COLOSSIANS 3:1-11 C h a p t e r III verse 1. We come to a second (2:20) relationship we have to the Lord: “since therefore you are raised with Christ” (2:12). “Therefore” implies that he has asked the question, “Are you raised with Christ?” and received an em phatic “Yes!” for an answer. Did you ever stop to think what it is to be raised with Him? First, we must be dead to the world, to other re ligions, and most of all to self. Then we walk in newness of divine life. Just as death and sin had no hold on Christ after the resurrection, they should have none on us (Rom. 6:6- 13). Beyond that we are somehow already in the heavenlies (Eph. 2 :6). On the basis of our being raised with Him, Paul commands “seek the things” [which are] above.” “Life on a higher plane” is neither auto matic nor easy. I t requires constant eifort to find and fulfill. Kerr declares: “Satan is the prince of the power of the air and his realm is above us. Yet it is not there we are to seek, but rather where Christ is seated on the right hand of God. The highest honor and dignity a potentate can bestow is the right to sit beside him (Matt. 20:20, 21; 26:64). There are many passages that refer to our Lord’s position be side God. However, the idea is figura tive and speaks of exalted position, of extensive power. God does not have a body nor does He sit on a material throne (John 4:24).” Verse 2. Paul here develops fu r ther the command given in verse 1. “Set your mind” differs from “seek” in that it implies a permanent atti tude. After we discover what God has for us, we are to keep it before us as our goal and desire. “On things above and not on things on earth.” Paul demands that we choose one or
by Lloyd T. Anderson
the other; we cannot have both (Matt. 6:24; Josh. 24:14, 15). There is no neutral position: mere friend ship with the world is hostility to ward God (James 4 :4). Adam and the Adamic nature symbolize that which is earthy; Christ, the last Adam, symbolizes the heavenly (I Cor. 15:45-49). On what are you to fix your mind and heart? F irst of all, on God and man (Matt. 22:37- 39); secondly, His program for your life (1:9; Eph. 4 :1 ); good works (Eph. 2 :10 ); righteousness (1:22; Rom. 6:18). (For particular things see also Col. 1:10-12; 3:10, 12-14.) Circumstances should not bother us (Phil. 4:11-13; Rom. 8:28). Neither should affections for people or places keep us from following Him. Verse 3. Why should we shut our eyes, ears, and hearts to the world? “For you are dead.” The death spok en of here is not physical death. Nor is it departure from God (2:13). Rather, it is the same mentioned in 2:20. Death is separation; in this case, separation from the world and its evil. Even more it is the turning of our backs to our pre-Christian ways of living (w . 7, 8). The tense of the verb marks this as a constant condition.. “And your life is hid with Christ in God.” What life? Certainly not that of our body or soul. It is our spiritual relationship to God and the outworking of His will in us. Christ is our life (v. 4) and we are to live as He would live (I John 2 :6 ). The ideal, our status, is on file in Heaven. At the judgment seat of Christ “what we are” will be compared with “what we could have been.” The verb “hid” is not used in the sense of something that can’t be found or seen. Rather, it means that in Him our life is secure (2 :3). Nothing can
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