John Calvin Commentary Colossians 3:2

"Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth." — Colossians 3:2 (ASV)

Not the things that are on earth. He does not mean, as he does a little afterwards, depraved appetites, which reign in earthly people, nor even riches, or fields, or houses, nor any other things of the present life, which we must use, as though we did not use them (1 Corinthians 7:30–31).

Instead, he is still continuing his discussion concerning ceremonies, which he describes as entanglements that constrain us to crawl on the ground. “Christ,” he says, “calls us upward to Himself, while these draw us downward.”

For this is the conclusion and explanation of what he had previously mentioned concerning the abolition of ceremonies through the death of Christ. “The ceremonies are dead to you through the death of Christ, and you to them, so that, being raised up to heaven with Christ, you may think only of those things that are above. Therefore, leave earthly things behind.”

I will not contend with others who hold a different view; but certainly, the Apostle appears to me to proceed step by step. Initially, he places traditions concerning trivial matters in contrast with meditation on the heavenly life, and afterwards, as we will see, he goes a step further.