Overcoming Attachment to Earthly Life

Christian teaching on overcoming attachment to earthly life rests on the conviction that believers have been united to Christ in his death and resurrection. Paul writes in Colossians 3:1-2, "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." This passage establishes the theological foundation: baptism into Christ effects a transfer of citizenship, so that the believer's true life is now "hidden with Christ in God" ^[13]. The imperative to seek heavenly things follows from the indicative of union with the risen Lord.

The Biblical Foundation for Detachment

The New Testament consistently contrasts the present age with the age to come. Paul tells the Corinthians, "While we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:6), a text that frames earthly existence as a kind of exile from the believer's true home ^[3]. This does not imply that physical life is evil in itself, but rather that it is provisional and penultimate. The earthly is to be "despised and trampled under foot" only when compared with the heavenly life, not as an object of hatred in its own right ^[3]. The distinction is crucial: Christians are called to relativize earthly goods, not to despise creation as such.

Colossians 3:2 commands believers to "set your affections on things above," which one Reformed commentator explains as minding them, thinking on them, favoring and approving of them, being affectionately desirous of them ^[11]. The language is comprehensive: it involves the intellect, the will, and the emotions. Where the treasure is, there the heart should be, and since the saints' best things are above, their minds and affections should be there likewise ^[11]. This reorientation of desire is not a suppression of longing but a redirection of it toward its proper object.

The Contemplative Tradition and the Vision of God

The patristic and scholastic traditions developed a theology of contemplation that pressed this detachment to its limit. Augustine argued that "no one seeing God lives this mortal life wherein the bodily senses have their play," and that unless a person departs this life in some way—"whether by going altogether out of his body, or by withdrawing from his carnal senses"—he cannot be caught up into the vision of God ^[2]. Aquinas cites this passage in his discussion of whether the contemplative life can reach the vision of the divine essence in the present state, concluding that such vision requires a departure from ordinary bodily existence ^[2].

This does not mean that contemplation is impossible in this life, but that its highest form—the beatific vision—awaits the resurrection. Augustine elsewhere insists that anyone who thinks he can "dispel and clear off every obscurity induced by corporeal and carnal fancies, and attain to the serenest light of changeless truth, and cleave constantly and unswervingly to that with a mind thoroughly estranged from the course of this present life" understands neither what he asks nor who he is ^[6]. The language is sharp: such a person should accept the authority of Scripture rather than trust his own speculation. The point is not that the mind cannot be lifted toward God, but that complete estrangement from earthly life is not achievable by human effort in the body.

The Reformed Emphasis on Meditation on the Future Life

Calvin devotes an entire chapter of the Institutes to "meditating on the future life," arguing that the principal use of the cross is to accustom believers to despise the present and excite them to aspire to the future life ^[4]. This meditation is not morbid but realistic: it acknowledges that earthly life, when compared with heavenly life, "may undoubtedly be despised and trampled under foot" ^[3]. Yet Calvin immediately qualifies this: "We ought never, indeed, to regard it with hatred, except in so far as it keeps us subject to sin; and even this hatred ought not to be directed against life itself" ^[3]. The body is a prison only insofar as it is the site of temptation and mortality, not because materiality is inherently evil.

Calvin's pastoral concern is to steer between two extremes: excessive austerity and carnal intemperance ^[5]. The believer must use the present life and its comforts rightly, neither fleeing them as though they were polluting nor clinging to them as though they were ultimate. In his commentary on Colossians, Calvin notes that Paul places "traditions as to trivial matters in contrast with meditation on the heavenly life," urging believers to "leave off therefore earthly things" ^[1]. The progression is gradual: first, the believer learns to distinguish between what is trivial and what is eternal; then, he learns to order his affections accordingly.

The Patristic Witness on Pilgrimage and Detachment

Early Christian writers frequently employed the language of pilgrimage. Clement of Alexandria describes the soul of the wise man and Gnostic as "sojourning in the body," conducting itself "gravely and respectfully, not with inordinate affections, as about to leave the tabernacle if the time of departure summon" ^[12]. He cites Psalm 39:12: "I am a stranger in the earth, and a sojourner with you," and notes that the elect are "strangers to the world" ^[12]. This is not world-hatred but world-transcendence: the believer lives in the world without being of it.

Augustine, in a letter, speaks of dying "in a gospel sense, by a voluntary departure, withdrawing ourselves, not by death, but by deliberate resolution, from the life of this world" ^[10]. This voluntary departure is a matter of the will, not of the body. It is a daily practice of detachment, a refusal to let earthly goods become ultimate goods. Augustine also critiques pagan philosophers who speak of fleeing to the "beloved fatherland" where the Father is, yet fail to recognize that such flight requires not merely intellectual ascent but the mediation of Christ ^[9]. The blessed life consists in partaking of the supreme good, and this requires not demonic intermediaries but the incarnate Son ^[9].

The Resurrection and the Transformation of the Body

Christian detachment from earthly life is never Gnostic flight from the body. Augustine argues against those who deny the resurrection of the body, insisting that earthly bodies can indeed be transferred to a heavenly habitation ^[7]. The resurrection involves transformation, not annihilation. Augustine uses the analogy of elemental change: earth can become water, water can become air, and so the body can be changed into a glorified state ^[8]. The hope is not escape from embodiment but the redemption of embodiment.

This eschatological hope relativizes present suffering and present pleasure alike. The believer does not cling to earthly life because he knows it is not the final word. Nor does he despise it as though it were worthless, for it is the arena in which he is being prepared for glory. The tension is maintained: the earthly is real but not ultimate, good but not final, to be used but not loved as an end in itself.

Sources

CCEL (Reformed) “Calvin, Commentary on Philippians, Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, section 36.3: are dead to you through the death of Christ, and you to them, in order that, being raised up to heaven with Christ, you may think only of those things that are above. Leave off therefore earthly things.” I shall not contend against others who are of a different mind; but certainly the Apostle appears to me to go on step by step, so that, in the first instance, he places traditions as to trivial matters in contrast with meditation on the heavenly life, and afterwards, as we shall see, goes a step farther. 3. For ye ”
theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part (Secunda Secundae), Of the Contemplative Life, Art. 5: Article: Whether in the present state of life the contemplative life can reach to the vision of the Divine essence? I answer that, As Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. xii, 27), "no one seeing God lives this mortal life wherein the bodily senses have their play: and unless in some way he depart this life, whether by going altogether out of his body, or by withdrawing from his carnal senses, he is not caught up into that vision." This has been carefully discussed above (Question [175], Ar”
CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 64: is the body but a prison? If it is the very summit of happiness to enjoy the presence of God, is it not miserable to want it? But “whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord,” ( 2 Cor. 5:6 ). Thus when the earthly is compared with the heavenly life, it may undoubtedly be despised and trampled under foot. We ought never, indeed, to regard it with hatred, except in so far as it keeps us subject to sin; and even this hatred ought not to be directed against life itself. At all events, we must stand so affected towar”
CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 64: 2025 CHAPTER 9. OF MEDITATING ON THE FUTURE LIFE. The three divisions of this chapter,—I. The principal use of the cross is, that it in various ways accustoms us to despise the present, and excites us to aspire to the future life, sec. 1, 2. II. In withdrawing from the present life we must neither shun it nor feel hatred for it; but desiring the future life, gladly quit the present at the command of our sovereign Master, sec. 3, 4. III. Our infirmity in dreading death described. The correction and safe remedy, sec. 6. Sections . 1.”
CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 65: 2031 CHAPTER 10. HOW TO USE THE PRESENT LIFE, AND THE COMFORTS OF IT. The divisions of this chapter are, I. The necessity and usefulness of this doctrine. Extremes to be avoided, if we would rightly use the present life and its comforts, sec. 1, 2. II. One of these extremes—viz. the intemperance of the flesh—to be carefully avoided. Four methods of doing so described in order, sec. 3-6. Sections . 1. Necessity of this doctrine. Use of the goods of the present life. Extremes to be avoided. 1. Excessive austerity. 2. Carnal intempera”
Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 6: Augustine — Homilies on the Gospels — CHAP. X.--OF THE EVANGELIST JOHN, AND THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN HIM AND THE OTHER THREE. (part 10): it may be possible for a person to dispel and clear off every obscurity induced by corporeal and carnal fancies, and to attain to the serenest light of changeless truth, and to cleave constantly and unswervingly to that with a mind thoroughly estranged from the course of this present life, that man understands neither what he asks, nor who he is that put such a supposition. Let such an individual rather accept the authority, at once lofty and free”
Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 4.--AGAINST THE WISE MEN OF THE WORLD, WHO FANCY THAT THE EARTHLY BODIES OF MEN CANNOT BE TRANSFERRED TO A HEAVENLY HABITATION. (part 1): But men who use their learning and intellectual ability to resist the force of that great authority which, in fulfillment of what was so long before predicted, has converted all races of men to faith and hope in its promises, seem to themselves to argue acutely against the resurrection of the body while they cite what Cicero mentions in the third book De Republica. For when he was asserting the”
Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 3: Augustine — On the Holy Trinity — CHAP. 10.--OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE REMISSION OF SINS, AND THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH. (part 4): is capable of being changed into the sort of nature thus indicated, he must be led on, step by step, to this faith. For if you require of him whether earth is capable of being changed into water, the nearness of the thing will make it not seem incredible to him. Again, if you inquire whether water is capable of being changed into air, he replies that this also is not absurd, for the elements are near each other. And if, on the subject of the air,”
Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 17.--THAT TO OBTAIN THE BLESSED LIFE, WHICH CONSISTS IN PARTAKING OF THE SUPREME GOOD, MAN NEEDS SUCH MEDIATION AS IS FURNISHED NOT BY A DEMON, BUT BY CHRIST ALONE.: I am considerably surprised that such learned men, men who pronounce all material and sensible things to be altogether inferior to those that are spiritual and intelligible, should mention bodily contact in connection with the blessed life. Is that sentiment of Plotinus forgotten?--"We must fly to our beloved fatherland. There is the Father, there our all. What fleet”
Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 1: Augustine — Confessions, Letters — LETTER XCV. (part 2): desire to learn . from me that of which you are either equally ignorant or equally well-informed with myself, or rather, of which you know much more perhaps than I do; for you have said with perfect truth, that before we meet the dissolution of . this mortal body, we must die, in a gospel sense, by a voluntary departure, withdrawing ourselves, not by death, but by deliberate resolution, from the life of this world. This course is a simple one, and is beset with no waves of uncertainty; because we are of opinion that we ought”
Colossians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Colossians 3:2: Set your affections on things above,.... For unless the affections are set on them, they will never be sought after in a proper manner. The word signifies to mind them, and think on them, to favour and approve of them, to be affectionately desirous of them, and concerned for them; for where the treasure is, the heart should be; and as the saints' best things are above, their minds and affections should be there likewise; their contemplation should be on those things, and their conversation should be in heaven; nor should they regard anything but what is there, or c”
Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 2: Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria — CHAP. XXVI.--HOW THE PERFECT MAN TREATS THE BODY AND THE THINGS OF THE WORLD. (part 2): sinful actions are attributed to the worse, the sinful one. Now the soul of the wise man and Gnostic, as sojourning in the body, conducts itself towards it gravely and respectfully, not with inordinate affections, as about to leave the tabernacle if the time of departure summon. "I am a stranger in the earth, and a sojourner with you," it is said.[1] And hence Basilides says, that he apprehends that the election are strangers to the”
Colossians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Colossians 3 (introduction): EXHORTATIONS TO HEAVENLY AIMS, AS OPPOSED TO EARTHLY, ON THE GROUND OF UNION TO THE RISEN SAVIOUR; TO MORTIFY AND PUT OFF THE OLD MAN, AND TO PUT ON THE NEW; IN CHARITY, HUMILITY, WORDS OF EDIFICATION, THANKFULNESS; RELATIVE DUTIES. (Col. 3:1-25) If . . . then--The connection with Col 2:18, Col 2:23, is, he had condemned the "fleshly mind" and the "satiating to the full the flesh"; in contrast to this he now says, "If then ye have been once for all raised up (Greek, aorist tense) together with Christ" (namely, at your conversion and ba”

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