Colossians 3:2

Set your affection&c. Not "affections," but "affection," affectus, the tendency, bias, of the mind. More lit., "thinkthe things &c."; in the sense not of articulate thought but rather of character, as we call a man thoughtful, high-thoughted, and the like. R.V., well, Set your mind &c. Latin Versions, sapite, Luther, Trachtet nach dem, was droben ist. The verb, phronein, appears (itself or its cognates) e.g. Matthew 16:23; Romans 8:5; Philippians 2:5; Philippians 3:19 (the exact antithesis to this passage).

Grace only can fix the "affection" heavenward; but the Christian, none the less, is to use thought and will in the matter.

things on the earth Lit. and better, the things, &c. Cp. Philippians 3:19. The special reference is to earth as the scene of temptation, the field of conflict with "the flesh." And the Christian is warned never to meet this conflict in a spirit secretly sympathetic with the foe because conversant only with the interests and expedients of things present and visible. The man who was absorbed in "earthly" care, or pleasure, andthe man who understood no heavenly secrets of moral victory, but used only "earthly" expedients (" touch not, taste not, &c."), would alike be "setting the mind on earthly things." See further on Colossians 3:5. Nothing in these words bids us shut our eyes to the riches of creation, or regard the charm of human affection as in itself evil. The precept is to be read in its context; it forbids an "earthly" programme for the aims and the means of the Christian life.