{"id":456,"date":"2010-05-26T06:08:35","date_gmt":"2010-05-26T13:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=456"},"modified":"2011-01-14T05:04:28","modified_gmt":"2011-01-14T12:04:28","slug":"out-with-the-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=456","title":{"rendered":"Out with the old …"},"content":{"rendered":"

“<\/span>Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices . . .”<\/span> <\/strong>(Colossians 3:9)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In Colossians 3:9 and 10 the Apostle Paul lays the foundation for how we may, in actual practice, declare “Out with the old and in with the new.”\u00a0 First, “out with the old.”<\/p>\n

Our old, pre-Christ life was a lie.\u00a0 Deception is out of bounds among believers (\u201cone another\u201d). \u00a0Not that this permits lying to non-believers, but simply that the boundaries of Paul\u2019s present discussion relate to the interrelationships of Christ-followers. \u00a0In the absolute sense of the word lying is a sin of the tongue and might be grouped with the five vices listed in verse 8.\u00a0 Yet the word describes not only verbal utterances of falsehood, but also deceptive actions (Acts 5:3, 5).\u00a0 Thus Paul may have in mind not simply lying words, but the lying lifestyle of one who claims the name of Christ but continues to live after the old, sinful nature.\u00a0 Such a one may be \u201cliving a lie.\u201d\u00a0 This the Christ-follower must not do.\u00a0 When he demands \u201cDo not lie to<\/em> one another\u201d the preposition may indicate direction (\u201cto one another\u201d as in most English versions) or opposition (\u201ctell lies against someone<\/em>, i.e. to his detriment\u201d).\u00a0 The former seems the more likely of the two understandings.<\/p>\n

Paul now gives support for the prohibition (and probably all the prohibitions and commands of vv.5-9a) in the form of two parallel participial phrases, the first here in verse 9 and the second making up verse 10.\u00a0 The first picks up on the imagery of tasking off one\u2019s old clothing (v.8), though using a different word: \u201csince you have laid aside.\u201d\u00a0 This word is used elsewhere in the New Testament only in Colossians 2:15: \u201cWhen He had disarmed<\/em> the rulers and authorities . . .\u201d (though the cognate noun is found in 2:11).\u00a0 The basic notion of the verb is that of stripping off clothing.\u00a0 This is a stronger term than that of verse 8 (\u201cput . . . aside\u201d) and indicates something even more fundamental, something foundational that make that action possible.\u00a0 What Paul demands here is possible precisely because of what God did there through Christ in the cross.\u00a0 Because Christ disrobed (and thus disarmed) the demonic powers that once sought to hold us in bondage to sin and through sin we have \u201claid aside\u201d the old life of slavery.\u00a0 Here the aorist tense views the action as decisive.\u00a0 But just when did this action take place?\u00a0 Is this synonymous with salvation?\u00a0 Or is this an event of one\u2019s sanctification subsequent to salvation?\u00a0 Given the corresponding expression of the next verse (\u201cand have put on the new self\u201d) it seems best to understand this as descriptive of the change wrought by repentance and faith at the time of salvation and witnessed to in one\u2019s baptism.\u00a0 Subsequently the believer must \u201cPut to death\u201d (v.5, esv) the sin that continues to cling to him in this life (in a quest to become in experience what he is by gracious declaration of God).\u00a0 The participial form is to be understood as indicating the grounds upon which the imperative is expected to be obeyed (\u201csince<\/em> you laid aside,\u201d as with most English translations: e.g. esv, net, nkjv, niv, nrsv).\u00a0 In view of the fact that we have, through repentance and faith, taken off and cast aside the old life and (according to verse 10) \u201cput on the new self\u201d we ought no longer to live a double life, lying to our brothers and sisters in Christ.<\/p>\n

That which is laid aside is \u201cthe old self\u201d; or more literally \u201cthe old man\u201d (net, nkjv).\u00a0 The precise phrase is used elsewhere only in Ephesians 4:22, and that in a similar context.\u00a0 But nearly the same expression is used in Romans 6:6 which will aid us in understanding just what Paul is referencing here.\u00a0 There he speaks of both \u201cour old self\u201d and our \u201cbody of sin.\u201d\u00a0 The first, he says, \u201chas been crucified.\u201d\u00a0 The second \u201cmight be done away with.\u201d\u00a0 From Paul\u2019s discussion it seems best to understand \u201cour old self\u201d to refer to our old, unregenerate person, prior to conversion.\u00a0 This \u201cold self\u201d has now ceased to exist, for I have been made a new person in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).\u00a0 Yet my \u201cbody of sin\u201d continues to harass me, though its power has been broken.\u00a0 It continues to shout, demand and woo me toward sin, but it can no longer compel me to sin.\u00a0 The translation of the particular verb in Romans 6:6 is somewhat unfortunate (\u201cmight be done away with\u201d).\u00a0 The idea might be better expressed as \u201crendered powerless,\u201d as opposed to ceasing to exist.\u00a0 Thus, when Paul says here, \u201cyou laid aside the old self,\u201d he is speaking of the change wrought in regeneration at the time of conversion.\u00a0 It is through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ that a person lays aside their former life and receives new life in Jesus Christ, becoming an entirely new person.\u00a0 This is a truth which has both individual and corporate aspects to it.\u00a0 Individually, my pre-conversion, unregenerate life has ended and I have been born again to new life in Christ, having been given an entirely new existence.\u00a0 Corporately, I have ceased to exist \u201cin Adam\u201d and now exist \u201cin Christ\u201d (1 Cor. 15:22).\u00a0 In this latter sense I belong now to a new humanity.<\/p>\n

In such a state one lays aside \u201cthe old self\u201d along \u201cwith its evil practices.\u201d \u00a0It is precisely because the \u201cold self\u201d has ceased to exist through co-crucifixion with Christ on the cross and because we have been brought into union with Christ our head that we are able now in the present to set aside the \u201cevil practices\u201d that once characterized our life without Christ.\u00a0 Our word praxis<\/em> is brought over directly from the Greek word translated \u201cpractices.\u201d\u00a0 It variously describes an activity, function, way of acting, etc.\u00a0 Here in the plural is refers to evil or disgraceful deeds (cf. Rom. 8:13).\u00a0 Presumably this term gathers up all the vices listed in verses 5, 8 and 9 along any others that might be added to them.\u00a0 Once again Paul is stressing that we must become in practice what we are by profession of faith.<\/p>\n

But all of this is only half of the equation of freedom.\u00a0 Watch for the next post, “in with the new.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices . . .” (Colossians 3:9) In Colossians 3:9 and 10 the Apostle Paul lays the foundation for how we may, in actual practice, declare “Out with the old and in with the new.”\u00a0 First, “out with the old.” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-colossians","post-preview"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYGxX-7m","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=456"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":699,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions\/699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}