Colossians 3:1 Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things…… 5 Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. 7 When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways. 8 But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices, 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all. 12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. BSB
Mortification (verse 5) is putting those old things to death. We touched on this word a little bit earlier along with Luther’s comment that while we thought we had drowned the old man in the waters of baptism, turns out old Adam is a pretty good swimmer. In other words, there is still a remnant of our old nature even after our coming to faith. In some respects, it is a little harder because we are now on the brink of a decision every day as to whether we will revert back to the old nature or if we will step into our new nature. Sometimes it can be both directions in the same day! Sanctification is often taking a couple of steps forward and then one back or only making it one step forward before stepping backward a few paces.
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 Now if you are of Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise. BLB
From Barnes Notes on the Bible: All are on a level; all are saved in the same way; all are entitled to the same privileges. There is no favoritism on account of birth, beauty, or blood. All confess that they are sinners; all are saved by the merits of the same Saviour; all are admitted to the same privileges as children of God……It does not mean that no respect is to be shown to those in office, or to people in elevated rank. It does not mean that all are on a level in regard to talents, comforts, or wealth; ……….
From Jamieson-Fausett-Brown: There is no distinction into male and female. Difference of sex makes no difference in Christian privileges. But under the law the male sex had great privileges. Males alone had in their body circumcision, the sign of the covenant (contrast baptism applied to male and female alike); they alone were capable of being kings and priests, whereas all of either sex are now “kings and priests unto God”
Galatians 4:1 But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, though he is lord of all; 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed by the father. 3 So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, 5 that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children. NHEB
If you are an heir, something has been promised to you but you don’t have it yet. In our case, there is more to Christianity than what we have today (resurrection of the body, new Heaven and earth and glorification, for example). The proof of this is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit like the earnest money you put down when you are purchasing a house. The earnest money is the first step in the process that shows you are serious about buying the house. There is a future date coming where the sale will be consummated and the deed transferred to you.
Another way to look at it is the way things are handled when children are not of age. You want the children to inherit what you own but if they are younger, then they aren’t likely to make good decisions regarding money so you instruct your executor to place the money into a trust until the children are old enough to take possession of it. Same thing for us. We are heirs to the promise of Abraham through faith, but we are not of the age to receive our inheritance just yet.
The “elemental principles” are a mystery of the New Testament. One interpretation is that in the Greek world, there are certain basic elements that make up the world so this language would refer to worldly things. We are so locked into this world that we need to be released from our bondage.
Hebrews 5:12 For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances…. NET
The second theory on this verse is that the elemental principals are the building blocks of faith. For example, the Law is a building block of the Gospel. Important to remember the building blocks of faith as there are modern churches where Christ is portrayed as solely about love and forgiveness. As a result, the Gospel doesn’t make sense as if we don’t need to be saved then why do we need a Savior?
A third way of looking at this wording is that it refers to an unseen dimension with a contest of spiritual warfare such as we see in Ephesians 6 or in the Book of Job.