Ch 9.(Cont.) The Nature of Christian Ethics

Comments on Colossians 1:9-11

These are significant. Col 1:9  And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
Col 1:10  so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
Col 1:11  May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,
Col 1:12  giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 

This answers the Colossian Tendency to (1) an appeal to something heady (wisdom; or so called Philosophy; etc.) probably based on VISION. Or...

(2) An insistence on Religious Righteousness approaching an ascetic ideal, (don't touch, don't handle, don't taste) 

Paul's Response is to Pray for the Colossians : - 

that they might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 

This is so that "they might walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.  Compare Romans 12:1-2

Rom 12:1  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Rom 12:2  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ethics therefore for Paul is ultimately a Theological Issue pure and simple - i.e. an issue related to the Known Character of God.

Instead of Rules to live by, Paul gives them the Holy Spirit to live by. I.e. To live a life "renewed in the likeness of their Creator.

Col 3:10  and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Col 3:12  Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
Col 3:13  bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Col 3:14  And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Note the Creators Character in v.12 above; compare Galatians 5:22-23

This living according to the Holy Spirit is what reflects the Character of God.

The Purpose of Ethics is to Glorify God.

1Co 10:31  So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 

And the PATTERN is Gods Son, Christ Himself

1Co 4:16  I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

1Co 4:17  That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. 

1Co 11:1  Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Eph 4:20  But that is not the way you learned Christ!—
Eph 4:21  assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,
Eph 4:22  to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
Eph 4:23  and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
Eph 4:24  and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.