3:1-4
So we are completely forgiven, and rules based approaches do not help. However, that most definitely does not mean that it doesn’t matter how we live. We have been raised with Christ, we have been saved to new life. So we are to “set out hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God”. The gospel is not an excuse for living how we like and getting away with it. Sin is actually not good for us. So we are to focus on Christ. We are to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things. Setting our minds on earthly things can be a precursor to sin, e.g setting our minds on money, sex or power. How does setting our mind on Christ help? Well when Christ appears we will appear with Him in glory. We have a far greater future ahead of us than anything the earth can offer, a far more wonderful and glorious future.
3:5,6
So we should seek to get rid of things that are not part of Christ, get rid of them rather than indulge them. Here Paul lists sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed. Greed is said to be a form of idolatry, for it means we give supreme importance to something other than God. “Because of these, the wrath of God is coming”. So why would we want to continue to have anything to do with them? Note that the cross does not mean that the wrath of God is done away with. Rather it is like the Israelites coming out of Egypt. The blood protected them from the angel of death, but the angel of death still came.
3:7-9
“You used to walk in these ways”. This was how they once lived, but the gospel is about new life, not a continuation of the old life. So we should get rid of such things, and Paul gives another list, “anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language”. Lying then gets a special mention, it is seen as especially emblematic of our old way of life, The devil was a liar from the very beginning. We have taken off our old self with its practices. Note the implication that we can indeed change..
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