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.