Seeds for 3/31/2023 - Colossians 3:18-4:1

Scripture: “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.”

Observation: We come today to the famous “household codes” in Colossians. This is a similar but shorter version of the expansive and more familiar passage found in Ephesians. We’ve been covering ground very slowly for the most part—verse by verse, sentence by sentence. This passage is a good example of how zooming out can help us see a pattern we wouldn’t notice if we only read close up.

First, I’ll mention a couple things head-on, then get to the observation-based reflection for devotional practice. Regarding marriage and relations between men and women, I’m a Biblical egalitarian; the other position would be complementarianism. Also, the Bible is less supportive of slavery than people often realize, even though Paul does not explicitly condemn the practice. In both of these cases, one must read and interpret the Bible as a whole and take care to understand context, not to get around a straightforward teaching, but instead to “correctly handle the Word of truth.”

So, what pattern do we find when we take in a larger view? Time to go into Bible Nerd Mode for a minute…

There are three couplets of instruction: wives and husbands, children and fathers, slaves and masters. It’s important to notice that the man being addressed is second in each of the three couplets and is the same person—the male “paterfamilias” of the Greco-Roman household. That’s one reason it’s important not to translate “fathers” as “parents” in 3:21; that would be missing the point.

As top of the family food-chain, so to speak, that man had full authority over all members of his household and discretion about how they were to be treated or dealt with. Therefore, it was nothing new to instruct his wife, children, and slaves to be obedient—that was the default setting of the household in their culture. So, where is the Christian instruction? Well, Paul’s words to wives, children, and slaves (especially in Colossians, see more on wives in the Ephesians passage) reframe their relationship to the paterfamilias as motivated by Christian love and service, rather than simply submission to the male superiority of their culture. But the man—the paterfamilias, is experiencing the most radical impact of becoming a Christian disciple. It is he whose manner of relating to his wife, children, and slaves is being challenged and reframed to the greatest degree. No longer does he simply “lord” his power and authority over others within the Greco-Roman model of the household. Paul is reshaping his way of relating to wife, children, and slave because he has a Lord in heaven, Jesus Christ, who has different expectations for his relationships that his culture does. He now has more responsibility and a higher accountability within his household relationships. His relationship with Christ is transforming his family ethics. It is quite challenging and much better—for the various members of his household and for his very soul.

Application:

• How does the call to transformation in Christlikeness impact your relationships?

• How does the call to imitate Christ challenge you to approach your relationships in a new light?

• What else might the Holy Spirit speaking with you about in the text today?

Prayer: Lord, guide me in the imitation of Christ within my relationships, that I may be transformed and make your love real for the people closest to me. Amen.

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“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)

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