3:1 If. The sense of “if” here is “since.” Our life in Christ was assured eternally when we were born again through faith in His finished work of redemption for us. When He died for us, we were “dead with Christ” (Colossians 2:20; Romans 6:8), then “buried with Him” (Colossians 2:12; Romans 6:4), and “quickened together with Him” (Colossians 2:13).

3:1 right hand. The first of twenty-one references to Christ at the right hand of God is found in Psalm 16:11. By faith now, in reality in the ages to come, we also “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).