NOTES for Col 3:1-11

Paul draws attention to the fact that the Christian's life is directly connected with the life and person of Christ Himself, "hidden in Christ," as the apostle calls it. This is understandable: the Kingdom itself is inseparable from the relationships that bind the Son with the Father, and still more is the life of each individual Christian inseparable from them. This life is visible to the world to the extent that the Kingdom is visible to it at all, and the Kingdom opens to the world as the world is transformed. To the extent that the world is transformed, the life of the Kingdom, and therefore the life of its inhabitants, becomes visible to it; to the extent that it still remains untransformed, that life remains unknown to it. But on the day of the world's complete transformation and the Savior's return, everything that was previously invisible will become visible and plain to all, so that nothing hidden from the world will remain.

However, in order for the life of a particular Christian to be full, it must not be reduced merely to passive abiding in the Kingdom, in the space of the relationships that bind the Father and the Son. In any case, passive abiding in the Kingdom is scarcely possible at all, since the Kingdom itself exists only in continuous dynamism, insofar as every relationship is always dynamic and can exist only by being constantly renewed. But besides this external dynamism, the Christian's life must also necessarily contain an internal one, connected with spiritual renewal and the transformation of the Christian's own human nature. After full transformation, every person's nature must become the same as the Savior's human nature became after His Resurrection. But transformation is not a one-time act; it is a process connected with the person of the Savior Himself, with His life, and with the process by which the Kingdom enters the world.

The completion of the Christian's path, and therefore of the transformation of his human nature, coincides with the completion of the transformation of all the rest of nature, of all creation. And of course this path is not limited to the bounds of a person's earthly life, but continues after that life is finished. Yet it begins at the present, earthly stage of the path, and Paul describes it figuratively as a person's "stripping off" his former nature and "putting on" a new one, corresponding to the spiritual state that abiding in the Kingdom presupposes. Of course, a change in a person's physical nature is impossible at the present stage of the path, but a change in the person's psychic, soul nature is entirely possible. This is what the apostle reminds the recipients of his letter about, calling them to exclude from their life sexual immorality in all its forms, impurity, greed, anger, and everything else that is characteristic of human psychic nature in its fallen state. And if they succeed in this, then they will have taken the first step on the path toward the complete transformation of their nature, and therefore toward the fullness of the life of the Kingdom.

In the apostolic letters one often meets the expression "to die to the world." Paul also uses it, in particular in his letter to the Colossians. Usually this expression is interpreted in an ethical or anthropological sense. It is assumed that a person who has died to the world lives by a completely different system of values compared with people of "this world."

Of course, this is also important: the Savior Himself spoke of the fact that it is impossible to serve two masters. But if the issue were only a system of values, practical ethics, even what philosophers call an existential choice, we would still remain within the boundaries and framework of "this world."

Paul, however, speaks of more. He speaks of new life, the life that does not exist for the world. A presentiment of this other life was in the world even before the coming of Christ, and not only among the biblical prophets. The prophets sensed the breath of this other life quite clearly, though from afar. Those who in the pagan world happened to catch glimpses of this other life often described it as the absence of the habitual life of "this world."

Something like what the Buddha did, when he described the Kingdom with its life, slightly opened to him for a moment, as the absence of life in its familiar earthly forms. This life, slightly and briefly opened to him, was too unlike what we are accustomed to call life. From the point of view of the fallen world, the life of the Kingdom cannot be called life. Perhaps that is why the New Testament books so often speak of death to the world.

Christ brought the Kingdom into the world, and therefore, if we are Christians, we are dead to the world; nothing of its life remains in us. But the life of the Kingdom, which is in Christ, is ours. It is hidden in Him just as the entire fullness of the Kingdom was hidden in Him until the time. But of course this hiddenness is only for a time, otherwise there would have been no reason for Him to come into our world. This means that what was hidden will one day be revealed. In all fullness.

The apostle Paul speaks in the epistle to Colossians of a "new man", whose any member of the body of Christ is called to put on. It is fundamental for the New Testament, and it is especially the apostle Paul who speaks more often than the others of it. When this call comes true, all human divisions lose their meaning: there are no nationalities and social classes in Church, there are no ethnocultural and ritual divisions - says the apostle.

Such universalism from a human point of view is very difficult, because we consider very often the membership in various terrestrial categories of persons as our merit (or the guilt for the other people). There is no need to explain the position of the apostle; however it is important for each of us to listen and try to accept the real meaning of his words. No human category has value in the Kingdom of God.

We enter or don’t enter the Kingdom of God independently of the nationality. We enter or don’t enter the Kingdom of God independently of the standard of culture. There are not our social subdivisions in the Kingdom of God. And we are called to realize this universal Kingdom in our life. The apostle Paul speaks particularly about this, by witnessing Christ's life taken place in him.

The apostle Paul speaks in the epistle to Colossians of a "new man", whose any member of the body of Christ is called to put on. It is fundamental for the New Testament, and it is especially the apostle Paul who speaks more often than the others of it. When this call comes true, all human divisions lose their meaning: there are no nationalities and social classes in Church, there are no ethnocultural and ritual divisions - says the apostle.

Such universalism from a human point of view is very difficult, because we consider very often the membership in various terrestrial categories of persons as our merit (or the guilt for the other people). There is no need to explain the position of the apostle; however it is important for each of us to listen and try to accept the real meaning of his words. No human category has value in the Kingdom of God.

We enter or don’t enter the Kingdom of God independently of the nationality. We enter or don’t enter the Kingdom of God independently of the standard of culture. There are not our social subdivisions in the Kingdom of God. And we are called to realize this universal Kingdom in our life. The apostle Paul speaks particularly about this, by witnessing Christ's life taken place in him.