by Frank Viola
Flee from sexual immorality, and honor God with your body (6:18, 20).
The Pattern in Colossians
The truth is …
You are holy and faithful in Christ (1:2).
The Father has qualified you to share in His inheritance. He has rescued you from the dominion of darkness. He has transferred you into the kingdom of Christ. In Christ, you have redemption and the forgiveness of sins (1:12–14).
He is the Head of His body, the church, of which you are a part (1:18).
Once you were enemies alienated from God. Now He has reconciled you by Christ’s death to present you holy and blameless in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation (1:21–22).
Christ is in you, the hope of glory (1:27).
You have received Christ Jesus as your Lord (2:6).
You have been given fullness in Christ. In Him, you were spiritually circumcised and have put off the sinful nature. You were buried with Christ by baptism and have been raised with Him through faith in the power of God who raised Him from the dead (2:10–12).
God made you alive with Christ. He forgave you of your sins. He canceled the written code that was against you and opposed you. He nailed that code to His cross (2:13–14).
You have died with Christ to the basic elements of this world (2:20).
You have been raised with Christ (3:1).
You died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Christ is your life. When He appears, you will appear with Him (3:3–4).
You used to walk in the sinful nature. You have taken off the old self with its practices and put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of your Creator (3:7–10).
You are God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved (3:12).
You are members of one body and are called to peace (3:15).
Because of the above …
Continue to walk in Christ, just as you received Him (2:6).
See to it that no one takes you captive by deceptive philosophy that is not according to Christ (2:8).
Do not let anyone judge you in what you eat or drink or in regard to keeping a religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day (2:16).
Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things (3:1–2).
Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature (3:5).
Rid yourselves of such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language. Do not lie to each other (3:8–9).
Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other, and forgive whatever grievances you have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Put on love. Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. Be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Whatever you do, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God (3:12–17).
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful (4:2).
Let your conversation be always full of grace (4:6).
The Pattern in Ephesians
The truth is …
God has blessed you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. He chose you in Christ before the creation of the world so that you would be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined you to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ. He has freely given you His grace, and you are accepted in His Beloved Son. In Him you have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He has lavished the riches of His grace upon you with all wisdom and understanding (1:3–8).
In Christ, you were chosen and predestined according to His eternal plan. You have been given an inheritance in Him (1:11).
You were included in Christ. You were marked in Him with a seal of the promised Holy Spirit. The Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance. You are God’s possession (1:13–14).
You used to be dead in your trespasses and sins. You used to follow the way of the world and the ruler of the kingdom of darkness (2:1–2).
God, who has a great love for you and who is rich in mercy, made you alive in Christ, even when you were dead in transgressions. You have been saved by grace. God raised you up with Christ and seated you with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to you in Christ Jesus. You have been saved by grace, through faith. It is not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God. Not by works, lest any person should boast. You are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do (2:4–10).
You are now in Christ Jesus. You were once far away, but you have been brought near by the blood of Christ (2:13).
He Himself is your peace (2:14).
Through Christ you have access to the Father by one Spirit (2:18).
You are fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household (2:19).
You are being built together to become a dwelling place in which God lives by His Spirit (2:22).
You are members of one body (4:25).
You are dearly loved children (5:1).
Christ loved you and gave Himself up for you as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (5:2).
You are God’s holy people (5:3).
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord (5:8).
Because of the above …
I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (4:1–3).
You must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. You didn’t come to learn Christ that way. You were taught to put away your old self, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor. In your anger do not sin. He who has been stealing must steal no longer but must work. Do not let any unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for the building up of others according to their needs. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ has forgiven you (4:17, 20–32).
Be imitators of God, and live a life of love (5:1–2).
There must not be sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse jesting among you, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving (5:3–4).
Do not be partners with those who practice these things (5:7).
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them (5:11).
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. Always give thanks to God. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (5:18–21).
Notes
1These biblical-book patterns are organized chronologically—not by order of appearance in the New Testament. Also, Scripture passages in this section are paraphrased.
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank John Blase for the title of this book and Alan Hirsch for giving me the language of “rescripting.” I also owe a debt to my friends Hal Miller, Frank Valdez, and Jon Zens for inspiring some of the content.
About the Author
FRANK VIOLA is a frequent conference speaker and author of numerous books on the deeper Christian life and radical church restoration. His books include the best-selling From Eternity to Here along with Pagan Christianit
y (coauthored with George Barna), Reimagining Church, Finding Organic Church, Jesus Manifesto (coauthored with Leonard Sweet), and The Untold Story of the New Testament Church. Frank’s Web site, www.FrankViola.com, contains many free resources, including audio messages, an interactive blog, a quarterly eNewsletter, articles, and more. Frank and his family live in Gainesville, Florida.