• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Bible Reflection Walking worthy

Walking worthy

Posted on December 30, 2013 Written by Mark McIntyre 4 Comments


Walking worthyAt the outset of this post, I must offer the caveat that what I have heard and what I was taught may be two different things. The Christianity that I have ingested in my church experience may not be what was intended by those who were teaching.

I have often heard part of Colossians 1:10 quoted where it says, “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.” When quoted, the emphasis was on the Christian behaving in a “Christian” manner.  The test being external conformity to a standard of behavior for the purpose of keeping rules and looking good.

To understand what Paul intended by this phrase, we must look at the context of this saying to get the full meaning.

In the preceding verse, Paul writes:

“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,” (Colossians 1:9, ESV)

From the context, we see that “walking worthy” is a result of spiritual wisdom and spiritual understanding. But this is not the only result. As I read it there are eight results that all work together and can be found in verses 10-12:

  1. We walk worthy of the Lord (Col 1:10)
  2. We become pleasing to God (Col 1:10)
  3. We bear fruit in every good work (Col 1:10)
  4. We increase in the knowledge of God (Col 1:10)
  5. We are strengthened with all power (Col 1:11)
  6. We have endurance and patience with joy (Col 1:11)
  7. We give thanks to the Father (Col 1:12)
  8. We share in the inheritance of the saints (Col 1:12)

Like the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, these traits should all be operational, we cannot pick out just one of the results and emphasize it to the exclusion of others. If you are going to encourage someone to “walk worthy” you must also encourage them toward the other items on this list.

If you look at the list, many of the results are primarily internal. Endurance and patience are internal rather than external traits. While the absence of patience can sometimes be detected in another, the presence of it is more difficult to assess.

The point is that any external manifestation of the spiritual wisdom and spiritual understanding should be evidence of an internal reality that makes the external manifestation a true one. We can’t fake it until we make it. The passage in no way encourages us to merely external conformity to a set of rules or a standard of behavior. It is internal transformation that is pointed to as the result.

Without this internal transformation, Christianity is reduced to another form of behavioral modification. While changing the external behavior may have positive benefits, without the internal change, the benefit is temporary and will not bring about the change that the Apostle Paul desires.

So, it is not wrong to encourage someone to “walk worthy of the Lord” as long as we understand that the “worthy” is determined by God and is gauged by the internal and not the external reality. This verse is not a club to be used to bash people into conformity to a list of do’s and don’ts. It is not to be wielded in this way to squelch behaviors that make us feel uncomfortable.

We need to create church environments where it is OK for the outside of a man to reflect what is going on in the inside. We are all a mess and Jesus is in the process of making us less messy. But we should not subvert God’s cleanup process by forcing our self or others into a disingenuous external conformity.


Filed Under: Bible Reflection

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

Machen on the Emergent Church

A book by J Gresham Machen found at a thrift store provides some insight into the Emergent Church movement. A quotation from the book and some additional commentary are provided.

Your Story Context

Context, back-story and knowing God

A hip hop lyric illustrates the need for context in relationships. This is as true of our relationship with God as it is in human relationships.

Humility Title

On the sin of presumption

In the midst of recommendations by health organizations and governmental bodies against assembling groups of people, some churches have continued to gather for Sunday worship. This seemed wrong to me and irritated me but until this morning, I couldn’t articulate a reason for my irritation.

A lesson learned about puppies and prayer

While waiting for our puppy to settle in her crate, I learned that rather than getting impatient, I should take the time for prayer.

Shepherd with Sheep

How well do you shepherd your flock?

All of the items in the list above are related to the second great command to love my neighbor. A list like this is helpful because it reminds me that to love my neighbor, I have to get to know him and know what is going on in his life.

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
January 2023
SMTWTFS
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031 
« Dec    

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2023 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in