The practical Christian life is totally impractical and wholly unthinkable without the present-day implications and daily, real-life application, of the cross in the believer’s life.
Instruction in the discipline of practical Christian living is firmly rooted in the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross. It is impossible to give instruction on practical Christian living independent of the accomplishments of the cross. The rationale and grounds for Christian living is rooted in Christ’s accomplishments on the cross. Mindful of this truth and not wanting to blindly dish out commands, in Colossians 3:1 – 4 Paul presents the Colossian Christians with a summary of those achievements and their present day implications in the believer’s life. Only then does he launch into detailed instruction in practical Christian living.
Colossians 3:1 – 4
“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.”
Here Paul identifies five clear outcomes of the believer’s union with Christ and their present-day implications. However, central and common to all five is the fact of the believer’s death with Christ – “for you have died”. At the core of these realities is Christ’s historical death and resurrection that the believer is now inseparably united with. The believer’s union with Christ that the scriptures speak about is an organic and indivisible union. This new position “in Christ” brings us into a whole new, hitherto unexperienced, reality.
This summary represents believers’ new reality resulting from faith in, and subsequent, inevitable, union with Christ. Their faith and trust in Christ, he reminds them, has led to an inseparable and organic union with Him leading to a radically new – and for them hitherto non-existent – reality. No matter how outlandish and unreal it may seem given their prevailing circumstances, this is now their undeniable reality.
There are 5 distinct, but interconnected, realities that form the foundation and bedrock of the practical Christian life and are all results of the believer’s faith-union with Christ:
- “you have been raised with Christ”
- “seated at the right hand of God” (with Christ)
- “you have died” (with Christ)
- “your life is hidden with Christ”
- “Christ… is your life”
The believer’s own death, resurrection and being sat at the right hand of God with Christ, coupled with one’s life being truly hidden in Christ with God, and that life being Christ Himself, are all new realities the believer must come to terms with. These have resulted from the a union with Christ brought about by faith in Him.
Indeed, it is the believer’s inevitable death and resurrection with Christ – (“for you have died” and “if you have been raised with Christ”) – as a result of faith in Him that gives rise to the other realities. Being sat at the right hand of God – “seated at the right hand of God” – and having one’s life hidden in Christ there, – “your life is hidden with Christ” – are outcomes of having died and been raised with Him.
These are the realities that Paul leans into as he proceeds to give instruction in practical Christian living. The practical Christian life is unthinkable outside of and without these realities that the believer has now entered into, and invariably lives in, as a result of their union with Christ.
Not only does the believer’s union with Christ result in their death and resurrection but extends to being seated with Him at the right hand of God and sharing His very life. These are realities or truths that not only form the basis and foundation but represent the rationale and competency for a life of holiness and purity here on earth – realities corroborated by different passages and authors throughout the New Testament.
One must understand their altered reality in Christ if they are to live the victorious Christian life.
In the next post, we will consider in detail further ramifications of the cross and the believer’s definitive union with Christ.
It took The Divine
Taking on humanity
Stepping into frailty
Dying in humility
Overcoming in victory
For mankind,
To experience a new reality.
grace unbound 