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.
When the Christ is manifested who [is] our life, then shall *ye* also be manifested with him in glory.
Verse 3 has just said the believer's life is hidden with Christ in God. Verse 4 gives the end of that hiding: Christ will appear, and His life in us is why we will appear too.
The verse does not say Christ gives life; it names Him as the life itself. One writer notes how strong the language is:
"Our life is hidden with Christ in God; and when Christ who is our life shall appear," and so on. Here Christ is spoken of as being our life. So we are said to "dwell in Him, and He in us" — the strongest expressions there could be. But this is just what makes the difference with Christ, and shows that the life is not something we have in ourselves. He is our life. He dwells in us.
Because that life belongs to a risen Christ, death cannot touch it:
A risen Christ is our life, and He is beyond death. So we have resurrection-life — a life that lives beyond death's reach. It is not a prolonged natural life, but spiritual life; not life for a time, but forever — eternal life.
The commentators quote an older translation with "our life"; the ESV reads "your life."
Verses 3 and 4 form a pair: hidden now, seen later. Where Christ is, our life is — and He is out of the world's sight.
Right now Christ is not on display here; He is hidden in God. He is our life, and so all the hidden springs of our life are hidden with Him in God. The day is coming when He will appear, and then we shall appear with Him in glory. It will be quite clear in that day where our real life is found.
This answered the Colossians' problem. They wanted to add something to Christ, and the Apostle points them to what is hidden instead:
The theory was to add what they could to Christ. The aim was to increase the saints' blessing and security, and to make a present display to His glory. The Apostle shows them that their life is hidden with Christ in God. So, though they have the most perfect security, it is in keeping with Christ's place — hidden, and not displayed yet.
The certainty rests on the link between the two halves of the verse. If the life is His, He cannot appear without those who share it:
What assurance and confidence this inspired language gives! Could anyone say it more definitely? … And how could it be any other way? If Christ, who is in the glory, is our life, how could He appear in glory without us? There is no such thought in His loving heart. We know from His own words that He wants us with Him where He is.
Commentators separate two moments: Christ taking believers to Himself, and Christ appearing in glory. We come with Him only because we have already gone to Him.
But our life will certainly be displayed in the future. When Christ appears, we also shall appear with Him, and in glory, no longer in circumstances of weakness and trial. First we will have been taken up to be with Him at the Rapture. Only then can we come with Him on the day He appears.
The Lord's own prayer stands behind this, and the world is the audience:
The Lord Himself refers to this when He says, "The glory that you have given me I have given to them … so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." (John 17:22-23.) The world will then know, because it will see Christ revealed in glory, and the saints displayed in the same glory with Himself.
Verse 5 begins with a "therefore." The glory to come is not just information. It presses on life today.
Because you are dead, because you have this new life, even Christ, and so are dead and risen with Him — put to death what is earthly in you.
There is another side to it:
Then comes the other side, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you." Life there and my old life here cannot go on together.
- A Person, not a thing. Christ Himself is the life — it is not something rooted in us apart from Him.
- Hidden with Him. Because He is out of sight in God, the true springs of the Christian's life are out of sight too.
- Certain with Him. Since He is our life, He cannot be displayed without us; the hope rests on Him, not on our progress.
- Glorified like Him. We are taken to Him first, then come out in the very glory the Father gave Him, and the world will see it.
- Living now for then. The "therefore" of verse 5 follows straight on: the coming display is why the old life on earth is put to death today.