5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you:[1] sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.[2]7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self[3] with its practices10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Footnotes:
Colossians 3:5Greek therefore your members that are on the earth
Colossians 3:6Some manuscripts add upon the sons of disobedience
Colossians 3:9Greek man; also as supplied in verse 10
Fleshly Deeds– In these verses, Paul lists several common sins of the flesh and admonishes believers to eliminate them from their lives. Let’s take a quick look at these verses and what they forbid.
V. 5Fornication – This word is translated from a Greek word (πορνείαporneia) that refers to any type of sexual expression. Paul is telling us that any sexual activity that takes place outside the confines of a marriage relationship is a sin and must be put away from our lives.
V. 5Uncleanness – ἀκαθαρσίαakatharsia This word means “impurity” and it looks beyond the acts of the body into the very thoughts of the minds and the motives of the heart. Not only is the outward man supposed to be clean, so is the heart and the mind!
InordinateAffection – This speaks of “wicked passions”. It has the idea of lust for forbidden things. God has marked certain things as being off limits; this kind of lust seeks out those things and longs for them.
V. 5 Evil Concupiscence – This means “evil desires”. It speaks of a mind that longs for forbidden things. The person with this kind of mind may never commit evil on a physical level, but they live in a fantasy world where their most wicked thoughts are acted out in the heart and mind.
V. 5 Covetousness – This word means “to have more”. It refers to the insatiable desire to possess more than one has been given by God. It is a refusal to accept what you have as the gift of God. It is the placing of things ahead of God and of His will for your life. That is why it is called “idolatry”.
V. 8 Anger – This word refers to a deep, smoldering, bitterness. It is an anger that dwells in the heart and makes the angry person hard to deal with. The angry person will tend to lash out in both words and deeds.
V. 8 Wrath – This word refers to anger that boils over. It speaks of sudden, explosive outbursts of anger.
V. 8 Malice – This is anger mixed with a desire to do harm to the focus of the anger. When malice is involved, the angry person strikes out to do damage to another person.
V. 8 Blaspheme – The word literally means “to slander”. It can refer to slanders directed at God or at other people. We slander others when we insult and belittle others. This happens in gossip and when we put others down behind their backs.
V. 8 Filthy Communication – This refers to “abusive speech”. It speaks of words that are thrown around in an attempt to hurt and wound someone. This usually happens when people say things they should not say in a moment of anger!
V. 9 Lying – When we lie to one another, we are using the tool and tactic of the devil, John 8:44. This characteristic has no place in the life of a child of God!)
(Ill. If any of these things are in your life, they need to be out away! They will hinder your walk with God and cripple you spiritually! How can we be victorious over the sin in our lives? One step we can take is to starve the fleshly appetites. Do not feed the anger. Do not feed the lust. Second, we can overcome by crowding it out. We can so fill our lives with positive things that evil has no room to flourish. When we fill ourselves with the things of God, Phil 4:8, and the Word of God, Col. 3:16, sin cannot gain a foothold in our hearts.)
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