AND SO
(therefore)
AS THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN CHOSEN OF
GOD: Endusasthe oun os eklektoi tou theou: (Isaiah 42:1;
45:4;
65:9,22;
Mt 24:22,24,31;
Mk 13:20,22,27;
Lu 18:7;
Ro 8:29-33;
9:11;
11:5-7;
2Ti 2:10;
Titus 1:1;
1Pe 1:2;
2Pe 1:10;
2Jn 1:13;
Rev 17:14)
(See Torrey's Topic
Election)
And so - The
Greek preposition oun can also be translated
therefore. Paul is basing the following exhortation
upon the fact that we are "chosen, holy, and beloved".
Like Father like son. Children should manifest a family
resemblance.
Read what the Puritan
saints said about
election
in the Valley of Vision.
Chosen
(1588)
(eklektos
from verb
eklego which in middle voice [eklegomai] means
select or pick out for one's self which is derived from
ek = out + lego = call) means literally the
"called out ones" or "chosen out ones". The idea of
eklektos is the ones who have been chosen for one's
self, selected out of a larger number.
In Ephesians Paul
writes...
just as He (God the
Father) chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and blameless before
Him. (See notes
Ephesians 1:4)
In
regard to election as related to salvation, Wuest
comments that
This election does
not imply the rejection of the rest (those not chosen
out), but is the outcome of the love of God lavished upon
those chosen-out.
(Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament:
Studies in the Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament:
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans)
Webster's definition of elect is not bad --
to pick out; to select
from among two or more, that which is preferred...in
theology, to designate, choose or select as an object of
(divine) mercy or favor.
Someone else has written that
Election is
God's eternal choice of persons unto everlasting life --
not because of foreseen merit in them, but of His mere
mercy in Christ - in consequence of which choice they are
called, justified, and glorified.
Election is a “sacred
secret” that belongs to God’s children. It is not a
doctrine that we believers explain to the unsaved. This
miracle of divine election did not depend on anything that
we are or that we have done; for God chose us in Christ
“before the foundation of the world” (Ep1:4). If God saved
a sinner on the basis of merit or works, nobody would be
saved. It is all done through God’s grace that it might
all bring glory to God.
Paul's point here is that if God has chosen them as
members of His new creation, they should obey the command
to conduct themselves accordingly. These are the
attributes of Jesus and as His disciples we should "walk
in His steps" (possible only in His power).
S Lewis
Johnson writes
"The oun (“therefore”) of verse twelve makes
the connection with the preceding. A new character demands
new characteristics! But the appeal is not only based on
the preceding; it is also based on the following words
which describe the love of God which led to His sovereign
election and free forgiveness of the Colossians. Paul
never gets very far away from these soul-stirring truths.
There is a genuine logic in the necessity of Christian
commitment. If we owe all to Him, He should have all of
us. But there is something more moving than logic; it is
love. Principal Baillie summed it up in this way, “A true
Christian is a man who never for a moment forgets what God
has done for him in Christ, and whose whole comportment
and whole activity have their root in the sentiment of
gratitude.” Paul was in thorough agreement. The following
virtues he inculcates have their root in the grace of
election and forgiveness, rooted and grounded in a love
that has no end." (Bibliotheca Sacra, 1964)
(Bolding added)
HOLY
AND BELOVED: hagioi kai êgapêmenoi:
(Ro 8:29;
Ep 1:4;
1 Th 1:3-6;
2 Th 2:13,14)
Holy
(40)
(hagios)
(Click depth word study of
hagios) means to be separate and distinct. Christians are to live differently than the
world around lives. We do not run after the crowd and
follow its fashions and value systems. We are expected to
be different because we are different. We share a
different kind of life.
Beloved
(25)
(agapao
see related
study of noun
agape)
is a verb which means to love unconditionally and
sacrificially as God Himself loves sinful men (John 3:16)
and the way He loves the Son (John 3:35, 15:9, 17:23, 24).
Note that
agapao
is a verb
and by its verbal nature calls for action. This quality of
love is not an emotion but is an action initiated by a
volitional choice, and so for example God's love will
sometimes be manifest to us in discipline when we wander
from His path of righteous living...
FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD
LOVES (agapao) HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES
EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES. (see note
Hebrews 12:6)
The glorious epithet
beloved signifies that believers are objects of God's special love, dear to
His heart. See Jer 31:3;
Eze 16:8;
Ro 1:7;
Eph 2:4,5;
2 Ti 1:9;
Titus 3:4-6;
1 Jn 4:19.
Notice that beloved is agapao which is in
the
perfect tense
which signifies past completed action with present ongoing
result or effect. It speaks of the permanence and enduring
quality of God's love for you dear believer. His love is
not like a geometric sine wave curve, up and down, up and
down, but is steady and stable for we are in Christ Jesus,
His beloved Son! And nothing can remove us from our
position. This should be the Christian's "shouting
ground"!
Election is not a cold, fatalistic doctrine. On the
contrary, it is based in God’s incomprehensible love for
His elect. This is the Greek word for God’s love, the love
shown at Calvary, a love that denies self for the benefit
of the object loved. The perfect tense is used to show the
far reaching and the abiding character of that love. The
saints are those who have been loved by God with the
present result that they are the objects of His love. When
an unbeliever sins, he is a creature breaking the laws of
the holy Creator and Judge. But when a Christian sins, he
is a child of God breaking the loving heart of his Father.
Love is the strongest motivating power in the world. As
the believer grows in his love for God, he will grow in
his desire to obey Him and walk in the newness of life
that he has in Christ. There is no more powerful
motivating force in our lives than to remember that we are
loved by God. He loves us deeply. Why should God love us
the way he does? To be such people as we are and still be
loved by him is one of the amazing wonders of all time. We
are never to forget this. It is our basis for action.
The basis for all of the put on's is
"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly
loved."
We did not make ourselves
holy. We did not elect ourselves into the kingdom of God.
This true is the real "motivational speaker"! It should
cause us out of Paternal love, not shaking fear, respond
in obedience to His good and acceptable and perfect will.
Jesus said once to his disciples,
You have not chosen me
but I chose you and appointed you that you should bear
much fruit. (Jn 15:16)
Yes, we needed to make a decision
for Christ, but most of us came to understand that we would never
have made that decision had we not been drawn to him and
chosen of him. It is His choice of us that enabled us to
choose Him! No, I cannot comprehend this grand truth, but
neither will I seek to destroy it or discard it just
because it is beyond my ability to "reason out". God said
it and that settles it, whether I believe or not, and
whether I can understand it or not!
It is important to note also that when the apostle calls
Christians "God's chosen people" (literally
"God's elect"), he does not mean that the church has
replaced Israel (see study
Israel of God).
Israel is also "God's chosen people,"
but on a different level and for a different purpose. The
promises to Israel are material: they deal with a land and
a kingdom on the earth. We believe that the dreams of the
prophets, so beautifully expressed by Isaiah, Amos, Hosea
and others, will be fulfilled in a coming day, which Paul
describes in Romans 11. God yet has a future for his
earthly people. They are still his chosen people. But the
church is chosen for a different purpose. Our promises are
spiritual. We are
blessed with all
spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ.
(see note
Ephesians 1:3)
The church, therefore, has
to do with heaven, not earth. We deal with the invisible
realms of reality and not the visible kingdoms around. So, to clarify, this phrase does not mean that the church
has become the "new Israel." That term is never
found in Scripture. It is an unbiblical concept.
The
new clothing for the new man is a striking
contrast with what was put off. God chose believers
out of the mainstream of mankind and drew them to Himself.
They are different from the world and should "wear
different (spiritual) clothes"! When believers fail to
act differently from the world, they violate one of the
purposes of their calling, which Jesus taught in the
Sermon on the Mount..
Let your light shine
(aorist
imperative
- Do this now. It
is urgent. It is a command and is not optional!) before
men in such a way (this qualifier is critically
important!) that they may see your good works, and glorify
(give a proper opinion of) your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew
5:16) (Does
your behavior give those who observe it a proper opinion
of your Father Who is in heaven. You may be the only
"Bible" some unbeliever ever "reads". How does your
"Bible" read?)
Because we have trusted Christ,
we have been set apart from the world unto the Lord. We
are not our own but now (and forever) belong completely
(all of us, all the time, not just on Sunday!) to Him (1Cor 6:19-20).
Just as the marriage ceremony sets apart a man and a woman
for each other exclusively, so salvation sets the believer
apart exclusively for our soon coming Bridegroom,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Would it not be a
horrible thing, at the end of a wedding, to see the groom
run off with the maid of honor? It is just as horrible to
contemplate the Christian living for the world and the
flesh.
You adulteresses, do
you not know that friendship with the world is hostility
toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the
world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
Do not love
(present
imperative
with a negative = Stop doing this!) the world, nor the
things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love
of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the
boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is
from the world. And the world is passing away, and also
its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides
forever. (1 John 2:15-17)
PUT ON
(THEREFORE): Endusasthe (2PAMM) oun:
Put on
(1746)
(enduo)
(Click for an in depth word study on
enduo) means to put on as
a garment and in the middle voice (as in this verse) means
to clothe oneself. The
aorist imperative
calls for
effective action - do this now!
He explains and applies (oun = therefore) the figure of
"the new man" as "the new garment." Acceptance of doctrine
about Christ must lead to a decisive modification in duty.
Creed should be followed by conduct. Christian doctrine
and Christian duty go together. Pilots, soldiers, and
athletes must dress the part, and so, too, the Christian
believer. If the old man has been put off and the new man
put on, the moral apparel of the old man must be laid
aside and new apparel donned. Clothes do not make the man,
but a man is often reflected in his clothes, and Paul
would have the new man reflected in new moral attire after
the image of Him that created him.
Thayer, commenting on the use of this verb in Col 3:10
(put on the new man), defines it as follows:
“to become so
possessed of the mind of Christ as in thought, feeling, and
action to resemble Him and, as it were, reproduce the life
He lived.”
Spurgeon writes
that...
This is what you have
got to wear, even on the outside—to put it on; not to have
a latent kindness in your heart and a degree of humbleness
deep down in your soul if you could get at it; but you are
to put it on. It is to be the very dress you wear. These
are the sacred vestments of your daily priesthood. Put
them on.
A HEART OF COMPASSION: splagchna oiktirmou: (Isa 63:15;
Jer 31:20;
Lu 1:78;
Php 1:8;
2:1;
1Jn 3:17)
The heart of compassion - "The
bowels of mercies" are that tender sensitivity to others.
Who could be like that? Jesus! And where is He? He is in
us, so we can express compassion from our new heart
indwelt by the Spirit of the Living Christ.
The garments
include a heart of compassion, the nobler viscera as the
seat of emotion as in Luke 1:78;
Philippians 1:8 (note) Hebraism that
connotes the internal organs of the human body as used
figuratively to describe the seat of the emotions (cf.
Mt 9:36; Lu 6:36; Ja 5:11).
Ray Stedman describes "compassion" in picturesque terms
Compassion is what we would call a "heart of pity." It is
a sense of sympathy, of empathy with someone. When you
come to the breakfast table, come with compassion:
compassion for that strange looking creature, her hair up
in curlers, shuffling around the kitchen in old slippers.
Come with compassion for that gruff, stubble-faced fellow,
isolated behind his morning newspaper, ignoring everybody;
or those children who are trying to get everything
together before they go to school. Approach life with
compassion; that is what Paul is saying. Put it on when
you get up in the morning. You are a new man, or new
woman; therefore, live that way! (Read Dr Stedman's full
sermon
Put on the New)
KINDNESS: chrêstotêta:
Kindness
(5544)
(Chrestotes)
(Click
word study of
chrestotes)
is expressed in
attitude and deed. It is the friendly and helpful spirit
which seeks to meet the needs of others through kind
deeds.
Spurgeon
writes...
Be ready to feel for
others; be very considerate of their needs. Look at others
as if they were your kith and kin; if you and they are in
Christ, they are indeed your kin, so put on kinned-ness,
or “kindness,’
Ray Stedman writes that
Kindness is
action that reveals compassion, action that arises out of
a sense of sympathy. It can take many different forms---a
smile, a kind word, a pat on the shoulder, an invitation
to lunch, an offer of help. We are to put on compassion
and kindness as we start our day and throughout the day.
Many centuries ago, a certain young man from a rural
setting went to live in a large city and fell in with the
wrong crowd He lived a wild and dissolute life, becoming
involved in many hurtful things which almost destroyed him
But he heard a preacher one day and though he did not
particularly appreciate his preaching, he was struck by
the man He went to hear him again, and soon that preacher
was able to lead him to Christ. That young man has become
famous as the great St Augustine. This is what Augustine
wrote of Ambrose, pastor of the cathedral in Milan: "I
began to love him, not at first as a teacher of the truth,
which I despaired of finding in the church, but as a
fellow creature who was kind to me " What an open door
kindness can he!" (Read Dr Stedman's full sermon
Put on the New)
One of the most beautiful pictures of human kindness in
the Bible is King David’s treatment of the crippled
prince,
Mephibosheth
(see study) (2Sa 9:1, 13). David’s desire was to
show “the kindness of God” to King Saul’s family because
of his own love for Saul’s son, Jonathan. The young man
chosen was
Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, a poor cripple.
If David had acted according to justice, he would have
condemned Mephibosheth, for the man belonged to a
condemned family. But David acted on the basis of love and
grace.
F W Faber
writes...
We must first ask
ourselves what kindness is. Words, which we are using
constantly soon cease to have much distinct meaning in our
minds. They become symbols and figures rather than words,
and we content ourselves with the general impression they
make upon us. Now let us be a little particular about
kindness, and describe it as accurately as we can.
Kindness is the overflowing of self upon others. We put
others in the place of self. We treat them as we would
wish to be treated ourselves. We change places with them.
For the time self is another, and others are self. Our
self love takes the shape of complacence in unselfishness.
We cannot speak of the virtues without thinking of God.
What would the overflow of self upon others be in Him the
Ever-blessed and Eternal? It was the act of creation.
Creation was divine kindness. From it as from a fountain,
flow the possibilities, the powers, the blessings of all
created kindness. This is an honourable genealogy for
kindness. Then, again, kindness is the coming to the
rescue of others, when they need it and it is in our power
to supply what they need; and this is the work of the
Attributes of God towards His creatures. His omnipotence
is for ever making up our deficiency of power. His justice
is continually correcting our erroneous judgments. His
mercy is always consoling our fellow-creatures under our
hardheartedness. His truth is perpetually hindering the
consequences of our falsehood. His omniscience makes our
ignorance succeed as if it were knowledge. His perfections
are incessantly coming to the rescue of our imperfections.
This is the definition of Providence; and kindness is our
imitation of this divine action. (Colossians
3:12 Overflowing Kindness F. W. Faber)
HUMILITY
(contrast false humility Col 2:18, 23): tapeinophrosunên:
(Click for discussion of "humility",
also see Torrey's Topic "humility")
Humility
(5012)
(tapeinophrosune
from
tapeinos
= low lying,
then low or humble + phren = to think) (Click
word study on
tapeinophrosune)
literally means to think or judge with lowliness and thus
speaks of humiliation of mind, lowliness of mind, lowly
thinking, the quality of unpretentious behavior, a humble
attitude, modesty (modesty = unassuming in the estimation
of one’s abilities) or without arrogance. The word
indicates the esteeming one's self as small or recognizing
one’s insufficiency but at the same time recognizing the
powerful sufficiency of God!
Spurgeon
writes...
Do not try to be a big
man. He who thinks himself big has not yet learnt the true
spirit of Christianity. Especially towards those who are
sorrowful and sad, be pitiful, be kind, be humble.
John
Wesley made the instructive observation that
neither the Romans nor the Greeks
had
a word for humility.
The very concept was so foreign
and abhorrent to their way of thinking that they had no
term to describe it. When, during the first several
centuries of Christianity, pagan writers borrowed the term
tapeinophrosune, they always used it
derogatorily—frequently of Christians—because to them
humility was a pitiable weakness.
Vine writes that tapeinophrosune...
indicates, not a merely
moral quality, but the subjection of self under the
authority of, and in response to, the love of the Lord
Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit to conform the
believer to the character of Christ. In contrast to the
world’s idea of being “poor-spirited” (in Classical Greek
tapeinos
commonly carried
that imputation), the Lord commends “the poor in spirit”
(see note
Matthew 5:3).
Humility is not thinking less of ourselves but is
really not thinking of ourselves at all.
Barclay writes that...
Basil was to describe
it as “the gem casket of all the virtues”; but before
Christianity humility was not counted as a virtue at all.
The ancient world looked on humility as a thing to be
despised... In classical Greek there is no word for
humility which has not some tinge of servility; but
Christian humility is not a cringing thing. It is based on
two things. First, on the divine side, it is based on the
awareness of the creatureliness of humanity. God is the
Creator, man the creature, and in the presence of the
Creator the creature cannot feel anything else but
humility. Second, on the human side, it is based on the
belief that all men are the sons of God; and there is no
room for arrogance when we are living among men and women
who are all of royal lineage. (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia:
The Westminster Press)
Humility as discussed below always had a negative
connotation in classical Greek. Christianity elevated this
term to the supreme virtue, in fact providing the ultimate
antidote for self-love that poisons all relationships.
John MacArthur explains that...
In secular Greek
literature, the adjective
tapeinos
(“lowly”) was
used exclusively in a derisive way, most commonly of a
slave. It described what was considered base, common,
unfit, and having little value. Thus, it is not surprising
that the noun tapeinophrosune has not been found in any
extra-biblical Greek literature before the second century.