Colossians 3:1 – You Have Been Raised with Christ
Colossians 3:1 – You Have Been Raised with Christ
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ...
Colossians 3:1a
Paul writes, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” Paul picks up the argument he began in 2:20, “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of the world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules?” He began in 2:20, “Since you died with Christ.” He continues in 3:1, “Since you have been raised with Christ.” Therefore everyone who has died in Christ has also been raised with Christ.
Paul wants the Christians in Colossae to clearly understand what they already have in Christ. Notice that he does not say that you still need to die in Christ or that you still need to be raised in Christ, but he writes, “since you have died in Christ and since you have already been raised in Christ, therefore...” Paul is not writing to tell them what they still need to do to be saved, but he says since you have died with Christ you are also raised with Christ. Therefore when Paul later in this chapter exhorts them to live the Christian life, then he does not say, “You need to do all these things in order to be saved,” but his admonition is based on the fact that they have been raised with Christ.
Paul makes clear that our new life does not flow out of doing all the right things. Paul is reacting to false teachers who taught that you need to keep certain rules, customs, and regulations in order to be saved. He warns them not to be deceived by those fine sounding arguments, for they are hollow and empty philosophies of men. That is not the way of salvation; it will only lead to death. He says, “Know full well that you have died and are now raised in Christ Jesus.”
That is the only sure basis for your salvation. The exhortations that follow in this chapter are not meant to save us, but they naturally flow out of the fact that we have died and been raised by faith in Christ Jesus. The exhortations that follow are of no value to those who have not been raised with Christ. No one can obey those exhortations unless they have been raised with Christ.
In this way Paul makes very clear how closely our lives are bound up in the life of Jesus Christ. Remember that Christ came as our mediator who put Himself in our place. We deserved to die, but He died in our place. Christ identified Himself with his church, so that when He died, we died with Him. And when Christ rose up from the dead and won the great victory over death, then we rose up with Christ and won the victory. Therefore Paul says it is ludicrous to seek your salvation in the basic principles of the world that says you need to keep all these earthly laws and regulations. Those earthly things cannot save you. You have been saved only because you have been raised with Christ. He is your salvation.
That leads Paul to the next point when he says,
Set you hearts on the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Since you have been raised with Christ, you now belong to a different world and that is why you cannot allow the focus of your life to be this world. Because you have died with Christ, that means that you no longer belong to this old world for you have died to it. If you have died to the world, then you can no longer follow the basic principles of this world. The basic principles of this world teach that salvation can be attained through rules and regulations and through a strict life of self-denial. How can those basic principles of the world save you?
You have died to all that in Jesus Christ. Therefore you cannot continue to look to the principles of this world for your salvation, for you have been raised with Christ to a new life in God’s new world. You must look to the things above, where Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Salvation can only be found in heaven. Why? Because that is where Jesus Christ has been exalted as our Saviour at the right hand of God. Therefore look to heaven, to Jesus Christ for your life and salvation. Our focus needs to be directed more and more to Jesus Christ above. It is from heaven that our new life flows forth.
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