Serie Colosenses -8 - Colosenses 3-5-14
Me visto de acuerdo a la ocasión
Colosenses 3:5-14 (Gál. 3:27 - final)
The imperative of the gospel for believers to become who they are, as in 3:1–14, meshes beautifully with the affirmation of Galatians 3:27, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
Despojarse de los viejos vicios: 3:5-8
· 3:5ª Directiva: Hacer morir lo que es terrenal en ustedes.
· 3:5b Primera lista de 5 vicios.
· 3:6-7 Incentivos
· 3:8ª Directiva: Pero ahora dejad también vosotros.
· 3:b Segunda lista de 5 vicios
Nueva Persona – Nueva Congregación. 3:9-11
· 3:9ª Directiva: No mentir unos a otros.
· 3:9b-10ª Incentivos
· 3:10b-11 Descripción
Adquirir nuevas virtudes. 3:12-14.
· 3:12a Incentivos
· 3:12b Directiva: Vestirse a sí mismo.
· 3:12c Lista de 5 virtudes
· 3:13ª Explicación
· 3:13b Incentivos
· 3:14 Directiva: Vestirse a sí mismo con amor.
Despojarse de los viejos vicios: 3:5-8
DIRECTIVA
Verse 5 abruptly confronts the reader with the ethical demands of the gospel.
· Verse 3 (also 2:20) declares, you have died, and now the charge comes, put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly.
· Do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies …” (Rom. 6:11–12). (Col. 3:5) is closely paralleled in Romans 8:13: “Put to death the deeds of the body.
What is to be put to death?
· In literal translation, the members [miembros o partes] on the earth with the human body in mind.
o Por tanto, considerad los miembros de vuestro cuerpo terrenal como muertos. LBLA
o Por tanto, hagan morir todo lo que es propio de la naturaleza terrenal. NVI
· However, the list that follows is not made up of eyes, hands, stomach, and so on, but is a list of practices and inner passions.
o Lo que es necesario hacer morir es el uso sensual y terrenal de los miembros de nuestro cuerpo para satisfacción del pecado.
The tense of the imperative, put to death, calls for decisive action.
o Yet that action may need to be repeated. (Gramticalmente)
o The text at hand seems to resonate with the severe discipline that Jesus called for when he used the vivid imagery of tearing out eyes and cutting off hands that cause one to sin (Matt. 5:29–30).
In both texts inner passions are the root problem, not physical members.
PRIMERA LISTA DE VICIOS: Sexuales
INCENTIVOS
The first incentive is that such practices incur the wrath of God. (3:6)
o On the one hand the concept is made too impersonal if it is reduced to a matter of simple cause and effect in a moral universe, even though the principle of cause and effect seems to explain many negative consequences.
o On the other hand, no debemos pensar en la ira de Dios en terminos de “furia vengativa como los humanos desarrollamos”. Instead, wrath speaks of God’s profound displeasure with evil,
o as revealed in the present (Rom. 1:18–32) and in the consummation (1 Thess. 1:10).
o Mention of the wrath of God does not constitute a threat, but it casts the attitudes and behaviors of believers in the light of what is pleasing (and displeasing) to the Lord (1:10).
The second incentive (3:7) is a reminder of what the Colossian believers had been changed from.
o Such vices had been part of their pagan past.
o This third comparison of then and now in Colossians (1:21–22; 2:13) serves as another plea not to regress back into the old ways. The approach is similar to that in 2:20, with the focus here on moral behavior rather than on regulations.
DIRECTIVA Get Rid of All Such Things (3:8)
“AHORA” contrasta con “EN OTRO TIEMPO”, in verse 7.
o “AHORA” introduces a new imperative and an additional list of vices.
o A reminder of the reality of the transformed life leads to a call for further discipline.
SEGUNDA DE VICIOS: De nuestra manera de hablar
Nueva Persona – Nueva Congregación. 3:9-11
DIRECTIVA no mintáis los unos a los otros. (3:9)
Why does Paul single out lying for special treatment? Could he include it as the sixth practice to get rid of, along with other speech sins?
On first thought, it may seem anticlimactic. Yet several features of the text mark this as a highly intentional moral directive.
o The present-tense prohibition implies, Don’t lie anymore, as if various kinds of lying are common in the surrounding pagan society. Deeply ingrained habits resist change.
o This is a direct command, without the metaphor of shedding a garment.
VERACIDAD is a crucial ingredient of Christian community.
o Lies and pretense destroy the fabric of trust essential for community, even more so than the other vices listed here.
o Ephesians 4:25 (in context) also stresses the profound importance of ridding the community of falsehood.
o Note the inclusion of one another in both texts. God’s drastic action against Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) points to the devastating effect of pretense and outright falsehood in the emerging Christian community.
INCENTIVOS 3:9b-10a
The participles in these phrases are translated as despojado and revestido. These are participles not imperatives.
o It is better to treat these phrases as describing a prior life-changing event that becomes the basis for fully abandoning the former ways.
o This is in keeping with what we have found earlier in Colossians. The fundamental change has been made in the identification with the crucified and risen Christ and with his body.
o This change signified and sealed in baptism (Gal. 3:27). That reality is offered as an incentive for changed persons becoming what they are in Christ.
“el Viejo hombre” Y “el nuevo hombre”
What is put off and what is put on?
o The exchange goes deeper than quitting a few bad habits and trying harder to be nice.
o It involves a change of character, not only a change in status before God.
o Esto implica un cambio interior que resulta en un cambio de conducta exterior.
o La idea de “auto-regeneración” se desvanece cuando el cambio es a través de “Vestirse del Señor Jesucristo y no proveer para los deseos de la carne” (Romanos 13:14).
Descripción 3:10b-11.
After reminding his readers of their new identity in Christ, Paul describes the results in terms of new individuals and a new community.
What is being renewed is not the Viejo hombre, sino el Nuevo hombre.
o The process as described is not a matter of gradually changing the old into something better.
o Sino una manera progresiva de actualizar el hombre Nuevo, ya existente en el creyente.
o The old self/humanity has to be put to death continually.
o The new self/humanity is always under construction.
o El proceso de renovación al cual se refiere aqui, no es que se recupere terreno perdido a causa de una caída o retroceso spiritual, sino que busca más y más ser como el modelo original, revelado y demostrado en Cristo.
Adquirir nuevas virtudes. 3:12-14.
INCENTIVO 3:12a
The apostle’s summons is based on a powerful threefold designation for the new community, God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.
1. These are characteristic titles for Old Covenant Israel (Deut. 4:37; 7:6–8; Ps. 105:43; Jer. 2:3; 11:15)
2. These terms are also used with reference to Christ. (Christ as the chosen one: Luke 9:35; 1 Pet. 2:4, 6;
Christ as the holy one: Mark 1:24; John 6:69; Acts 4:27, 30; Christ as the beloved: Eph. 1:6.)
o ESCOGIDOS - Chosen or “elect” in Pauline usage is parallel with “called.”
o SANTOS - Holy is sometimes rendered “saints” and means set apart.
o AMADOS - Beloved is equivalent to a related word in Matthew 12:18
Together these terms constitute the identity of the new people of God. The incentive of 3:12a is, let who you are determine how you “get dressed” to live as Christians.
DIRECTIVA 3:12b “vestíos” - Clothe Yourselves
The purpose of putting off is not to create a vacuum. Nor is there any suggestion that putting off certain vices makes one all right. Putting off makes room for putting on. The clothing imagery could suggest purely external changes. But the figure implies more than cosmetic put-ons, as is also evident from the virtue list.
The clothing metaphor, in the grammatical form used here, is a strong figure. It carries the sense of submitting oneself to the ownership and control of another, conforming to the other (in this case, Christ).
· This human action is in response to God’s call and love.
· It means putting on the practices of the new self in contrast to the practices of the old self (3:10).
PRIMERA LISTA DE VIRTUDES: RELACIONALES with the Christian community in mind. In a practical sense they all serve to reduce friction in the congregation.
INCENTIVOS. 3:13b “perdonandoos unos a otros”
Experience of the Lord’s forgiveness is abundant reason for forgiving others. Ephesians 4:32 is a parallel text. Jesus had made the same point with his parable of the unforgiving servant (Matt. 18:23–35; see Rom. 15:7 for a similar kind of appeal).
DIRECTIVA. 3:14 “Vestíos de amor”
Paul sums up the “put on” teaching with the key virtue, love. All of these virtues are characteristics of God/Christ, and so it is not surprising that Paul includes the primary characteristic.
· Verse 14 begins with “y sobre todas estas cosas” (más allá de todas estas cosas), If the clothing metaphor is still in mind, the phrase may suggest that love needs to be added to tie all these behaviors together.
· Certainly the NT holds up love as a supreme and indispensable factor (e.g., Matt. 22:37–40; Rom. 13:8–10; 1 Cor. 13; Gal. 5:14, 22; 1 John 4:11–21). There is good reason to consider love as a sine qua non (Aquella cuyo cumplimiento es necesario para la eficacia del acto a que afecta).
But, in the context of Colossians 3:5–14, what is being held together by love is more likely the people of the Christian fellowship rather than the virtues.
· The last line of the verse could be rendered, the bond which produces perfection/wholeness/unity. That is, love is what keeps the fellowship from flying apart.
· Five of the virtues in 3:12–14 are listed as the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23). In the only direct reference to the Spirit in Colossians (1:8), we find your love in the Spirit. Five of these virtues are also included in the description of the life that is worthy of the Lord’s calling in Ephesians 4:2.