Colossians 3:10














Seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him who created him. We have here the negative and the positive aspects of the great spiritual change effected in conversion.

I. THE NEGATIVE ASPECT OF CONVERSION. "Ye have put off the old man with his deeds."

1. The old man is the old unconverted self, strong in his deeds of sin. His deeds are catalogued among the "works of the flesh;" (Galatians 5:22, 23), as well as in the context. He is to be discerned, indeed, by his works like a tree by its fruits.

2. The putting off of the old man is twofold, namely, at conversion and in the gradual process of sanctification. Some teach that the old man is an unchanged and unchangeable being, and that, as he has been crucified in Christ (Romans 6:6), we have nothing more to do with him. In that case, if we have put on the new man, we are perfectly sinless.

(1) There is a putting off of the old man at our justification.

(2) There is a gradual putting off likewise - a "mortifying your members which are upon the earth," which is to continue till we get rid of all his deeds. The counsel, therefore, to put off the old man and put on the new man is like the similar counsel, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 13:14), addressed to those who had already "put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27).

II. THE POSITIVE ASPECT OF CONVERSION. "And have put on the new man." This is the regenerate man. He is a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15).

1. The nature of this newness.

(1) He has a new nature - "born from above" (John 3:3). He has "a new heart."

(2) He has a new obedience, both as to its spirit, its matter, and its end (Romans 12:1).

(3) He has a new citizenship (Philippians 3:20).

(4) He has new desires (Psalm 51:2; Matthew 5:6; 1 Timothy 4:8).

2. It is a nature constantly renewed unto full knowledge. "Which is being renewed unto knowledge." It is not at once complete, but in a state of constant development by the Holy Spirit. Knowledge is a principal part of the new grace of the believer.

(1) It is the beginning of eternal life (John 17:3).

(2) It has transforming power (2 Corinthians 7:18).

(3) It is necessary to our understanding the wiles of the devil and resisting the temptations of the world (1 Peter 5:9).

3. Its renewal is after a Divine pattern. "After the image of him who created him." The allusion is to Genesis 1:26. The image of Christ in the believer is analogous to that of the image of God in the original man, but will be far more glorious, as the second Man is more glorious than the first man. Thus we see the process of putting on the new man in its beginning (Galatians 3:27), in its continuance (Romans 13:14), and in its completeness (1 Corinthians 15:53, 54). - T.C.

And have put on the new man.
I. Man was created in the image of God. Righteous as God was righteous he saw God in his own nature; other intelligent creatures saw God in him; and God in His offspring saw Himself.

2. The image of God is now defaced. The substance remains, but its glorious attributes are gone. The form abides but the glorious features are not there.

3. To be right and blessed men must recover this image. Without likeness to God we are unable to appreciate His revelations, and incapable of filial intercourse.

4. By his own power or with the assistance of his fellows, no man can recover it. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," therefore he must be "born not of blood," etc., "but of God."

I. GOD HAS MADE PROVISION FOR THE RENEWAL OF HIS IMAGE IN MAN.

1. This provision consists in —(1) The atonement which justifies God's interposition for man's regeneration. If without a sacrifice God had restored man, the idea of misfortune, not guilt, would have been associated with man's fallen state. But now sin appears exceeding sinful.(2) The living Mediator is the way for man to God — as the source of life and light.(3) The testimony of God's Word informs men of the atonement and Mediator. How can they avail themselves of what they have not heard?(4) The Holy Spirit so acts upon the heart as to produce sympathy with the testimony of the gospel; and under His influence men believe God's Word and are born again.

2. There is provision: the recovery of God's image is possible. The aged cannot become young, the diseased healthful, the mutilated whole; but man may be renewed. Nature illustrates this. Trees shed their leaves in autumn, and remain in winter as though dead. In the spring the sap rises and circulates, the branches extend, and the foliage returns. The plumage of the bird loses its vigour and gloss, but moulting recovers strength and restores beauty. The human body is exhausted through the waste of its functional operations, and for its renewal we have provision in feed and sleep. And for the soul there is as real a provision. Let none despair. There is balm in Gilead, etc.

3. This provision is of God. He first thought of making it, not man; and He has carried out this design.(1) The creative power of God is unlimited. "The things which are impossible with men," etc.(2) Power connected with malevolence is a fearful combination, but how changed the aspect of power when the hand and arm of love. What benevolence is here. "Behold what manner of love," etc.This proves —

(1)That God is faultless concerning the entrance of evil.

(2)That He has no complacency in the evil of men.

(3)That he has no pleasure in the death either of holiness or joy.

(4)That He delights in mercy.

4. There is but one provision. If men could have restored themselves or each other, God would not have made provision. As you cannot respire by the light, nor see by the air, but vice versa, so you cannot be regenerated by intellectual or social education.

II. MEN ARE, THROUGH THE DIVINE PROVISION, ACTUALLY REGENERATED INTO THE IMAGE OF GOD.

1. Its sphere.(1) Not the body, although regeneration does effect salutary changes here. Where vice has reigned, regeneration arrests disease and restores health. Where passions have been dominant, the countenance is changed. It also affects temporal circumstances by improving habits.(2) The soul is its true seat, and the change consists in the leading forth Godwards of all its powers, and the awakening of all its susceptibilities.(a) A renewed man thinks, and his knowledge is of God and Christ.(b) He feels, and his affections are led away from the unlawful and are fixed on the good.(c) His conscience is rectified and made sensitive, and His will and actions are brought under its control.(d) Over the world he is a conqueror.(e) He is made like Christ, and through Christ like God.

2. Its nature.(1) It is radical and general. It penetrates to the core of the soul, and spreads itself over the entire surface. The likeness of a statue to its subject is merely on the face of the marble; as you get below you reach the unlike.(2) Its perfection is a work of time. A man is born again so soon as he believes in Christ; but into the likeness of God he grows up. Conclusion: Such changes are ejected, and cannot be questioned. John 1:13, James 1:13, and 1 Peter 1:23 hold good to-day everywhere.

1. When the provision of God's mercy for the regeneration of the race is unknown, no such change is observed to take place.

2. When regeneration does take place, the remedial dispensation of the gospel is acknowledged as the means.

(S. Martin.)

In order to have the love of Divine things, in the exercise of which religion consists, the soul must be spiritually enlightened so as to apprehend them.

I. The Scriptures teach that GRACIOUS AFFECTIONS ARISE FROM SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING (1 John 4:7; Philippians 1:9; Romans 10:2; Psalm 93:3-4; John 6:45; Luke 11:52).

1. Affections which arise from external impressions on the imagination are not gracious.

2. The same is true of those which are awakened by texts of Scripture which come to the mind without carrying any instruction in them. When Christ makes the Scriptures a means of the heart burning with gracious affections, it is by opening the Scriptures to men's understandings (Luke 24:32).

3. Affections that have their ground in bodily sensation, freedom of speech in prayer, aptness of thought, and the like, are not derived from spiritual instruction. Hence the affection is not gracious, unless the light in the understanding, which is its origin, be spiritual. There is, therefore, a "spiritual, supernatural understanding of Divine things that is peculiar to the saints, and which those who are not saints know nothing of" (1 Corinthians 2:14; 1 John 3:6).

II. This SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT CONSISTS IN "a sense of the heart of the supreme beauty and sweetness of the holiness or moral perfection of Divine things, together with all that discerning and knowledge of the things of religion that depends upon and flows from such a sense."

1. There is tans a difference between speculative knowledge and that which is experimental (Romans 2:20; 2 Corinthians 2:14).

2. He is led by the Spirit who is first instructed in his duty, and then powerfully inclined to comply with such Divine instruction.

III. SOME CONCLUSIONS.

1. This spiritual sense will enable the soul to determine what actions are right and becoming to Christians more readily than the greatest abilities without it.

2. This sense will be distinguished from forms of enthusiasm and supposed discoveries of truth and communications other than those which the Scriptures have always contained.

3. Satan and evil spirits have power to tempt us through the imagination. We need to guard against vain imaginations.

4. We need to distinguish "between lively imaginations that spring from strong affections, and strong affections that arise from lively imaginations." What is external and natural in its origin cannot be spiritual and gracious.

(L. O. Thompson.)

People
Christians, Colossians, Paul, Timothy
Places
Colossae
Topics
Clothed, Create, Created, Creator, Full, Him-, Image, Maker, Nature, Regard, Remoulded, Renewed, Self, Yourselves
Outline
1. He shows where we should seek Christ.
5. He exhorts to holiness;
10. to put off the old self, and put on Christ;
12. exhorting to charity, humility,
18. and other duties.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Colossians 3:10

     1194   glory, divine and human
     1325   God, the Creator
     2303   Christ, as creator
     4010   creation, renewal
     5013   heart, divine
     5974   value
     6698   newness
     8206   Christlikeness
     8244   ethics, and grace
     8738   evil, victory over

Colossians 3:1-17

     3254   Holy Spirit, fruit of

Colossians 3:5-10

     4030   world, behaviour in
     8255   fruit, spiritual
     8443   growth
     8466   reformation

Colossians 3:5-12

     8311   morality, and redemption

Colossians 3:5-14

     5441   philosophy

Colossians 3:7-10

     6030   sin, avoidance

Colossians 3:8-10

     5549   speech, positive

Colossians 3:9-10

     4060   nature
     5020   human nature
     8145   renewal, people of God
     8245   ethics, incentives
     8449   imitating
     8716   dishonesty, examples

Colossians 3:9-11

     5005   human race, and redemption
     8471   respect, for human beings

Colossians 3:9-14

     8151   revival, corporate

Colossians 3:10-11

     6214   participation, in Christ

Library
The Peace of God
Baltimore, U.S., 1874. Westminster Abbey. November 8, 1874. Colossians. iii 15. "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts." The peace of God. That is what the priest will invoke for you all, when you leave this abbey. Do you know what it is? Whether you do or not, let me tell you in a few words, what I seem to myself to have learned concerning that peace. What it is? how we can obtain it? and why so many do not obtain it, and are, therefore, not at peace? It is worth while to do so. For
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

May 5. "If Ye Then be Risen" (Col. Iii. 1).
"If ye then be risen" (Col. iii. 1). God is waiting this morning to mark the opening hours for every ready and willing heart with a touch of life and power that will lift our lives to higher pleasures and offer to our vision grander horizons of hope and holy service. We shall not need to seek far to discover our risen Lord. He was in advance even of the earliest seeker that Easter morning, and He will be waiting for us before the break of day with His glad "All Hail," if we have only eyes to see
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

February 17. "Your Life is Hid" (Col. Iii. 3).
"Your life is hid" (Col. iii. 3). Some Christians loom up in larger proportion than is becoming. They can tell, and others can tell, how many souls they bring to Christ. Their labor seems to crystallize and become its own memorial. Others again seem to blend so wholly with other workers that their own individuality can scarcely be traced. And yet, after all, this is the most Christ-like ministry of all, for the Master Himself does not even appear in the work of the church except as her hidden Life
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May 18. "For Ye are Dead" (Col. Iii. 3).
"For ye are dead" (Col. iii. 3). Now, this definite, absolute and final putting off of ourselves in an act of death, is something we cannot do ourselves. It is not self-mortifying, but it is dying with Christ. There is nothing can do it but the Cross of Christ and the Spirit of God. The church is full of half dead people who have been trying, like poor Nero, to slay themselves for years, and have not had the courage to strike the fatal blow. Oh, if they would just put themselves at Jesus' feet, and
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Colossians 3, 12-17. 12 Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering; 13 forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye: 14 and above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the which also ye were called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the Word
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Easter Wednesday Also Suited to Easter Tuesday.
Text: Colossians 3, 1-7. 1 If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. 3 For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory. 5 Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion,
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Risen with Christ
'If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. 5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Christian Training of Children.
TEXT: COL. iii. 21. MY devout hearers! Christian families, founded on the holy bond of marriage, are appointed, in the divine order of things, to be the nurseries of the future generation. It is there that the young souls who are to be our successors in cultivating the vineyard of God are to be trained and developed; it is there the process is to begin of restraining and cleansing away the corruption inherent in them as the children of sinful men; there that their earliest longings after fellowship
Friedrich Schleiermacher—Selected Sermons of Schleiermacher

Unity and Peace.
Preached February 9, 1851. UNITY AND PEACE. "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful."--Colossians iii. 15. There is something in these words that might surprise us. It might surprise us to find that peace is urged on us as a duty. There can be no duty except where there is a matter of obedience; and it might seem to us that peace is a something over which we have no power. It is a privilege to have peace, but it would appear
Frederick W. Robertson—Sermons Preached at Brighton

Christ is All
Observe in this chapter that he begins by reminding the saints of their having risen with Christ. If they indeed have risen with him, he argues that they should leave the grave of iniquity and the graveclothes of their sins behind, and act as those who are endowed with that superior life, which accounts sin to be death and corruption. He then goes on to declare that the believer's life is in Christ, "for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." He infers holiness from this also. Shall
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Christ is All
MY text is so very short that you cannot forget it; and, I am quite certain, if you are Christians at all, you will be sure to agree with it. What a multitude of religions there is in this poor wicked world of ours! Men have taken it into their heads to invent various systems of religion and if you look round the world, you will see scores of different sects; but it is a great fact that, while there is a multitude of false religions, there is but one that is true. While there are many falsehoods,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 61: 1915

Some General Uses.
Before we come to speak of some particular cases of deadness, wherein believers are to make use of Christ as the Life, we shall first propose some useful consequences and deductions from what hath been spoken of this life; and, I. The faith of those things, which have been mentioned, would be of great use and advantage to believers; and therefore they should study to have the faith of this truth fixed on their hearts, and a deep impression thereof on their spirits, to the end, that, 1. Be their case
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Cups Running Over
Brokenness, however, is but the beginning of Revival. Revival itself is being absolutely filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit, and that is victorious living. If we were asked this moment if we were filled with the Holy Spirit, how many of us would dare to answer "yes"? Revival is when we can say "yes" at any moment of the day. It is not egoistic to say so, for filling to overflowing is utterly and completely God's work--it is all of grace. All we have to do is to present our empty, broken self
Roy Hession and Revel Hession—The Calvary Road

What have I to do with Idols?
MUCH is said in reproof of Ephraim by the prophet Hosea. All the wicked dealings and defilement of Ephraim is uncovered--and the Lord said: "I will be unto Ephraim as a lion." Again Jehovah said: "Ephraim is like a cake not turned." "Ephraim is like a silly dove without heart." "Ephraim hath made many altars to sin." "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone." But all reproof and chastisement did not bring Ephraim back. Nothing seemed to be able to draw Ephraim's heart away from the idols. At the
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

Christ Our Life.
Colossians 3:4.--Christ who is our life. One question that rises in every mind is this: "How can I live that life of perfect trust in God?" Many do not know the right answer, or the full answer. It is this: "Christ must live it in me." That is what He became man for; as a man to live a life of trust in God, and so to show to us how we ought to live. When He had done that upon earth, He went to heaven, that He might do more than show us, might give us, and live in us that life of trust. It is as we
Andrew Murray—The Master's Indwelling

Meditations of the Misery of a Man not Reconciled to God in Christ.
O wretched Man! where shall I begin to describe thine endless misery, who art condemned as soon as conceived; and adjudged to eternal death, before thou wast born to a temporal life? A beginning indeed, I find, but no end of thy miseries. For when Adam and Eve, being created after God's own image, and placed in Paradise, that they and their posterity might live in a blessed state of life immortal, having dominion over all earthly creatures, and only restrained from the fruit of one tree, as a sign
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Christ all and in All.
(Colossians iii. 11.) Christ is all to us that we make Him to be. I want to emphasize that word "all." Some men make Him to be "a root out of a dry ground," "without form or comeliness." He is nothing to them; they do not want Him. Some Christians have a very small Saviour, for they are not willing to receive Him fully, and let Him do great and mighty things for them. Others have a mighty Saviour, because they make Him to be great and mighty. If we would know what Christ wants to be to us, we
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It

But, after that He had Made Mention of These Evils...
30. But, after that he had made mention of these evils, he added and said, "On account of which cometh the wrath of God on the sons of unbelief." [1923] Surely it was a wholesome alarm that believers might not think that they could be saved on account of their faith alone, even although they should live in these evils: the Apostle James with most clear speech crying out against that notion, and saying, "If any say that he have faith, and have not works, shall his faith be able to save him?" [1924]
St. Augustine—On Continence

"But Now do Ye Also," Saith He, "Put Down All...
31. "But now do ye also," saith he, "put down all;" [1927] and he makes mention of several more evils of that sort. But what is it, that it is not enough for him to say, "Do ye put down all," but that he added the conjunction and said, "ye also?" save that lest they should not think that they did those evils and lived in them with impunity on this account, because their faith set them free from wrath, which cometh upon the sons of unbelief, doing these things, and living in them without faith. Do
St. Augustine—On Continence

Epistle xxxiii. To Dominicus.
To Dominicus. Gregory to Dominicus, Bishop of Carthage. The letter of your Holiness, which we received at the hands of the bearer of these presents, so expressed priestly moderation as to soothe us, in a manner, with the bodily presence of its author. Nor indeed does infrequency of communication cause any harm where the affection of love remains uninterrupted in one's mind. Great, moreover, is the power of charity, beloved brother, which binds hearts one to another in mutual affection with the
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

How Servants and Masters are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 6). Differently to be admonished are servants and masters. Servants, to wit, that they ever keep in view the humility of their condition; but masters, that they lose not recollection of their nature, in which they are constituted on an equality with servants. Servants are to be admonished that they despise not their masters, lest they offend God, if by behaving themselves proudly they gainsay His ordinance: masters, too, are to be admonished, that they are proud against God with respect
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

How Subjects and Prelates are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 5.) Differently to be admonished are subjects and prelates: the former that subjection crush them not, the latter that superior place elate them not: the former that they fail not to fulfil what is commanded them, the latter that they command not more to be fulfilled than is just: the former that they submit humbly, the latter that they preside temperately. For this, which may be understood also figuratively, is said to the former, Children, obey your parents in the Lord: but to
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Third Sunday after Trinity Humility, Trust, Watchfulness, Suffering
Text: 1 Peter 5, 5-11. 5 Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; 7 casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you. 8 Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 whom withstand stedfast
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

What the Scriptures Principally Teach: the Ruin and Recovery of Man. Faith and Love Towards Christ.
2 Tim. i. 13.--"Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." Here is the sum of religion. Here you have a compend of the doctrine of the Scriptures. All divine truths may be reduced to these two heads,--faith and love; what we ought to believe, and what we ought to do. This is all the Scriptures teach, and this is all we have to learn. What have we to know, but what God hath revealed of himself to us? And what have we to do, but what
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

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