While obedience to rules cannot bring salvation, those who are saved ought to live worthy of that salvation. Thus, Paul gives the Colossians instructions concerning proper conduct in verses 5-8. He states in negative and positive terms the kind of life that God wants Christians to live. Although the believers at Colosse were once captivated by the evil practices listed in verses 8, 8, and 9, they were to abandon such practices.
Because we are alive in Christ, we must seek the things that are above. And, because we died with Christ, we must put off the things that belong to the earthly life of past sin. The result is that we can become like Jesus Christ! God wants to renew us and make us into the image of His Son!
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Stop walking in your old self, and live in the brilliant freedom of your new Christian self
- Check yourself. Are you serving anything other than God? Are you seeking satisfaction in something outside of God? Only God can satisfy and is worth serving.
- Sanctification is a process. God is at work. Let the Spirit work in you and renew you to become more mature
CLOSER LOOK:
Verses 5–6: Paul’s imagery moved from death and life to putting clothes on and off. The word “consider”[1] in the NASB literally means “put to death the members which are upon the earth.” The Greek tense in this command suggests a decisive action, as if Paul said, “Put it to death now! Crush it! Do it now! Do it decisively!” Of course, God has already done it, but Christians are to know this, count it to be true, and act accordingly (Rom. 6:5–14).[2] In other words, believers are not to go on living as though they are still alive to sin when in actuality they are not. They are to put away that old life, which springs from their earthly natures. “The members of your earthly body” is literally “the members that are upon the earth” (ta melē ta epi tēs gēs). These contrast with the “things above” (Col. 3:1, 2). This “earthly body” (may see it as “earthly nature” in some translations) is the “old self” (or “sinful nature” [2:13][3]; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9). Some take this to mean the persons Christians were before conversion, whereas others take it to refer to the evil tendencies in believers today (i.e., their “old natures.” more likely meaning).[4] Even if it means the people Christians were before conversion, the outcome is still the same: Christians should not live as they did before, because they are new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).
The list of evil activities flowing from man’s earthly nature includes immorality (porneia, “fornication”), impurity[5] (a wider perversion), passion (lust; pathos,[6] “uncontrollable passion”), evil desire[7] (“illicit craving”), and greed[8] (the internal, sinful desire to satiate ourselves with more, more, more), “which amounts to idolatry” (because it seeks satisfaction in things below and not above). Paul equates greed with idolatry. To act as if everything exists for us is to place ourselves in the place of God himself. All things were created by him and for him (Col. 1:16), not for any of us. To make the acquisition of things or the satiation of desires our ambition is to demonstrate that our aim is too low—earthly things rather than things above. Similar lists of sins often appear in Paul’s writings.[9] Paul added that because of these evils, “the wrath of God will come (is coming).” The words “will come” or “is coming” render the present tense erchetai (literally “comes”). This suggests that God’s wrath has already begun (cf. John 3:36).[10] Of course, it will culminate in His future climactic visitation on evil (Rom. 2:5; 2 Thes. 1:7–9).
Verses 7–9: Though the Colossian Christians once walked [lived] in these evil ways, before they came to know Christ, Paul commanded that they do so no more. He said, “now you also put (rid) them all aside.” The word “put” (apothesthe) means “to put off” or “take off” one’s clothes.[11] In its ethical use here it means “throw it off like a dirty shirt”.[12] In the Bible, behavior is often likened to a garment (e.g., Job 29:14; Ps. 35:26; Isa. 11:5; Rom. 13:12; 1 Thes. 5:8).
Repulsive habits, such as “anger, wrath (rage), malice, slander, and abusive speech (or “filthy language”), do not fit or suit genuine Christians. They are inappropriate for believers (cf. Eph. 4:17, 31). “Anger” (orgēn) is a chronic attitude of smoldering hatred. Also, a settled feeling, the slow, seething, smoldering emotion that boils below the surface. Whereas “rage” (thymon) is an acute outburst. It is a quick, sudden outburst, the blaze of emotion which flares up and burns with intensity. Elsewhere, thymos is rendered as “outbursts of anger” (2 Cor. 12:20), “fits of rage” (Gal. 5:20), and “rage” (Eph. 4:31). “Malice” (kakian, the vice that lies below anger and rage as their root)[13] is forbidden, as is “slander” (blasphēmian, “railing or evil speaking”).[14] “Abusive speech” (may be shown as “filthy language” or “obscene talk”; aischrologian) is obscene, shameful, or abrasive speech. Neither should Christians lie (cf. Eph. 4:25) for truthfulness is essential in followers of Jesus who is “the Truth” (John 14:6).
Lying and all other vices are inappropriate for a Christian because at salvation they laid aside (discarded) their old self[15] with its evil practices (cf. “died” in 2:20; 3:3). The analogies between the old self and our old sinful ways and the new self and our new lives in Christ parallel Paul’s discussion in Romans 6 about dying to sin and living for Christ. The two words old self and new self do not refer to the Christians fleshly and spiritual natures. Instead, Paul describes our former unredeemed life as the old self, and our new life as God’s child as the new self. The new self has the image of the new creation in Christ, just as the old self bears the image of our fallen nature. The old self is under an old master, Satan, while the new self has a new master, the Spirit of God living within.
Verse 10: A Christian is to “put on the new self” (new way of life or disposition). Consequently, their conduct should be in accord with their new position. We have clothed ourselves with this new self. The new self is the person you are after having been saved. The new self is received from Christ at the time of the second birth, and is the regenerated self, the new nature. This “new self” needs constant renewal or refreshing—it “is being renewed” (anakaineo, present tense), in order to keep it victorious over sin. This is a continuous process; the new self has not yet matured and is ever in the state of development. Paul also expressed this idea of continual renewal in 2 Corinthians 4:16 (“Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day”); in Romans 12:2 (being “transformed by the renewal of your mind”); and in Ephesians 4:23 (“to be renewed in the spirit of your minds”).
This renewal of the new self is to a true knowledge (epignōsin; cf. Col. 1:9; 2:2). It takes place as a believer comes to a personal, deep knowledge of and fellowship with Christ. And the renewal is “according to (kat‘) the image of the One who created” them, with the goal to make believers like Him, since the “new self [was] created after the likeness of God” (Eph. 4:24). Adam was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), which included a moral and intellectual likeness to God. Though this image was not erased (but only effaced) by the Fall (Gen. 9:6; James 3:9), yet it was corrupted and needs to be repaired and renewed.[16] Christians become increasingly like the Lord as they refresh their new natures, yielding to the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work. And in the resurrection, believers “shall also bear the image of the man [Christ] of heaven” (1 Cor. 15:49, ESV). Then the task of restoring God’s image will be complete, for “we shall be like Him” (1 John 3:2).
We were formed in God’s image, and deformed from God’s image by sin. But through Jesus Christ, we can be transformed into God’s image! We must be renewed in the spirit of our minds (Eph. 4:23). As we grow in knowledge of the Word of God, we will be transformed by the Spirit of God to share in the glorious image of God (2 Cor. 3:18). God transforms us by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2), and this involves the study of God’s Word. It is the truth that sets us free from the old life (John 8:31–32).
Verse 11: In Christ distinctions are removed. These include national distinctions (Greek or Jew); religious distinctions (circumcised or uncircumcised); cultural distinctions (barbarian and a Scythian); and economic or social distinctions (slave or free). In the Roman Empire, anyone foreign to Greek culture or a person who did not speak Greek was despised and called a barbarian. A Scythian could be a wild, savage nomad[17] or an uncultured person who came from the area around the Black Sea.[18] If a Greek, an uncircumcised person, a barbarian, a Scythian, or a slave became a believer, they were a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17), a “new self” (Col. 3:10), just like a Jew or free person who became a Christian. How? Because “Christ is all, and in all.” That is, normal human distinctions are overruled and transfigured by one’s union in Christ.
Greek, Jew, slave, free is a list that is similar to the list in Galatians 3:28. In both places the point is not the functions of the persons in the body of Christ, but equal acceptance of all the groups into God’s family.[19] All barriers are destroyed in Christ, and all believers are truly “created equal.” “Christ is all and in all” is the emphasis in this letter.[20] “That in all things He might have the preeminence” (Col. 1:18). Because we are complete in Christ, we can look beyond the earthly differences that separate people and enjoy a spiritual unity in the Lord. So, it is to be expected that each believer—regardless of their nationality, former religion, culture, or economic standing—should do away with their former sinful practices and should live in accord with their “new self.”
[1] νεκρόω (nekroō), Strong’s 3499; DBL – “stop completely, formally, put to death.” BDAG – “to deaden or cause to cease completely, put to death”
[2] Norman L. Geisler, “Colossians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 680.
[3] “because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Meaning the “uncircumcision of your flesh” as translated in the NASB
[4] Norman L. Geisler, “Colossians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 680.
[5] ἀκαθαρσία (akatharsia); BDAG – “any substance that is filthy or dirty. A state of moral corruption. Vileness.”
[6] sexual passion, lust; experience of strong desire
[7] κακός (kakos); BDAG “being socially or morally reprehensible, bad, evil…. to being harmful or injurious, evil, injurious, dangerous, pernicious, of things or conditions”
[8] πλεονεξία (pleonexia); BDAG – “the state of desiring to have more than one’s due, greediness, insatiableness, avarice, covetousness”
[9] Rom. 1:29–31; 1 Cor. 5:11; 6:9; Gal. 5:19–21; Eph. 5:3–5
[10] Norman L. Geisler, “Colossians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 680.
[11] Inside this “take off” meaning, it includes a definition of laying aside or to rid oneself of.
[12] cf. Rom. 13:12; Eph. 4:22, 25; Heb. 12:1; James 1:21; 1 Peter 2:1. Norman L. Geisler, “Colossians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 680.
[13] the quality or state of wickedness, baseness, depravity, wickedness, vice. Or a mean-spirited or vicious attitude or disposition, ill-will, malignity
[14] speech that denigrates or defames, reviling, denigration, disrespect. Any speech that is defamatory or abusive.
[15] i.e., the former sinful way of living, characteristic of the unregenerate; Col. 2:11, 13a
[16] Norman L. Geisler, “Colossians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 680.
[17] Norman L. Geisler, “Colossians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 680.
[18] Some say Scythians were the lowest barbarians of all.
[19] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, H. Wayne House, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: Nelson, 1999), 1566.
[20] Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary (Colorado Springs: Victor, 2001), n.p.