Colossians 3:4
in Colossians 3When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory.
KJV
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
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This verse in Colossians 3
Commentary
16 notes on this verseWhen Christ, who is our life, shall appear,.... The Vulgate Latin version, and some copies, read, "your life". Christ is the author of spiritual life, the fountain from whence it springs, the object on which the saints live, yea, their very life itself; it is not so much they that live, as Christ that lives in them: and he is their eternal life; it is in him, and given forth by him; to know him now is the beginning of it; and its perfection hereafter will lie in the vision of him, communion with him, and conformity to him.
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.
This site's exposition
When Christ, who is your life, appears
Some copies read the first person here, and Gill notes that the Vulgate reads your life with the Berean text. Christ is that life, and He is now hidden with God. Augustine sets the times side by side: now for longing, and for joy when Christ appears in glory.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
But what follows he says? When Christ, your life, appears, then you too will appear with him in glory. So now is the time for sighing, then for rejoicing: now for longing, then for embracing: what we now long for is not present; but let us not falter in longing, let long longing train us, because he who promised does not deceive us. We do not say, brothers, let no one grow cold: let no one even grow lukewarm. And if the lovers of the world mock those serving God: "Behold what we have and what we enjoy: where is your happiness?" You do not have what you see, but you have what you believe: but those do not believe to whom it is not shown; rejoice, because you have believed: you will rejoice more when you see. And if you sigh because you cannot show it now, the sigh of your pain will profit for salvation, but also for eternal glory.
"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. […]
Now the mystery of this "sign" was in various ways predicted; (a "sign") in which the foundation of life was forelaid for mankind; (a "sign") in which the Jews were not to believe: just as Moses beforetime kept on announcing in Exodus, saying, "Ye shall be ejected from the land into which ye shall enter; and in those nations ye shall not be able to rest: and there shall be instabilityof the print of thy foot: and God shall give thee a wearying heart, and a pining soul, and failing eyes, that they see not: and thy life shall hang on the tree before thine eyes; and thou shalt not trust thy life.
The Medieval Church2 voices
When he says, when Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory, he shows how this life will be manifested, that is, just as Christ's; for we read, "Our God comes" (Ps 50:3). And so Paul says, when …
At the second coming, Christ will appear to all as God, coming in glory, with angels. Now He is so hidden that even His name is condemned. Then you too will appear, and not simply, but "in glory." Therefore seek that day, not this one: …
8 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
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.
To me to live is Christ, Phil. i. (2.) Christ will appear again. He is now hid; and the heavens must contain him; but he will appear in all the pomp of the upper world, with his holy angels, and in his own glory and his Father's glory, Mark viii.
When Christ - The abruptness of the sentence surrounds us with sudden light. Our life - The fountain of holiness and glory. Shall appear - In the clouds of heaven.
The Nineteenth Century5 voices
When Christ, who is our life - When Christ comes to judge the world, ye shall appear with him in his glory, and in an eternal state of blessedness.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Rome having ceased to look for Him in patient faith, has set up a visible mockhead, a false anticipation of the millennial kingdom. The Papacy took to itself by robbery that glory which is an object of hope, and can only be reached by bearing the cross now.
MY discourse on Sunday mornings is very frequently the gathering up of the thoughts and experiences of the week— a handful of barley which I have gleaned among the sheaves. But I could not thrust upon you, this morning, the poverty-stricken productions of my own insufferable dullness of brain, weariness of heart and sickness of spirit during this week, for this were a sure method of making you partakers of my misery. I have wandered through a wilderness, but I will not scatter handfuls of the hot sand among you.
MY discourse on Sunday mornings is very frequently the gathering up of the thoughts and experiences of the week— a handful of barley which I have gleaned among the sheaves. But I could not thrust upon you, this morning, the poverty-stricken productions of my own insufferable dullness of brain, weariness of heart and sickness of spirit during this week, for this were a sure method of making you partakers of my misery. I have wandered through a wilderness, but I will not scatter handfuls of the hot sand among you. I have traversed the valley of the shadow of death, but I will not repeat the howling of Apollyon. This day of rest is appointed for a far better purpose. Scarcely knowing how to fulfill the appointed service of this morning, I sit down and remember the ancient minstrel, who, when the genius of song had for a time departed from him, was nevertheless called upon to discourse sweet music. What could he do but play his fingers among the strings of his harp and begin some old accustomed strain? His fingers and his lips moved at first mechanically. The first few stanzas dropped from him from mere force of habit and fell like stones without life or power. But by and by he struck a string which woke the echoes of his soul—a note fell on his heart like a blazing torch and the smoldering fire within his soul suddenly flamed up. The Heaven-born muse was with him and he sang as in his better times.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
When Christ, who is our life - Notes, Joh 1:4; Joh 11:25, note. Shall appear - In the day when he shall come to judge the world. Then shall ye also appear with him in glory - 1Th 4:16-17. Christians shall then be raised from the dead, and ascend with the Redeemer to heaven.
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὅταν | hotan | When | G3752 → | |
| ὁ | ho | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| Χριστὸς | christos | Christ | G5547 → | 523 times |
| φανερωθῇ, | phanerothea | may be revealed, | G5319 → | 45 times |
| ἡ | he | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ζωὴ | zoe | life | G2222 → | |
| ὑμῶν, | humon | of you, | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| τότε | tote | then | G5119 → | |
| καὶ | kai | also | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ὑμεῖς | humeis | you yourselves | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| σὺν | sun | with | G4862 → | 128 times |
| αὐτῷ | auto | Him | G846 → | 5565 times |
| φανερωθήσεσθε | phanerothesesthe | will appear | G5319 → | 45 times |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| δόξῃ.¶ | doxe | glory. | G1391 → | 165 times |
ὅτανWhen
hotanG3752 →
ὁ<the>
hoG3588 →19766 times
ΧριστὸςChrist
christosG5547 →523 times
φανερωθῇ,may be revealed,
phanerotheaG5319 →45 times
ἡthe
heG3588 →19766 times
ζωὴlife
zoeG2222 →
ὑμῶν,of you,
humonG4771 →2973 times
τότεthen
toteG5119 →
καὶalso
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ὑμεῖςyou yourselves
humeisG4771 →2973 times
σὺνwith
sunG4862 →128 times
αὐτῷHim
autoG846 →5565 times
φανερωθήσεσθεwill appear
phanerothesestheG5319 →45 times
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
δόξῃ.¶glory.
doxeG1391 →165 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
John 11:25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
it leads to
- 1 Thessalonians 4:14
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.
- 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.”
- 1 John 5:11–12
And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:14
Where this verse is studied
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Studies20
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About Colossians
This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 350A; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 617: “Christ Our Life—Soon To Appear” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Colossians 7; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Colossians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Colossians.