Christ, Our Life: Colossians 3: 1-4

   In Colossians chapter two, Paul spoke of believers as having “died with Christ,” which separated them from the rudiments (i.e., order, desires, goals) of the world.  Already in the letter to the Colossians, Paul has made the case for the sufficiency of Christ reminding them that He is God, Creator and Savior.  Also in chapter two, he makes the application that the believer is finished, made complete, in Him - no religious activity will bring you any closer, no mystic experience will make you any richer, no amount of punishment will make you any holier.  Having laid out this truth, we now come to chapter three. 

   Verse 1 — While the English language certainly has verb tenses. (e.g., be, being, been, has been, etc.), some other languages’ verbs have more depth.  The verb “risen” in verse one of Colossians 3 means, for believers, that this was done by God the moment they believed that Christ died for their sins, was buried, and rose again.  Before we trusted in Christ, we were all spiritually “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Even after trusting in Christ “death works in us” physically (2 Corinthians 4:12).  But thank the Lord that every believer has been spiritually raised to “newness of life” with the Lord Jesus Christ with the guarantee of a future resurrection in which they will receive an eternal glorified body (I Co ...