Have you ever spent a long day working outside in the heat? During the warmer months, I spend at least one day a week working in the yard. After such a day, my clothes are usually a dirty smelly mess, and I have to shower before doing anything else. My clothes are so filthy that I almost feel bad even putting them in the dirty clothes basket alongside other dirty clothes (that aren’t nearly as dirty).

Now imagine what it would feel like to put those clothes back on after getting out of a nice long shower. It would be just…wrong. Why? Because after getting clean, you should put on clean clothes. You should adorn yourself with what is now true of your nature. You’re no longer a dirty sweaty mess, so you shouldn’t wear dirty sweaty clothes. You’re clean. So you should wear clean clothes. Simple enough, right?

This is essentially Paul’s argument in Colossians 3:5-17. Since we have died to our old selves and old ways, we should put off our old clothes. Since we have been cleansed and raised with Christ, we should put on new clothes of righteousness. But how do we do that? What clothes should we remove, and which should we put on? What does that look like in real life? This passage has the answers.

Grave Clothes

First, we must take off our grave clothes, “for we have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God” (3:3). However, Paul uses much stronger language than just “putting off” our old clothes. He says that we are to, “put to death” certain characteristics of our life before Christ (3:5). We are to kill our old habits and ways- sexual immorality, impurity, passion (lust), evil desire, and covetousness (3:5). All of these lead to idolatry because we cannot pursue them and also submit to the Lordship of Christ.

Brothers and sisters, if you are still in sexual sin, you must put it to death. It is a suffocating garment of death that rots the soul and destroys relationships. Do everything you can to put a bullet in the head of sexual temptation and sin!

In addition to these sexual sins, Paul gives the Colossians a list of social sins they must also put to death: anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk and lying (3:8-9). We wore these clothes as enemies of God and children of wrath, who lived according to our passions and enslaved to the flesh.

It’s important to note that this battle begins in our minds (Philippians 4:8-10). What we do with our bodies or what we say with our words, whether it watching something we shouldn’t or slandering someone out of anger, begins with what we have allowed ourselves to think. Putting something to death begins in our thought life. We must take every thought captive and make it obey Christ (2 Cor 10:5).

Since we have died, we must labor to put these thoughts and actions to death. We no longer need to wear these clothes. We have been set free from sin- from impurity, anger, selfishness, etc. These sins no longer enslave us. Anyone who is in Christ, regardless of their ethnicity, social background, or economic status, can put these sins to death by the power of the Spirit (3:11)!

Grace Clothes

We’re also called to put on the clothes of righteousness that fit our status as children of God. Paul first reminds the Colossians that they are “God’s chosen ones” and that they are “holy and beloved” (3:12). Then he tells them to put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. He tells them to bear with one another in love and to forgive each other, as Christ has forgiven them (3:14).

In putting on these characteristics, we are responding to and reflecting the character of God. We must be kind because God has been kind to us. We must be compassionate because God has had compassion on us. We must forgive and bear with one another because God has forgiven us and remains longsuffering towards us! Chief among these garments is that of love. “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (3:14).

But we are also called to put on clothes to rest in Christ. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body, and be thankful” (3:15). This comes by actively casting our anxieties on him who cares for us. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).

Finally, we are called to put on clothes to rejoice in and run for our Savior.[1] Paul calls us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. How? By teaching and admonishing one another and singing worship songs (3:16). As we do these things with thankfulness in our hearts to God, we actively rejoice in Christ and find the strength to do whatever God the Father gives us to do for the glory of his Son. “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (3:17).

What clothes are you wearing? The old clothes that you died in? Brothers and sisters, you have put off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator (3:10). Put to death therefore the things you need to put to death, and in the power of the Spirit, put on the clothing of righteousness that belongs to you as a son and daughter of God!

---

[1] For outline of reflect, rest, rejoice, and run, see Pace “Exalting Christ in Colossians.”