What does it mean to be “heavenly minded”? The negative stereotype is of a person whose head is in the clouds. Their hope is so fixed on the world to come that they are useless in this present world. I would say that today, we move too far in the opposite direction. We lean away from heaven and concentrate on the world. We are activists who would rather work than wait.

Heavenly-mindedness is, first of all, a way of thinking about ourselves in terms of our relation to Christ and the world. It assumes that a fundamental change in our spiritual condition has occurred. Our inclusion in the resurrection of Christ means that we have moved from death to life. We have been “raised with Christ” (v. 1). Paul is not talking about the believer’s bodily resurrection, which is still in the future but about our inclusion in the resurrection of Christ. When the apostle urges believers to set their minds on things above, he is not telling them to fantasize about heavenly life by dwelling on streets of gold and a “mansion just over the hilltop.” He is describing a mindfulness that begins with understanding Christ’s victorious position and its power to transform us (vv. 7–10).

To be heavenly minded is to live in a way that demonstrates the earthly effects of heavenly reality. But Paul’s assertion is more than a general exhortation to “be good.” It is a call to engage in an ongoing struggle with sin on this side of eternity. The sinful actions Paul lists have no place in the heavenly sphere. But willpower and discipline alone are not enough to defeat them. The cross is their only remedy because it has been made effective by the vindication of Christ’s resurrection and ascension.

When a reporter from the New York Journal contacted Mark Twain to find out whether rumors that he was seriously ill or perhaps even dead were true, Mark Twain told him that the rumors had confused him with his cousin who had been ill in London and had recovered. “The report of my illness grew out of his illness,” Twain explained. “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”

The opposite is often the case with legalistic spiritual systems. They assume there is spiritual life in those who are actually dead in sins. This was the spiritual condition of the Colossians when the gospel came to them. “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ,” Paul reminds them in verses 13–14. “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

Because Christ took upon Himself the penalty for our sins, we are not bound by any custom, observance, or regulation that claims to make us right with God. Even the regulations in the Law of Moses were only “a shadow of the things that were to come,” while the reality “is found in Christ” (v. 17). The appeal of many of these legalistic systems is that they offer the appearance of holiness with the rigor of their demands. But in reality, they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence (v. 23).

When Paul tells us not to let anyone judge us in such matters, he means that we should not let them impose their practices and standards on us. For the Colossians, these were regulations about food, festivals, and observances. Righteousness is not earned by obeying rules.

When I was a professor, I sometimes assured my students that there were no stupid questions. I did find, however, that there are other kinds. Some questions are annoying. Others are disingenuous. Many are ill-informed. In verse 35, Paul raises two questions posed by some of the Corinthians that he calls foolish: “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” To modern readers, these questions seem reasonable. Why would Paul call them foolish?

Paul deemed such questions to be foolish because they cast doubt on God’s power and ability. The evidence for what God can do is found in what God has already done. In verses 38–44, the apostle focuses on several analogies that point to creation for evidence that bodily resurrection is possible. How are the dead raised? They are raised by God’s power. Just as the first bodies were God’s creation, the resurrected body will be a new creation. What kind of body will it be? The resurrection body will be incorruptible. The form of the plant is unlike the seed from which it springs (v. 37). God designed animals, birds, and fish, each with a body “as he has determined” (vv. 38–39; compare with Gen. 1:21). He also made the heavenly bodies different from one another. A star differs from a planet, and a comet from a star. Even those celestial bodies that are similar do not all shine with the same splendor (vv. 40–41).

Those who are in Christ will have what Paul describes as “a spiritual body” (v. 44). He does not mean that it is immaterial. Instead, it will be a body created after the fashion of “the last Adam, a life-giving spirit” (v. 45). We do not need to have all our questions answered. It is enough to know that the believer’s destiny is to be like Christ (1 John 3:2).

Sometimes, the best way to reveal the flaw in another person’s reasoning is to show how inconsistent it is. Often, these inconsistencies surface when we examine the difference between what people say and what they do.

This may help us understand the apostle’s puzzling reference to baptism for the dead in verse 29. In this section, Paul is showing the Corinthians what is implied by what they say they believe. In verse 29, he shifts the focus on what they do. He does not necessarily endorse the kind of baptism mentioned here. Rather, his aim is to demonstrate how this practice assumed the reality of resurrection. Although the phrase “for the dead” is somewhat ambiguous, Paul appears to distance himself from such baptisms by describing them as something that others do. “Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead?” he asks. “If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?” Whatever purpose the Corinthians thought such a rite might serve, it didn’t make any sense if there was no such thing as resurrection.

Paul appealed to his own example as evidence for the hope of resurrection. The certainty of life beyond this life gave Paul the courage to face death. The mention of “wild beasts in Ephesus” is probably figurative (v. 32). The threat to Paul in Ephesus did not come from animals in the arena but from human opponents. Sometime after Paul wrote these words, his ministry caused a riot in Ephesus (Acts 19:23–41). But such threats were not unusual. As Paul put it, “I face death every day” (v. 31). Even today, there are many places in the world where Christians face similar opposition. The assurance of bodily resurrection gives them the courage to face death no matter the cause.

Today, people refer to “canceling” as a way of expressing their disapproval of something or someone in a public forum. People cancel others to try to stop the spread of objectionable ideas. And those who have been canceled see it as the suppression of their right to speak freely.

Followers of Christ have always faced pressure from those who disapprove of aspects of the gospel message. In Corinth, this disapproval was aimed at the gospel’s emphasis on bodily resurrection, which seemed incompatible with a dualistic philosophy that saw the material world as being incompatible with the spiritual. Such scorn caused some Corinthians to suppress the unpopular aspects of the gospel they had received from Paul. One result was their assertion that there was no bodily resurrection (v. 12).

Paul’s method of dealing with this error was to start with their premise and explain what it would mean if that were actually true. He does this with a series of “if…then” assertions which show that once the foundation of the bodily resurrection of Christ is removed, the hope of the gospel collapses entirely (vv. 13–19). Without the resurrection, faith in Christ is “useless” (v. 14). Apostolic authority for the gospel is eliminated (v. 15). If Christ did not rise “you are still in your sins,” and those “who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost” (vv. 18–19). Paul summarizes with this blunt conclusion in verse 19: “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” The good news is that Jesus “has indeed been raised from the dead” (v. 20). We are now waiting for the full effect of the victory Christ has already achieved to become a reality (vv. 22–28).