Sermons on Colossians 3:9-11

Colossians 3:9-11 Interpretation:

Embracing Unity and Diversity in Christ(Desiring God) interprets Colossians 3:9–11 by pressing the movement from individual ethical transformation to a radical corporate reality: the sermon reads verse 10 (putting off the old self / putting on the new self) as an individual inward break with a "me‑centered" old nature and then reads verse 11 as the outworking of that inward renewal in the life of the church so that ethnic and social categories no longer justify hostility; it distinguishes two senses of the climactic phrase—“Christ is in all” (Christ indwells every believer, so we must not mistreat those who bear him) and “Christ is all” (Christ becomes the supreme treasure that displaces ethnic, cultural, or status‑based sources of identity)—and it nuances Paul’s seemingly absolute language by insisting that cultural distinctives remain observable but must not be allowed to create dishonor, exclusion, or divisiveness in the community.

Embracing Our New Identity in Christ(Desiring God) offers a more theological/anthropological reading that centers the new self’s essence on Christ’s indwelling: the sermon frames the old self as the “flesh” (hostile to God) and the new self as a humble, believing, Christ‑inhabited self (citing Gal. 5:24 and Gal. 2:20), and it reads “Christ is all and in all” primarily to mean that every Christian’s new identity is constituted by Christ living in them—so the corporate unity Paul describes follows from the fact that each member is individually inhabited by the same Christ and treasures him above every other source of worth.

Unity in Christ: Embracing Diversity and Renewal(SermonIndex.net) interprets Colossians 3:9–11 with a pastoral, ecclesial emphasis: the new man is the “spirit of Christ” whose heart is open to everyone, and the verse becomes a clarion call against social distinctions—Greek/Jew, circumcised/uncircumcised, barbarian/Scythian, slave/free—so that the church must embody welcome and mutual dependence; the sermon uses vivid sociological contrasts (e.g., a slave sitting next to his master) to make Paul’s charge concrete and to insist that genuine church unity is the visible consequence of people who have “put on the new man.”

Faith, Culture, and Healing Through God’s Grace(The Mount | Mt. Olivet Baptist Church) reads Colossians 3:9–11 as a direct summons to cultural reconciliation rooted in the new self in Christ, arguing that the “stripping off the old self” is not merely personal morality but a communal transformation that undoes social divisions; the preacher frames the verse with the Amplified translation and uses the Babel/Pentecost contrast to interpret “no distinction” as God’s reversal of human-made separations (language, ethnicity, status), insists that Christ “celebrates and redeems” differences rather than erasing them, and repeatedly emphasizes a twofold renewal (vertical alignment with God enabling a horizontal assignment to reconcile others), portraying the verse as both an identity claim (you are one in Christ) and a missionary mandate to cross lines others avoid in order to heal cultural suffering.

God's Eternal Kingdom vs. Earthly Powers(SermonIndex.net) treats Colossians 3:9–11 as a doctrinal firewall against politicized identity, interpreting Paul’s “no Greek nor Jew… slave nor free” language as categorical: once reborn the believer’s primary identity is in Christ alone, not any nation or party; the preacher uniquely reads the verse into a larger eschatological and ecclesiological framework (God’s kingdom destroys earthly empires), using Colossians as theological proof that the church must refuse to adopt political flags or electoral identities, that Christian distinctiveness is ecclesial and heavenly rather than nationalistic, and that ethnic/political labels have no salvific weight in the life of the new self.

Embracing Our True Identity as Citizens of Heaven(Promise Church of DeSoto) interprets Colossians 3:9–11 through a pastoral, identity-focused lens: putting off the “old self” is portrayed as exchanging earthly team-jerseys for a kingdom jersey (you are “from heaven” and therefore must live by heavenly norms), so “there is no Greek or Jew…” becomes a practical identity-rule—stop defining yourself by culture, class, or politics and adopt behaviors that reflect your citizenship in heaven; the preacher uses vivid behavioral metaphors (flinging sin away like spoiled milk) to make the verse’s moral and communal implications concrete for everyday choices.

Colossians 3:9-11 Theological Themes:

Embracing Unity and Diversity in Christ(Desiring God) develops the distinct theological theme that unity flows from inward Christ‑centeredness: the sermon stresses that moral change (putting off the old self) produces a Christ‑treasuring new self whose supremacy negates honor‑based divisions, introducing the nuanced theological claim that differences remain ontologically but are re‑ordered ethically and ecclesiologically by Christ’s supremacy—they become “precious” diversity rather than grounds for exclusion.

Embracing Our New Identity in Christ(Desiring God) presents a distinctive theological emphasis on indwelling and identity: the sermon argues that the core mark of the Christian new self is not merely new behavior but being “Christ‑inhabited” (Christ living in me), so Colossians 3:11 is not just an ethical command about social categories but a doctrinal assertion about the believer’s ontological union with Christ and the resulting epistemic/affective re‑prioritization (Christ as supreme treasure).

Unity in Christ: Embracing Diversity and Renewal(SermonIndex.net) emphasizes a practical ecclesiology as theology: the sermon frames Colossians 3:9–11 as a foundation for uncompromising holiness paired with radical inclusivity—an insistence that the “new man” refuses social selectivity (by class, culture, language) while also insisting on moral seriousness and leadership standards, yielding a theological synthesis of pietistic purity and catholic welcome.

Faith, Culture, and Healing Through God’s Grace(The Mount | Mt. Olivet Baptist Church) emphasizes reconciliation as both vertical and horizontal: Colossians 3:9–11 demonstrates that Christ’s work not only restores our standing before God (vertical reconciliation) but is the foundation and evidence for tearing down social walls (horizontal reconciliation); the sermon adds nuance by framing reconciliation as a sustained, conversational, and incarnational task (healing often begins in one-on-one conversations, not only big public gestures) and by insisting that unity in Christ does not homogenize identities but redeems and celebrates difference.

God's Eternal Kingdom vs. Earthly Powers(SermonIndex.net) proposes a distinctive ecclesiological theme: the church’s kingdom identity is ontologically separate from the nations’ kingdoms—Colossians’ “no Greek nor Jew” functions as a theological repudiation of national/church fusion; the sermon develops this into a polemic: theologically formed Christians must resist being co-opted by earthly powers and political parties, because the church’s legitimacy and mission flow only from the heavenly kingdom, not constitutional or partisan allegiances.

Embracing Our True Identity as Citizens of Heaven(Promise Church of DeSoto) advances the pastoral theme of identity formation: Colossians 3:9–11 calls believers to a radical reorientation of self-understanding—our ethical perceptions (what is beautiful, repulsive, permissible) must be recalibrated by our heavenly citizenship, so moral urgency (sin as repulsive) and communal behavior (love enemies, serve others) follow from the new self’s identity rather than merely from external rules.

Colossians 3:9-11 Historical and Contextual Insights:

Embracing Unity and Diversity in Christ(Desiring God) supplies cultural context for Paul’s list by identifying who Paul meant by his categories—explaining “Greek” and “Jew” as markers of covenantal privilege and latecomers, “circumcised/uncircumcised” as markers of religious conformity and privilege, “barbarian” as foreigners deemed uncultured because of their language, “Scythian” as the northern peoples stereotyped as savage (the preacher explicitly cites the perception in Josephus), and “slave/free” as the economic poles of Roman society—using these clarifications to show how radical Paul’s egalitarian claim would have been in a stratified Greco‑Roman context.

Embracing Our New Identity in Christ(Desiring God) gives contextual help by explaining the moral anthropology behind Paul’s language: it treats the “old self”/“flesh” categories in light of Pauline usages (Galatians, Romans) so that the Colossian appeal is set against first‑century social dishonor and intra‑church hostilities—identifying the “old self” as the Adamic, self‑exalting orientation that undergirded the very cultural divisions Paul names.

Unity in Christ: Embracing Diversity and Renewal(SermonIndex.net) supplies both first‑century and later historical context: it describes how Roman society viewed slaves and masters and how ordinary social practices would have made a slave and his master sitting together “unheard of,” and it situates the Colossian charge amid centuries of church history (showing how churches lapse into tribalism and split), thereby connecting Paul’s immediate Greco‑Roman social context to recurring patterns in later Christian communities.

Faith, Culture, and Healing Through God’s Grace(The Mount | Mt. Olivet Baptist Church) situates Colossians 3:9–11 within multiple historical markers: contrasts the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) as humanity’s attempt to make unity without God with Pentecost (Acts 2) as God-given reversal that unites diverse peoples in one mind, uses John 4 (the Samaritan woman) and Acts 10 (Peter and Cornelius) to show how Jesus and the early church crossed ethnic/gender/status boundaries, and summarizes Ephesians 2’s portrait of the cross tearing down the dividing wall—these contexts are used to argue the Colossians text addresses real first-century divisions (Jew/Gentile, slave/free) and to show the early church’s praxis in breaking those walls.

God's Eternal Kingdom vs. Earthly Powers(SermonIndex.net) provides extended historical context for the New Testament world to illuminate Colossians’ claim: the sermon surveys Second Temple Jewish politics (Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, tax collectors) and Roman domination, explains that messianic expectations were political (many expected a national/political deliverer), and uses Daniel’s sequence of empires to contrast ephemeral earthly kingdoms with God’s everlasting kingdom—this background supports the claim that Paul’s “no Greek nor Jew” is meant to reorient believers away from ethnic/political hopes to a transnational, eschatological citizenship.

Embracing Our True Identity as Citizens of Heaven(Promise Church of DeSoto) gives concise cultural context for Colossians 3:9–11 by naming the specific social categories Paul lists (Gentile/Jew, circumcised/uncircumcised, barbarian/Scythian, slave/free) and explaining how those labels functioned as identity markers in Colossian society (including the observation that “barbarian” was a Greek label for those whose language sounded like “bar-bar” to them), using that cultural frame to show Paul was confronting deeply entrenched social markers, not abstract theology.

Colossians 3:9-11 Cross-References in the Bible:

Embracing Unity and Diversity in Christ(Desiring God) links Colossians 3:9–11 with Galatians 2:20 and Philippians passages to flesh out Paul’s twofold point—Gal. 2:20 (“crucified with Christ… Christ lives in me”) is used to support the reading that the new self is Christ‑inhabited, and Philippians passages (Phil. 3’s counting all as loss for Christ; Phil. 1’s “to live is Christ”) are used to illustrate what “Christ is all” means practically—Christ as supreme treasure displacing ethnic or status pride—these cross‑references are marshaled to show continuity across Paul’s theology of union with Christ and the reordering of identity.

Embracing Our New Identity in Christ(Desiring God) explicitly weaves multiple Pauline and apostolic texts into its exposition: it appeals to Galatians 5:24 (those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh) and Galatians 2:20 (it is no longer I who live but Christ) to define old/new selves; Romans 8:7 is cited for the flesh’s hostility to God; Philippians 1 and 3 are used to explain “Christ is all” as supreme treasure and Christ‑centered living; the sermon uses these cross‑references to argue that indwelling union with Christ (not merely moral reform) is the basis for the corporate equality Paul commands.

Unity in Christ: Embracing Diversity and Renewal(SermonIndex.net) grounds its pastoral exhortations in a wide set of biblical texts: it cites Revelation 2 (the lampstand removed from Ephesus) and Acts 20 (Paul’s warning to elders) as historical precedents for church decline and the need for repentance, John’s third letter as an example of despising apostles, Luke 4 (Jesus’ proclamation to preach to the poor) and Matthew 11 (report to John the Baptist that the poor have the gospel preached to them) to justify ministry to the poor, and 1 Corinthians 12 to argue for the church’s mutual dependence; these passages are used to expand Colossians’ call into sustained ecclesial practice—repentance, fidelity to the whole counsel, and inclusive worship.

Faith, Culture, and Healing Through God’s Grace(The Mount | Mt. Olivet Baptist Church) repeatedly cross-references Ephesians 2 (the breaking down of the wall between Jew and Gentile) to show Colossians’ unity theme is part of Paul’s wider theology of reconciliation, cites Acts 2 (Pentecost) as the reversal of Babel and as the Spirit’s unifying work, invokes John 4 (Jesus and the Samaritan woman) to model boundary-crossing ministry, quotes Genesis 11 (Tower of Babel) as the archetype of human-made division that Christ reverses, and also mentions Philippians’ “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” to underscore personal renewal as the basis for communal unity—each reference is used to show Colossians 3:9–11 is both doctrinal and missional, grounding unity in the cross and Spirit rather than in cultural assimilation.

God's Eternal Kingdom vs. Earthly Powers(SermonIndex.net) anchors Colossians 3:9–11 in an intertextual case: Daniel 2 and its vision of worldly empires demolished by God’s stone is used to argue that earthly polities are temporary and cannot be conflated with the kingdom language of Colossians; Jesus’ “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18) and Luke 8 (Jesus preaching the kingdom) show that the gospel’s primary frame is the kingdom, not national restoration; Acts 10 (Peter and Cornelius) and Acts 15 (Jerusalem Council) are cited as New Testament precedents that Gentiles need not adopt ethnic/legal markers to belong to God’s people, and Galatians 6:14 and Colossians 3:9–11 are paired to insist that circumcision or ethnic status are irrelevant in Christ—these biblical cross-references are marshaled to demonstrate a consistent New Testament trajectory repudiating ethnic/political identity as the basis for salvation or church belonging.

Embracing Our True Identity as Citizens of Heaven(Promise Church of DeSoto) links Colossians 3:9–11 to Colossians 3:1 and the Gospel narrative (the Gospels model Christ’s different way of living), using Colossians 3:1’s “set your hearts on things above” to show how the new self’s orientation undergirds the “no distinction” clause; the preacher treats these cross-references practically: being raised with Christ (Colossians 3:1) yields a new identity that makes the social categories in 3:9–11 morally and relationally irrelevant.

Colossians 3:9-11 Christian References outside the Bible:

Unity in Christ: Embracing Diversity and Renewal(SermonIndex.net) explicitly draws on figures from Christian history to illustrate recurring patterns of reform and schism: the sermon names Martin Luther as a prophetic reformer who resisted Roman Catholic compromise despite lethal opposition, John Wesley as a revivalist who started Methodist renewal out of the Anglican context (and who himself was later followed by reformers), and William Booth as the founder of the Salvation Army who left respectability behind to minister to prostitutes and the very poor; the preacher uses these stories to show a pattern—periodic, small‑group renewals emerge when the larger church compromises—and to commend uncompromising faithfulness to the whole counsel of God while maintaining outreach to marginalized people.

Faith, Culture, and Healing Through God’s Grace(The Mount | Mt. Olivet Baptist Church) explicitly references a contemporary pastor, Mike Frazier, recounting that Frazier described his political stance as “kingdom independent,” a phrase the preacher adopts as a practical application of Colossians 3:9–11 to resist partisan identification; the sermon uses that pastoral quotation to encourage listeners to make kingdom allegiance their primary political lens rather than party loyalty, portraying “kingdom independence” as a tested pastoral formulation that shaped the sermon’s call to prioritize the church’s heavenly identity over national or partisan labels.

Colossians 3:9-11 Illustrations from Secular Sources:

Embracing Unity and Diversity in Christ(Desiring God) uses ancient historiographical imagery (explicitly referencing the perception preserved in Josephus) to illustrate Paul’s categories: the sermon recounts how contemporaries viewed Scythians as epitomizing unrefinement and even delighting in murder (a perception attested in Josephus), and it sketches how “barbarian” functioned as a cultural slur tied to language and manners—these historical descriptions are employed to help modern listeners appreciate how socially scandalous it was for Paul to deny honor distinctions in the church.

Embracing Our New Identity in Christ(Desiring God) likewise appeals to Greco‑Roman social stereotypes to make the point vivid: the sermon explains the social meanings of “Greek/Jew,” “circumcised/uncircumcised,” “barbarian/scythian,” and “slave/free,” recounting the same ancient perceptions (e.g., the Scythian stereotype) to help modern readers grasp the social distance Paul’s unity claim bridged, and uses common modern identity‑examples (cultural prestige, ethnic pedigree, social standing) as applied analogies to show how Christ must supplant those earlier sources of identity.

Unity in Christ: Embracing Diversity and Renewal(SermonIndex.net) peppers its exposition with long, concrete historical narratives and secular‑historical episodes to illustrate Colossians’ implications: the preacher recounts first‑century scenarios (a slave sitting beside his master as socially scandalous), church‑historical stories of schism and renewal (the lampstand removed at Ephesus, John’s third letter, the successive reform movements—Luther, Wesley, and Booth—and the founding of the Salvation Army), anecdotal missionary examples (a doctor choosing to serve leprosy patients rather than pursue careerism), and civic practices of segregation by race and language; these vivid secular and historical stories are used specifically to show how social divisions are repeatedly reproduced in church life unless overcome by the new man Paul describes.

Faith, Culture, and Healing Through God’s Grace(The Mount | Mt. Olivet Baptist Church) draws on the film Something New (a contemporary romantic drama about an interracial relationship) as a secular illustration that provoked the preacher’s reflection on cross-cultural relationships and the church’s role in healing cultural division; he uses the movie’s theme of a black woman and white man loving across cultural expectations to make Colossians 3:9–11 immediate and modern—arguing the church must model the movie’s reconciliation in real life rather than allowing culture’s prejudices to persist.

Embracing Our True Identity as Citizens of Heaven(Promise Church of DeSoto) uses two secular/pop-culture illustrations: the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team and the 2004 film Miracle (Kurt Russell) as an extended analogy for believers switching “jerseys” from competing hometown/college loyalties to a single national (kingdom) identity—this story is developed in detail (team friction, the coach’s grueling drills, the player’s declaration “I play for the United States of America,” and the team’s eventual victory) and is applied directly to Colossians 3:9–11 to show how adopting a new corporate identity (kingdom jersey) enables unity and victory; additionally, the sermon opens with a secular, rural anecdote (lawyer vs. farmer “three-kick rule”) to highlight cultural differences in dispute resolution and set up the broader claim that “where you’re from” shapes behavior, a pattern Colossians calls Christians to revise by adopting a heavenly origin.