170 Colossians Talk 5 – Living for Christ – What we should do for him (2)

Talk 5. Living for Christ – what we should do for him (2)

Welcome to Talk 5 in our series on Themes from Colossians.
In Talk 1 we saw the Supremacy of Christ – who he is.
In Talks 2&3 we considered our Freedom in Christ – what he has done for us. We saw that on the cross:

Jesus defeated the enemy
He has redeemed us from his power
He rescued us from his dominion
He has forgiven our sins and set us free from the Law of the OT
He has made us alive with Christ
He has qualified us to share in his inheritance
He has brought us into his kingdom
He has given us fulness in Christ

Last time we were considering Living for Christ – what we should do for him. We were looking at Colossians 3:1-17. We concluded by saying:

It’s as we allow the word of Christ to dwell in us that the peace of Christ will rule in our hearts. As Christians it’s God’s word that informs and authenticates our beliefs and actions and to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus means that we seek constantly to live our lives subject to the authority of his word (cf. vv.15-17).

Today we continue with same theme and the passage we’re considering is Colossians 3:18-4:1. In these verses Paul applies the principles he has been teaching to three specific groups of people:

wives (18) and husbands (19)
children (20) and fathers (21)
slaves (22-25) and masters (4:1)

In each of the three relationships here, those who are told to submit (or obey) are mentioned first. This is then balanced by instruction to those who are in authority.

Although these instructions must be interpreted bearing in mind the culture of the day, the principles underlying them are clear.

Wives and husbands
18. Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

Paul’s instruction that wives should submit to their husbands must be understood in the light of his wider teaching on the subject. Note:

A. The parallel he draws between husband/wife relationships and divine relationships within the Godhead

1 Corinthians 11:3
But I want you to realise that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

As Christians we believe that Christ is coequal with God. Yet here we see that God is the head of Christ. There is no contradiction here. It’s part of the mystery of the Trinity. In a similar way, husbands and wives are equal, yet Paul says that the husband is the head.

B. The parallel between husband/wife relationships and the relationship between Christ and the church

Ephesians 5:21-24
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

But this is to be seen in the light of what Christ does for the Church:

Ephesians 5:25-26, 29
25 Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word
29 After all, no-one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church

C. The responsibilities Paul places on husbands to love their wives
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

D. The liberation that has been brought to millions of women through Christian teaching (as distinct from Judaism and Islam, for example)

Children and parents

Instructions to children
Colossians 3:20
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

In Ephesians Paul links this directly with Exodus 20:12.

Ephesians 6:1-2
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 ‘Honour your father and mother’ – which is the first commandment with a promise
3 ‘so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’

Taking these two passages together we see that children should obey and honour their parents. The instruction to obey ends with adulthood. The instruction to honour lasts a lifetime! They should do so because:

it pleases the Lord
it’s the right thing to do
it will go well with them if they do.

It pleases the Lord
Perhaps Paul had in mind the example of Jesus in Luke 2:51-52

51. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
52. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

It’s the right thing to do
This follows from both the OT commandment and the example of Jesus.

It will go well with them if they do

Ephesians 6:2-3
2 ‘Honour your father and mother’ – which is the first commandment with a promise
3 ‘so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’

Of course, the command and the promise were originally given to the nation of Israel.

Exodus 20:12
Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

In its original context it could well mean that Israel would not survive long in the land of Canaan if children did not honour and obey their parents. Family life is vital to the health of any community.

But Paul seems to be taking the promise to refer to individuals.
Does this mean that all who honour their parents will enjoy long life?
This raises the whole question of how we understand God’s promises and how we apply them in our lives. If you haven’t already done so, I recommend you listen to the series of podcasts I gave last year on the promises of God. So today please forgive just a brief comment.

The NIV translation on the earth, though permissible, is probably not the best. Compare ESV in the land which is preferable. (Greek ge can mean either land or earth). Understood this way Paul isn’t promising that all who honour their parents will have long life on earth. The Christian emphasis is on life beyond the grave! We have eternal life!

Consider the many who like Stephen were martyred for their faith.

Instructions to parents
Colossians 3:21
Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

While children are instructed to obey their parents, it’s the fathers who are told not to embitter or exasperate their children. In the culture of the day with the heavy emphasis on male authority it was much more likely to be the fathers who were guilty of this. But the exhortation could equally well apply to mothers.

Discipline is essential in the home, but not unnecessary rules and regulations and endless petty correction by which children are discouraged.

‘Parents should care more for the loyalty of their children to Christ than for anything besides, more for this than for their health, their intellectual vigour and brilliance, their material prosperity, their social position, their exemption from great sorrows and great misfortunes’. (RW Dale, 1883).

Slaves and masters
Colossians 3
22. Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favour, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.
23. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,
24. since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord
as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
25. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favouritism.
4:1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

As we saw when we were talking about wives and husbands, Paul’s instructions must be understood within the framework of the culture prevalent at the time. Today they may be perhaps more meaningfully applied to employers and employees.

We may well ask why New Testament writers like Paul and Peter (1 Peter 2) did not denounce slavery as did William Wilberforce in the 19th century. I think the most likely answer to that question is that NT writers clearly believed that the Lord’s return was imminent (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Social reform was, therefore, not at the heart of their concern. What was more important for Paul was the fact that as believers we are in Christ and that in Christ there is neither slave nor free.

Colossians 3:11:
Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Instructions to slaves
Slaves are instructed to:
obey their earthly masters in everything (22)
do it with sincerity of heart (22) and work at it with all their heart (23)
do everything as for the Lord (23) out of reverence for him. It’s the Lord Christ you are serving (24).

They are encouraged by two facts:

They will be rewarded
24. since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord
as a reward.

There will be ultimate justice
25. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favouritism.

Compare Ephesians 6:5-9 which is virtually identical.
See also 1 Peter 2:16-25.

Instructions to masters
Colossians 4:1
Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

Ephesians 6:9
9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favouritism with him.

What does Paul mean by in the same way?
Like the slaves, they are to do what they do ‘as for the Lord’.
What Paul means by this is further clarified in the following passages:

Philemon 15-16
15. Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for ever – no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother.
16. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.