Colossians 4:9 · World English Bible
Colossians 4:9 Meaning Together with Onesimus
together with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will make known to you everything that is going on here.
What does Colossians 4:9 mean?
A man carried away in the flesh cannot lecture anyone into mastery, and this greeting quietly admits it: the writer, who confesses he does the very sins he hates, still gathers only men around him and calls them his beloved, his boys. His circle is a circle of males because the teaching runs through the male line of thought, mind fathering thought fathering deed, and never once turns to address the woman.
From the Esoteric reading below.
Colossians 4:9 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
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Esoteric
A man carried away in the flesh cannot lecture anyone into mastery, and this greeting quietly admits it: the writer, who confesses he does the very sins he hates, still gathers only men around him and calls them his beloved, his boys. His circle is a circle of males because the teaching runs through the male line of thought, mind fathering thought fathering deed, and never once turns to address the woman. Onesimus arrives bearing a name that means useful, a companion sent to carry word of what is happening back home, one carnal man vouching for the honesty of another. The lesson is plain: the men who preach the inner life are still wrestling their own lower nature and lean on each other while they do it.
Damascus: the ceaseless activity of the outward, doing self, the busy left side a person is always working through Onesimus: the useful companion, one part of the fleshly self pressed into service to report the truth
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Live Colossians 4:9 today
- Admit one thing you keep failing at, just to yourself, without the usual excuse attached. Being useful to anyone starts with being honest about where you actually stand.
- Text one person who knows your weak spots and ask how they are really doing. Let it be two people in the same boat, not advice from the shore.
- When you want to correct someone today, say "I do this too" first if it is true. Pressure makes us preach, and that single sentence takes the podium away.
Who are you still trying to teach something you have not managed yourself?
The same truth in other traditions
Zen
The teacher sweeps the floor like everyone else. Nobody stands above the work, and the one who claims to has stepped out of it.
Judaism · Pirkei Avot
Get yourself a friend. The path is not walked alone, and the person beside you keeps you honest in ways your own mind cannot.
Stoicism · Seneca
I am not a wise man handing down cures. I am a patient in the same ward, telling you what has helped me so far.
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