt away, study them, even reassemble them if possible. That may be well and good for archaeologists, but the apostle Paul didn’t share that interest. For Paul, the best thing to do with bones is to bury them and let them turn to dust. This is much more preferable than having them on display for all to see.
That may be an odd way of thinking about it, but it does get at the message Paul is sending to the believers in Colossae. He wants them to bury the bones. Precisely, Paul says in verse 5 to “put to death” whatever is earthly in you. The King James Version puts it even more starkly using the word “mortify.” If we need any help understanding what Paul means by whatever is “earthly” in us, the verses to follow will clear it up quite well. What we must first notice is that Paul is not talking in a passive manner here. This is an exhortation to intentional action. A choice must be made on the part of the believer, a choice to “bury the bones” of our life before Christ.
The basis for this comes from what has already happened for the Christian. Verse 1 implies this precondition by beginning, “If then you have been raised with Christ.” As believers, Paul is reminding them that they have been raised with Christ (see 2:12). Therefore it is a most reasonable expectation that they heed Paul’s instruction. Just to reinforce the idea, Paul says again (v. 3) “you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” The old is gone, the new has come. Old ways get buried, new ways are born. The way this takes place in the believers’ lives is identified in verse 2: “set your minds on things above.” It is a choice made about where the heart and mind are inclined.
Paul enjoys before/after images. “You used to be this; now you are that.” Ephesians 2:1-6 is another great example. To make sure we understand what we looked like before Christ, Paul offers an illustrative list. He includes sexual immoralities, evil desires, covetousness, anger, malice, slander, evil talk, untruths, and other deeds of our fleshly nature. The list could be longer, but that is not necessary. The picture is conveyed clearly. Paul would say, “this is what your former life looked like.” If we were using police jargon, we would say that we have a long list of priors. The key here is that all of it is past tense. What we were doesn’t matter, just so long as it doesn’t also describe what we are. Hear Paul’s words found in Romans 6:1-2. “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” How indeed?
Does that suggest we will be flawless in living this new life? No, but it makes clear that we must be intent on leaving the old life behind. And just to be clear, this is not a matter of behavior management. Jesus didn’t die for behavior management. He died to make men and women holy by freeing them from the guilt and power of sin. Paul isn’t asking us to manage our behavior better; he is inviting us to live in the light of Christ now that we are set free from the bondage of darkness.
We all have skeletons. Some may be uglier than others, but we all have them. In Christ we need to bury them—deep. Satan will try to dig them up for you. Rebuke him in Jesus’ name. Set your eyes on the face of Jesus. Set your heart on the riches of His kingdom. Set your mind on His righteousness. Let those bones turn to dust.
- Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ↩︎
The Winding Path 