Colossians 3.3-The Colossians Have Died So That Their Life is Hidden with Christ By Means of the Father's Power
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday May 1, 2016
Colossians: Colossians 3:3-The Colossians Have Died So That Their Life is Hidden with Christ By Means of the Father’s Power
Lesson # 70
Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (NASB95)
Colossians 3:3 presents the reason for the previous command in Colossians 3:2 which required that the faithful Christians in Colossae continue making it their habit of concentrating on the things above, not on the things on earth.
“You have died” is the verb apothnēskō (ἀποθνῄσκω), which is used with reference to “retroactive positional truth.”
This means that when Christ died spiritually and physically on the Cross, God considers the believer to have died with Him spiritually and physically as well through their identification with Christ in His death.
This identification was accomplished at the moment of their justification through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
This verb contains the figure of heterosis of number which means that the singular form of a word is put for the plural form of the word.
This would indicate that this verb apothnēskō refers to not only to the physical death of Jesus Christ on the cross but also His spiritual death as well.
The design of this figure here is to make emphatic that the Colossians have been identified with Christ in His spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
The second person plural form of the verb is a reference to the faithful believers in Colossae and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing that there are no exceptions.
“Your life is hidden with Christ in God” presents the logical and inevitable result of dying with Christ.
“Your life” refers to eternal life which is the life of God and is received as a gift by the sinner the moment they exercise faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
It is experienced by the justified sinner after conversion through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God.
Specifically, it is experienced by the believer after conversion when they appropriate by faith their identification with Christ in His death and resurrection and which faith expresses itself by considering oneself dead to sin, Satan and the Law and alive to God.
“Is hidden” is the verb kruptō (κρύπτω), which means “to conceal” and is used of the eternal life of each and every one of the Colossians expressing the fact that this life is “concealed” from public viewing.
“With Christ” speaks of the Colossians’ union and identification with Jesus Christ which was accomplished through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of their conversion.
“In God” is composed of the following: (1) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (10) noun theos (θεός), “God.”
The noun theos means “God” referring to the Father which is indicated by the word’s articular construction which in the New Testament commonly signifies the first member of the Trinity unless otherwise indicated by the context.
The word contains the figure of metonymy meaning the Father is put for His omnipotence and is the object of the preposition en which is a marker of means indicating that the Father’s omnipotence was the means by which the eternal life of the Colossians was concealed with Christ.
Colossians 3:2 Each and every one of you continue making it your habit of concentrating on the things above, not on the things on earth 3 because each and every one of you has died. Consequently, the life of each and every one of you is concealed with Christ by means of the power of God the Father. (My translation)
In Colossians 3:2, the apostle Paul issued the faithful Christians in Colossae a command and a prohibition.
The former required that each and every one of them continue making it their habit of concentrating on the things above whereas the latter required that they not concentrate upon the things on the earth.
“The things on the earth” is a reference to the totality of ungodly standards and values of Satan’s cosmic system.
On the other hand, “the things above” are a reference to the spiritual values and holy standards which characterize God and His people and which standards are met by the believer when they appropriate by faith their identification with Christ.
It is also related to the spiritual blessings associated with the believer’s union and identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session.
Now, here in Colossians 3:3, the apostle Paul presents the reason for the command and prohibition in Colossians 3:2 by asserting that the Colossians have died with Christ which speaks of their identification with Christ in His death through the baptism of the Spirit.
Then, he presents the logical result of this identification with Christ in His death by asserting that the eternal life of the Colossians is concealed with Christ by means of the omnipotence of the Father.
Thus, they are to continue making it their habit of concentrating on the things above and not on the things on earth because they have died with Christ and consequently their eternal life is concealed with Christ as well by means of the omnipotence of the Father.
The reference to the eternal life of the Colossians being hidden with Christ is a reference to their identification with Christ in His resurrection.
This interpretation is supported by Paul’s teaching in Romans 6:4 in which he asserts that the Christian has been buried with Christ through baptism in His death so that as Christ was raised from the death through the glory of the Father so to the Christian might walk in new life.
Also, in Romans 6:8, he asserts that if the Christian has died with Christ, they will also live with Him.
So the Christian’s possession of eternal life is directly related or is the result of their being identified with Christ in His resurrection.
They were identified with Christ in His death and resurrection so that they might possess and experience eternal life.
“With Christ” refers of course to the Colossians’ identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
When Paul asserts that the Colossians’ life was hidden with Christ, he is teaching that their identification with Christ in His death and resurrection which provides them eternal life is spiritual, eternal and invisible to the naked eye.
It expresses the idea that the full meaning of the Christian’s life has not yet been revealed to them and has not yet been manifested.
It also implies that they have eternal security meaning that they can never lose their salvation.
The Christian’s salvation is safe and secure since it is bound up in their union and identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father and what the Father has brought together through faith in His Son Jesus Christ, no man or angel could ever tear asunder.
Paul’s statements in Colossians 3:3 regarding the Colossians’ identification with Christ in His death and resurrection echo his statements in Colossians 2:12, 20 and 3:1.
The fact that the Christian has died with Christ refers to “retroactive positional truth.”
This means that when Christ died spiritually and physically on the Cross, God considers the believer to have died with Him spiritually and physical as well through their identification with Christ in His death.
This identification was accomplished at the moment of their justification through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
One of the implications of being identified with Christ in His death is that the justified sinner, i.e. the Christian is no longer under the jurisdiction of Satan and his cosmic system.
They are no longer enslaved to Satan as they were prior to their conversion (cf. Col. 1:13).
Another implication is that they are no longer enslaved to the sin nature as they were prior to their conversion.
Thus, this identification has deprived the sin nature of its power over their life (cf. Rom. 6:1-14).
Lastly, the implication of this identification with regards to the Jewish Christian is that they are no longer under the jurisdiction of the Mosaic Law as they were prior to their conversion (cf. Rom. 7:1-6).
Consequently, with regards to the Gentile Colossian believers, the teaching of the Judaizers does not apply to them.
If Jewish Christians like Paul died to the Mosaic Law because of their identification with Christ in His death (cf. Col. 2:13-14; note “us” and “our” which are reference to Paul and his fellow Jewish Christians), the Gentile Colossian believers are surely not to govern their lives by the Mosaic Law since they too like Jewish believers were identified with Christ in His death.
When Paul teaches the Colossians that their life is concealed with Christ by means of the omnipotence of the Father, he is referring to “current positional truth,” which is the church age believer’s identification with Christ in His resurrection, ascension and session (See Ephesians 2:4-6; Colossians 3:1-4).
In other words, when Christ was raised and seated at the right hand of the Father, the Father considers the believer to have been raised and seated with Christ as well.