My Notes
What Does Colossians 3:3 Mean?
Paul makes one of the most mystical statements in his letters: ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Three realities stacked together: death (the old self), hiddenness (your life is concealed), and location (with Christ in God).
The death is the crucifixion of the old self with Christ (Galatians 2:20). The person you were died. What exists now is not the old you. It is something new.
The hiddenness means your real life is not visible to the world. It is concealed — tucked away in the most secure location imaginable: with Christ in God. Your true identity is not on display. It is hidden in the deepest possible place.
The location — with Christ in God — is the ultimate security. Your life is not just protected. It is in Christ, who is in God. The nesting is deliberate: you are in Christ. Christ is in God. Nothing can reach your life without going through God and then through Christ to get to you.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does 'ye are dead' mean for how you relate to your old identity?
- 2.How is your life being 'hid with Christ in God' the ultimate security?
- 3.What does the world see versus what is hidden — and which is more real?
- 4.Where do you need the confidence that your real life is tucked away in the safest place possible?
Devotional
Ye are dead. The old you died. The person defined by sin, by the world's system, by the flesh's desires — dead. Not reforming. Not improving. Dead.
Your life is hid with Christ in God. The new life — the real you — is hidden. Not on display. Not visible to the world. Concealed in the most secure location in the universe: with Christ, in God.
Hid. The world cannot see your real life. They see the outer shell. They see the daily routine. They see what is visible. But the real life — the eternal, Christ-united, God-embedded life — is hidden. Safe. Unreachable.
With Christ in God. Consider the security: your life is in Christ. Christ is in God. To reach your life, anything hostile would have to get through God to reach Christ to reach you. The nesting is your protection.
The world may not see who you really are. Your circumstances may not reflect the reality of your hidden life. But the hiddenness is not weakness. It is security. What is hidden with Christ in God is more real — and more permanent — than anything visible.
You are dead. Your life is hidden. And the hiding place is the safest location in existence.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For ye are dead,.... Not in a natural or corporeal sense, for they were living in the world; nor in a moral sense, for…
For ye are dead - Dead to the world; dead to sin; dead to earthly pleasures. On the meaning of the word “dead,” see the…
For ye are dead - To all hopes of happiness from the present world; and, according to your profession, should feel no…
The apostle, having described our privileges by Christ in the former part of the epistle, and our discharge from the…
For The heavenward, Christward, "affection" of the Christian is reasonable, when his spiritual relation to Christ is…
Cross References
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