Paul opens Colossians 3 like this. If you have been raised with Christ, then seek the above things and set the mind on them. The command sits on a massive because. Because you died. Because your life is hidden with Christ in God. Because when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will appear with him in glory. The text builds an if, then, because structure, and the daily reset of the mind hangs on that granite support. Christ is not just the object of thought. Christ is the believer’s life.
The strange verb set the mind comes from fima. The mind is not just a container of thoughts. It has a spirit, a bent, an ethos. Romans 11 warns against a proud fima that perches over broken-off branches. Philippians 2 calls for the fima of Jesus, lowly and servantlike. So the mind can tilt arrogant or tilt low to serve. It must be reset.
Romans 8 tightens the screws. No condemnation rests on what God did in Christ. God condemned sin in the flesh of his Son, so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit. Justification is anchored in penal substitution and issues in sanctification as purpose and evidence, not the cause. Then Paul names the battlefield. The fima of the flesh is death. It is hostile to God, does not submit to his law, cannot submit, cannot please God. That is why a once-for-all justification and a daily, Spirit-given mindset are both necessary.
Back in Colossians 3, the above things are not vague. They are concrete realities to which the mind can be tuned every morning. You have died with Christ. You have been raised with Christ. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. Christ is your life. Christ will appear and you with him in glory. John says the world does not know God’s children now because God himself is hidden. Romans 8 says even those with the firstfruits groan. First Corinthians 15 calls the present body dishonor, the future body glory. So the reset is realistic and hope-filled. Not list-keeping, but belonging to Another. Not over-realized triumph, but durable joy that stares down decay and says, when he appears, then glory. The command is present and continuous. Open the word. Let these above things shape the fima. Reset, and reset again.
Key Takeaways
- 1. The mind carries a spiritual bent. The mind is not a bare brain storing thoughts; it leans. Pride or humility, fear or courage, self-pleasing or God-pleasing, all live in this fima. Naming that tilt each morning and resetting it is part of Christian sanity. Arrogance is not just wrong thinking; it is a warped atmosphere of the soul. [12:18]
- 2. Justification fuels, not follows, renewal. No condemnation stands because God condemned sin in Christ. That once-for-all verdict births a life that walks by the Spirit, but that walk is evidence and purpose, not the cause. Daily renewal grows out of blood-bought security, not into it. [19:21]
- 3. The fleshly mindset is moral inability. The fima of the flesh is death, hostile to God, unsubmissive, and unable to please him. This is why mere tips and lists never change a person. Only the Spirit births a new fima that loves God’s law from the inside out. [23:29]
- 4. The things above are concrete realities. Died with Christ, raised with Christ, hidden with Christ, Christ is your life, glory with Christ. These are handles for the soul every morning. Meditation on these truths resets the inner slant from self to the Savior. [27:13]
- 5. Hidden now, revealed then steadies hope. God hides his people the way he hid his Son. Groaning is normal for those with the Spirit. The dishonor of decay and death is not the last word, because the same body sown in weakness will be raised in power. [36:30]
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