Colossians 3:3

And there is probably nothing more profound than the statement right here. To prove that you have no obligation to anything or anyone in a spiritual sense, Paul did not say try to argue; he did not say fight with people; he said you are now in a different league.

You have died.

You are now different. The you that was does not exist anymore. Paul said this about Jesus: We once viewed him according to the flesh, but not anymore (2 Corinthians 5:16). You once viewed yourself according to the flesh, but Paul is trying to train you to think of yourself according to the spirit, according to your heavenly, unseen reality.

The writer of the book of Hebrews (12:22-24) said that we have not come to a physical mountain but a spiritual mountain; we have not come to an earthly Jerusalem (physical location) but a heavenly Jerusalem (spiritual location).

The truth is that we have come to myriads of angels and the spirits of the righteous who have been made perfect. Though it feels that you are all alone, in the minority and the bottom is about to fall off. Or maybe everyone else seems confident in their error, and you're shaken in your faith.

The point is that you are now in a different class.

Now, what remains is for you to be transformed by the renewal of your mind (Romans 12:2) so that your mind will catch up with the reality of your spirit, hence the necessity of true teaching.

In verse 2:20, Paul says you died in Christ; in 3:1, he says you have been raised with Christ. Here, he says you have died.

But you did not die (naturally). Rather, Jesus died on your behalf, but according to the spiritual reckoning, meaning how God accounts for things, you have died.

God thinks beyond time and thinks in absolute substitutionary terms, meaning Jesus’ representative (remember he is the lamb of God [John 1:29]) death and resurrection are not regarded by God as anything but accomplished simultaneously for us and by us. It is we who are waiting for a resurrection, not God. From his point of view, it is already done.

There is now no dying again for you [John 11:25-26] (whatever death will happen is not real death according to God [1 Corinthians 15:51-52]) and nothing for you to do so that you will resurrect in him because it is finished (John 19:30). And I am writing about the believers in Christ.

We think in time-space continuum, God thinks with eternity as a frame of reference. That is why what will happen (in the time-space continuum) has happened since God announced the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:9-10). Do you believe it?

Essentially, with the body of sin done away with on the cross (Romans 6:4-6), you now have new life animating you.

Because of that, you can now walk in the newness of life; there is a new you. The person reading this has a new heart, new passions, and new sensibilities. Basically, I am saying that because Christ's life is now being lived through you as part of the body of Christ, you are a Christian.

The you that emerged based on Jesus's death and resurrection and your belief in him has never existed before. You have died.

Remember, nothing good lives in you, that is, in your flesh, according to the words of Paul (Romans 7:18). So, based on divine reckoning, you have died. The bad has gone; the new has come.

However, according to Paul, in another place, you need to consider yourself dead to sin (from God’s point of view) and alive to God (Romans 6:11). You need to agree with the fact that you have died. It’s the renewing of the mind, a process of gaining a new mind, a new way of thinking (Romans 12:1-2).

The focus verse concerns people who try to persuade you that your spiritual life is dependent on you fixating on things that perish with use (Colossians 2:22), washing, and fleshly observances.

And they come up with reasonings to say that your life depends on those things, it depends on seeking the things of this world, things copied from other religions that still think God is attached to objects, places, or buildings or rituals when now we know that God seeks people who will worship him in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24).

But they relegate the word of God to the background as they depend on seeking the things of this world, things copied from other religions that still think God is attached to objects and places, while everyone builds his own monument of worship.

In the focus verse, Paul is trying to signal that you are not at risk by revealing that your life is in Christ. If you don't feel you are at risk, you would not feel pressured to listen to the false teachers who cannot help but fear-monger.

People want to control how you live your life with their false appeal to physical things and false teaching, but Christ is the one who is in control of your life. He is your life essence.