In Colossians 3, Paul brings together everything that he has taught in Colossians 1 and 2 and gives us the great “If-then” transition to everyday application.
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)
These days, people like to preach the gospel as follows:
- Christ died for my sins
- So I am forgiven by God
- Now God will give me a joyful, peaceful life
- And I will go to heaven when I die.
But this is not a good summary of the gospel at all. In fact, it is distorted for many reasons. This distorted gospel makes it sounds like a change happened to Christ, but no change happened to us except for our status with God.
But in Colossians 3 we see that we “have died” and “have been raised with Christ”. Christ’s death for our sins becomes effective for us when we die by entering Christ’s death through baptism. The gospel is not only about a change that happened to Jesus but about a change that happens to us.
Many Christians think that Paul is speaking metaphorically when he says that we died and were raised, as if Paul were saying, “The Christian life is like moving from death to life”. But Paul is not speaking metaphorically here. He is saying that we actually enter into Christ’s death through our baptism.
When Christ was crucified and died, this present creation lost all connection to him. It lost any power or control over him that it may have had. It can do nothing to him. It is completely impotent in relation to him.
“He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” (Colossians 2:15)
This means that nothing in this creation has any power related to Christ at all. He is presently already Lord over everything in this present creation. He has triumphed over it. He is in complete control of everything that happens in this creation. It is easy for him to do anything he wants. He does it with a single word, without a struggle.
When Christians today hear this, they think “Yes, this is why I believe he will give me a joyful, peaceful life now. Then I will go to heaven when I die.”
But remember, Paul said in Colossians 3:3, “You have died”.
There are only two statuses available to humans with regard to their relationship with Christ and the world. Either they are alive to the world and dead to Christ or dead to the world and alive to Christ. There is no being alive to the world and alive to Christ.
That is why a Christian cannot talk about having a joyful, peaceful life now and going to heaven when they die. They are already dead.
You may be thinking, “But I am still here. I am still alive in this world. How can I be dead to it?”
“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:3-4)
When you were baptized, you died. You officially forfeited your life which you knew you would lose anyway when the wrath of God comes upon the world.
Thus, this present creation has also lost all connection to you. It lost any power or connection to you that it had. It can do nothing to you. It cannot even give any benefit to you. It is completely impotent in relation to you.
When you were baptized, you didn’t receive a promise that your sins are forgiven, you will live a good life, and then you will die. Instead, you died. And you became alive to Christ. His life is the only life that exists outside of the present creation. He gives this life to you.
This is not a metaphor. You no longer have an existence separate from Christ. Your existence ended in the waters of baptism. You have literally been made a part of His life. Your current life is presently hidden with Christ in God. This is the only life you have.
But you will of course say, “But I am still here…”
I think a picture will help us understand this. An old-time theologian, L.S. Thornton, provides a good picture. Thornton said that, when we hear something like, “Your life is hidden with Christ in God”, we usually think of our life like a pebble that will be put into a box, Christ. That is why we get confused. Our pebble still seems to be here, on the earth, and not yet in the box.
Thornton said that a pebble in a box is not the right picture. Instead, we are a branch on a tree. Through baptism we have been cut off from the world’s tree and grafted onto Christ’s.
When we heard the word “body” we tend to think of a “body” as everything from our skin inward. But “body” is an outward, connection word. Biblically, “body” is what connects us to that which is outside of us.
One way to think about this is to think of yourself as covered with sticky stuff. Because you are covered with sticky stuff, you are always stuck to something. It is not possible for you to exist unstuck, just floating around independently. Whatever you are stuck to is what you are drawing your life from. That is how the Bible talks.
For example, when Isaiah prophesies the death of Christ in Isaiah 58, he says this: “he was cut off out of the land of the living” (Isaiah 53:8).
If someone is “cut off” from the land of the living, what do they stick to? They stick to their ancestors in the land of the dead.
That is why the Bible describes Abraham’s death like this:
“Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.” (Genesis 25:8)
In scripture the body and the soul are always stuck together. In various forms of paganism, they are separated at death. The separation of body and soul is not a Christian or biblical way of thinking. It is certainly not a Hebrew way of thinking.
The Hebrew way of thinking sees your body and soul as distinguishable but not separable. They are like parts of a branch. The body is like the wood and the soul is like the leaves.
The Bible always asks the question “What tree are you attached to?”. Are you attached to this world, or to Christ?
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Philippians 3:20)
“When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4)
Paul did not say “we are waiting until we go to our savior in heaven”, or “when you die, you will appear with him in glory”. Paul speaks of Christ coming here again to bring the wrath of God on the old creation and bring the new heavens and new earth with him.
What does it mean to “appear with him in glory”? It means that your body will be changed into a glorious body like Christ’s resurrected body. That is the only Christian hope.
I am going to tell you something absolutely true from a biblical perspective: nothing actually changes when you die on this earth. The death-transition happens at our baptism. At our baptism, the branch of our life is cut off from the tree of this present creation and grafted into Christ. It isn’t that we “go to Christ” when we die. We are already with him. Our life is in him.
When the physical bodies finally stop working, what happens is that all of our five senses stop receiving input and our brain stops. But our life in Christ remains unchanged from what it was in this lifetime. That life in Christ cannot be touched, altered, or ended by this creation or anything that happens in this creation. It continues just as it has in this lifetime.
In our present day-to-day lives, we are so focused on this creation that, most of the time, we live with very little awareness of being in Christ. But, one day, when our physical body dies, everything else will fall away and only our life in Christ will remain.
“Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8)
Yet it is important to remember that our location does not change when our body dies, but when we are baptized.
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2)
Paul is not recommending that we go to a prayer mountain, lock ourselves in a prayer closet, or fast for long periods of time. The goal is not to reduce our sensory inputs in order to see heavenly visions.
“If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” (Colossians 2:20-23)
You cannot come to a greater awareness of Christ by “turning down the volume” on the world. It doesn’t work to try to change what you eat, look at, or do. That sounds like the right answer, but it never works. We all know this from our own experience of trying to overcome sin that way.
Since we are branches, the solution is not to somehow be less connected to the world. The solution is to come to understand that our branch has already been cut off from the world and has already been grafted onto Christ. Because Christ is a good tree, he is already providing us with the nourishment we need every day.
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Colossians 3:12-14)
Paul is not saying, “Be more holy, be more compassionate, be more kind, be more humble…” This would be impossible for us to produce from the nutrients that the world provides us. Instead, these are gifts that Christ gives us. These gifts come from him and originate in him. He is the tree that produces these things and we are the branch whom he supplies these things to. This is why Paul says to “put on” these things and clothe ourselves with them. We don’t have to produce these things, we just receive them.
Unfortunately, the world continues to reject that Jesus is Lord. So, when you are baptized, it doesn’t change anything about the way the world deals with you. The world doesn’t think you are dead. Your family does not think you are dead. Your country does not think you are dead. If you say, “I am dead,” your family will think you are crazy and irresponsible. The world and everything in it will continue to insist that your branch is still attached to the tree of the world. Your country, society, family, and other worldly bodies will continue to try to provide you with worldly “nutrition” which the world has provided to you and everyone in the world so far.
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices” (Colossians 3:5-9)
Paul is not saying, “turn the volume down on the world”. He has already explained that that strategy does not work. Paul is saying, “Let the dead dog die. Even though the world does not accept it, your life is already cut off from the world and grafted onto Christ. Therefore, the nutrients that the world was sending you cannot force their way into you anymore. You belong to Christ, no matter what the world says. Christ, not the world, is your life.”
The first Christian martyrs, when they were arrested and interrogated, were asked, “What is your name?” They answered, simply, “I am a Christian”. This is our full identity. The world, your family, and the country will disagree with that. But it is still true.
The world has already put a lot of worldly nutrients into you. Since you are baptized, it can no longer force any new ones in, but what do you do with the ones that area already inside of you? Let those things die. Now that your branch has been cut off from the world and attached to Christ, those things that are inside you will be surrounded by the nutrients which Christ sends and will be destroyed just like white blood cells destroy viruses.
To us, those worldly viruses feel really powerful. In fact, they seem undefeatable. The white blood cells that come to us from Christ (compassion, kindness, humility, patience), seem so weak by comparison. But that is just the world’s illusion trying to mislead you.
Remember, Christ defeated the world and everything in it through the cross. The cross looks like weakness, but it has made all the powers of this world impotent.
A good picture to keep in mind in this regard is the story of Jesus asleep in the boat during the storm. The disciples were terrified, but Christ was not. So, when they woke him up, he called the storm with a few words. Which is more powerful, the storm or a few words of Christ?
“and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3:10-11)
The way to overcome the world is to recognize that the powers of the world have no power over us. When we try to turn their volume down, we are treating them like they still have power over us, which they do not. Instead, we are being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Christ is that image.
The more we listen to him and the more he reveals himself to us in his word, this is what renews us in his image. This is what gradually makes our branch more like the tree.
Even though our branch is already cut off from the world, Christ does not take us out of the world. This is because it is his world; he has already defeated all of the enemies in it. We do not need to be afraid of them. He is just giving these enemies a time of mercy in which they can surrender to him and receive his grace, just like you received his grace. The Lord will surely come back soon and transform this world—and us!
So when the world tries to give you the nutrients for sin, don’t receive them into yourself as nutrients! Instead, bring everything to the Lord. Worship him. First, always receive the nutrients he wants to give you. Then next, ask him to show you how to use for his glory whatever it is the world was trying to give you. He’ll show you how to do that.
That’s why worship services conclude not with you speaking with a counselor about your problems and the “storms” in your life but by us all coming to the Lord’s Table. We come to focus on Christ, our life. We come to hear his words. We come to let him reveal himself to us. We come to receive these nutrients, from his tree to our branch. Everything else will fall away.
In the end, there will only be us with Christ.
Do the Word 