Colossians 3:1

Colossians 3:1, in plain English

Since your old life died with Christ and you've been brought back to life through Him, you need to actively pursue the things of heaven—where Christ actually is right now—instead of settling for temporary earthly concerns.

Why it's here

The Colossians had been caught up in false teachers promoting religious rules and earthly philosophies. Paul is reminding them that they've already experienced the most radical transformation possible—spiritual death and resurrection—so their priorities should completely shift upward. This was a countercultural call in a society obsessed with status, wealth, and earthly achievement.

Who's speaking

Paul, writing to the church at Colossae

Where it sits in the story

This echoes the resurrection reality established in Romans 6 and connects to Paul's earlier point in Colossians 2:12 about being buried and raised with Christ. It's also preparation for what Jesus taught about storing up treasures in heaven rather than on earth.

The scholarly reading

Because you have already been spiritually resurrected with Christ through baptism and faith, you must actively pursue heavenly realities and values rather than earthly ones.

Language and setting

Paul addresses Colossian Christians who faced pressure from syncretistic false teachers promoting cosmic speculation and ascetic practices. The community needed reorientation toward Christ as the true center of reality. Paul invokes their baptismal identity—a foundational moment when they died and rose with Christ—to ground his ethical exhortation.

Voice

Paul, writing to the church at Colossae, likely through Tychicus as courier, around 60-62 CE.

Significance

This verse crystallizes the Pauline gospel: believers participate mystically in Christ's death and resurrection, which inaugurates the already-not-yet tension between present spiritual reality and future consummation. Paul echoes Romans 6:3-11 and extends Ephesians 2:4-6, establishing that Christian ethics flow from Christian identity.

1Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Read all of Colossians 3 — You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Strip off the old self like worn-out clothing and put on compassion, kindness, and love.