¹² So, as the chosen (ones) of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; ¹³ bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also. ¹⁴ In addition to all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ, to which you were indeed called in one body, rule in your hearts; and be thankful.  (Col3:12-15).

Context

Continuing through Col3, I will focus mainly on the opening verse (12), for the usual reasons that they most impact upon the key points within this project. Verses 13-15 contain typically great advice from the Apostle Paul on Christian living, and they largely speak for themselves, although note the bolded phrase in verse 15 which reinforces the point to made in verse 12.

That point relates to calling, election, predestination – whatever you wish to call it. Actually, these are not all synonyms, for in Mt20:16 and 22:14 we read that “many are called but few are chosen”, that I’ll return to in another post. Predestination is a subject constantly referred to by Paul (and as pointed out in the last post, reaffirmed by Jesus, Peter, John and Luke). It’s frankly a troublesome subject for many Christians – pastorally, providentially and especially theologically (in the purest sense of “what is God actually like?”). From the human perspective it can appear fatalistic whilst from the divine perspective, frankly barbaric when applied within the usual binary (saved/damned) context. Also within that context it is incongruous – challenging God’s description of His own character, and that portrayed by His loving, compassionate Son. Truly, everything is resolved once the three soteriological categories I have been verifying from Scripture come to be accepted, That process can be facilitated by examining the Greek words employed in describing this particular doctrine.

The clue’s in the descriptors

Paul in addressing Colossian believers refers to them as the ἐκλεκτός of God (v12). Bible Hub aptly describes ἐκλεκτός^G1588  as being  “those chosen out by God for the rendering of special service to Him”. Yep, that is what they are – not the totality of those whom God in His sovereign grace has delivered from perdition and to hell with everyone else, as I effectively once believed. They are those like Saul of Tarsus who has been chosen to  “receive an inheritance amongst those which are sanctified” (Acts 20:32) or in that same apostle’s language “those whom God foreknew and predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom8:29). Or in Peter’s language “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession (1Pet2:9). Or in James’s language “to be a kind of first fruits within God’s creation” (James1:18). Or in the language of Revelation “to be the Wife of Christ and to share His throne” (Rev3:21; 21:9).

Come on now, is it not obvious from these descriptors that this cannot be referring to the totality of those who are to be spared perdition? Yet I for the first 28 years of my Christian life believed as much as do many Evangelicals today, as prior to Vatican II (1960s), doctrinally at least, did the Catholic Church. But I must restrain myself, having become convinced from canonical Scripture and especially the Book of Enoch^ref#1 that such a misrepresentation of God’s intelligible goodness and munificent providence was intended to be obscured until these very last days.

The nature of holiness

Another reason I should restrain my exasperation is Paul’s exhortation in our passage: “Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience”! Having described the Colossian recipients of his letter as “chosen of God, holy and beloved”, that is how he intended they should behave. For such is the outworking of holiness, whether it be divine or human. Paul’s other description of the elect that I quoted from Romans was that they had been chosen to become “conformed to the image of God’s Son”. For Jesus Christ is all those things: compassionate, kind, gentle and patient. As, it follows, is God Himself, given that Jesus is “His exact representation” (Heb1:3). Indeed, Paul also exhorts the Christian to “be imitators of God” (Eph5:1). Again, that surely reinforces the point being made concerning God’s intelligible goodness and munificent providence.

For how can one imitate One who is incomprehensible and beyond human reason, such as the God that Luther, Calvin and Augustine portrayed? As for His providence and the cosmic outcomes that derive from it, they must surely reflect God’s own nature and character. Also they must be in accordance with the sovereign Creator’s self-confessed intentions – that all true humanity ultimately be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1Tim2:4). For He is a God that does not wish that any of the wicked should die, rather that they come to repentance and live (Ezek18:23). [Not all shall repent, but that will have been their own choice].

There is no way that such edicts of a sovereign God can be squared with predestination in the context of traditional binary soteriology. But they absolutely can be  within the tripartite classifications I have been adducing from Scripture. Neither does the latter detract from the glory due to God, His Son and Spirit, rather it greatly magnifies it. I trust that in due time, we all “being rooted and established in love, become able fully to comprehend, together with all the Lord’s holy people,  how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Eph3:18).

Reference

1. Especially two related passages from the Book of Enoch (ch93:8-10 and ch104:11-13 Charles edition numbering).

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^20 “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, AS IF YOU WERE LIVING  IN THE WORLD, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, ²¹ “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” ²² (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of man? ²³ These are matters which do have the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and humility and severe treatment of the body, but are of NO VALUE AGAINST FLESHLY GRATIFICATION”. [Col2:20-23]

Not for the first time, there are aspects of Paul’s teaching here that might at first appear curious (highlighted in capitals) – less so once certain translational and soteriological aspects are clarified. The first eyebrow raiser is the apostle’s phrase “as if you were living in the world”. Are we not living in the world? NO, not if we are Christians – we are no longer to live  “ἐν κόσμῳ”  – usually translated as “in the world” but as Biblehub rightly affirms κόσμος is referring to an ordered system, aka the world order, with its various governing and moral principles – Paul’s  “elementary principles of the world” (v20).

For sure, Christians presently live on planet Earth and are to delight in it and care for it. They along with the rest of humanity are God’s viceregents and stewards of the planet – a wondrous entity which evinces God’s glory and has been created through Christ.   But whilst (thankfully) some divinely ordered principles are upheld by worldly authorities, not all are, and that is certainly the case in the religious sphere.

The latter is what Paul is referring to here when he writes “These are matters which do have the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and humility and severe treatment of the body”. Verse 21 indicates he is particularly referring to what is eaten and drunk – for the Christian there are no prohibitions (in terms of substance, excess is another matter – Eph5:18). Such freedoms need to be balanced with what Paul writes elsewhere about disciplining his body (1Cor9:27). But clearly, he cannot be referring in Corinthians to an  extreme form of asceticism, for here he is cautioning against “severe treatment of the body”.

 That brings us on to the other surprising statement, that such bodily discipline has “no value against fleshly gratification” (v23), for  logically, one would expect that it might. But that is to confine what Paul means by “fleshly gratification”. Paul explains what he understands by “the flesh” in Rom7:14-25, which contrary to most commentaries is not referring to Paul as a Christian. Early Church theologians uniformly recognized that fact, but Augustine’s take on original sin and human depravity helped change that interpretation, for the post-Augustinian Church has difficulty believing that man by nature could ever “delight in the law of God in the inner man“. Yet I showed in the previous posts that in no way would Paul the Christian have regarded himself as a slave to sin, incapable of doing what is right, constantly giving in to the desires of the flesh, like the person depicted in Rom7  – that would thoroughly contradict what he goes on to write in the next chapter, not just concerning himself but every true Christian has been empowered to overcome the fleshly nature.

The related point in the context of the current passage is that Paul’s reference to fleshly gratification is not just relating to acts of the body but to those of the mind also. For the “body of this death” referred to in Rom7 pertains not just to the “bodily members”, but the brain through which the senses are processed. One can discipline one’s body and deprive oneself of food and drink to the point of extreme asceticism, yet in one’s mind have a heart that is bitter, hateful and resentful towards other people, even towards God Himself.

As Paul stated in the earlier passage regarding the worship of angels and false humility, people who advocated such practices were “not holding firmly to the Head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. It is important to reiterate, Paul is not saying there is no need for self-discipline:  “I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified” (1Cor9:27). But especially in view of Col2, this cannot be referring to any extreme form of asceticism. It refers not so much to physical deprivation and abstinence, but to resisting the aforementioned sins of the mind, enabled by the spiritual resources at the believer’s disposal providing he or she “holds firmly to the Head”, which is Christ.

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