Colossians 3:5-11

Mortifying the Old Nature - 3:5-11

5Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

When you see the word "therefore" you need to check back to see what it is there for.

You died. You now live in Christ. You can not hold on to the old sins of the old man.

In the movie "Psycho" a man was trying to hang onto his long-dead mother. We must not be guilty of the same behavior.

Paul gives a short list of sins to which we have died.

Fornication - The Greek word (pornea) is the root of our English word pornography. This is a broad and open term which is applied to any kind of sexual behavior which is not proper. This word is used to describe incest (1 Corinthians 5:1), homosexuality (Judges 1:7), and prostitution (1 Corinthians 6:15-17). Every sexual act not approved by God is included in this word.

Uncleanness - This word expands to include all that is dirty, naughty, close to fornication, but, perhaps "not going all the way." Thayer "uncleanness a) physical Matthew 23:27 b) moral sense Romans 1:24, c) impure motives 1 Thessalonians 2:3 " While fornication deals with the actual act, uncleanness has to do with the mind.

Passion - NIV "lust" Phillips "uncontrolled passion" This word is narrow and more intense. Vincent "the diseased condition out of which lust springs" Vine "denotes whatever one suffers or experiences in any way, a passionate desire. In the N. T. always of bad desires."

Evil desire - The KJV has "evil concupiscence" but most translate this "evil desires." Thayer " to set one's heart upon" This is a broader term. Vincent "whole world of active lusts and desires"

Covetousness - SEB "greed" Phillips "lust for other peoples goods" It is more than the desire to obtain what another has. Many think that it would be OK to desire one "like it." Listen to Thayer "greedy, desire to have more, avarice" Vincent "the soul's devotion to any object which usurps the place of God."

All Christians are aware that idol worship is wrong. All the items in this list are in the same class. Vincent "seeing it stands in the category of" We punish the adulterer and praise the cleaver business man who cheats or lies. We tend to find some sins "respectable." Paul says to put them in the category of idolatry. If an idol worshiper would not make a good deacon, then neither would a greedy man.

5 - Finish the job of putting to death the earthly parts of your nature. These would include: sexual sins, impurity, vile passions, evil desires, and greed, which is in the same category as idolatry.

6Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,

We often talk about the love, kindness, mercy and grace of God. We seldom discuss His wrath and anger. Phillips "holy anger of God" Vincent "present tense denotes the certainty of the future event" Vine "settled condition, less sudden, more lasting - active emotion"

Study Revelation 6:13-17; Revelation 19:11-15; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9.

The lost are described as children of disobedience. Thayer "uncompliant, impersuasible" Vine " lit. to not persuade, unpersuadable, denotes obstinacy" Those that do not know God and those who will not obey are the subjects of God's wrath.

6 - Because of these sins, God's righteous wrath will come on all who live in open rebellion against Him.

7in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

SEB "you used to live that way" This has reference to the practice of lifestyle of sin.

Many sins are not just acts of sin, but a lifestyle of sin. There is a difference in one who tells a lie and a liar. There is a difference between on who steals and a thief. There is a deviation between one who commits an act of adultery and one who is an adulterer. One is not a homosexual only when they are engaged in some deviant sexual activity.

Some today are trying to argue that all sin is just an act - not a state or condition of sin. Here some sins are identified as a sin in which people live, walk, eat, sleep, breath, work and play. It is not just an act of sin, but a condition of the heart and life.

NOTE: Fornication is not just an act performed. It is a life-lived. Compare to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. Such WERE some of you - Not you used to DO these thing - You WERE these things.

7 - These were the common practices of your old life. They were conditions in which you lived.

8But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.

Strip away as you would take off wet clothes or dirty clothes. Paul is going to begin another list. This is a list of sins which must be stripped away.

Anger and wrath and used to describe the two basic types of anger.

The first is the explosive type. It is quick to rise, often with violence, and quick to go away. It is like a match and a gallon of gasoline. Whoosh! It explodes and is over. Thayer "boiling up and soon subsiding" Vine "quick blaze" It is not the emotion which is wrong.

The second word describes the slow building type. It will lead to an explosion, but not right away. This anger has a long fuse. Neither of these types is wrong. How the anger is vented or stored is the sin. Study Ephesians 4:26-27.

Malice is "bad, of bad quality or disposition, worthless, corrupt, criminal, morally bad." (ZA) Vine "badness in quality, vicious character (lit. opposite of excellence)" It is translated "naughtiness" in James 1:22.

Blasphemy is to injure another by hurtful speech. Vine "from (plapto - to injure; phemo - to speak) Speech defamatory to the Divine Majesty." ZA "to speak of God or divine things in terms of impious irreverence."

Filthy communication is the lowest form of speech. Vine "any kind of base utterance, the utterance of an uncontrolled tongue" See also Ephesians 4:28. There are many words in use today that do not take God's name in vain. They are gutter words. Filthy words and gutter language must not be part of the Christian's vocabulary.

NOTE: Profanity comes in several forms.

Taking God's name in vain

Swearing

Cursing

Gutter language

Blasphemy

Euphemisms - Are we trying to strip these away from us? OR are we trying to see how close we can come to them without pronouncing the words?

8 - Strip away from yourselves all of these: Outbursts of anger, grudge holding, meanness, injurious speech, gutter language.

9Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,

Lying is added to the list. Vine "to deceive by lies (always in the middle voice in the N. T.)" The middle voice shows an action which one does to himself. A lie is never an action to blame on others. We have tried to sub-divide this sin. God has not. See Revelation 21:8.

The list in verse 5 were sins of life and character. This list is one of deeds. When you put away the old man you should put away the character and life-style and also the deeds of that life.

9 - Do not lie. If you have put off the old man then put off the evil practices that go with him.

10and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

Just as "put off" described the stripping away of dirty clothes, "put on" means to clothe oneself. We are to put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:11). We are to be dressed in Christian qualities (Colossians 3:12). This is the word used of the Holy Spirit's coming on Pentecost in Luke 24:49.

We must be refreshed and renewed. ZA "to invigorate, renew, renovation" Thayer "to cause to grow up, to make new, complete change for the better" Vine "to make new, not recent but different" Study the meaning of "new" in 2 Corinthians 5:17.

The image of our Creator should be visible to all. Vine "moral representations of what God is" We were created in God's image. (Genesis 1:26-27) When we put on the new man - we really are returning to the form which God created.

10 - You should be putting on the new man who is being renewed in the image of God as you were created.

11where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

In God's church there is no room for prejudice of any kind. Any action which segments by class, race, social standing or ethnic origin is to be put away.

The reference to "Greek" often in the New Testament is more than those from Greece. It is often used of all who are not Jews. It is parallel with Gentile. See Romans 1:16.

Circumcision was the sign of being in covenant with God under the Law of Moses. Some were making a distinction in the church of those circumcised and others.

The word "barbarian" means one who does not know the Greek language, thus uneducated. It was thought that one who did not know Greek was a "cave man" type that could only grunt "bar bar." The only people lower than the uneducated were the Scythians. Vincent "more barbarous than the barbarians. Herodotus describes them as living in wagons, offering human sacrifices, scalping and sometimes flaying slain enemies, drinking their blood, and using their skulls for drinking cups."

It makes no difference to Christ if you are a bought and owned slave. In Christ you are free from the bonds of slavery.

Christ is everything. SEB "everything in everything" Phillips "Christ is all that matters. He lives in all of them."

11 - In the new creation there is not difference between Greek and Jew, those circumcised and those not circumcised, barbarian and Scythian, slave and free-born. Christ is all of everything. He is all that matters because he lives in all of us.