{"id":487,"date":"2010-07-04T13:38:21","date_gmt":"2010-07-04T20:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=487"},"modified":"2011-01-14T05:03:27","modified_gmt":"2011-01-14T12:03:27","slug":"put-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=487","title":{"rendered":"Put On!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSo, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience …\u201d<\/span><\/strong> (Colossians 3:12)<\/span><\/p>\n

From this fount of grace (“as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved,” see the previous post<\/a>) the believer is to \u201cput on\u201d five graces.\u00a0 These five stand in contrast to the socially destructive vices of verse 8 and mark those qualities which make actual the unity in the midst of diversity that characterizes the body of Christ (v.11).<\/p>\n

The first is \u201ca heart of compassion.” <\/span> The first word, when used literally, refers to one\u2019s \u201cbowels\u201d or the inward parts located in the belly (Acts 1:18).\u00a0 Metaphorically, however, it referred to the seat of one\u2019s deepest emotions and for that reason is often rendered in English as \u201cheart.\u201d\u00a0 Paul uses the word in eight of its eleven New Testament appearances.\u00a0 Interestingly, four of those are in his correspondence with those in Colossae (Col. 3:12; Philemon 7, 12, 20). The second word (\u201cof compassion\u201d) is described as \u201ca motivating emotion\u201d such as pity, compassion, mercy, etc.[1]<\/a> Moving out from this inward disposition the other graces are enumerated.<\/p>\n

Next is \u201ckindness.\u201d <\/span> The word is used only by Paul in the New Testament.\u00a0 It refers to goodness, kindness and generosity, either of man (2 Cor. 6:6; Gal. 5:22; Col. 3:12) or of God (Rom. 2:4; 11:22; Eph. 2:7).[2]<\/a> Naturally man has no such \u201ckindness\u201d in himself (Rom. 3:12).\u00a0 It can only describe him as God produces this \u201ckindness\u201d in him (Gal. 5:22).<\/p>\n

After this comes \u201chumility.\u201d<\/span> Paul uses the word five times, three of which appear here in Colossians (2:18, 23; 3:12).\u00a0 The word is generally used in a positive sense, as it is here, to describe \u201ca quality of voluntary submission and unselfishness humility, self-effacement<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 But, again interestingly, in both Colossians 2:18 and 23 it was clearly used in a pejorative sense, meaning \u201ca misdirected submission in cultic behavior self-abasement, (false) humility, self-mortification<\/em>.\u201d[3]<\/a> In those cases it described the misguided practices taught by the false teachers at work in Colossae.\u00a0 But clearly in this case Paul has in view the possibility of a right, godly, Spirit-produced practice of humility.<\/p>\n

The next grace to be \u201cput on\u201d is \u201cgentleness.\u201d<\/span> It points to a humble and gentle attitude which bears up under offense with patient submissiveness and without a move toward revenge.[4]<\/a> Such \u201cgentleness\u201d is a fruit of the Spirit\u2019s work in an individual\u2019s life (Gal. 5:23).\u00a0 Paul uses it in regard to confrontation or discipline (2 Cor. 4:21; 10:1; Gal. 6:1) or in general instructions about avoiding difficulties in relationships (Eph. 4:2; Col. 3:12; Titus 3:2).\u00a0 It is usually set as the opposite of harsh, divisive, defiant, brusque attitudes and actions.\u00a0 It speaks of humility, courtesy, considerateness and meekness, in the sense not of weakness, but of power under control.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, there is \u201cpatience.\u201d<\/span> The word is used by Paul in ten of its fourteen New Testament appearances.\u00a0 It is often used of human patience (2 Cor. 6:6; Eph. 4:2; Col. 3:12; 2 Tim. 3:10; 4:2), but also of God\u2019s (Rom. 2:4; 9:22; 1 Tim. 1:16).\u00a0 Such patience is produced in us only by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22).\u00a0 The word generally refers to a longsuffering endurance in the face of indignities and injuries by others.<\/p>\n

This grace for living is only possible because God’s grace first lives in us.\u00a0 From “the unfathomable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8) made actual within us by His electing grace (“chosen by God”), His justifying grace (“holy”), and His benevolent grace (“dearly loved”) we are able then to extend outward toward others the grace of “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”<\/p>\n

In short: because God has put us “in Christ” we are able to “put on” His character!<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Friberg, ?<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> BAGD, 886.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Friberg, 375.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Rienecker, 485.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> BAGD, 699.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cSo, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience …\u201d (Colossians 3:12) From this fount of grace (“as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved,” see the previous post) the believer is to \u201cput on\u201d five graces.\u00a0 These […]<\/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,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":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-487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-colossians","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYGxX-7R","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487","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=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":698,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions\/698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}