You Died
By Jonathan Mitchell

Paul, writing to the called-out community in Colossae, said to them, in chapter 3:

1. Since, therefore, you folks were awakened and are raised up together in the Christ (or: If, as is the case, then, you are co-aroused and co-raised with the Anointed One, and by the Anointing), be constantly seeking and trying to find the upward things (or: the [realms or situations] being above, at a higher place), where the Christ is (exists being), continuously sitting within, and in the sphere of, the right [side] (or: centered at, and in union with, the right [hand]; = at the place of receiving, and in the place of honor and the power) of God.

2. Be constantly minding (thinking about; setting your disposition, sentiments and frame of mind toward; paying regard to) the upward things (or: the [creations and activities] above), not the things upon the earth (or: these [matters and situations] based on the soil or land),

3. for you see, you folks died, and your life has been hidden accompanied, so that it is now concealed together, within the midst of the Christ, in the sphere of, and within the midst of, God (or: centered in union with God).

What did Paul mean, here, and what do these verses mean to us? Let us unpack this short passage. We should first look at vs. 3: when did they/we die? Since this letter is written to believers, Rom. 6:8, 11 offer us what is a probable answer:

"Now since, and in view of the fact that, we died-off (or: So if, as is the case, we co-died) together with Christ, we are continuously believing (relying; trusting) that we will also continue living together (co-living) in Him (by Him; for Him; to Him; with Him) .... Thus also, you folks be constantly logically-considering (reasonably calculating, accounting and concluding) yourselves to exist being dead ones, on the one hand, by the Failure to hit the target (or: in the Sin; or: to the Deviation; with the Derangement), yet, on the other hand, folks continuously living with God (in God; for God; to God; by God), within Christ Jesus, our Owner (or: in union with, and in the sphere of, Anointed Jesus, our Lord)."

Now, we suggest that since we were already dead, through Adam's transgression (Rom. 5:15a; Eph. 2:1), our dying-off "together with Christ" would be "the second death." In THIS death, with Christ, "[our] life has been hidden accompanied, so that it is now concealed together, within the midst of the Christ." And Paul instructs us that we should "be constantly logically-considering (concluding) [ourselves] to exist being dead ones, on the one hand, by the Failure to hit the target (or: IN the Sin; or: to the Deviation, and with the Derangement" due to Adam's transgression (Rom. 5:12). But here Paul offers us an apparent paradox, for he continues (in Rom. 6:11, above), "yet, on the other hand, [as] folks continuously living with God." This answers to Col. 3:3b, above, where our life is concealed "in the sphere of, and within the midst of, God."

In Rom. 6:11, the final phrase, "within Christ Jesus," is parenthetically expanded to offer other possible renderings of the Greek preposition 'en'. Above that, in this same verse, we have an expansion of the prepositional phrase, "BY the Failure to hit the target (the literal meaning of what is commonly rendered as sin)." Adam's transgression was the instrument "by" which we were brought into the first death, and thus should we be logically-considering "death" as being our past-to-present situation. Yet, since this phrase has no expressed preposition in the Greek text, along with other meanings of the verb, we offer other functions of the dative case of the noun (in addition to other meanings of the noun). Therefore, the clause can be rendered: "reasonably calculating [ourselves] to exist being dead ones IN the Sin."

Now, a very different sense of what Paul is saying comes by reading the dative case as "being dead ones TO the Deviation." In other words, the Deviation (of Adam, and its resulting death which was passed into all humanity) is now (because of Christ taking us into Himself) as it were, "nothing to us, and we no longer regard it or recognize it as having any effect on us."

The final option, "with the Derangement," simply regards the dead condition as being, as it were, the source of our condition, or "illness." His Life overcomes the Derangement and heals us.

All of this shows us WHY we died, but the Good News is that we should be considering ourselves as being "continuously living with God (in God; for God; to God; by God), within Christ Jesus, our Owner" (Rom. 6:11b). And, this is because we are hidden in Christ, within the midst of God (Col. 3:3, above), and so now, we can return to the admonitions of Col. 3:1-2, above. This is why Paul instructs us that we "were awakened and are raised up together in the Christ." You see, we have been resurrected from the condition of being dead. This reminds us of Eph. 2:5-6,

"being continuously dead ones by (or: in; to; with) the results and effects of stumblings aside (wrong steps; offences) [cf Tit. 3:3-5; Gal. 5:16; Rom. 5:6; 6:4; 10:12][p46 reads: .in (to; by) the bodies; other MSS: by the failure(s) to hit the mark (sin/sins); B reads: within the stumblings aside and the cravings (lusts)], He made alive together by (or: joins us in common life with, for and in; [p46, B: within; in union with; cf Jn. 5:24]]) the Christ - by (with; in) the Grace and joyous Favor you continually exist, being folks having been delivered (rescued and saved, so that you are now safe and made whole)! - and He jointly roused and raised (or: suddenly awakens and raises) [us] up together, and caused [us] to sit (or: seats [us]; = enthroned [us]) together in union with, and among, the ruling heavenly people, and within the things situated upon the imposed heavens (or: centered in the full, perfected heavenlies; or: among those comprising the complete and completed heavenlies; in union with the celestial people; among the folks [residing] upon the atmospheres) within, in union with, and in the sphere of, Christ Jesus."

Yes, we died, but in Christ we have been raised up and made alive by, and with, Christ. Because of this, we are admonished to, "be constantly seeking and trying to find the upward things (or: the [realms or situations] being above, at a higher place)." We are called to live our lives in a higher realm. But what does Paul mean by this? Well, first of all, he continues:

"where the Christ is (exists being), continuously sitting within, and in the sphere of, the right [side] (or: centered at, and in union with, the right [hand]; = at the place of receiving, and in the place of honor and the power) of God."

It is implied that this higher realm is to be the focus of our daily lives. This would have been the object of Jesus' focus, for He did only what He "continue[d] seeing something the Father [was] in process of doing" (Jn. 5:19).

In vs. 2, he explains what he meant by "constantly seeking" (etc.): "Be constantly minding (thinking about; setting your disposition, sentiments and frame of mind toward; paying regard to) the upward things (or: the [creations and activities] above)." This is in contrast to having our focus on the natural realm of daily living (the things upon the earth).

Now, we can assume that Paul knew that people needed to attend the requirements and involvements of society and daily living. But the "flesh realm" was to be secondary to the "spirit realm," as Paul instructs us in Rom. 8:9,

"Yet YOU folks are not constantly existing within the midst of, nor in the sphere of, Flesh (or: As for you, you are not in union with the natural realm, nor are you centered on the alienated, natural human condition, nor in Torah-keeping with flesh sacrifices), but rather, within spirit, in the sphere of Spirit, in union with Breath-effect and centered on [His] Attitude, since indeed God's Spirit (or: if so be that [the] Breath-effect which is God; or: if, as is the case, an attitude which corresponds to God) is continuously housing Itself (making His abode; residing; dwelling; by idiom: cohabiting; living together as husband and wife) within the midst of, and among, you folks."

It is a matter of prioritizing, and of what Paul referred to in Phil. 3:14,

"I am continuously pressing forward and bearing down on [the; or: an] object in view (progressively pursuing along the line of a mark on which the eye is fixed, and in the sphere of a goal): with a view to, and into the midst of, the awarded contest prize of God's (or: the award from, and which is, God's) invitation to an above place (or: the prize pertaining to, and which is, the upward calling from, and which is, the God) centered within the midst of, and in union with, Christ Jesus. [cf 2 Cor. 5:1; 2 Tim. 4:7-8; Heb. 3:1]

This comes to living in two realms at the same time: existing in both heaven and earth simultaneously. Recall that the Kingdom (Realm; sovereign activities and influences) of God is within us (Lu. 17:21). We produce the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) while abiding in the Vine (Christ - Jn. 15), and our everyday lives offer this Fruit to folks whom we encounter. Abiding in the Vine is the same as being "joined to the Lord" (1 Cor. 6:17), which is only in the realm of the Spirit, which in turn is the atmosphere (heaven) of sky and air (which is physically the higher realm of the earth, and is joined to the earth) which we daily inhale. This may be mixing a metaphor with Reality, but we suggest that the two are intertwined - and realizing this really enriches our lives. God's Breath made Adam a living soul, and our own breathing keeps us being living souls. Ponder that!

If our minds and spirits can grasp the realities behind these metaphorical texts, we can realize that we have access to the realities, as the Spirit reveals the meanings of the metaphors. The Spirit of the Creator lives within us. No wonder Paul saw himself as running a race (a metaphor for a focused life). We are awake. We see, and we know, by intimate experience. We inhabit the higher realm, and yet continue to serve the lower realm. Our branches live in the above while our roots remain in the earth.

Jonathan

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