In so many words he says: "Since ye are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." Accordingly, it is in our mind that he shows that we rise (with Christ), since it is by this alone that we are as yet able to reach to heavenly objects.
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. But when Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.".
Give heed to the things that are above, not to those things which are on the earth; for ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ your life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory."
"And I saw thrones, and them that sate upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were slain on account of the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast nor his image, nor have received his writing on their forehead or in their hand; and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years: the rest of them lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." There are two resurrections. But the first resurrection is now of the souls that are by the faith, which does not permit men to pass over to the second death. Of this resurrection the apostle says: "If ye have risen with Christ, seek those things which are above."
Let us think upon the things that 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 splendor which shall be revealed.
He brings them together, having above established that He died. Therefore he says, "If then you 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 has he led our minds aloft! How has he filled them with mighty aspiration! It was not enough to say, "the things that are above," nor yet, "where Christ is," but what? "seated on the right hand of God." From that point he was preparing them henceforward to see the earth.
See the wisdom of our teacher and to what a height he immediately raises those who listen to him. He cut a path through the midst of all the angels, archangels, thrones, dominations, principalities, virtues, all those invisible powers, the cherubim and seraphim and set the thoughts of the faithful right before the very throne of the King. By his teaching he has persuaded those who walk the earth to sever the bonds of the body, to take flight and to stand in spirit by the side of him who is the Lord of all.
Because the inner man, too, if he is certainly renewed from day to day, is surely old before he is renewed. For that is done inwardly, which the same apostle says: “Put off the old man and put on the new man.” And he offers an explanation of this in the words that follow: “Wherefore putting away lying, speak the truth.” But where is lying put away, except inwardly, in order that he may dwell in the holy mountain of God who speaks the truth in his heart. … And the words of the apostle are in keeping with this mystery [i.e., of inner resurrection]: “But if you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God; mind the things that are above.” .
What is the resurrection of the soul, of which the apostle speaks, saying, “If then you have been raised with Christ”? When the apostle said, “God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined into our hearts,” he showed this resurrection to be the exodus from the old state which in the likeness of Sheol incarcerates a man so that the light of the gospel will not shine mystically upon him. This is a breath of life through hope in the resurrection, and by it the dawning of divine wisdom shines in his heart, so that a man should become new, having nothing of the old man. Then the image of Christ is formed in us through the Spirit of wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of him.
[AD 220] Tertullian on Colossians 3:1