Heaven Speak
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2 NASB
The things above– First, the priorities. Greek is a language without punctuation. Therefore, the author must use other techniques to provide what we translate as periods, commas, exclamation points and quotation marks. What comes first in the sentence is usually what the author wants to emphasize. Of course, English translations often hide this fact because English grammar works differently than Greek. In this sentence, Paul emphasizes “the things above,” by placing these Greek words at the beginning. Literally, the text reads, “the above things set your mind on.” In other words, he wants his audience to concentrate, not on some mental focusing exercise, but on the “things” above. That begs the question, “What are these things?” The answer might be a bit surprising.
While we expect Paul to launch into a list of “heavenly” qualities, instead he provides a list of just the opposite. Immorality, impurity, passions, evil desires, greed, idolatry, anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, lying. Perhaps he knows that his audience can more easily identify with non-heavenly actions. I’m guessing that we all know precisely what Paul is saying when he gives us this list. The heavenly actions are not quite so apparent. Just like the fourth commandment, they need a bit more explanation for an audience that has naturally acted antithetically.
Paul eventually gets around to giving us some clues about these heavenly actions. At the least, they include a completely different view toward social and ethnic distinctions. They also include the same actions we find in God’s self-description in Exodus. Compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, humility and love. But Paul doesn’t tell us much about how to put these things into practice. Apparently circumstances influence appropriate application so there are no hard-and-fast rules. You have to work it out with fear and trembling. But in one regard, Oswald Chambers offer some poignant advice:
“So often we mar God’s designed influence through us by our self-conscious effort to be consistent and useful. . . . People who influence us most are not those who buttonhole us and talk to us, but those who live their lives like the stars in heaven and the lilies of the field, perfectly simply and unaffectedly.”[1]
In other words, be flexible. Be cognizant of the situation. Be tactful. Not every man deserves intense confrontation. In the end, live it out, all that heavenly stuff you struggle to understand. Do what you need to do, according to the spirit of God in you, and you will probably be correct. Most of the time. Reminds me of Bruce Lee. “Be like water. Water is a powerful force, but it can slip right through your hand. You can’t grab on to it but it can change the shape of a mountain. Be like water.”
Topical Index: thing above, Colossians 3:2
THINGS ABOVE:
1) The new self, being renewed in knowledge, according to the image of the Creator.
2) Messiah, who is all and in all.
3) Tender compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
4) Being forebearing and forgiving, if we have any grievance, just as the Lord has been toward us.
5) Above all, love, which is the perfect bond of harmony.
6) The shalom of Messiah, in one body.
7) Thankfulness.
8) The richly indwelling word of Messiah.
9) Teaching and admonishing one another with all wisdom.
10) Singing with gratitude in our hearts to God.
11) Doing all, whether in word or deed, in the name of the Lord Yeshua.
12) Wives being submissive, husbands being loving, children being obedient, fathers not being provoking, and workers being obedient.
13) Whatever we do, work at it from the soul, as for the Lord and not for people.
Good list. But number 12 about “submissive” needs some clarification these days, especially since the text from Ephesians has no verb it in. The concept is correct in the context of MUTUAL SUBMISSION, and that comes from a verb which means to put in proper order, the same order found in Genesis 2, which is not about submission but about vulnerability and transparency.
For sure! I totally understand and strongly agree about mutual submission! But why just make a point about how that one needs to be clarified? Why not also clarify what wives respecting their husbands really means? And also, these days, just about all of them need to be clarified, don’t they?
; )
Agreed. That one just struck me first. 🙂
As some point could you address this issue a little more, enlarge on it? Not sure what you mean about mutual submission.
First look at the book, Guardian Angel, where there is a longer discussion of the matter. Also on this web site under the verse reference and the Greek term. hypotasso.
Well, I would also be interested in hearing Skip’s reply to your question, but I would say that it’s not about hierarchy and authority. It’s about humility, preferring one another, love, mutual respect, seeking unity and harmony, and ultimately mutual agreement about the will of God, all of which takes vulnerability and transparency.
From Guardian Angel: pp 299-301
Biblical marriage is a model of de facto authority. At least, this is what it is supposed to be. Genesis 2:24 illustrates the de facto model in the origin of marriage. A man volunteers to leave his previous protector and provider and give unwavering loyalty to his ‘ezer. The implication is that a man enters into covenant relationship with his wife because he acknowledges this is his duty in marriage. When he acknowledges her role as ‘ezer, he vouches that it is in his best interests to do so. What else could explain the radical shift in relationship dynamics in a patriarchal society? How else can we explain the fact that it is the man, not the woman, who breaks one relationship to establish another? Submission is all about loyalty. Genesis 2:24 makes it clear that the biblical paradigm example of submission within the context of a human covenant is marriage and it is the man who initiates it.
The statements of Paul and Peter cannot be dislodged from the dynamics of the covenant context of biblical history. A husband does not have de jure authority to control his wife. There is no “law” in Christian relationship except the law of self-sacrifice agape love. God did not make husbands the policemen of marriages. He provided a way for a husband to exhibit the godly characteristics of humility, exclusivity and compassion. He provided an opportunity for the husband to give himself away, to volunteer to act like His Son.
This direction is confirmed by a careful reading of the often-quoted text in Ephesians 5:22 (“Wives, to your own husbands, as to the Lord”). The Greek text lacks the verb “be subject” or “submit.” The verb must be supplied from the association of this verse with the previous verse. Verse 21 reads, “and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” The model of submission is not that of a master and slave, nor even a lord and his subjects. The model is the general principle of all Christian interaction – mutual submission. Under the banner of Yeshua, hupotasso (submit) cannot be removed from allelon (one another). Hupotasso means, “to place in order, to arrange, put in submission.” In this context, it describes the voluntary, continuous, placement of my will under the authority of another. Notice that the command to wives in verse 21 (and to husbands as well) is not to submit to their husbands as lord, but rather to submit to the one and only Lord, and in so doing exhibit behavior toward their husbands that reflects this inner act of the will. There is good reason why the verse does not command submission to the husband without this intervening step. No man may act as ruler over his wife and still fulfill the general principle of mutual submission. Furthermore, Sha’ul’s exhortation to wives to submit to the Lord and therefore act as blessings to their husbands is a direct reflection of the design of the ‘ezer kenegdo.
Thank you so much for taking the time to clarify and teach. I appreciate it greatly! What a gift Skip and this group is to my life! In everything give thanks …..
No doubt about it. Needs to be clarified. Guardian Angel needs to be taught!
If I didn’t have so many things on my plate, I wouldn’t mind selling only the books that one MUST read. Guardian Angel would be one of them or maybe the ONLY one. Ha ha If you wrote a book on HaSatan, that one would most likely be included. It’s another topic that MUST be taught. HaSatan is not the snake!
Still need to buy Guardian Angel but the YouTube presentation was great. I am thinking about what I can do to get this valuable message out. I share it on fb as well as some of your other talks whenever I have a chance to. Sometimes I wonder how much we would agree on other subjects but being allowed to comment regardless is appreciated. Some of what I say could possibly not be easily accepted.
The concept of ‘mutual submission’ makes me think of a verse that says ‘How can two walk together unless they agree?’ I don’t know if it is taken out of context or if it’s correct in the way I worded it but in one sense, isn’t that the message of Guardian Angel in a nutshell? I had this verse on a poster I made years ago (2002 I think) with verses to remember. Made a big impression on me. Agreement. There are so many relationships I know of where the stress level is/was unbelievably high. No agreement. One person is/was the boss, sometimes the husband and sometimes the wife. Turns/turned into abusive situations (grounds for divorce). MUTUAL SUBMISSION. A great message.
BTW, I am planning on buying your book this
month! Hope you make it to Japan someday too!
I looked up the words nice, and kind. After reading them I realized am am much nicer than I am kind. Since kind is listed in the fruits of the spirit I realized that’s the only way I can truly obtain it. The only way I can obtain things of the spirit is keeping things of YHWH ever before my mind. According to Psalms question of How can a young man cleanse his way? The answer, by taking heed to Thy word.
When I finally got around to actually looking at how heaven (which we have all been called to emulate) acted by examining how it had been acting toward me, I was quite surprised. I realized that at no time had I ever been ‘evangelized’ by God; at least in the modern term. He had not chased me down; argued me down; impressed me with His brilliance; corrected my mistakes or erased my failures. In fact, I saw that whatever I did, He did. When I ignored Him, He ignored me. He RESPECTED my choices. He trusted in the system of consequences (“curses”) He had designed to correct me until I made the choice to be corrected directly by Him. When I was happy, He was happy. When I was sad, He wept with me. He was still dancing with me, even when I was not trying to dance with Him. He was one step BEHIND me, like a humble servant, all those days of rebellion. He “waited to be gracious unto (me)”.
It was after I took a good look at how my Example had been acting toward me, a sinner, that I finally got a clue as to how I was to act toward others. It was, to say the least, very different than how I had been taught.
I think that the substrate for trust has to be respect. If I am ever to succeed in gaining the trust of others (which I have to have before I can influence them) I have to respect them first, as well as gain their respect. To do that, I have to go back and remember how YHVH gained my respect. He gained it by respecting me first. You can trust someone you respect, and you can love someone you can trust; as well as be able to trust their love for you.
I think respect is the first step of the dance we are all called to return to. Respect keeps us from the sins of presumption as well as providing the foundation for the acceptance of our love. Respect tills the soil of humility, which is the only place that the good seed of salvation can ever take root. Respect is the noblesse oblige that meets others where their choices are, and dances with them – behind them – on the floor they are already on. I think modern evangelism appeals to the flesh that wishes to control the choices of others instead of remembering that heaven always respects (trusts) its own design of free will. So can we.
Nice.
Hmmm…. really good perspective!
I liked what you said “he trusted in the system of consequences ( curses ) he had designed to correct me, until I made the choice to be corrected directly by him“. Also….” all those days of rebellion, he waited to be gracious unto me“.
I’m reminded where David said, as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him . He knows our frame he remembers that we are but dust! Part of David’s picture or painting of God. But I have to add to what you said. You wrote as though your days of rebellion were over or history. For me “ those days” of rebellion are over but I still struggle with rebellion in regards to God and his working in my life. The natural man will always be in opposition to The Spirit. At war, sometimes more intensely than others! Do I like this?! No. In my independent nature I am always trying to make the old man behave. I can only assume that as time goes by and the refiners fire touches me I will be more aware of my own proclivities. We are and at the same time we are becoming thus we learn to lean on the Almighty! Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not unto your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. They looked unto him and their faces were not ashamed! Shalom.
Well as ever this is unfurled truth with the clarity and candor I have come to expect! Wave the flag sister, may we all salute it!..
Rabbi Shaul (St Paul)said- ” I have no greater joy than this..to see my children walking in truth”. John the prophetic Baptizer, who came to prepare a way for Messiah;” looked and saw as He (Messiah Yeshua) walked,said “Behold the Lamb or God”. It is how we walk that determines much. “They that wait upon the Lord…shall walk and not faint”.(Isa 40:31). Oswald Chambers also suggests “there is no thrill in walking; it is the test of all the stable qualities. To”walk and not faint” is the highest reach possible for strength. The word “walk” is used in the bible to express the Character.” So it seems Paul is concerned not just with our heavenly mind set but where,why and how we put down our feet . Perhaps this is how best to walk straight “to set your mind on the things above”?
Just noticed your comments and I really like the whole idea of the meaning of walking. It is so closely related to the idea of “knowing“. It’s something you do, an action, not just a thought or theory ! Sure blows the doors off the barn, so to speak. The church is in desperate need of this type of teaching “walking”. Makes me think about the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and leaving Egypt behind. The only way they could get there was by walking…. in order for truth to transform, we must be engaged! He doesn’t do it for us, he does it with us. Gives new meaning to me in regards to the verse that says, “you will KNOW the truth and the truth will set you free“.
Oy! How He longs to make these things real with us !
Well “walking in the truth” is very Hebraic. Art Katz (Katz is the Jewish surname for the sons of Arron) said, as I often quote “the truth is in us and we in it only to the degree we actually walk in it”. This blows the doors off the cognitive disconnect between the Greek way to truth or knowledge and the Hebraic way. The Greek way being a concept we acknowledge and agree with Vs the Hebraic path to the truth. Greeks just “accepting it” after consideration…. As I understand it the Greek mind comes to “knowledge” through deductive reasoning, while the Hebrew mind comes to knowledge through “obedience” to the way, will and word=Torah of YeHoVaH. Is this correct Skip? I’d love your thoughts/understanding on this topic…
Thank you for the response. Gives me a bit more insight and understanding. Then isn’t the main thing obedience and isn’t that what most of us struggle with? So it’s not actually knowing the truth mentally that sets us free but rather obedience to walk in the truth that we know?! How does it go from knowing as a Greek to knowing as a Hebrew ? Does our hunger after God become the very thing that causes us to walk in his ways ?
Once again I have to refer to First Corinthian’s 13….. somehow knowing is tied up with love…..
I defer to the promise of God for answers to these things. Because he said “and you will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with your whole heart“.
Without walking we never get to the place called ‘Faith’ where the blessing is found for more than the physical flesh desires. Shalom FJ
Simple speak. Thank you brother Mark. Helps to ‘boil it down’. “The truth is in us and we in it…” such confirmation as I learned this many years ago. Brings peace. Shabbat Shalom!