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Translation
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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"If then ye were raised together with Christ." He brings them together, having above established that He died. Therefore he saith, "If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above." No observances are there. "Where Christ is seated on the right hand of God." Wonderful! Whither hath he led our minds aloft! How hath he filled them with mighty aspiration! It was not enough to say, "the things that are above," nor yet, "where Christ is," but what? …
Theophylact of Ohrid
Having said "having been buried with Him," namely through baptism, and having made clear what is left unsaid, that is, that they also rose with Him (for baptism depicts death through immersion in water, and resurrection through rising from the water), he now also persuades them that if you have risen with Christ, then after this you must be on high, there where He also is, where there are no observances, you must think about heavenly things. …
Aphrahat the Persian Sage
Let us think upon the things which are above, on the heavenly things, and meditate on them, where Christ has been lifted up and exalted. But let us forsake the world which is not ours, that we may arrive at the place to which we have been invited. Let us raise up our eyes on high, that we may see the splendour which shall be revealed. Let us lift up our wings as eagles, that we may see the body there where it is.
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
Because, if even the inner man certainly is renewed day by day, yet undoubtedly it is old before it is renewed. For that is done inwardly of which the same apostle speaks: "Put off the old man, and put on the new;" which he goes on to explain by saying, "Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth." But where is lying put away, unless inwardly, that he who speaketh the truth from his heart may inhabit the holy hill of God? …
Thomas Aquinas
Above, the Apostle warned the faithful about those who wished to deceive them; here he teaches them to avoid evil habits. First, he gives his teaching in a general way; secondly, he presents it in more detail (v. 18). In regard to the first he does two things. First, he teaches them to have a right intention in regard to their end, and in the second place, he instructs them about the rectitude of their human actions (v. 5). The first is divided into two parts. …
Bonaventure
The holy Apostle exhorts us to attain true wisdom and to flee vain wisdom. He touches on the first when he says: "If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above." He gives us to understand that just as there is a twofold gaze of the soul, so there is a twofold desire of it. One gaze of the soul is toward heavenly and invisible things, the other is toward earthly and corruptible things: so also there is a twofold desire of the soul: one is for eternal things, and the other is for temporal things. …
Translation