A New Life, a Reflection on Colossians 3:1-11

I'm thinking about the verb tense in verse 1, "So, if you have been raised...." Have been, not will be. Where we are now is what Paul is talking about, not what we will need to do once we get to heaven.

Your old life is over, as Paul puts it: you have died. And dying with you are those ways that are not compatible with a life in Christ:

wanting the wrong thing; for example, fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry).
doing the wrong things; for example, anger wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language

Something else that is gone with that old life is distinctions between us. How are we supposed to read this? When Paul said Barbarian, Scythian, and so on, are we supposed to read ethnic categorizations? For slave and free, are we supposed to read no hierarchical distinctions? What would our lives be like, how would we behave, if we truly lived out the Christian way?

Lectionary Divina: Colossians 3:11; Psalm 107:43