Colossians 3: 12 – God’s love and mercy

Target year level: Year Ten

Scripture text

Introduction

The Epistle to the Colossians is seen as a Deutero-Pauline Letter whose actual author is unknown. The letter is addressed to the Church at Colossae (Colosse) in the Lycus River Valley in Phrygia in the interior of western Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).

For further information, see the The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), Introduction to Colossians.

World behind the text

Colossae was near Laodicea and Hierapolis where there were also Christian Churches (Colossians 4:13-17). There is no evidence that the apostle Paul had ever been to Colossae itself although he had been a missionary in the region. The Church at Colossae seems to have been Gentile in composition (Colossians 1:21,27, 2:13). Internal evidence in Colossians indicates that there are certain elements in the Christian community at Colossae whose views are not compatible with sound teaching and orthodox Christian belief and practice. It seems that there were a number of heterodox beliefs and practices in the church at Colossae that at the extreme constituted heresyand were thus incompatible with orthodox Christian belief and practice. Such beliefs had arisen due to the influence of surrounding pagan mystery religions , pressures from Judaizers and philosophical thinking influenced by the myths and ideas associated with Gnosticism. The author of Colossians argues for the superiority of Jesus Christ and his truth in the face of challenges to, and deviations from, orthodox Christian belief and practice.

World of the text

The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (NRSV) heads the passage Colossians 3:1-17 – The New Life in Christ. In his commentary on Colossians Michael Fallon makes the following division:

Introductory principles 3:1-4
Exhortation to mortification 3:5-9a
Motivation 3:9b-11
Exhortation to live a new life in Christ 3:12-17

In Colossians 3:2, the author is asserting an important principle that is to guide life in Christ: “Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth”. This principle is to be understood in the light of Christ’s resurrection and from the perspective of Christian baptism in which those who seek to belong to the Church die to their old life and to sin in order to realise a transformed life with Christ who has overcome death and sin. This means that those who follow Christ have a renewed perspective on the realities of life on earth. This new perspective enables them to live life and deal with the realities of life in a Christlike way. To live this transformed life requires mortification and dying to sin which destroys all that is good and true in life on earth (Col 3:5-9a). A significant source of motivation to live in this new life in Christ lies in a vision of a new unified humanity, in the image and likeness of God, in which all social and religious antagonisms are broken down. It is this vision of a unified and harmonious humanity that is reinforced in 3:12-17. Colossians 3:12 begins this exhortation to live a new life in Christ with a beautiful image related to the white baptismal garment worn by candidates for baptism. For further commentary related to Colossians 3:12 see Michael Fallon 328

World in front of the text

The German Lutheran pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed by the Nazis in 1945, once noted that there was no ‘cheap grace’. Among other things this means living fully as a Christian in the world, living a Christ-like life is not for the faint-hearted. It begins with taking Colossians 3:12 seriously so that we can see the realities of life from an authentically Christian perspective. Then comes the tough part in dying to self so that we might rise with Christ and begin the day to day work of contributing towards a transformed humanity (Col.3:12-17) in which love and life overcome hatred and death.