Colossians 3:3
in Colossians 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
KJV
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
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This verse in Colossians 3
Commentary
20 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
For ye are dead - Dead to the world; dead to sin; dead to earthly pleasures. On the meaning of the word “dead,” see the Rom 6:2 note; Eph 2:1 note. The idea of the apostle is, that as Christ became literally dead in the tomb, so we, in virtue of our connection with him, have become dead to sin, to worldly influences, pleasures, and ambition.
This site's exposition
For you died
on Colossians 3:3-4
Your life is now hidden with Christ in God, a treasure stored beyond a thief's reach. The hidden life is promised a public unveiling: then you also will appear with Him in glory.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
For this is the meaning of flight: to know your goal, to unburden oneself of the world, to unburden oneself of the body…. This is the meaning of flight from here—to die to the elements of this world, to hide one's life in God, to turn aside from corruptions, not to defile oneself with the objects of desire and to be ignorant of the things of this world.
For then there will be nothing wanting they can desire, when God will be all in all. An end like that has no end. No one dieth there, where no one arriveth save he that dieth to this world, not that universal kind of death whereby the body is bereft of the soul; but the death of the elect, through which, even while still remaining in this mortal flesh, the heart is set on the things which are above. Of such a death it is that the apostle said, "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." And perhaps to this, also, do the words refer, "Love is strong as death." For by this love it is brought about, that, while still held in the present corruptible body, we die to this world, and our life is hid with Christ in God; yea, that love itself is our death to the world, and our life with God. For if that is death when the soul quits the body, how can it be other than death when our love quits the world? Such love, therefore, is strong as death. And what is stronger than that which bindeth the world?
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 10 -- On Gluttony · Written before 523.
proposed
And the glutton is not pleased to hear the other things which have been written by Paul upon fortitude and asceticism, either when he recounteth his numerous fastings, or when he crieth out to his disciples, saying, "Ye are dead unto the world," or when …
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 9 -- Second Discourse on Poverty · Written before 523.
proposed
"Ye are dead," crieth Paul unto the perfect, "and your lives are hid with Christ in God." And again he said, "Ye are dead unto the world, but alive unto God, in our Lord Jesus Christ." And again he said, "If ye died with Christ …
" The heretic erased the preposition in, and made the clause run thus: ("what is the fellowship of the mystery) which hath for ages been hidden from the God who created all things." The falsification, however, is flagrantly absurd.
13 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers3 voices
"Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life shall be manifested, then shall ye also with Him be manifested in glory." This is not your life, he saith, it is some other one. He is now urgent to remove them, and insists upon showing that they are seated above, and are dead; from both considerations establishing the position, that they are not to seek the things which are here. For whether ye be dead, ye ought not to seek them; or whether ye be above, ye ought not to seek them. Doth Christ appear? Neither doth your life. It is in God, above. What then? When shall we live? When Christ shall be manifested, who is your life; then seek ye glory, then life, then enjoyment. This is to prepare the way for drawing them off from pleasure and ease. Such is his wont: when establishing one position, he darts off to another; as, for instance, when discoursing of those who at supper were beforehand with one another, he all at once falls upon the observance of the Mysteries. For he hath a great rebuke when it is administered unsuspected. "It is hid," he saith, from you. "Then shall ye also with Him be manifested." So that, now, ye do not appear. See how he hath removed them into the very heaven. For, as I said, he is always bent upon showing that they have the very same things which Christ hath; and through all his Epistles, the tenor is this, to show that in all things they are partakers with Him. Therefore he uses the terms, Head, and Body, and does everything to convey this to them. If therefore we shall then be manifested, let us not grieve, when we enjoy not honor: if this life be not life, but it be hidden, we ought to live this life as though dead. […]
We should be aware of the fact, therefore, that where God has planted the tree of life he has also planted a tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of paradise. It is understood that he planted it in the middle. Therefore, in the middle of paradise there was both a tree of life and a cause for death. Keep in mind that man did not create life. By carrying out and observing the precepts of God it was possible for man to find life.
Our life is hidden until the blessing of eternal life shall be revealed to all, when the glory of Christ shall appear in his second coming. .
The Medieval Church2 voices
From both sides he urges them not to seek the things here below — both from death and from life. You have died, he says, to what is below; therefore you ought not to seek these things. Again, your life, he says, is above; and …
When Paul continues, for you have died, he gives the reason for his advice. First, he mentions their death; secondly, their hidden life (v. 3b); and thirdly, he teaches when this life will be revealed (v. 4). Just before, Paul had rejected one way of …
The Reformation1 voice
No one can rise again with Christ, if he has not first died with him. Hence he draws an argument from rising again to dying, as from a consequent to an antecedent, meaning that we must be dead to the world that we may live to Christ.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
For ye are dead - To the things on earth. And your real, spiritual life is hid from the world, and laid up in God, with Christ - Who hath merited, promised, prepared it for us, and gives us the earnest and foretaste of it in our hearts.
The life of a Christian is hid with Christ. Because I live you shall live also, John xiv. Christ is at present a hidden Christ, or one whom we have not seen; but this is our comfort, that our life is hid with him, and laid up safely with him.
That we are dead; that is, to present things, and as our portion. We are so in profession and obligation; for we are buried with Christ, and planted into the likeness of his death. Every Christian is crucified unto the world, and the world is crucified unto him, Gal. vi.
For ye are dead,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
"It doth not yet appear (Greek, 'is not yet manifested') what we shall be" (1Jo 3:2; As yet Christians do not always recognize the "life" of one another, so hidden is it, and even at times doubt as to their own life, so weak is it, and so harassed with temptations (Ps 51:1-19; Ro 7:1-25). in God--to whom Christ has ascended.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
For ye are dead - To all hopes of happiness from the present world; and, according to your profession, should feel no more appetite for the things of this life, than he does whose soul is departed into the invisible state. Your life is hid with Christ in God - Christ is your treasure; and where your treasure is, there is your heart. Christ lives in the bosom of the Father; as your heart is in him, ye also sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. Christ is the life of your souls; and as he is hidden in the bosom of the Father, so are ye, who live through and in him.
Modern Voices1 voice
A commentator
GK ChestertonTremendous Trifles, XXX. The Little Birds Who Won't Sing (1909) (1909)
proposed
As I passed homewards I passed a little tin building of some religious sort, which was shaken with shouting as a trumpet is torn with its own tongue. THEY were singing anyhow; and I had for an instant a fancy I had often had before: …
The words behind it
13 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἀπεθάνετε | apethanete | You have died | G599 → | |
| γὰρ | gar | for | G1063 → | 1039 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἡ | he | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ζωὴ | zoe | life | G2222 → | |
| ὑμῶν | humon | of you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| κέκρυπται | kekruptai | has been hidden | G2928 → | |
| σὺν | sun | with | G4862 → | 128 times |
| τῷ | to | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| Χριστῷ | christo | Christ | G5547 → | 523 times |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| τῷ | to | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θεῷ· | theo | God; | G2316 → | 1312 times |
ἀπεθάνετεYou have died
apethaneteG599 →
γὰρfor
garG1063 →1039 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἡthe
heG3588 →19766 times
ζωὴlife
zoeG2222 →
ὑμῶνof you
humonG4771 →2973 times
κέκρυπταιhas been hidden
kekruptaiG2928 →
σὺνwith
sunG4862 →128 times
τῷ<the>
toG3588 →19766 times
ΧριστῷChrist
christoG5547 →523 times
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
τῷ<the>
toG3588 →19766 times
θεῷ·God;
theoG2316 →1312 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Galatians 2:20I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved…
it leads to
- Galatians 5:24
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
- 2 Corinthians 5:15
And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.
- Romans 6:4–6
We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of…
- Colossians 3:3–4
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
- 2 Corinthians 4:10–11
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
- Galatians 5:24
Through
Romans 8:2For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.
it leads to
- Romans 6:14
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
- 2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
- Romans 6:14
Through
John 5:24Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.
it leads to
- John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
- John 3:36
Where this verse is studied
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About Colossians
This page draws on 20 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Ambrose of Milan, Commentary (church-history corpus); Ambrose of Milan, On Paradise; Augustine of Hippo, Tractate 65 on the Gospel of John; GK Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles, XXX. The Little Birds Who Won't Sing (1909); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Chrysostom, Homily on Colossians 7; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 10 -- On Gluttony; Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 9 -- Second Discourse on Poverty; Severian of Gabala, Commentary (church-history corpus); Tertullian, Against Marcion Book V; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Colossians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Colossians.