Colossians 3:4

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Colossians 3:1-4

The apostle, having described our privileges by Christ in the former part of the epistle, and our discharge from the yoke of the ceremonial law, comes here to press upon us our duty as inferred thence. Though we are made free from the obligation of the ceremonial law, it does not therefore follow that we may live as we list. We must walk the more closely with God in all the instances of evangelical obedience. He begins with exhorting them to set their hearts on heaven, and take them off from... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 3:1-4

3:1-4 If then you were raised with Christ, set your hearts on the things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Have a mind all of whose thoughts are fixed on the things which are above, not upon the things on earth. For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Whenever Christ, your life, shall appear, then you too shall appear with him in glory. The point Paul is making here is this. In baptism the Christian dies and rises again. As the waters close... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Colossians 3:1-4

In Colossians 3:4 Paul gives to Christ one of the great titles of devotion. He calls him Christ our life. Here is a thought which was very dear to the heart of Paul. When he was writing to the Philippians, he said, "For me to live is Christ" ( Philippians 1:21 ). Years before, when he was writing to the Galatians, he had said, "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me" ( Galatians 2:20 ). As Paul saw it, to the Christian Christ is the most important thing in life; more, he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Colossians 3:4

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear ,.... The Vulgate Latin version, and some copies, read, "your life". Christ is the author of spiritual life, the fountain from whence it springs, the object on which the saints live, yea, their very life itself; it is not so much they that live, as Christ that lives in them: and he is their eternal life; it is in him, and given forth by him; to know him now is the beginning of it; and its perfection hereafter will lie in the vision of him, communion... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Colossians 3:4

When Christ, who is our life - When Christ comes to judge the world, ye shall appear with him in his glory, and in an eternal state of blessedness. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Colossians 3:4

Verse 4 4.But when Christ, our life, shall appear. Here we have a choice consolation — that the coming of Christ will be the manifestation of our life. And, at the same time, he admonishes us how unreasonable were the disposition of the man, who should refuse to bear up (435) until that day. For if our life is shut up in Christ, it must be hid, until he shall appear read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Colossians 3:1-4

Our risen life. "If then ye were raised together with Christ." At this point the apostle leaves the polemical and begins the practical. Doctrine again forms the foundation for exhortation. As in combating asceticism he proceeded upon the fact that we were sharers with Christ in his death, so in presenting a substitute for asceticism, he proceeds upon the fact that we were sharers with him in his resurrection. Our being baptized with him extended, not only to our dying with him, but also to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Colossians 3:1-4

The Christian's higher life. Our text gives us a magnificent picture of the higher life of man, indicating the means of its beginning, the signs of its progress, and the hope of its perpetuity. I. THE EXPERIENCES OF THE BEGINNING OF THE HIGHER LIFE . These initial experiences are spoken of under the three allied figures of death, the hiding as of burial and resurrection. There is an experience: 1 . As of death. "Ye have died." The soul as it becomes Christian... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Colossians 3:1-4

Present privileges: future glory. The apostle now proceeds to the application of the grand truths he has been expounding. Note in what a lofty strain he begins. As in the previous section he refutes practical errors by reminding of the sublimest doctrines, so here, before giving exhortations on special sins and duties, he seeks to lift the Colossians to the heights of that new spiritual, heavenly life it is their privilege to live. (Like a commander encouraging his troops in the field to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Colossians 3:1-17

SECTION VII . THE TRUE CHRISTIAN LIFE . The apostle, having delivered his attack on the system of error inculcated at Colossae, now passes from the controversial to the more practical purport of his letter. There is no break, however, in the current of his thought; for throughout this chapter he urges the pursuit of a practical Christian life in a sense and in a manner silently opposed to the tendencies of Gnosticizing error. How much more congenial was the task to which he now... read more

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