What does “Christ who is our life” mean (Colossians 3:4)?

Having urged the Colossians to seek what is above and not to set their minds on earthly things (Colossians 1:1–2), the apostle Paul then writes, “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:4, NKJV). Paul’s statement that Christ is our life is significant for Christian identity, sanctification, and eternal hope.

In Colossians 3:1–4, Paul appeals to the believers’ position in Christ as the basis of their new lives: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1, NKJV). The clause beginning with if is rhetorical, not conditional. Some other translations have since instead of if (NIV, NLT). The Colossians have been raised with Christ. This truth forms the basis of Paul’s ethical instructions in Colossians 3:5–25.

By stating that Christ is our life (Colossians 3:4), Paul says that Jesus is everything to us. We are identified with Christ and now share His resurrection life. Jesus is the bearer of the eternal life; He is the Life-giver. More than that, He is Life itself: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (John 11:25–26).

Our identity and purpose derive from Christ. Elsewhere, Paul writes, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20, NKJV). Christ does not supplement our best efforts; He lives in and through us. The old self has died, and the new self is entirely Christ-dependent: “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3, NKJV).

The fact that Christ is our life also means He is the pattern of our existence. In Colossians 3:1–2, Paul commands the Colossians to set their hearts and minds on heavenly realities that reflect their current position in Christ. Their identities are tethered to Christ, who is “sitting at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1, NKJV). Christ is the source of life and the one who directs our lives.

Knowing Christ redefines what it means to live. Earthly values, such as pleasure and power, are subordinated to heavenly ones. The believer’s moral framework is not derived from cultural norms but from the resurrected Christ. For this reason, Paul says, “Put off the old man with his deeds, and . . . put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Colossians 3:9–10, NKJV). Christ’s life is the mold that forms us.

Paul moves from hiddenness to revelation. The believer’s life, now “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3) will be revealed at Christ’s return (verse 4). In other words, we will be glorified. “The spiritual life our souls have now in Him shall be extended to our bodies” (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A., and Brown, D., A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments). The promise of glorification is foundational to Christian hope. The apostle John writes, “When He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2, NKJV). One day, we will share in Christ’s glorified existence.

Earlier in the letter to the Colossians, Paul describes Christ as “the firstborn from among the dead” and the one through whom all things are reconciled, “by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:18, 20). By calling Christ our life, Paul places believers within this new-creation framework. Christ created new life within us, and we will receive our full inheritance when He returns.

Believers should not live according to the old self but according to the new self. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (NKJV). Christ is more than an exemplary moral teacher; He is the one in whom we live, move, and have our being.