{"id":381,"date":"2010-04-08T16:09:52","date_gmt":"2010-04-08T20:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=381"},"modified":"2013-06-26T11:27:56","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T15:27:56","slug":"living-in-light-of-the-resurrection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=381","title":{"rendered":"Living in Light of the Resurrection (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cTherefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.\u201d<\/span> <\/strong>(Colossians 3:1)<\/p>\n

To what precisely does \u201cTherefore\u201d look back?\u00a0 Given what follows in the rest of the verse, it appears that the truths of 2:12 and 13 provide the most obvious connection.\u00a0 There Paul speaks of the believers being \u201craised up with [Christ] through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead\u201d and that \u201c[The Father] made you alive together with [Christ].\u201d\u00a0 This is a real union with Christ that is entered through faith and is witnessed to in the believer\u2019s baptism (v.12).\u00a0 The surety of these facts and experiences is in Paul\u2019s mind here as he says, \u201cif you have been raised up with Christ.\u201d\u00a0 The condition is of the first class, meaning that the matter is not in question, but considered assured in its fulfillment (thus the niv: \u201cSince<\/em>, then, you have been raised with Christ\u201d).\u00a0 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).\u00a0 It is a compound comprised of \u201cwith\u201d and \u201craise.\u201d\u00a0 The aorist tense looks to this as a definite act.\u00a0 The passive voice views God as the active agent in raising the believer from death with Christ.\u00a0 The word then depicts God the Father as raising the believer (through faith, 2:12) in union with Christ in His resurrection.\u00a0 This is a fact for the believer.\u00a0 It is not an experience to be scrambled after through zealous effort or the fulfillment of religious rites.\u00a0 It is a settled fact accomplished by God through Christ.\u00a0 It is a work accomplished by God and actualized through the vehicle of the believer\u2019s resting faith, reposed upon the finished work of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 It is not an experience to seek, but a fact to be rested in.<\/p>\n

This being the fact, the Apostle commands \u201ckeep seeking the things above.\u201d\u00a0 The command \u201ckeep seeking\u201d is a present tense imperative, underscoring that the action must be taken repeatedly, continuously, and as a matter of habit.\u00a0 The word carries the idea of aiming for and striving after.\u00a0 It may have here the notion of \u201ctry to obtain\u201d or \u201cdesire to possess.\u201d\u00a0 That which is to be thus sought are \u201cthe things above.\u201d\u00a0 Paul will use the precise expression again in the next verse.\u00a0 But to what does it point?\u00a0 Surely it refers to the heavenly realms and its realities.\u00a0 It looks to the place of God\u2019s abode.\u00a0 The adverb was used by Jesus to say, \u201cYou are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world\u201d (John 8:23).\u00a0 Paul employs to speak of \u201cthe Jerusalem above\u201d (Gal. 4:26) and of the believer\u2019s \u201cupward call of God in Christ Jesus\u201d (Phil. 3:14).\u00a0 Paul told those same believers \u201cour citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ\u201d (Phil. 3:20).\u00a0 To the Colossians he has already spoken of \u201cthe hope laid up for you in heaven\u201d (Col. 1:5).<\/p>\n

Paul further qualifies just where he is referencing by saying it is \u201cwhere Christ is.\u201d\u00a0 True to form, Paul makes our pursuit a Christocentric one.\u00a0 Our quest is not simply a \u201cplace,\u201d but a person.\u00a0 We seek Him, rather than ascribe to ascetic rules, because it is He \u201cin whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge\u201d (Col. 2:3).\u00a0 There Christ \u201cis\u201d\u2014a present tense, on-going existence in real-time.\u00a0 Indeed, we seek that place where Christ is \u201cseated at the right hand of God.\u201d\u00a0 This marks it as a place of both authority and intimacy.\u00a0 It is a place of authority in that there Christ is \u201cfar 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\u201d (Eph. 2:21; cf. Col. 1:16; 2:15).\u00a0 There God the Father has \u201cput all things in subjection under His feet\u201d and it is there that He \u201cgave Him as head over all things to the church\u201d (Eph. 2:22; cf. Col. 1:18).\u00a0 Yes, Peter tells us that Jesus \u201cis at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him\u201d (1 Pet. 3:22).\u00a0 This is the very place Christ took His seat after \u201chaving offered one sacrifice for sins for all time\u201d (Heb. 10:12).\u00a0 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).<\/p>\n

This, then, becomes the great quest of the believer \u2013 to realize that which God has give to him in Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTherefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.\u201d (Colossians 3:1) To what precisely does \u201cTherefore\u201d look back?\u00a0 Given what follows in the rest of the verse, it appears that the truths of 2:12 and 13 provide the most obvious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-colossians","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYGxX-69","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1612,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions\/1612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}