Put to death . . . what is earthly in you. (Colossians 3:5)
Today I must die.
Is that one of your first thoughts in the morning? Does putting yourself to death rank very high on the list of things that occupy your mind throughout the day? Do you dwell on self-mortification? If we heed Paul’s words in Colossians 3:5, then death will be daily on our minds.
Paul’s instructions to the church in Colossae cast the Christian life into what we might call a baptismal shape. While baptism occurs just once, the life of faith is patterned after this descent into the waters of death and rising again to breathe the air of new life (Colossians 2:11–12). Baptismal “death,” then, is both an event and an ongoing act for all those united by faith to Christ.
So, Paul calls us to embrace this dying-and-rising shape of the Christian life: You were dead. Because Christ died, you now live. Because you live, you must keep dying. In dying, you truly live.
You Now Live
The hope-filled, gracious message of the saints’ movement from death to life bleeds through the text of Colossians.
The church of the living was once a field of dry bones, “the domain of darkness” (Colossians 1:13). In this domain, true life does not exist. That “life” is shadowy, empty of hope or lasting meaning. It withers in a moment and is forgotten. It is, in the psalmist’s terms, a beastly existence (Psalm 49:12, 20). You were dead.
But in Christ, we have been transferred out of this domain. Darkness gave way before light. While we were dead, God put his Son to death to give us life. By the Holy One’s crucifixion, he canceled the damning record of sin and caused us to live in him (Colossians 2:13–14). This is what baptism means. You were buried with Christ. Going under the waters, you entered the tomb of our Lord. And by his resurrection, you were raised out of the dark waters and filled with life-giving Breath (Colossians 2:12; cf. Romans 8:3–11). Because Christ died, you now live.
You Must Die
Resurrected life is not the end of death for the saint, however. Paul was concerned that the Colossians were turning away from their true life to embrace deadly patterns that did not take their shape from Christ. They were earthly, shadowy mockeries, leading those who embraced them to lay back down the life they had received from God.
Paul demands that, instead of trying to revitalize our old, earthly “life,” we put it to death. Actively seeking the things above means actively disdaining the things below, such as “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness” (Colossians 3:5). When we shrug off worldly habits as not all that bad, we abandon the path of life to wander the broad and deadly road toward destruction.
“Don’t go that way,” writes brother Paul. The old practices of sin — from the most seemingly innocuous lie to the grossest sexual immorality — have no place in the beloved Son’s kingdom (Colossians 3:5–9).
The pattern of the new life received in Christ continues to follow the baptismal plunge into the waters of death. Yes, life is ours, “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). But we have not yet appeared with him in glory. And so, the present life of faith requires that we die again and again to the sinful patterns still imprinted on our own flesh. In other words, Christian, because you live, you must keep dying. The Christian life requires, paradoxically, the necrosis of the saint.
In Dying, You Live
Necrosis is an ugly word. It signifies the death of living tissue, usually from a serious wound or the venomous bite of a dangerous creature. To protect the health of the rest of the body, the dead and dying tissue must be cut off.
God calls us to be no less serious regarding sin. Cut it off. Put it to death. It belongs to the old man and has no place in the new (Colossians 3:9–10). Like a surgeon seeking to protect a patient’s limb, we must be ruthless in slicing away the necrotic remains of sin in our lives. What does such a daily death require? Paul calls believers to the practices of contemplation and crucifixion.
Contemplate Christ
For those who have been raised with Christ, Paul gives two commands: “seek” and “set.”
Seek the things that are above. (Colossians 3:1)
Set your minds on things that are above. (Colossians 3:2)
Train your mind, actively and relentlessly, to look to that which is above. And what is “above” if not Christ? He is the one who is “seated at the right hand of God” and “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 3:1; 2:3). He is Light, Bread, Living Water, Wisdom, Power, Rest, Peace, Life — in short, all that our hearts desire.
Turning our hearts away from the corrupting pursuits of the world requires setting our minds on the King in all his beauty. We are called, amazingly, not toward loss but gain. Look away from what is lesser; receive the One from whom pours a fountain of everlasting joy because he is Joy. Seek Christ; set your mind on him. Contemplate who he is. Consider all that he has done for you. Rest in the peace that comes from the gospel. Set aside the habits of empty religion (2:20–23) and look to your glorious future in the kingdom of the beloved Son (1:13).
This contemplation takes daily attentiveness. As we behold him in his glory, we will be transformed (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Crucify Corruption
Paul calls us not only to contemplate Christ but to crucify corruption.
Put to death . . . what is earthly in you. (Colossians 3:5)
If we listen closely to the Spirit, we will recognize our own “earthly” sins in the deathly mirror Paul holds up: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, the idolatry of covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk, falsehood (Colossians 3:5–9). Such vices grow from the remaining corruption in our hearts. Walking in them, practicing them, failing to be concerned about their presence in our lives, reveals a mind set not on Christ but on self — desires turned inward and shrunk down.
Putting these to death is a day-by-day, often moment-by-moment, effort of faith. Trusting that Christ is far better, we confess our sin and, by the work of the Spirit, walk as the elect, holy, and beloved ones of God (Colossians 3:12). Necrosis — cutting off the old body of sin — doesn’t occur through legalistic practices or self-wrought discipline. No, it takes place as we, following the lead of the Spirit, look to Christ and walk in resurrected life, bearing good spiritual fruit (Colossians 3:12–17).
As ugly as necrosis may be, the ongoing healing of the saints demands that we slice away past sin. Daily death is, in truth, daily life. In dying, you truly live.
Desiring God