United with Christ - Meditations on Colossians 3

"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)

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A New Standard for Relationships
         Sunday morning, we continued the series The Gospel in Real Life by talking about how the gospel impacts our relationships. Pastor Norm walked us through Colossians 3:1-17 and showed us how the gospel doesn’t lower the bar of expectations here, but raises it. It gives us a new standard for relationships. Our affections, attitudes, and actions toward other people should be noticeably different because we know and trust Christ. 

        There are nine imperatives, or commands, in this section; they tell us either what we need to stop doing or, more importantly, what we must begin to do. These are more than the basic childhood instructions that we’re all familiar with (for example, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”). In fact, they go beyond the most profound moral or sociological teaching of every other religion or philosophy. Before we can understand what the apostle Paul is saying in the last seven imperatives, though, we must understand the first two.

Christ’s Fullness and Yours

        Actually, we need to go back a little further still. The first two imperatives (seek and set your minds) are based on the fact that you have been raised with Christ. This is Paul’s habit. He never gives a command without first giving the basis for it. What is fact (what some have called the “indicative” of the Christian life) always serve as the motivation and reason for what must be done (the imperative of the Christian life). 

        The language that Paul uses in these verses is unique. “You have been raised with Christ” is actually only one word in Greek, and it is emphatic: “You have been co-raised with Christ.” The language carries over from Paul’s argument in chapter 2, where this kind of wording abounds.

        

        He begins this section of his argument in Colossians 2:6, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.” In other words, the way that you continue life as a Christian is the same way that you began: by faith. This is why he wants the Colossians to be “rooted and built up in him and established in the faith” (Colossians 2:7).

        In Colossians 2:9, Paul makes one of the clearest assertions to the deity of Christ: “For in him the whole fullness of the deity dwells bodily.” But, amazingly, Paul’s goal is not to teach doctrine, no matter how wonderful it may be. He is more concerned with how this beautiful truth impacts the lives of the Colossian believers. He goes on to say, “and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority” (Colossians 2:10). So, God’s fullness is to be found in Christ, and you, because you also are in Christ, are full as well. God fills Christ, Christ fills you. This is the foundation of everything he says about living the Christian life.

United with Christ

        Paul then explains how this fullness works: you have been made one with Christ. Everything that Christ has done has been done in you. Everything that Christ has earned has been graciously given to you. Everything that Christ is, everything that He has promised, belongs to you because you have received Christ Jesus the Lord by faith. In Him, you have been circumcised; not the removal of foreskin, but the removal of the “body of flesh” or corrupt sinful nature (Colossians 2:11). You have been co-buried with Him, as symbolized by baptism, and co-resurrected with Him by the power of God (Colossians 2:12). You used to be dead in sin, but have now been co-made-alive (awkward, I know, but it gets at what Paul is saying) with Christ and your sins have been forgiven (Colossians 2:13). 

A New Way of Life

        So how does this union with Christ affect the way that we live? How does it affect our relationships and our battle against sin? The basic principles that the world offers for self-improvement are really of no value here (Colossians 2:20-22). Self-imposed religious discipline won’t do you any good either (Colossians 2:23). Neither of these offers any effective or lasting results. What is needed is a complete overhaul, not a removal to the expectations of God’s law, but a new way of living, indeed, a new life.

        This brings us to the point of our passage. Colossians 2:20-23 and Colossians 3:1-4 are parallel. Notice the way that Paul begins these sections: “If with Christ you died…” (2:20); “If then you have been raised with Christ…” (3:1). On the one hand, your union with Christ means that you have died to this world. You are no longer governed by its standards or rules or suggestions. To put it plainly, you need to stop trying to be a better Christian by watching Oprah or reading Dr. Phil; you’ve died to human teachings (Colossians 2:22). On the other hand, your union with Christ means that you have been made alive, really alive, to God. This new life requires a new life-goal and a new way of thinking. It is to be characterized by seeking “the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1). And it matures by deliberately setting your mind on and thinking about “things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).

In our next post, we will look at these two commands (seek and set your minds) in more detail.