If therefore ye have been raised with the Christ, seek the things [which are] above, where the Christ is, sitting at [the] right hand of God
Colossians 3 turns from teaching to appeal. Believers have been raised with Christ, so what they chase should follow Him to where He now sits. That raises three questions. Is being raised with Christ a fact or a hope? What are "the things that are above"? And how does someone still living on earth seek them?
The opening word can sound like doubt about the reader's standing. Commentators read it as an argument built on what chapter 2 already settled.
In Colossians 2 we are risen, and Colossians 3 begins, "If then you have been raised with Christ." It is the "if" of argument. It introduces the consequences and results that flow from this fact.
Being raised with Christ does not remove a believer from ordinary life. Commentators compare this letter with Ephesians and find a different picture of the same believer.
The believer has both died and risen with Christ. Here he is viewed not as seated in the heavenly places, as in Ephesians (Eph. 2:6), but as still walking on the earth, while Christ is sitting at the right hand of God (v. 1). So His place is where our true blessing lies. We are to seek the things that are above the level on which we walk. He Himself is our true Object and delight. We cannot ignore our relationships here, or the need to provide for our own bodies and families. But these are not to be the chief occupation of our minds.
The phrase is not vague. A Person and a place define it.
Sometimes the question is asked, What are these things? They are all the things that mark out the place where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. They are the whole scene of glory of which He is the centre. And we belong to this place because He is there.
Another writer sets these things against all human schemes, and points to where Christ now sits as God's own guarantee:
Christ on the cross is the clear witness to the failure of all men's schemes. Christ in glory, at the right hand of God, is the sure sign that God will carry out His purpose. The things above are all those things that depend on Christ at the right hand of God, and that God has purposed for the glory of Christ and the blessing of man.
"Seek" is a command with energy in it. It describes the concentration of someone who has made one thing his business.
By these words God challenges His people to search earnestly and diligently for heavenly blessings. He tells them to give their minds to these things. A man who seeks one clear aim in life, and makes that one thing his business, is likely to succeed. The same diligence should mark the Christian as he gives his soul to the things above, where Christ is. "Seek those things" means no weak or half-hearted action, but eager and intense purpose. If the mind is set on these things, the whole life will be formed by the things the mind is set on.
Some picture this pursuit as daydreaming about heaven. One writer answers with a picture of a man who serves his own country's interests while living abroad.
We set our minds on things above, not by sitting back in armchairs and dreaming about what may be in heaven, but by setting our minds above all on Christ, and seeking in everything to advance Heaven's interests. The British ambassador in Paris sets his mind on British things by seeking British interests in French circumstances. He does not do it by sitting down again and again to recall what British scenery looks like. As risen with Christ, then, we are lifted into His heavenly interests and allowed to seek them while still on earth.
- Fact. The verse starts from something already true. Believers have been raised with Christ, and the command rests on that.
- Focus. Christ's seat at God's right hand marks out the things above — the whole scene of glory of which He is the centre.
- Force. "Seek" means eager, intense purpose — the focus of a man who has made one thing his business.
- Field. Believers are risen while still walking on earth. Daily duties remain, but they stop being the chief occupation of the mind.
- Form. Seeking looks like an ambassador serving his own country's interests abroad, not like dreaming about heaven from an armchair.
have your mind on the things [that are] above, not on the things [that are] on the earth;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.