Not Who But Whose

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
(Colossians 3:11 – ESV)

In the world it is all about who you are. How that is defined depends on whom you ask, but it comes down to age, money, looks, status, health, race, or any number of temporal factors, in that all these things will pass away. In the Christian world, it is not all about who you are but whose you are, and that is Christ’s. The “who you are” for believers is defined by Christ. There is no special status other than being redeemed and a part of the body, which we also belong to. The body is also whose you are. He is the head, and we are His body, the new man, typified by the local church.

The “new man” in Colossians 3 is corporate in nature and refers to the new community in which all racial distinctions are dissolved and social status doesn’t place one above another. It is a social structure where Christ is all and in all. Colossians 3 uses second person plurals (“you” as a group rather than “you” as an individual).

New Testament scholar Darrell Bock: “So the new man is related to Christ and consists of peoples. In other words, it is Christ conceived of as a corporate entity, that is, Christ’s body. Another way to say it is that the new man refers to the new community in Christ that he forms by joining people to himself as they are saved (i.e., “buried and raised with him,” as Paul already declared in Colossians). An even simpler way to say it is that the new man is the church, the new community in Christ.”

This vital connection of a Christian to other believers is part of his or her identity. Some believers avoid contact with a local church community, but when believers fail to be or are restricted from being involved with that corporate experience, a part of their identity is distorted.

John 17:20-26 shows us that a Christian’s identity is to be linked with and developed in concert with a community of other believers.

Ephesians 2:15 – Here the new man is synonymous with the church – a sphere of existence in Christ, in which there are no racial boundaries and no spiritual divisions. It is not our new regenerate nature spoken of in Titus 3:5.

Ephesians 4:20-24 – you can easily see the plural in verse 20, but almost all of the pronouns in the great identity chapters of Ephesians are in the plural. Even the second person “you” in those sections is plural in the original Greek, which again, unlike English, has a different word for “you” singular than “you” plural.

Clearly, intimate involvement in community with other believers is nonnegotiable for Christians. How can you be His, part of His body, part of His family when you aren’t where He is working? A concept of individual Christian identity lived in isolation is warped. As members of the body of Christ, we have the privilege of sharing a heavenly identity that will bind us together for eternity. Our earthly relationships, then, serve as a significant context for our growth and God’s glory. We don’t just belong to God we belong to each other.

Body Building

…ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man…
(Colossians 3:9-10)

Thinking about this chapter as a whole, it is primarily corporate rather than individual in focus. The “new man” is corporate in nature – the original Greek, unlike English, has a different word for “you” singular than “you” plural. Colossians 3 uses second person plurals (“you” as a group rather than “you” as an individual). It is easy to see that in the verses following verse 11, but indeed, it is all about a community effort, a building up of the new man; the corporate body of believers in Christ. The ideal for individual growth in grace is centered in the reality of a well functioning community of believers growing together.

Thinking about the overall context of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, the gnostic way he was preaching against was an individual focus on secret knowledge; the Christian way is a corporate identity with Christ and knowledge of Him within the community of believers.

To put on the new man is to have been brought into a new community in a totally new realm of existence and to have put on new clothing. This new clothing is the new way of conducting oneself in relationships that are fit for the new community. The new man relates to God in a new and better way, and in so doing, relates to others in a new and better way. The old man is the community still under its old ways, where the image of God is marred, and everyone still enjoys wearing the old clothing of selfish attitudes and sinful deeds. We need to keep putting on the new man by keeping ourselves grounded in a fellowship with others of like precious faith.

The new community is designed to express the image of God in human relationships and structures. The big picture is that for the “new man” Christ is in all. Thus the “new man” in Colossians 3:10 is not something inside an individual, but rather the new community in Christ, the church, and together we reflect the image of God. It is for this reason, since we are the new man corporately, that we are not to live like we once did. The believer, having been removed by God from that old community is not to live as if he still belonged there. Thus the “old man” must be continually put off as well.

We need to see Colossians 3 primarily within the context of the "new man", and I believe that this is speaking in the first instance of a corporate identity, rather than an individual focus. Of course, there is much application to individuals based on that, as we are all "new men" in Christ, but as we are exercising our "new man", it is best done, and truthfully, only done within the context of the "new man" that Paul is representing here, which is corporate in nature.

Focusing on individual spirituality without paying proper attention to the corporate community is like a man weight training only one body part. You may have a terrific set of legs, but your forearms look like buggy whips, your shoulders slump, and your chest looks like buried treasure. You may look good in a waist down picture, but you won’t be very functional in real life. Spiritually, we are called into one Body, and Body-building is a necessary function.

If you are to be part of the new man you must begin to do that within the context of community. In Christ we learn to relate to God rightly and this in turn helps us to relate to others rightly. You are either becoming one with the new man or with no man.

Payment Made

whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
(Romans 3:25a – ESV)

1 John 2:2, 4:10 – Propitiation – a sacrifice that satisfies the wrath of God against sinners. Jesus on the cross not only reveals God’s justice and His righteousness but it actually saves sinners. By expiating (removing the problem of) sin, God was made propitious (favorable) to us. Instead of leaving all consigned to hell, He showed His love to those whom He calls to Himself.

There is a major difference between pardon and justification. Pardon says that you are guilty but suspends the penalty of that guilt. Justification declares you to be righteous and without guilt. How can God do that? By Christ paying the price of redemption. If God were to simply pardon or forgive based on our bits of penance then that would say that the sins weren’t really all that bad and that God was not really all that holy. Think about Islam and Allah in light of this. Because for them, Allah just forgives: not only there is no payment for our sins, there is none needed. However, if God can forgive without payment for sins, then he's no god. If God is not holy and just, then He does not deserve any worship. But the angels cry holy, holy, holy.

Propitiation is set against the flawed notion of penance. Penance is used to pay for the bad we have done, or to offset the bad we do. In other words, since we are going to do bad, it is justified by the good we do, kind of like how many people who do bad things think they can get off the hook because they start a foundation or give to charity or whatever. It is kind of like the carbon offsets of today, it is the old medieval idea of penance brought forward to today, and so many religions do this same thing. These things may appease our conscience but they do not appease God’s wrath. Your payment isn’t enough. Penance never excuses your own excess.

In the New Testament, the act of propitiation always refers to the work of God and not the sacrifices or gifts offered by man. The reason for this is that man is totally incapable of satisfying God’s justice except by spending eternity in hell. Even there he cannot make a full payment and that is why it must continue on. This is also why the notion of Purgatory is false. Purgatory lessens the value of God; it diminishes the level of His holiness, His wrath, and the severity of sin. It makes His judgment arbitrary, and His mercy just kindness.

There is no service, sacrifice or gift that man can offer that will appease the holy wrath of God or satisfy His perfect justice. Psalm 51:17 – the sacrifices God wants are a broken spirit and a contrite heart, but these are repentance not propitiation. The only satisfaction, or propitiation, that could be acceptable to God and that could reconcile man to Him, had to be made by God. For this reason God the Son, Jesus Christ, came into the world in human flesh to be the perfect sacrifice for sin and make atonement or “propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:14-17). The old song has it right: He paid a debt, He did not owe, I owed a debt, I could not pay…