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Paul connects doctrine with duty

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Colossians 3:1–11
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)

Recruiting officers do not dispute whether it is better for soldiers to have a right leg or a left leg: They should have both. (B. B. Warfield, quoted in Credenda, Volume 4, Number 5, p. 16).   … More

Doctrine
Paul attempts to connect doctrine with duty in this passage. He lists the following:
 
  1. Who we are in Christ (verses 1-4)
    1. We are raised with Christ (vv. 1-2)
    2. We died with Christ (v. 3a)
    3. We are hidden in Christ (v. 3b)
    4. We live in Christ (v. 4a)
    5. We are glorified in Christ (v. 4b)
  2. What we need to get rid of in the flesh (verses 5-9)
    1. Fornication - sexual immorality in general(v. 
    2. Uncleanness - lustful and loose living (v. 5)
    3. Inordinate affection - state of mind that excites sexual impurity (v. 5)
    4. Evil concupiscence - a strong desire for evil (v. 5)
    5. Covetousness - a desire to get anything that belongs to another (v. 5).
    6. Wrath/Anger - attitude to take vengeance (vv. 6-7)
    7. Malice - an attitude of ill will (v. 8)
    8. Blasphemy - speaking disrespectfully and of divine things (v. 8)
    9. Filthy communication - course or obscene language (v. 8)
    10. Lying - change facts with the intention to deceive (v. 9)
  3. Expect change (v. 10). We are a new person in Christ and should become more like Him.
  4. Not to be partial to race or background (v. 11). Christ who lives in us is all that matters.

Application

The things that I need to get rid of in the flesh must be put to death and removed from my life.

Colossians 3:1-11 (English Standard Version)

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

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