FOR YOU HAVE DIED: apethanete (2PAAI) gar: (Col 2:12-note, Col 2:20-note, Ro 6:2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 7, 4, 5, 6-see notes on Ro 6:2 , 6:7, 6:8-10, 6:11, 7:4-6, Gal 2:18, Gal 2:20-note ; Gal 5:24-note; Gal 6:14; 1Pe 2:24-note)  

Note "died" is first in Greek sentence to emphasize this life changing event.

"For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died" (Amp)

For (gar) introduces and explains the reason "living in the heavenlies" (seeking and minding the things above) is to be the norm for the believer even though he is on earth. Believers have died to the world system (Gal 6:14), through their faith and consequent intimate union with Christ in His death and resurrection. 

You have died (599) (apothnesko from apo = away from + thnesko = die) means literally to die off and so to cease to have vital functions, whether at an earthly or transcendent level.

The tense of died is aorist which speaks of a past completed action -- believers died with the moment they believed in Christ they died as clearly implied in 2Cor 5:17). The mood is indicative which is the mood of reality indicating that this spiritual death was a real event even if though we cannot completely comprehend the supernatural nature of the transaction.

The upshot is that when you died with Christ in the past, you died to the power, rule, mastery, enslavement to the old task master sin, which has now been rendered inoperative (see note Romans 6:6 "done away with") by the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus and your faith in His finished work which has brought you into union with Christ.

To be sure the presence and power of SIN (see "the Sin") will continue to harangue us for the remainder of our physical earthly existence but it can no longer condemn us. The question then is: Are you living like a ''dead'' man? Since we died and were raised with Christ, anything foreign to Jesus should be foreign to us. Although it's a "done deal" so to speak, we still need to make daily daily choices in light of and consistent with that truth. These choices often involve "Death to self" a truth emphasized often by Jesus as a requirement of those who wished to follow Him as His disciples (Mt 16:25; Mk 8:35; Lu 9:24;17:33; Jn 12:25 See Torrey's Topic on "Self Denial").

In these verses in Colossians Paul is explaining what "death to self" should look like (Col 3:5-4:6). Dying to self and living to God (Christ increasing, us decreasing Jn 3:30) is the essence of the heavenly minded "much fruit" life (Jn 15:8) our Father desires all His children. But praise God it is no longer we who  are "living' but Christ living His life thru us (Ga 2:20-note).

John Eadie adds

"Neither “seek nor savour” the things of earth; for having died, and having been even buried with Christ, your sphere of being, action, and enjoyment, is totally different from your former state. As Luther says— “we live not in the flesh, but we dwell in the flesh.” When they did die, their death was but a birth into a new life." (Eadie, John: Commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Colossians - Download 377 page Pdf - 1884)

Spurgeon (click complete text) has some insightful comments regarding the our death & new life in the Spirit:

Aforetime we were natural men and discerned not the things that be of the Spirit of God. We minded earthly things and were moved by carnal lustings after the things which are seen; but now through divine grace a spirit has been created in us which feeds on spiritual bread, lives for spiritual objects, is swayed by spiritual motives and rejoices in spiritual truth. This change from the natural to the spiritual is such as only God himself could have wrought, and yet we have experienced it. To God be the glory. So that by virtue of our rising in Christ we have received life and have become the subjects of a wondrous change,- “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2Cor 5:17)

MacArthur notes that

"By using such phrases as with Christ (Col 3:1); where Christ (Col 3:1); with Christ (Col 3:3); when Christ (Col 3:4); and with Him (Col 3:4), he stresses again Christ’s total sufficiency (cf. Col 2:10). Unfortunately, many Christians fail to understand and pursue the fullness of Christ. Consequently, because of not knowing what Scripture says, or not applying it properly, they are intimidated into thinking they need something more than Him alone to live the Christian life. They fall prey to false philosophy, legalism, mysticism, or asceticism."

Rob Morgan commenting on Colossians 3:1-4 offers an interesting sermon title "The Best Christians are Dead Christians" noting that in Colossians 3:1 Dead People Have a New Master, Colossians 3:2 Dead People Have New Values, Colossians 3:3 Dead People Have a New Perspective, and Colossians 3:4 Dead People Have a New Future. (Morgan, R. J. Nelson's Annual Preacher's Sourcebook: 2002 Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers)

AND YOUR LIFE IS HIDDEN: kai e zoe humon kekruptai (2SRPI): (John 4:14; 5:21,24,40; 6:39,40; 10:28, 29, 30; 14:19; Ro 5:10,21; 8:2,34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39; 1Co 15:45)

and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God (Amp)

you have a secret life with Christ (BBE) (Ed note: But He should show forth to those around you! Don't keep the secret to yourself!)

Hidden (krupto) is a verb meaning to keep something from being seen and thus to hide, conceal or cover. In some contexts krupto means to hide so as to keep secret (eg, Lk 19:42), but in the present context refers to hiding so as to provide protection or safety and thus prevent one from being harmed by anything.

Krupto is in the perfect tense which indicates that it was hidden at some point in time (day of your salvation) and remains hidden or concealed which conveys the ideas of permanency and irrevocability. The death (aorist tense) is over, but the results of the hiding (perfect tense) of the life in Him abide. Safe in the arms of Jesus, the title of Fanny Crosby's hymn (which was played on August 8, 1885, when U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant was laid to rest in Riverside Park, on the banks of the Hudson River - but believers are safe not just in eternity future but eternity present!)...

Safe in the arms of Jesus
(Play)

Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast,
There by His love o’ershaded, sweetly my soul shall rest.
Hark! ’tis the voice of angels, borne in a song to me.
Over the fields of glory, over the jasper sea.

Refrain
Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast
There by His love o’ershaded, sweetly my soul shall rest.

Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe from corroding care,
Safe from the world’s temptations, sin cannot harm me there.
Free from the blight of sorrow, free from my doubts and fears;
Only a few more trials, only a few more tears!
Refrain

Jesus, my heart’s dear Refuge, Jesus has died for me;
Firm on the Rock of Ages, ever my trust shall be.
Here let me wait with patience, wait till the night is over;
Wait till I see the morning break on the golden shore.
Refrain

There are 13 uses of krupto in the NT - Matt. 5:14; 11:25; 13:35, 44; 25:18, 25; Lk. 18:34; 19:42; Jn. 8:59; 12:36; 19:38; Col. 3:3; 1 Tim. 5:25; Heb. 11:23; Rev. 2:17; 6:15f

As Handley Moule says,

The ‘death’ is fact accomplished, the resulting ‘life’ is fact continuing.

As missionary James Calvert approached the Fiji Islands, the captain of the ship tried to discourage him from setting ashore on a cannibal island. “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages,” he said. Calvert only replied, “We died before we came here.” This passage says, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

John Eadie explains our hidden life as the

"life is at once divine and mediatorial—God's gift to believers through Christ; and the gift, along with its medium and its destiny, are hidden in the Giver, as the infinite source. But this concealment is no argument against present and partial enjoyment; for one may drink of the stream and be unable either to detect its source, which hides itself far away and high among the mountains, or conjecture at what distant point its deepening current pours itself into the ocean. The life is not said, by the apostle, to be hidden in itself, either from the world or from believers themselves, as so many commentators suppose. True, indeed, it is mysterious. It is not among things of vulgar gaze. It is a strange experience; none can know it save he who has it. For Christians die and yet live; nay, the moment of death is that of life—the instant of expiry is that of birth. Yet this life is now enjoyed—is therefore now a matter of secret consciousness, though much about it is beyond inquiry and analysis. No one can lay bare the principle of physical life; the knife of the anatomist cannot uncover the cord which binds the conscious thinking essence to its material organ and habitation. But the special thought of the apostle is, that the ethereal nature of spiritual life eludes research, alike in its origin and destiny. Its source is too high for us to climb to it, and its destiny is too noble to be written in human language. As to the former, it is hidden with Christ in God; and as to the latter, it shall not be fully revealed till Christ come the second time in glory. But it shall be ultimately disclosed. For Christ, with whom our life is hidden, shall reveal Himself, and we whose life is so hidden with Him shall also appear with Him in glory. When its medium is revealed, its character and destiny shall also be laid bare." (Eadie, John: Commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Colossians - Download 377 page Pdf - 1884)

Vincent notes that a believer's

"new spiritual life is no longer in the sphere of the earthly and sensual, but is with the life of the risen Christ, who is unseen with God".

As Paul reminds the Philippians

our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. (see note Philippians 3:20)

Believers were a colony from heaven in Philippi! Christians are citizens of a kingdom not of this world for as our Lord has said

My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm. (John 18:36)

Spurgeon in Morning and Evening writes that...

Regeneration is a subject which lies at the very basis of salvation, and we should be very diligent to take heed that we really are "born again," (Jn 3:3, Ga 6:15, Titus 3:5, Jas 1:18, 1Pe 1:3, 23, 1Jn 2:29, 3:9, 5:1, 18) for there are many who fancy they are, who are not. Be assured that the name of a Christian is not the nature of a Christian; and that being born in a Christian land, and being recognized as professing the Christian religion is of no avail whatever, unless there be something more added to it--the being "born again," is a matter so mysterious, that human words cannot describe it. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Nevertheless, it is a change which is known and felt: known by works of holiness, and felt by a gracious experience. This great work is supernatural. It is not an operation which a man performs for himself: a new principle is infused, which works in the heart, renews the soul, and affects the entire man. It is not a change of my name, but a renewal of my nature, so that I am not the man I used to be, but a new man in Christ Jesus.

To wash and dress a corpse is a far different thing from making it alive: man can do the one, God alone can do the other. If you have then, been "born again," your acknowledgment will be, "O Lord Jesus, the everlasting Father, Thou art my spiritual Parent; unless Thy Spirit had breathed into me the breath of a new, holy, and spiritual life, I had been to this day 'dead in trespasses and sins.' My heavenly life is wholly derived from Thee, to Thee I ascribe it. 'My life is hid with Christ in God.' It is no longer I who live, but Christ who liveth in me." May the Lord enable us to be well assured on this vital point, for to be unregenerate is to be unsaved, unpardoned, without God, and without hope.

Three thoughts are suggested by this figure "hidden":

(1) Safety or security

Believers are permanently hidden, securely locked together with Christ. Satan can’t break the lock and no burglar (even false teachers) can break the combination. Thus a believer's salvation is safe & secure with Christ (Jn 10:28). Indeed as Paul writes elsewhere, who shall ''separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'' (Ro 8:35,36, 37, 38, 39-see notes vv35-36, 37-39)

(2) Identity

Believers are now intimately linked "together with" (sun) Christ in (en) God. This picture expresses the fellowship of the believer, his identity with his risen Lord. Ignatius wrote,

“You are then all fellow travelers and carry with you God, and the Temple, and Christ, and holiness, and are in all ways adorned by commandments of Jesus Christ.”

He used the word christophoroi, which means Christ-bearers, and it is a lovely description of a Christian identified with Christ, who is in the bosom of the Father (cf Jn 1:18, 10:27, 28, 29, 30).

(3). Secrecy.

The believer’s life is nourished by secret springs and located “where the world sees Him no more” (cf. Jn 14:19). Thus, his bent of life is to be directed toward its source and away from the visible and carnal.

T. R. Kelly has this devotional thought on a practical aspect of our lives being hidden with Christ in God

"There is a way of life so hid with Christ in God that in the midst of the day's business one is inwardly lifting brief prayers, short sudden utterances of praise, subdued whispers of adoration and of tender love to the Beyond that is within. No one need know about it. I only speak to you because it is a sacred trust, not mine but to be given to others. One can live in a well-nigh continuous state of unworded prayer, directed toward God, directed toward people and enterprises we have on our heart. There is no hurry about it all; it is a life unspeakable and full of glory, an inner world of splendor within which we, unworthy may live. Some of you know it and live in it; others of you may wistfully long for it; it can be yours."

Larry Richards gives an interesting illustration of our new life with Christ:

"In Tarpon Springs, a little city about 10 miles from where we live, one of the major occupations is sponge diving. The sponge diver puts a helmet on his head, drops into the water, and as he gathers sponges he breathes through air lines fed by pumps in a boat far above him. Without that connection to a source of life far above him, the diver would be unable to survive. Paul is telling us that we too live this life in a dangerous and deadly environment. But we too are connected to a source of life far above us. Whenever we feel down, or get discouraged, or feel endangered, we’re to fix our minds not on what surrounds us, but on what sustains us. The very life force of Jesus flows into and through us. Because we are connected to Him, we will not only survive. We will triumph." (Ro 8:37-note)

WITH CHRIST IN GOD: sun to Christo en to theo: (Jn 14:19, Php 4:7-note;1Jn 3:2) 

With is sun/syn which conveys the picture of intimate union, bringing out the truth that we are now in (new) covenant with Him and our oneness and identity with Christ.

A T Robertson adds that your life

remains concealed, locked “together with” (sun) Christ, “in” (en) God. No hellish burglar can break that combination.

Believers now share a common life with the Father and Son (cf 1Co 6:17) that by the precious and magnificent promises we might become “partakers of the divine nature” (2Pe 1:4-note). Furthermore our new life with Christ in God is concealed from the world & unbelievers are unable to grasp the full import of the believer’s new life (1Co 2:14). The true manifestation of the sons of God is yet to come in the next world, so that people cannot see what believers really are like (Ro 8:19-note, Ga 5:5, Php 3:20, 21-note; 1Jn 3:2)

 Wiersbe comments that

"While attending a convention in Washington, D.C., I watched a Senate committee hearing over television. I believe they were considering a new ambassador to the United Nations. The late Senator Hubert Humphrey was making a comment as I turned on the television set: “You must remember that in politics, how you stand depends on where you sit.” He was referring, of course, to the political party seating arrangement in the Senate, but I immediately applied it to my position in Christ. How I stand—and walk—depends on where I sit; and I am seated with Christ in the heavenlies! When the nation of Israel came to the border of the Promised Land, they refused to enter; and, because of their stubborn unbelief, they had to wander in the wilderness for forty years (Nu 13-14). That whole generation, starting with the twenty-year-olds, died in the wilderness, except for Caleb and Joshua, the only two spies who believed God. How were Caleb and Joshua able to “get the victory” during those forty difficult years in the wilderness? Their minds and hearts were in Canaan! They knew they had an inheritance coming, and they lived in the light of that inheritance. (cf Nu 14:24 regarding Caleb)" (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor)

Torrey's Topic
Union With Christ

WHEN CHRIST {WHO IS} OUR LIFE IS REVEALED: hotan o Christos phanerothe (3SAPS), e zoe humon hotan ho Christos phanerôthêi (1APS): (Jn 11:25; 14:6; 14:19, 20:31; Ro 5:10, Ga 2:20;Php 1:21, 2Ti 1:1; 1Jo 1:1,2; 5:12; Rev 2:7; 22:1,14) (1Ti 6:14; 2Ti 4:8; Titus 2:13; Heb 9:28; 1Pet 5:4; 1John 2:28; 3:2)

"when the Christ (Messiah) --our life--may be manifested..." (Young's Literal)

The hidden life is not hidden forever. There shall be a glorious consummation at the manifestation of the Son. The writer of Hebrews expresses the aim of the Father as that of "bringing many sons to glory" (see note Hebrews 2:10).

“Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;
Living with Jesus, a new life divine;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,
 Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine”?

Revealed (5319) (phaneroo from phanerós = manifest, visible, conspicuous from phaino = give light; become visible from phos = light) describes an external manifestation to the senses which is open to all. The idea is to make visible that which has been hidden and the primary reference is to what is visible to sensory perception. To cause to become visible, to make appear, to cause to be seen, uncover, lay bare, reveal.
 

The point is that one day we will be seen externally as we really are & the lost world will see who we are in Christ for when we see Christ we shall be like Him. (1 John 3:2) This refers to Messiah's second coming, which in the meantime is to be earnestly expectantly looked for. The first "phase" of His return is what most evangelicals refer to as the 'Rapture" describe in (see notes on The Rapture - the Greek word harpazo) (Se also Table comparing Rapture vs Second Coming)

As the Bible Knowledge Commentary notes

Paul added a new direction to the believers’ focus of attention: they should look UPWARD to Christ’s reign over them in heaven and also FORWARD to His return for them in the clouds. (Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. The Bible knowledge commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books).

Who is - This phrase is added by translators. The literal reading of Christ our life is even better! Christ does not merely give life; He is life. We as His bride are to be so focused on His return to take us home to His Father's house that we are motivated to lay aside our old filthy fleshly garments and put on His robe of righteous acts (Col 3:5, 10, 12-see notes 3:5, 3:10, 3:12 for what those ''acts'' consist of...they in fact constitute our wedding gowns that we are in the process of making ready cf. Re 19:7-note). See John 1:4. The life is not only "with" Christ, it "is" Christ. For the change of person, "our" for "your" [Col 2:13-note] (See related topic in Christ and in Christ Jesus)

Eadie comments that Christ

"is our life, not simply because he reveals it, and He alone has “the words of eternal life;” nor yet because coming that we “might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly,” He “died that we might live,” and has given us this blessed pledge—“as I live, ye shall live also;” but specially, because by His Spirit, as His representative, He enters into the heart and gives it life—fans and fosters it by his continuous abode—gratifies all its instincts, and evokes all its susceptibilities by His word and His presence. “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Eadie, John: Commentary on Paul's Epistle to the Colossians - Download 377 page Pdf - 1884)

In his first epistle John affirms

"the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life." (1John 5:11, 12)

Many believe that Christ gave us life as one would put a living seed into a flower pot. The pot would hold a detached thing—life. But Christ is more than that. He Himself is in the believer. The life that is in Christ is in the believer. To show His love, Jesus died for us; to show our love, we should live for Him! If your life does not demonstrate this NEW LIFE IN CHRIST you have missed the whole point about what this new life is about.

As Wayne Barber emphasizes

"Living the Christ life is daily surrendering to His will and Word which allows us to enter into His divine enablement. I must decrease and He must increase. (John 3:30) As I am willing to deny self, and surrender to Him, He takes it from there and energizes my very being, empowering me to do what He has commanded me to do. (Php 1:21-note) " For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain".

The key to living the risen life is to have a life centered on Christ. The Son, not this present world, is the center of the believer’s universe.

Oswald Chambers writes that...

"God nowhere tells us TO GIVE UP THINGS for the sake of giving them up; He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having, viz. LIFE WITH HIMSELF."

Barclay adds that...

This is the kind of peak of devotion which we can only dimly understand and only haltingly and imperfectly express. Sometimes we say of a man, "Music is his life-Sport is his life-He lives for his work." Such a man finds life and all that it means in music, in sport, in work, as the case may be. For the Christian, Christ is his life. And here we come back to where this passage started-that is precisely why the Christian sets his mind and heart on the things which are above and not on the things of this world. He judges everything in the light of the Cross and in the light of the love which gave itself for him. In the light of that Cross the world's wealth and ambitions and activities are seen at their true value; and, the Christian is enabled to set his whole heart on the things which are above." (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press)

CHRIST WHO IS OUR LIFE
C H Spurgeon's Devotional from Morning and Evening

"Paul's marvelously rich expression indicates, that Christ is the source of our life. "You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." That same voice which brought Lazarus out of the tomb (Jn 11:43) raised us to newness of life (Ro 6:4, 11-see notes