Mystical union with Christ
"If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:1–3) This passage, placed at the beginning of the third chapter of Saint Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, serves as both a theological affirmation and a spiritual exhortation rooted in the believer’s mystical union with Christ. Paul speaks not conditionally but prescriptively: "If you were raised with Christ" refers to a foundational Christian truth, accomplished in baptism, where one dies to sin and rises to new life (cf. Romans 6:3–4). The exhortation that follows—to seek what is above—urges believers to live according to the heavenly identity they already possess in Christ, not simply awaiting a future transformation but living its reality now. The believer’s life is no longer defined by earthly categories of status, success, or des...