Our Obedience & the Completed Work of Christ

“Since you died with Christ…” (Colossians 2:20).

“Since then you have been raised with Christ…”
(Colossians 3:1).

“For you died…” (Colossians 3:3).

Although these sentences were written to the new church at
Colossae, we believe they apply to all Christians, if they are true. They are
either true or false. If true, they are past-tense certainties. They are
not future, or conditional, or perhaps or maybe. They describe
something that has already happened in us, and the commands that follow are
predicated on those certainties. If Christians have trouble with the commands,
it may be because they have trouble believing that they have died with Christ,
or it may be because they have not died with Christ. (In other words, they are
not Christians.) All future obedience is based upon the complete work of Christ
which has taken place in us. Read Romans 6 a few times.

Written January 1989.

This post coordinates with tomorrow’s reading in the To
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