From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

What does it mean to be raised with Christ? How should that accomplished fact affect the believer's thinking and living?

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)

As we face this great imperative, we must ask questions. We must understand exactly what Paul by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit means by these words, so that we may know exactly what God requires of us, and do it.

First of all, what does it mean to be raised with Christ? The Apostle Paul is reminding us of what he has already said in Colossians chapter two, when he gave his great defense of the preeminence of Christ against the evil of worldly philosophy. In chapter two, verse twelve Paul declares that "you also were raised with Him [Jesus Christ] through faith in the working of God [the Father], who raised Him from the dead."

An Accomplished Fact

In the mind and plan of God this is already an accomplished fact. According to Colossians 3:1, believers were raised with Christ. The language in the Greek indicates a fulfilled condition, an action that has been done once, and will never be repeated.

What does this mean for the Christian? What does it mean, that you and I have been raised with Christ? Paul gives the answer not only here, but also in Romans 6:4: "Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Being raised with Christ should mean an entirely new way of thinking and living for the believer in Christ. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Born From Above

And how is it that all things have "become new"? Jesus gave the answer when he spoke to Nicodemus in John chapter three, verse three: "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The Greek words translated "born again " are gennethe anothen, meaning literally, "born from above." The new birth is "from above." It is not from this earth. It has no origin here. The new birth originates in heaven, and it culminates in heaven. "Unless one is born from above, he cannot see" - the word translated "see" (idein) means he cannot know, he cannot experience - "the kingdom of God." Jesus goes on to explain to Nicodemus that the new birth is the work of the Holy Spirit:

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water [natural birth] and the Spirit [the new birth], he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.' (John 3:5-8)

Citizens of Heaven

Dear friend, unless you are born from above by faith in the finished work of Christ, you will never see or know or experience the kingdom of God. It is impossible. But once you have been born from above, you can see the kingdom of God. You can know it. You can experience it - the kingdom of God here and now in a foretaste, and the kingdom of God in the life to come in all its fullness. You are a citizen of the world to come:

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, (Philippians 3:20)

Because you have been born from above, because you are now a member and a citizen of the kingdom of God, because your citizenship is now in heaven and not on earth, Paul says, "seek those things which are above, where Christ is."

Some teachers try to make a distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven, but the fact is that Jesus Himself used the terms interchangeably. Do not fall into the trap of those who would try to tell you that there are two kingdoms, one for Israel and one for the Church, or who would try to make some other un-Biblical division. All who are born from above are citizens of the kingdom of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. The "things above" of which Paul speaks in this passage belong to every believer of all time.

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