DRESSING THE NEW MAN
Part 2
Col. 3:12-14
Morning Meditation 10/21/2013
Verse 12-14 says, “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”
I introduced this passage in the former meditation. Today we will continue to look at the dress code of the new man in Christ. We have looked at the garments of mercy, kindness, humility and meekness. Today we begin by adding,
THE GARMENT OF LONGSUFFERING
The word “longsuffering” translate “makrothumia” and means, “patience, forbearance, longsuffering, slowness in avenging wrongs.” It means, “resignation” to endure a situation with people or things. Kittel defines it as “desperate acceptance.” He even uses the word “procrastination” in association with the definition. This means one just puts off responding to mistreatment. John Gill comments: “Whereby a person patiently bears the evil words and actions of others, and is not easily provoked to wrath by them, but puts up with injuries, and sits down contented with the ill usage he meets with.”
This is a garment to put on and therefore something that is not hard to see in the life of a Christian. I have seen children misbehave and show disrespect for parents who would endure the suffering that this disobedient child brought into their lives. I have often said, “How long will this parent suffer before they take action to do something about this?” This longsuffering is unreasonable to others as they observe it in the life of a Christian. But it is a fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22 where this same word is found.
We need to keep in mind that Paul is not addressing unsaved people and giving them a condition to salvation. He is speaking to believers about dressing the new man in the uniform of the Christian. It is difficult to suffer through situations. The word “thumos” is a part of the compound word for “longsuffering” and means, “passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again.” This kind of emotion under control is what “longsuffering” means. This word describes the attitude that keeps the Christian from reacting incorrectly to bad situations.
The next garment Paul mentions is,
THE GARMENT OF FORBEARANCE
The words “forbearing one another” describe one Christian’s attitude toward another. The word translates “anechomai” and means, “to hold up, to hold one's self erect and firm, to sustain, to bear, to endure.” It is a present middle participle. The present tense is continuous action in the present. The middle voice is where the subject acts and personally benefits as the result of the action. This is a promise. One is always helped by doing what the Lord says. One might say, “But that other Christian is mistreating me and doing me wrong, and it’s not right.” You may be one-hundred percent right. But how does Jesus tell you to respond to that Christian? Who are you going to obey? Your emotions or the Lord? The Christian life is acting and reacting according to the Lordship of Christ. This is a garment to be worn that can easily be seen. Are you getting the idea of the difficulty of the Christian life apart from His indwelling a power? It is not only difficult, it is impossible. If you operate under the Lordship of Christ there will be a willingness to suffer for righteousness sake (1 Pet. 3:14). Then next we are to put on,
THE GARMENT OF FORGIVENESS
Paul says, “and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” There is no way for people to live together without getting on each others nerves. Being a Christian does not do away with our old sin nature and its reasoning and emotion. The word “forgiveness” translates “charizomai” and means, “to do something pleasant or agreeable (to one), to do a favor to, gratify, to show one's self gracious, kind, benevolent, to grant forgiveness, to pardon”
You will notice it says “one another.” Paul says, “Don’t think you are always going to be the right one. There will be times you will need forgiveness as well as to give forgiveness.” We cannot function in the church without this need. Have you been offended? Has the brother asked your forgiveness? If so, have you given it, or have you punished that person a little, and held him off at arms length just to show him? Have you noticed how much the NATURAL MAN wants to make the OTHER MAN crawl a little when he finally admits he is wrong?
The words “have a quarrel against any” identifies the problem. The words “if any man” is a third class condition. Paul is not addressing a problem that exists. He is saying, “If any man, it may or it may not happen, but if it does.” The word “quarrel” translates “momphe” and means, “blame, to have a complaint against anyone.” This means that some brother or sister in the faith has done something that you place blame upon him for doing it and you make an argument against that person. Paul says, “If you have a quarrel against any,”
This is the way to deal with it, “even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” Jesus is the model for forgiveness. Now how did Jesus forgive? You say, “He forgives unconditionally.” We hear a lot of talk about unconditional forgiveness today. This is not what the Bible teaches. If so, then Jesus has forgiven the whole world of all their sins without them even repenting and asking for it. Now THINK before you take issue with what I am saying. Jesus stands ready to forgive and has made provision for the forgiveness of every living sinner on the face of the earth. He is also ready to forgive the sinning saint and restore him to fellowship. But does God save the sinner without his repentance and faith (Acts 20:21)? If so, that is teaching universal salvation and that is heresy. Does God forgive the sinning backslidden saint without his repentance and confession (1 John 1:9)? If so, there is no such thing as backsliding and one cannot lose fellowship and walk in darkness as First John teaches. He would be forgiven at the moment of sin and would not need to repent and ask forgiveness. For someone to come along and use this passage to teach unconditional forgiveness is to twist this Scripture to fit his own private opinion..
What does this teach? It teaches, first, that we should be ready to forgive and not go about fomenting and in bitterness over a wrong done to us. Second, it teaches that we should be ready on the spot to forgive the person who asks our forgiveness. We should not have to say, “give me twenty-four hours to think about it.” For Jesus sake and in obedience to His Lordship in this verse, we should say without a second though, “My brother/sister, you are forgiven. It is in the past never to be considered again.” This is how the Lord forgives us.
It is wrong for the believer to be in bitterness over a wrong done him. It is wrong to take the matter in our own hands to get even for the wrong done. Paul says in Romans 12:19, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” The Christian should trust the Lord to settle the wrong in the other if he never asks forgiveness. It is not ours as His children to hold grudges. Neither is it right for someone to say you are to treat that person who obviously did wrong as though he did no wrong without asking for forgiveness. I have had people do me and the Lord’s work wrong. I continue to love the people who did it. Am I going to trust them and work with them in a close relationship? Not at all. Until they see that what they did is wrong, they will do it again. I’m not going to let it happen again if I can help it. Again, I would be disobedient and wrong if I did not stand ready to forgive and completely and unconditionally restore the person who asks.
There are those who teach that to forgive as Christ forgives is to forgive without qualifications. They are being intellectually dishonest with the Word of God.. You do not need to counsel a young lady who has been saved by God’s grace to forgive a father who molested her as a little girl without genuine repentance and a request for forgiveness on his part. She should relinquish her attitude of revenge and release him to the Lord. But it is not wrong for her to avoid being around him in private or allow her children to be in his presence alone. ARE YOU READING THESE LINES? That person has been so damaged by this awful sin to tell them that they are to forgive without the person asking for forgiveness is further damage that persons walk with the Lord. You are asking a person to trust another who has not changed his mind about the wrong he did. Let’s not be saying the Bible is saying what it is NOT saying.
I thought I would get to the last garment in the meditation but I will wait until next time.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
