Grace to YOU, and peace, from God our Father. ·We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for YOU…: ·that YOU might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; ·that…in every good work, towards all-pleasing fruit-bearing…YOU might walk worthy of the Lord— ·who is the image [Gr. ikon] of the invisible God, all creation's Firstborn. …·…In him each and every thing has held together, ·and he is…the head of the body, the church. ...·All the Fullness delights to dwell in him ·and, through him—through his making peace, through the blood of his cross—to reconcile towards him all things. …·In him all the Fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form; and YOU have been given fullness in him. ...·Having been buried-together with him in the baptism, YOU also were raised-together through the energy of the faith of God, the One who raised him from the dead. (Colossians 1:2-3,9b-10a,15a,17-20; 2:9-10,12 PH)

Therefore, just as YOU received the Messiah, Jesus the Lord, walk accordingly in him—·rooted…in him, and established in the faith..., overflowing in thanksgiving... ·Put to death the things of the earth superimposed on YOUR body parts: sexual promiscuity, uncleanness, passions, evil desire, and covetousness—which is idolatry. ·Because of these, the angry indignation of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ·In these, YOU also once walked when YOU lived among them. ·Also put off all angry indignation, wrath, malice, vilification, and shameful talk... ·Do not lie towards one another! YOU have put off the old humanity, together with its practices, ·and have put on the new one—the one being renovated towards being recognized as the image [ikon] of its Creator. ·Here there is not: Greek and Judean; “Circumcised” and “Foreskin”; “barbarian”, “savage”,[i] “slave” “free”. Rather: Christ the all, and in all! (2:6-7; 3:5-11 PH)

As God's chosen and holy ones who have been loved, YOU must therefore put on: tender hearts of mercy and kindness; humble-mindedness, meekness and patience— ·all bearing with one another and being forgiving towards each other... even as the Lord is forgiving also with YOU! ·Over all these things put on love, which is the together-bond of maturity. ·Let the peace of the Messiah—into which YOU also were called in one Body—arbitrate in YOUR hearts; and become thankful people! ·Let the Word of the Messiah dwell among YOU richly: teaching in all wisdom, and in the grace admonishing each other towards singing…in YOUR hearts to God. ·And in everything that any of YOU may be doing—whether in word or deed—do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to Father God through him… ·Persevere in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving... ·Walk in wisdom among those outside—making the most of the season— ·YOUR word always graceful, seasoned with salt, from perceiving how YOU should answer each one. (3:12-17; 4:2,5-6 PH)

When we are filled with a spiritual understanding of God's will, our Christian ‘walk’ and witness will ‘overflow’ out of a grateful confidence in our Father, for how he both delivered and qualified us in Christ (Med.#80).

When you ‘received Christ’ you ‘put off’ your ‘old humanity’ and ‘put on Christ’, as a ‘new humanity’. Yet many who receive Christ do not become ‘rooted in him... and established in the faith’. They understand by faith that Jesus died in our place so their sins could be forgiven, but they haven't yet grasped that they also need to walk in faith by believing that Jesus also lived in our place when he was here on earth. Letting the 'Word of the Messiah dwell among us richly’ is not just about having Jesus in our hearts so he can speak to us. It also means believing that by his perfect life—in a vulnerable body like ours, as the ‘Word made flesh’ and the ‘Firstborn’ Son of God—our Father has qualified us to walk with him in the same way Jesus did (Med.#52).

Jesus, as the Second Adam, has renewed in humanity ‘the image [Gr. ikon] of our Creator’. Where Adam succumbed to Satan's temptations, Jesus did not. Where Israel as God's ‘firstborn son’ (Med.#C) failed to keep God's Law, Jesus succeeded. And in the power of the Spirit he took humanity to a whole new level of sonship as God's only begotten Son (Med.#58). After his death, the Father crowned his humanity with glory and honor in an immortal, resurrected body (Med.#56; Med.#7); and he then baptizes with the Sprit all who come to Jesus. In this way we who are in him receive the same fullness of God in our human bodies that we saw in Jesus (Col. 2:9-10); and we are now already ‘seated-together’ among the celestial ones in him (Med.#44). When he returns in glory, we will appear in our glory with him By setting our hearts and minds on these things (3:1-4, Med.#80 & #84), and by continuing to ‘sing’ out our gratitude to our Father, our ‘roots’ in Christ grow deeper. And we are empowered by his Spirit to play our role in the renovation work being carried out on God's image [ikon] in us.

Deliverance from the ‘authority of darkness’ is not a quick fix, but the beginning of a training process in which we are ‘built up’ in Christ. For Paul uses the terms ‘put off’ and ‘put on’ in a second way to refer to choices we must keep making. On the one hand, it is my responsibility: to ‘put off’ a variety of evil patterns of speech—like expressions of ‘angry indignation[ii], wrath and malice’, and shameful ways of speaking to others or about them. Likewise, I must ‘put to death’ any evil forms of behavior that try to reassert their authority over me—behaviors that negatively impact myself or others, like: ‘sexual promiscuity, uncleanness, passions, evil desire, covetousness’. Further, no son or daughter of the Father, especially those from privileged social and ethnic groups (Greeks and Judeans) should ever label others as inferior by calling them demeaning names.[i] Nor should men be harsh or abusive with either their wives or their children (3:19-20, 1 Pet.3:7). Allowing such patterns to remain in my life will ultimately disqualify me for the inheritance that Christ has won for me.

On the other hand, I must choose ‘put on’ behaviors that reflect our Father's character as revealed in Jesus; For our witness in ‘word and deed’ is about choosing to do good, not merely about avoiding evil. George MacDonald suggests that the one who says, ‘I never did anybody any harm’, will hear a different question asked when he stands before his divine Judge: ‘But did you do anyone any good?’ When we are confident that we are deeply loved by our Father, we will want to act maturely towards others like he does (Med.#12). Out of ‘tender hearts and humble minds’, we will choose to behave towards others with mercy, kindness, meekness, patience and love. And because we are always mindful of how our Father has forgiven us, we will be quick to forgive the offenses of others especially our brothers and sisters in Christ (Med.#19)! Yet even with those ‘outside’ the Body, our actions should be wise and our speech gracious and attractive (‘seasoned with salt’), not condemning or abrasive.

To help us become more like Jesus in these ways, our Father has not only given us the Spirit of Christ to teach us, but also the Word of Christ on which to meditate and his peace in our hearts to ‘arbitrate’ in every situation (Med.#51). Yet our words and deeds will only reflect our Father's character and bear witness to Jesus if our hearts ‘overflow’ in diverse expressions of ‘thanksgiving’ for all we have received from our Father. Such thankfulness, however, must begin in the place of regular prayer, and be accompanied by vigilance. Though we have received a ‘new humanity’ in Christ, we need to soberly remember that we are still capable of speaking and acting out of our ‘old humanity’. Habits of prayer and vigilance also lead us to quick repentance when we fail, knowing that our Father is quick to forgive us, and that our Eldest Brother is now alongside him to remind our Accuser: that we have a new identity and that our Father is on our side (Med.#52). Vigilance in the place of prayer will also help me remain thankful for the brother or sister who has offended me, or who has fallen into sin. When I am able to give thanks to my Father ‘in everything’ in private, I will find the grace to become more like him in my public speech and behavior. The place of prayer is also the best place to receive from the Spirit the wise and gentle words I need to admonish and to teach the one who has fallen (Gal.6:1).

Are you choosing to be continually built up with others in the Peace of the Messiah? Is his Word at work in your heart and your relationships? Continual gratitude to your Father is a key to growing up in his image.

Father, thank you for qualifying me in Christ as your heir. Fill me with all the fullness that you have given me in him, by baptizing me with your Holy Spirit. (Col.1:12; 2:9-10; Eph.3:14,16,19; Jn.1:33)

Thank you, Father, also for delivering me out of the authority of darkness—through the blood of his cross, so that your Fullness in him might reconcile me and all things, by raising(us)-together and seating(us)-together in him among the celestial ones—just as you raised him from the dead and seated him at your right hand far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, both in this age and in the age to come. (Col.1:13,20; 2:12; ; Eph.2:6; 1:20-21)

I choose to do my part in letting the Word of Christ dwell richly among us as his Body, and his peace arbitrate in our hearts—so that in word and deed, our lives reflect Jesus' name and bear fruit for you. (Col.3:15-17; 1:10)

[i] In the 1^st century, the Greek word, barbarous ('barbarian'), was a demeaning term for ‘foreigners’ who spoke little or no Greek, and the word, skuthes ('Sythian'), a pejorative for those considered uncivilized ‘savages’. The word, akrobustian (‘Foreskin’), seems to be a common derogatory term used by Jews for non-Jews. The word, aperitmeetoi ('uncircumcised ones'), appears only once in the NT as a milder, but also sarcastic term for hypocritical fellow Jews (Act.7:51).

[ii] ‘God's angry indignation’ [Gr. orgee], is not something he wants us to reproduce (3:8; Rom.12:19-21). While it is not sinful to ‘be angry’ [Gr. orgizo],we are called to be ‘slow to become angry’ (Jas.1:19, Med.#77) like our Father (Ps.103:8, Med.#B). For our anger will have evil consequences if we nurture it past sundown (Eph.4:26), act it out (Jas.1:20), or provoke it in our kids (Col.3:21).