Colossians 3:3

Geneva Study Bible - Colossians 3:3

3:3 {4} For ye are dead, {5} and your life is hid with Christ in God.(4) A reason taken of the efficient causes and others: you are dead with regard to the flesh, that is, with regard to the old nature which seeks after all transitory things. And on the other hand, you have begun to live according to the Spirit; therefore give yourselves to spiritual and heavenly, and not to carnal and earthly things.(5) The taking away of an objection: while we are yet in this world, we are subject to many... read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Colossians 3:1-25

CHANGING THE OLD FOR THE NEW (vs.1-11) We have seen some practical exhortations mingled with the doctrine of this epistle. Now this chapter begins what is mainly practical instruction based on the truth before declared. Just as before there are glimpses of practical lines mingled with the doctrine, so here, when practice is considered, there are also glimpses of the doctrine shining through. The believer has both died and risen with Christ. Here he is looked at, not as seated in the... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Colossians 3:1-25

THE HORTATORY PART The Christian being “dead with Christ,” is dead “from the rudiments of the world”; in other words, worldly methods of obtaining “perfection” are something with which he has nothing to do. Why then should he act to the contrary, “after the commandments and doctrines of men” (Colossians 2:20 ; Colossians 2:22 )? Why should he ascribe salvation or any part of it, to things which “perish with the using”? Why should he come under a law which says “touch not, taste not,... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Colossians 3:1-25

The Hidden Life Colossians 3:0 The Apostle is always practical. He was never so eloquent, in the noblest sense of that term, as in the Epistle to the Colossians, and the Epistle to the Ephesians. These two Epistles, which ought to be read one after the other, seem to show Paul in his amplest power, wisdom, and religious joy. He always had a short way back from the highest ecstasy to the most simple practical exhortation. He had wonderful command of voice: when he was so vehement that the whole... read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Colossians 3:1-4

(1) If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (2) Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (3) For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (4) When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. The Apostle begins with calling upon the Church, as the risen members of Christ's mystical body, to a suitable and corresponding frame. The Reader will do... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible - Colossians 3:1-4

1-4 As Christians are freed from the ceremonial law, they must walk the more closely with God in gospel obedience. As heaven and earth are contrary one to the other, both cannot be followed together; and affection to the one will weaken and abate affection to the other. Those that are born again are dead to sin, because its dominion is broken, its power gradually subdued by the operation of grace, and it shall at length be extinguished by the perfection of glory. To be dead, then, means this,... read more

Frank Binford Hole

F. B. Hole's Old and New Testament Commentary - Colossians 3:1-99

Colossians 3 THE COUNTERPART TO our identification with Christ in His death is our identification with Him in His resurrection. The effect of the one is to disconnect us from man’s world, man’s wisdom, man’s religion. The effect of the other is to put us into touch with God’s world and with all that is there. The first four verses of chapter 3 unfold the blessedness into which we are introduced. There are things which find their centre in Christ seated in heavenly glory. They are “things... read more

Paul E. Kretzmann

The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann - Colossians 3:1-4

The Affections of the Christians Set on Things Above. v. 1. If ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. v. 2. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. v. 3. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. v. 4. When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. As the Bible-student will note, the similarity between Colossians and Ephesians is... read more

Johann Peter Lange

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal and Homiletical - Colossians 3:1-4

III. PART SECONDExhortation to vital sanctificationColossians 3:1 to Colossians 4:61. The foundation and prospect of a genuine Christian mind and walk.(Colossians 3:1-4)1If ye then be risen [were raised together] 1 with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth [is, sitting] on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection 3[mind] on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead2 [died] and 4your life is [or hath been] hid [χέχρυπται] with Christ in God. When... read more

Alexander MacLaren

Alexander MacLaren's Expositions of Holy Scripture - Colossians 3:3-15

Colossians RISEN WITH CHRIST Col_3:1-15 . The resurrection is regarded in Scripture in three aspects--as a fact establishing our Lord’s Messiahship, as a prophecy of our rising from the dead, and as a symbol of the Christian life even now. The last is the aspect under which Paul deals with it here. I. Verses 1-4 set forth the wonderful but most real union of the believer with the risen Christ. We have said that the Lord’s resurrection is regarded as a symbol, but that is an incomplete... read more