“Therefore if you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, sharing in His resurrection from the dead], keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind and keep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value]. For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” Col. 3:1-4 Amplified Bible
Our life is hidden away with Christ. This statement that the believer died with Christ in the past (aorist tense in Greek) and continues to live with Christ in the present (perfect tense) suggests three thoughts.[1]
- Our life draws nourishment from secret springs (cf. John 14:19; Philippians 3:20).
- Our life is as safe as a deposit locked in a bank vault.
- Our life is one with Christ who is in the bosom of the Father.
“The aorist is simply a powerful metaphor for the fact that when they believed in Christ in baptism they were putting their previous way of life to death and having it buried out of sight. Consequently, it should no longer be a factor in their new way of life.”
For the false teachers, the treasures of wisdom were hidden in their secret books (Gr. apokryphoi), but for believers Christ is the treasury of wisdom, and our life is hidden (Gr. kekryptai) in Him.
“Sometimes we say of a man, “Music is his life, sport is his life, he lives for his work.” Such a man finds life and all that life means in music, in sport, in work, as the case may be. For the Christian, Christ is his life. Jesus Christ dominates his thought and fills his life.”
[When Christ, who is our life, appears…] “Whenever” indicates that a revelation of Christ in the future is certain, but its time is unknown. The Greek word phaneroo (“revealed”) stresses the open display of Christ at His coming. This is probably a reference to the Rapture. When He is revealed to us then, our lives will no longer be hidden in Him but revealed for what they are in our glorification. The Rapture will be a glorious revelation of Him to us and us in our glorified state. Now our eternal life is hidden (Colossians 3:3), but then it will be manifest.
“In Colossians . . . there is an emphasis on realized eschatology. Within the ’already-not yet’ tension the stress falls upon the former, called forth by the circumstances of the letter . . . The ’already’ of salvation needed to be asserted repeatedly over against those who were interested in the heavenly realm but who had false notions about it, believing it could be reached by legalistic observances, knowledge, visionary experiences and the like . . . But if the ’already’ pole received the emphasis, the ’not yet’ of salvation still needed to be mentioned, and here in Colossians 3:4 we find a clear future reference.” [2]
In view of this prospect the Colossians and we need not pursue another system that claims to provide more than we have in Christ [Col 2:16-23]. God has provided all we need for acceptance with Him and godly living in Christ. All we need to do is act on the implications of these truths, which Paul proceeded to help his readers do.
[1] Greek aorist tense indicates completed action. Perfect tense indicates action completed in the past but with effects that continue to the present.
[2] O’Brien, Colossians . . ., pp. 171-72.
Opening Scripture added
https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dcc/colossians-3.html#verse-1
Constable, Thomas. DD. “Commentary on Colossians 3”.
Dr. Constable was a faculty member at Dallas seminary and author on Bible commentaries
https://voice.dts.edu/contributor/thomas-l-constable/