Nan Kolosyen 3:12-14, Pòl te ekri sou sa Bondye te chwazi yo ta dwe mete sou li. Pòl te ekri, mete sou Se poutèt sa, kòm Bondye chwazi yo, sen ak renmen anpil, zantray mizèrikòd, jantiyès, imilite nan lespri, dousè, pasyans; Tolere youn lòt, epi youn padone lòt, si yon moun gen yon diskisyon kont nenpòt moun: menm jan Kris la te padonnen nou, Se konsa nou menm tou. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Kisa sa vle di?
The new man represents the Kingdom of God on earth
If you believe in Jesus Christ and have been born again in Christ, you have been transferred from the darkness into the light and you no longer belong to the world, but the Kingdom of God. You have become the new man; born of God and your love doesn’t go out to yourself and the world anymore, but to God and the Kingdom of Heaven (nan. Jan 3:5; 12:36, Efezyen yo 4:17-24; 5:8-10, Kolosyen 1:12-14; 3:1-4, 1 Jan 5:4-5).
Kòm yon pitit gason Bondye (sa a aplike a tou de gason ak fi) and a citizen of the Kingdom of God, kote Jezi se Wa epi li wa, you shall represent this Kingdom on earth.
You have been appointed by God as an ambassador of His Kingdom and shall represent the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that is written upon your new heart by the Holy Spirit, Ki moun ki rete nan ou.
Your nature has changed through regeneration in Christ and therefore you shall no longer live as the old man (òm tonbe) and walk and react as a disobedient child, who has the devil as father and belongs to the world.
You shall put off the old man and his deeds and put on the new man, who is renewed in the knowledge of Him that created him. You shall walk as an obedient child, who is reconciled with God through Jesus Christ and has God as Father and belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven.
What should the elect of God put on?
Mete sou Se poutèt sa, kòm Bondye chwazi yo, sen ak renmen anpil, zantray mizèrikòd, jantiyès, imilite nan lespri, dousè, pasyans (Kolosyen 3:12)
As the elect of God, sen ak renmen anpil, you shall put on the new man and walk worthy of the Lord and clothe yourself with
- Bowels of mercies (compassions, tender mercy, inward affection, ak pitye)
- Kindness (usefulness, that is moral excellence (in character and demeanor), dousè, moral goodness integrity)
- Humbleness of mind (modesty, humility of mind, lowliness (of mind))
- Dous (dousè, by implication humility)
- Pasyans (forbearance, kouraj: pasyans, pasyans)*
These characteristics are part of the fruit of the Spirit and show that you are born of God and belong to Him. Because just as God is full of compassion, gen pitye, jantiyès, dou, and longsuffering, so should his sons be and walk in it (nan. Galat 5:22, Efezyen yo 4:1-3; 5:8-9)
Forbear and forgive one another
Tolere youn lòt, epi youn padone lòt, si yon moun gen yon diskisyon kont nenpòt moun: menm jan Kris la te padonnen nou, Se konsa nou menm tou (Kolosyen 3:13)
The saints in Christ shall forbear one another, despite the fact that everyone is different.
It happens quite often that brothers and sisters in the church can’t go along with each other and are angry with each other and live in unforgiveness.
But Paul commanded the saints to be patient and forbear one another and to forgive one another, if any man has a quarrel against any.
When someone disappoints you, treats you wrongly, or says or does something that might offend or hurt you, you shall forgive the person, just like your Father from Whom you are born, and just like Christ, Who has forgiven you, when you repented and asked forgiveness (nan. Egzekite 34:6-7, Nimewo 14:18, Sòm 86:5; 103:2-3, Women 3:24-26, Efezyen yo 1:7; 4:32, Kolosyen 2:13, 1 Jan 1:9).
You shall not be led by unforgiveness, anmè, ak rayi, but you shall forgive and let go, so that you will be let go off (Li tou: Ki sa ki sekrè a nan padon?).
Put on charity (renmen), which is the bond of perfectness
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. (Kolosyen 3:14)
And above all these things, you shall put on charity (renmen) which is the bond of perfectness (moral and spiritual maturity). It is the binding factor that keeps everything together (konplete) both ‘the members’ of the new man as the members of the Church.
The Bible doesn’t refer to the love of the world, which is a selfish and humanistic love, wherein the people are the center and wherein the disobedient children of the darkness walk in and whereby the works of darkness are accepted.
But the Bible refers to God’s love, which is produced in the heart of every born-again believer, who belongs to God and is completely devoted to God.
The love of God is a self-denying and (self-) sacrificial love, which sacrifices everything, including ‘self’ for the sake of Jesus Christ; Pawòl vivan an, and the beloved Son of God.
This love loves God above all and everyone and yields to God and His Word and obeys the words and commandments of God and Jesus Christ and is the highest authority in the lives of those, ki fèt nan Bondye e ki fè pati li.
This love is a fruit of the Spirit and loves righteousness and hates sin and iniquity and therefore this love shall never approve of sin.
If you walk in love, you shall submit to God and you shall obey His words and commandments and walk in righteousness after His will, whereby you shall prove that you really love Him and are in Him and abide in His love and that the Father and the Son by the Holy Spirit abide in you.
Si nou renmen mwen, kenbe kòmandman mwen yo. Epi m ap priye Papa a, L'a ban nou yon lòt Konsolatè, pou l' ka rete avèk nou pou tout tan; Menm Lespri verite a; moun lemonn pa ka resevwa, paske li pa wè li, ni pa konnen li: men nou konnen li; paske li rete avèk nou, epi yo pral nan ou (Jan 14:15-17)
Jezi reponn li, Si yon moun renmen mwen, l'ap kenbe pawòl mwen yo: e Papa m ap renmen l, epi nou pral vin jwenn li, epi fè nou rete avèk li (Jan 14:23)
Menm jan Papa a renmen mwen, se konsa mwen renmen ou: kontinye nan lanmou mwen. Si nou kenbe kòmandman mwen yo, n'a rete nan lanmou mwen; menm jan mwen te obeyi kòmandman Papa m yo, epi rete nan lanmou li (Jan 15:9-10)
O Papa dwat, lemonn pa konnen ou: men mwen konnen ou, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. Epi mwen te fè yo konnen non ou, epi yo pral deklare li: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, e mwen nan yo (Jan 17:25-26)
Loving your neighbour
Out of God’s love, which is poured out in your heart and wherewith you love God, you shall love your neighbour. This doesn’t mean that you become a wishy-washy and tolerate and approve all things, menm peche, which is walking in rebellion and disobedience to God and His Word in unbelief.
Okontrè, if you genuinely love your neighbour, you shall speak the truth of God and call your neighbour to repentance and to remove sin. Because you know that the works of the flesh are evil and reap corruption, leading to hell and the second death in the eternal lake of fire and not eternal life.
But loving your neighbour means, that you don’t lie to your neigbour, you don’t cheat on your neighbour, you don’t hurt your neigbour, you don’t commit fornication, you don’t commit adultery, you don’t covet your neighbour’s possession, you don’t steal from your neighbour, you shall not be jaleous and shall not envy your neighbour, you shall not hate and shall not kill your neighbour, ak sou sa (Li tou: Kisa sa vle di renmen vwazen ou tankou tèt ou? epi How do you establish the law?)
The elect of God, sen ak renmen anpil, walk in God’s love
The elect of God, sen ak renmen anpil, belong to God and walk in the righteous love of God, and not in the love of the world, and overcome evil by doing good.
Menm jan ak Jezikri, Who was full of the Holy Ghost and walked in obedience to God and overcame evil by doing good (although the good Jesus did was not always regarded by the world as good but as evil), and despite the persecutions continued to preach the Kingdom of God and the call to repentance and exposed and destroyed the works of darkness, culminating in the crucifixion and resurrection from the dead, with which Jesus conquered the devil and death and showed God His love for man once and for all
‘Fè sèl latè a’
*Konkòdans solid, Vine’s Expository Dictionary, Thayer
