Daily Bible Reading 12th July 2025 // Colossians 3:1-10
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
In these verses, Paul continually refers back to the indicatives of redemption as he urges this putting off and putting on. He continually points back to what Christ has done once and for all at the Cross, and from there he points forward to what that should mean for daily living. This section of the letter is just littered with 'therefores' and imperatives (Therefore; vv 1 and 5; imperatives at vv 1, 2, 5, 8 and 9), as Paul refers back to the objective redemption in Christ and then applies what Christ has done to our lives. The Apostle echoes what he has affirmed as fundamental of Christ's redeeming death and resurrection (2:9-15) and says: if you are a Christian, this must be true, not only for you but in you. This objective/subjective; indicative/ imperative pattern is fundamental to any understanding of Colossians (indeed it is fundamental to a proper understanding of any of Paul's letters). Before we look in detail at what Paul urges, let me highlight the indicatives and the imperatives.
v1 Since…you have been raised with Christ - indicative
v1 Seek the things which are above - imperative
v2 Set your minds on things above - imperative
v3 For you died - indicative
v5 Put to death therefore - imperative
v8 Rid yourselves of all such things - imperative
v9 Do not lie to each other - imperative
The apostle always anchors his commands for godly and holy living in the facts of what Christ has made us.