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.
for ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God.
Paul does not tell the Colossians to die; he tells them that they already have. This verse gives the reason behind the call to seek the things above, and it raises two questions: how is a living believer dead, and where is his life now?
The first half of the verse states a fact, not a task. No effort of ours can produce it.
The reason for this is found in our position: we have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in God. It does not say, "we must die." Man cannot do this by his will: we cannot deny will by will. Nor would the will of the flesh ever do it. If it acts, it does not give up its place. We have died: this is the precious, comforting truth about the Christian, because Christ died for him. He has received the life of Christ, and all that Christ did for him in that life belongs to him. The life that the power of temptation, guilt, and the attacks of sin belong to no longer exists for faith.
Several passages speak of the believer's death with Christ. They do not all say it the same way.
Colossians 3:3 states the teaching with the authority and truth of God: "You have died." Faith counts on it in Romans 6:11: "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin." 2 Corinthians 4:10 shows it worked out in daily life. So we are dead to sin, to the law, and to the world. We are crucified with Christ, counted dead according to the word of God, and counting ourselves dead.
The life is hidden for a reason found in Christ Himself.
Christ is this life. He is hidden in God, and the world does not see Him until the day of His appearing. So our life is a hidden one by its nature... This life takes its character from Him who is the soul of it. A world that has rejected the Son of God, and found no glory in the Lord of glory, cannot know it... But that is no denial of its being in us here — it implies the very opposite. It is our possession of it that gives us this character.
So who is this life hidden from?
Hidden from the men of this world. It is not hidden from us, for it says "your life."
The source stays out of sight. What it produces should not.
The world cannot see the source of the Christian's life. It cannot see the One the Christian lives for. But the world should be able to see "Christ in you."
Commentators differ here. Frederick Grant read the verse as being about the hidden character of the life, not about safety. Others read the hiding place itself as the guarantee.
Your life is hidden with Christ in God, and therefore you cannot be robbed of it. Our Lord treats us as fathers treat their small children. They put jewels above the reach of small arms. Otherwise the children would reach up, take them down, and soon lose them. Our Lord has done the same with our spiritual life. Jesus Christ is the high chest in which our Lord has hidden our life... So long as this life is not harmed, all other troubles are only knocks on the heel.
The death is already true. So the believer's daily work is not dying but killing off what belongs to the old life.
The moment I believe in Jesus, I am called to count myself dead. I am never told to die, but I am told to put to death my members that are on the earth. A man under the law will try to die with all his might, but he will never succeed. A Christian has died, and his life is hidden with Christ in God. So he puts to death his members on the earth, living in the power of the life he has in the Son of God.
The verse speaks of life, not of the church as one body.
Here he does not speak of the church when it comes to our position... He speaks of us individually. Each one truly has his own life in Christ, but as his own; this is not our union with other Christians. It is the individual character of the Christian, to whom Christ, the Head, is everything.
- Died — the death is God's verdict already passed, not a target to reach; no act of will can produce it.
- Given — the new life is Christ Himself, and each believer holds it as his own.
- Hidden — it is out of sight because He is out of sight; the world that missed the glory of Christ will miss it in us too.
- Kept — hidden in God, the life sits where no one can reach up and take it down; commentators differ on how far that means safety.
- Shown — that hidden life gives power to put earthly members to death now, so the world can see Christ in a walk it cannot explain.