We are in process of considering some matters that our natural mind will not readily embrace. It just doesn’t make sense to a mind outside of Christ to be saying: If ye then be risen with Christ. That’s how Colossians 3 begins. It is the premise upon which the Epistle continues. And, it is the continuation of what we learn in Romans and Ephesians. Some of you probably already know I refer to this as “Romans Truth” and “Ephesians Truth.” Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians is a continuation of what those two earlier Epistles have put forth.

The next statement from Colossians 3:3 is, For ye are dead (you died), and your life is hid with Christ in God. In Romans Paul brings us to this point by saying: Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him—Romans 6:8.

In Ephesians he carries us onward with much more understanding about our identification with Christ. It was in His death and resurrection, with statements like this:

Ephesians 2:4-6—But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with (has made us alive together with) Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places (in the heavenlies) in Christ Jesus.

Having gotten a glimpse of this, let us continue on by praying along the line of what we have just seen in Colossians 3:3. In Christ we died to sin, now we are risen with Him to walk in a new kind of living.

FATHER, my understanding is still very shallow, but I am ready to learn more. Please do a work in my heart that will enable me to lay hold on what You have revealed through Paul’s Letters, especially Colossians. This really does call for a work from Your Holy Spirit. Please cause Him to work, not only in me, but also in these I name before Your Throne.

Let us take a review of the Prayer Paul prayed about these matters as recorded in Ephesians.—Ephesians 1:15-23