When Jesus Gets Real About Your Real Life
What’s Colossians 3 about?
Paul drops the theological mic and gets intensely practical – if Christ is truly your life, here’s what that actually looks like when you wake up, go to work, argue with your spouse, and deal with your kids. It’s the “rubber meets the road” chapter where heavenly thinking transforms earthly living.
The Full Context
Picture this: Paul’s been building his case for two chapters that Jesus is the cosmic Lord who holds everything together, and that believers have died and been raised with Him. But now the Colossians are probably thinking, “Okay Paul, that sounds amazing… but what does this look like on a Tuesday morning when my boss is being unreasonable and my neighbor’s dog won’t stop barking?” Chapter 3 is Paul’s answer – the bridge between cosmic theology and kitchen-table reality.
The Colossian church was dealing with false teachers who were promoting a kind of spiritual elitism – special knowledge, mystical experiences, and rigid rules that supposedly brought you closer to God. These teachers were essentially saying, “If you really want to be spiritual, you need to transcend the mundane, physical world.” Paul flips this completely upside down. He says the most spiritual thing you can do is live out Christ’s character in the most ordinary moments of your day. The divine doesn’t escape the domestic – it transforms it. This chapter is Paul’s masterclass in how resurrection life works itself out in relationships, work, and the everyday grind where most of us actually live.
What the Ancient Words Tell Us
The opening phrase “synegeírthēte” (you were raised together) isn’t just past tense – it’s a perfect passive that means this raising has permanent, ongoing effects. When Paul tells us to “zēteîte tà ánō” (seek the things above), he’s using the present imperative, meaning this isn’t a one-time spiritual decision but a daily, ongoing pursuit.
Grammar Geeks
The word “phronéō” in verse 2 (set your minds) literally means “to have the mindset of” – it’s the same word used when Paul tells us to have the mind of Christ. It’s not just thinking about heavenly things occasionally; it’s adopting heaven’s entire operating system for your brain.
Here’s where it gets fascinating: when Paul lists the sins to “put to death” in verses 5-9, he uses two different Greek concepts. “Nekrṓsate” (put to death) suggests these behaviors are already corpses that need burying, while “apothésthe” (put off) is like taking off dirty clothes. The imagery is brilliant – some sins need to be killed; others just need to be discarded like yesterday’s outfit.
What Would the Original Audience Have Heard?
The Colossians lived in a world obsessed with social hierarchy. Roman society was built on it – citizen vs. slave, Greek vs. barbarian, male vs. female. When Paul drops the bombshell in verse 11 that “there is no Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all, and in all,” he’s basically declaring that Jesus has made the Roman social order irrelevant.
Think about how radical this sounded. The Scythians were considered the ultimate barbarians – the people even the barbarians looked down on. Yet Paul says even they are included in this new humanity. For a culture that defined identity through exclusion, this was revolutionary.
Did You Know?
When Paul talks about “putting on” virtues like clothes, his original readers would have thought of the Roman toga ceremony – when a boy became a man, he literally put off his childhood clothes and put on the toga virilis. Paul’s using this familiar ritual to describe spiritual maturity.
The household codes in verses 18-25 weren’t Paul being regressive – they were subversive. In Roman households, the paterfamilias (male head) had absolute power, including life and death over his family. Paul’s instructions for mutual submission and consideration were quietly revolutionary, introducing kingdom values into empire structures.
Wrestling with the Text
Here’s something that might bug you: Paul says we’ve died with Christ (verse 3), but then tells us to “put to death” earthly things (verse 5). Wait – didn’t we already die? Why do we need to keep killing things that should already be dead?
This apparent contradiction reveals something profound about how transformation works. Our old identity died completely – we’re not the same people we were. But our old habits, thought patterns, and reflexes didn’t get the memo. It’s like a chicken running around after its head’s been cut off – technically dead, but still causing a ruckus.
The “putting off” and “putting on” language in verses 8-14 creates another puzzle. If we’re new creations, why do we need to change our clothes? Because becoming new and learning to live new are different processes. You can have a completely renovated house, but you still need to learn where the light switches are.
Wait, That’s Strange…
Paul lists anger and wrath as separate things to put off (verse 8), but in Greek culture, these often went together. “Orgē” (wrath) was considered more noble – righteous indignation. “Thymos” (anger) was seen as base emotion. Paul’s saying both need to go, even the anger we think is justified.
How This Changes Everything
The most revolutionary thing about Colossians 3 isn’t the individual commands – it’s the underlying assumption that ordinary life is the primary theater for spiritual transformation. Paul doesn’t say, “Escape to a monastery” or “Transcend your mundane existence.” He says, “Let Christ transform your mundane existence.”
This completely reframes how we think about spiritual growth. The kitchen table becomes an altar. The office cubicle becomes a sanctuary. Changing diapers becomes a form of worship. Paul’s not spiritualizing ordinary activities – he’s showing how ordinary activities become the very places where our new identity in Christ gets worked out.
“The most spiritual thing you can do today might be doing the dishes with the patience of Christ, speaking to your teenager with His gentleness, or treating your difficult coworker with His kindness.”
The clothing metaphor throughout this chapter reveals something beautiful about Christian maturity. We don’t earn our new identity by good behavior – we’re already clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27). But we do need to learn how to wear these new clothes well. A tailored suit can look terrible if you don’t know how to carry yourself in it.
The Original Audience Reality Check
When Paul told slaves to obey their masters “in everything” (verse 22), he wasn’t endorsing slavery – he was giving survival instructions in a system where rebellion meant death. But notice the subversive elements: slaves are to work “as for the Lord,” which quietly elevated their dignity beyond their social status. Masters are reminded they have a Master in heaven (4:1), which undermined their absolute authority.
The family instructions work the same way. In a culture where wives and children were essentially property, Paul’s call for husbands to love wives and fathers not to embitter children introduced radically new concepts of mutual care and respect within existing structures.
Key Takeaway
Your spiritual life isn’t something you add to your regular life – it’s your regular life transformed by Christ’s presence in every ordinary moment.
Further Reading
Internal Links:
External Scholarly Resources:
- Enduring Word Bible Commentary – Colossians 3
- Precept Austin – Colossians 3 Commentary
- StudyLight.org – Barclay’s Commentary on Colossians 3
- Reading Ephesians & Colossians: A Literary and Theological Commentary
- NIV Standard Lesson Commentary 2023-2024
Tags
Colossians 3:1, Colossians 3:2, Colossians 3:12, Colossians 3:17, Colossians 3:23, Christian living, new identity in Christ, spiritual transformation, practical Christianity, putting off the old self, putting on the new self, heavenly mindedness, Christian virtues, household codes, daily discipleship, resurrection life, sanctification
