Colossians 3:3-4 For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Observe — I. THAT THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE BELIEVER'S LIFE IN CHRIST INVOLVES A NEW RELATION TO OUTWARD THINGS. "For ye are dead." There was a time when he lived in, to, and for the world. But now, while still in it, he is dead to its charms and to its ordinances. All the mainsprings of activity are changed. Man lives where he loves. II. THAT THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE BELIEVER'S LIFE IN CHRIST IS ONE OF CONCEALMENT FROM THE OUTWARD WORLD. 1. It is hid. All life is hid. Its origin is a profound mystery. The botanist fails to discover it. The scalpel of the anatomist has not pierced its dark domain. Its presence is known only by its effects. It is not a life of vulgar display. 2. It is hid with Christ, Christ Himself was hidden when here, and is now to the world, and the believer's life is with Him as a river concealed in a hidden channel flowing beneath. This hiding indicates(1) dependence. It is not hid with the believer himself; he derives it from Christ, and on Him depends for its nourishment. The springs of this life abide when every other source is exhausted. (2) Security. Our life is safer in His keeping than it could be in our own. Man was once entrusted with it, and he lost it. 3. It is hid in the depths of the Godhead. Not lost in the abyss of Deity, as the mystic or pantheist would teach; but so hid as to retain its own conscious individuality, while sharing in the boundless life of God. III. THAT THE BELIEVER'S LIFE IN CHRIST WILL, IN THE FUTURE, BE MANIFESTED IN INEFFABLE GLORY. 1. There will be a signal manifestation of Christ in the future. 2. The believer will share in the ineffable glory of that manifestation. This implies(1) public recognition. The believer, obscure and despised on earth, is acknowledged before the universe as related to Christ. All the ends of secrecy are answered. The hidden is revealed. (2) A personal participation in the splendour of Christ's triumph and in the bliss of His character. (G. Barlow.) Parallel Verses KJV: For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.WEB: For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. |
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