“Put to death therefore . . .” (Colossians 3:5a)

“Put to death” – a simple, succinct imperative.  It is a command.  But think about it.  Reflect upon what the Apostle is demanding.  Contemplate the course of action God has obligated you to!

The word it not complicated.  Its meaning is not nuanced, graded or hinted at.  It means simply “put to death” or “kill.”

May I ask: Have you ever killed anything?  Have you ever put anything to death?

Understand: the command is not to subdue something.  You are not ordered to corral something.  You are not asked to corner, suppress, restrain or control something.  You are ordered, by God, to KILL something.  You must end its existence.

Again I ask: Have you ever done this with anything before?  Is there any precedent in your experience for this kind of ruthless, steely-eyed, calculated, cold-blooded course of action?

Can you do it?  Do you have it in you?  Can you look it full-faced, in the eye and watch the life drain from its features, death envelop its being, and all hope vanish from its eyes as you keep your hands locked in a vice-grip around its throat?

What Paul asks of you builds logically (“therefore) upon what he has said in verses 1-4.  In view of what he is obligating you to, perhaps it would be well to go back and read those verses once again.  Check how much you believe what Paul has said.  Do you believe it enough to act upon it—in this fashion and to this extent?

What Paul tells us there is that the believer has been placed in union with Christ in His death (v.3; cf. 2:12, 20), resurrection (v.1), and ascension (vv.1b, 3), “Therefore” he should take the action prescribed here.  That action is to “Put to death.”  This clearly builds on Paul’s previous statement: “you have died” (v.3a).

The verb the Apostle employs here is used only two other times in the New Testament, both of which describe Abraham’s body “as good as dead” when God fulfilled His promise to give him a son (Rom. 4:19; Heb. 11:12).  It means simply “put to death” or “kill” (cf. esv, kjv, niv, nrsv).  The aorist imperative demands that our action be decisive, immediate, and without delay.  The nasb uniquely makes this a mental exercise (“consider . . . as dead,” emphasis added).  May I say: The command does not demand less than that, but it certainly is more than a simple trick of the mind.  That being said, the Apostle probably has something in mind very similar to “consider yourselves to be dead to sin” (Rom. 6:11).  Romans 6 states the matter as a fact: “our old self was crucified with Him” (v.6, emphasis added).  In Galatians it is phrased similarly: “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24, emphasis added).  This states the matter as a fact to be believed and reckoned on.  Yet Paul also makes this a matter of our action, for we must “present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead” (Rom. 6:13, emphasis added).  And it is “by the Spirit [that] you are putting to death the deeds of the body” (Rom. 8:13).

Paul is demanding that we become in experience what He has already declared us to be in fact.  God has ruthlessly, thoroughly, absolutely put our old self to death in union with His Son on the cross.  Now we—like God—must be as thoroughly ruthless in making certain that we make true in our experience what He has made true in our stead in Christ.

Next time we will look more specifically at just what it is we are to “Put to death.”  But for now, may I ask: Are you up to it?

“When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.“ (Colossians 3:4)

Paul continues to make all things orbit around Christ, now referring to Him “who is our life” (lit., “the life of you”). Whereas verse 3 says our life with hidden “with Christ,” Paul here declares that Christ “is our life.” The deep nexus of Christ and our new life is represented by placing “our life” (lit., “the life of you”) in apposition to “Christ.”

Paul has been emphasizing our present union with Christ in His death (v.3a), resurrection (v.1a), life (vv.3b, 4a), and glory (v.4b). Yet the bulk of this verse speaks of future events. He speaks of “When Christ . . . is revealed.” The conjunction (“When”) is used to designate an indefinite time (i.e. “Whenever”). When used with the aorist subjunctive, as here, it indicates action preceding the action of the main clause (“you also will be revealed”). Christ will be revealed and then we “will be revealed with Him.” The verb (“is revealed”) is used frequently throughout the New Testament and depicts the act of making visible that which has heretofore been unseen. In this letter Paul uses it to describe the revelation inherent in the Gospel (1:26) and also to solicit prayer that he might make “the mystery” of the gospel plain in his preaching (Col. 4:4). Here the same verb is used to refer both to the second coming of Christ and to the revelation of believers in their new glorified state at that time. Elsewhere the verb is used to describe the first advent of Christ (Heb. 9:26; 1 Pet. 1:20; 1 John 1:2; 3:5 and eight) and is also used, as here, of Christ’s Second Advent (1 Pet. 5:4; 1 John 2:28; 3:2).

Whenever that takes place “then you also will be revealed with Him.” First Christ’s unveiling at His return “then” our glorified state “also” will be made known. Once again our experience is inextricably bound up “with Him.” Once again note the frequent use of the Greek preposition sūn, either in compound (2:12; 3:1) or independently (2:13, 20; 3:3) to describe our union with Christ. The future tense of the identical verb used to describe Christ’s unveiling is now employed to speak of our unveiling. All our hope watches in hopeful anticipation of Christ’s revelation. Our hope is inextricably bound to Christ. For all the mystery what we do know is that our manifestation at the time of Christ’s coming will “in glory.” At His return Jesus “will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:21). We are to live a life worthy of God “in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thess. 1:12). Christ’s present indwelling of the believer is his “hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Indeed, we wait for the time when the dead in Christ will be “raised in glory” (1 Cor. 15:43).

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

Paul now states the grounds (“For”) for seeking “the things above” and setting our hearts upon them (vv.1-2).  The Apostle gives a two-fold reason for these exhortations.  First, Paul asserts simply that “you have died.”  This echoes Paul’s earlier statement in Colossians 2:20, employing the same verb.  Here he speaks of this death as an accomplished fact for the believer (aorist tense).  It is not an experience to seek, but a fact to be reckoned on by faith.  As he stated in Colossians 2:20, so he asserts again that this death took place in union “with Christ.”  Previously this death was said to be pictured in one’s burial “with Him in baptism” (Col. 2:12).  We should compare this “with Christ” declaration with verses 12 and 13 where the preposition (su.n) is found repeatedly both in compound and standing independently.  Paul says elsewhere that the believer has died to sin (Rom. 6:2-8, 11), the Law (Rom. 7:4-6; Gal. 2:19) and “to the elementary principles of the world” (Col. 2:20).

The second reason for Paul’s previous exhortations is now added (“and”).  Alternatively, the conjunction may denote the result of their death with Christ.  That reason is that “your life is hidden.”  The expression “your life” surely refers not to our earthly, human, physical life on this earth, but to the eternal life we have in Christ.  Indeed, the precise phrase (“your life”) appears again in verse four where we are told that Christ “is our life.”  Thus Paul says both that our life is hidden with Christ and is Christ.  The perfect tense of the verb underscores the completed nature of the action with a resulting state of being.  The passive voice makes clear that this standing was not self-produced, but is brought about by God’s gracious hand.  The aorist tense of “have died” makes that a singular event.  The perfect tense of “is hidden” emphasizes the ongoing state of believers in the present.

Our life is thus hidden “with Christ” and “in God.”  The preposition (“with”) signals a symbiotic relationship between Christ’s risen, heavenly life and the spiritual life of the believer.  God the Father has in fact “raised us up with [Christ], and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6).  We are thus in union with Christ and our essence, our very life is tucked away secretly and securely “in God”—beyond the prying eyes of voyeurs and the accusing threats of opponents.

“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2)

Paul repeats “the things above” verbatim from verse one. Now he connects it to one of his favorite verbs (“Set your mind”). Paul makes use of it in twenty-three of its twenty-six New Testament usages (ten of those in Philippians). It generally describes the realm of the mind: to think, to have an attitude, to form an opinion. Paul’s frequent use of the word underscores the high place he affords the Christian mind. The present tense imperative calls for continual, habitual action (“Keep thinking,” NET). We are to “seek” the things above (v.1) and “set” our thoughts upon them (v.2). “You must not only seek heaven; you must also think heaven” (Lightfoot, 207).

This is to be done rather than thinking about “the things that are on earth.” This stands as the polar opposite of “the things above” (vv.1, 2). This is the realm where “fleshly indulgence” (2:23) takes place. This is the place where the false teacher(s) centers his counsel and teaching as he prescribes “severe treatment of the body” (2:23). While the believer resides “on the earth,” his home—the center and source of his life—is from above. The believer has “been firmly rooted” and is now “being built up in” Christ (2:7). Jesus is the locus of the believer’s life and existence. The believer has died to the “elementary principles of the world” (2:8, 20). Indeed, the believer has died with Christ and is raised up with Him to a new life (2:13; 3:1). It is in Christ that the believer “has been made complete” (2:10). The ascetic, legalistic rules of the false teacher regarding diet, drink and days (2:16) are “a mere shadow of what is to come” whereas “the substance belongs to Christ” (2:17). The believer is one who is “holding fast to the head,” Christ Himself (2:19a).

The little phrase “the things that are on the earth” becomes quite significant for Paul. Christ has created all things “on earth” (2:16). God’s purpose is to sum up all things—including those “things upon the earth”—in Christ (Eph. 1:10). To this end God, through Christ, has reconciled to Himself all things “upon the earth” (Col. 1:20). Yet we are to put to death our members “which are on the earth” (3:5, NRSV). Part of how we carry this out is by not setting our minds upon these things (3:2).

Paul sets “the things above” in contrast to “the things that are on the earth.” In doing so he tells us that reality upon earth is defined by the reality of heaven, not the other way around. Spiritual truth defines tangible reality. We are on dangerous ground when we weigh spiritual matters by what appears to be the fact based on limited, earthly evidence. He who sees only the earthly sees only partial reality—missing the most vital pieces of evidence for interpreting the fuller reality.

“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1)

To what precisely does “Therefore” look back?  Given what follows in the rest of the verse, it appears that the truths of 2:12 and 13 provide the most obvious connection.  There Paul speaks of the believers being “raised up with [Christ] through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” and that “[The Father] made you alive together with [Christ].”  This is a real union with Christ that is entered through faith and is witnessed to in the believer’s baptism (v.12).  The surety of these facts and experiences is in Paul’s mind here as he says, “if you have been raised up with Christ.”  The condition is of the first class, meaning that the matter is not in question, but considered assured in its fulfillment (thus the niv: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ”).  The precise verb that Paul employs makes this connection clear in that it is used only three times in the New Testament, once in 2:12 (see comments there; cf. also Eph. 2:6).  It is a compound comprised of “with” and “raise.”  The aorist tense looks to this as a definite act.  The passive voice views God as the active agent in raising the believer from death with Christ.  The word then depicts God the Father as raising the believer (through faith, 2:12) in union with Christ in His resurrection.  This is a fact for the believer.  It is not an experience to be scrambled after through zealous effort or the fulfillment of religious rites.  It is a settled fact accomplished by God through Christ.  It is a work accomplished by God and actualized through the vehicle of the believer’s resting faith, reposed upon the finished work of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ.  It is not an experience to seek, but a fact to be rested in.

This being the fact, the Apostle commands “keep seeking the things above.”  The command “keep seeking” is a present tense imperative, underscoring that the action must be taken repeatedly, continuously, and as a matter of habit.  The word carries the idea of aiming for and striving after.  It may have here the notion of “try to obtain” or “desire to possess.”  That which is to be thus sought are “the things above.”  Paul will use the precise expression again in the next verse.  But to what does it point?  Surely it refers to the heavenly realms and its realities.  It looks to the place of God’s abode.  The adverb was used by Jesus to say, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world” (John 8:23).  Paul employs to speak of “the Jerusalem above” (Gal. 4:26) and of the believer’s “upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).  Paul told those same believers “our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).  To the Colossians he has already spoken of “the hope laid up for you in heaven” (Col. 1:5).

Paul further qualifies just where he is referencing by saying it is “where Christ is.”  True to form, Paul makes our pursuit a Christocentric one.  Our quest is not simply a “place,” but a person.  We seek Him, rather than ascribe to ascetic rules, because it is He “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3).  There Christ “is”—a present tense, on-going existence in real-time.  Indeed, we seek that place where Christ is “seated at the right hand of God.”  This marks it as a place of both authority and intimacy.  It is a place of authority in that there Christ is “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come” (Eph. 2:21; cf. Col. 1:16; 2:15).  There God the Father has “put all things in subjection under His feet” and it is there that He “gave Him as head over all things to the church” (Eph. 2:22; cf. Col. 1:18).  Yes, Peter tells us that Jesus “is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him” (1 Pet. 3:22).  This is the very place Christ took His seat after “having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time” (Heb. 10:12).  It is also a place of intimacy for there Christ takes up the care and concern of His own, presenting those needs to the father in ongoing intercession (Rom. 8:34; 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2).

This, then, becomes the great quest of the believer – to realize that which God has give to him in Christ.