Putting off the Old Self
Col 3:5-11
5Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— 11a 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.
Guidelines for Christians:
Sins to be put to death:
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to:
- immorality, – come the base word for porneia, which was the most general Greek word for illicit sexual intercourse. Originally referred to the practice of consorting with prostitutes, but eventually came to mean habitual immorality.
- impurity, – This includes uncleanness in thought, word and act.
- passion, – also translated “lust” was used mainly to refer to feelings or experience. Was used to describe mainly passive feelings, feelings that were not acted upon. Biblically used for uncontrolled desire but not always with the idea that those desires were followed or fulfilled.
- evil desire, – often the same as the previous, but in a more generalized sense. Passion was often sexual or issues of the heart, evil desire would be the desiring of evil towards someone or towards something.
- and greed, – this is a compound word that means in a very basic form “the desire to have more” but with the added flavor of “with disregard of the rights of others”. One writer expressed it like this: “the arrogant and ruthless assumption that all other persons and things exist for one’s own benefit”.
- which amounts to idolatry. – The reason these all amount to idolatry is because it puts the interests of yourself and things in a place that only God should hold.
For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.
Verse 6 and 7 are like the hinge on a door in this passage. It is an explanation of the reason things are different now.
Sins to be put Away: Col 3:8-11
But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 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— 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.
The sins listed in the previous list all have to do with impurity and coveting. Those were the sins that Paul says must be completely put to death. The next list is given a more kindly sentence in that they must be “put aside”. This list is more about sins of attitude and speech.
Sins of attitude:
- anger (feeling of anger – resident anger)
- wrath / rage (outbreaks of anger – explosive anger)
- malice / malicious behavior (nastiness – meanness)
Sins of speech:
- slander (insulting and slanderous talk, usually against another person – not usually against God)
- abusive speech (filthy language)
- Lying (set apart from the rest because of the damage that it does in the relationships in the church)
Our Motivation to Change:
When you and I came to Christ, we did it by setting aside the old ways. These activities mentioned above are part of the old life. They should have nothing to do with our new life. Basically, it can be said that God expects us to change our moral behavior immediately and gives us more of a directional counsel about our attitude and speech.
The picture of “putting on the new life” is a word that is commonly used in regards to clothing. Even though we toss aside the filthy rags of unbelief, there is still a process that requires an effort to completely “put on the new self”. The reason we can say with confidence that Paul saw this as a process and not a single action is because of the use of being renewed. When Paul wrote that we were being renewed, he used verbs that had a sense of an ongoing process. The goal of being renewed is what? A true knowledge.
What is true knowledge in the mind of the first century church? It usually means several different aspect of knowledge. First is the knowledge really true? A person can have all kinds of knowledge about something but it doesn’t mean that they have true knowledge. Every once in awhile you hear about someone who knows how to speak Klingon or Elfish. There is no such language except that it was made up by writers to create a world by imagination. A person can have a lot of knowledge about things that aren’t true. The second aspect of true knowledge is that it impacts all facets of our life.
For example, if I say I have true knowledge of safety and then go out and play baseball on the freeway, you would have to admit that I really don’t have true knowledge of safety. If a person says that they have true knowledge of God and yet they don’t follow God’s counsel, then you can question if they really have true knowledge. I am not talking about the occasional slip that we all have, but a person who completely and totally rejects obedience to God. I met a person like that who told me that he knew all about God and he didn’t want to hear any more from me about God. In fact, his parents were like pastors in a church. The main indication that this person didn’t seem to know about God was that he was living the life of a homosexual and had no shame or remorse about that life. A person who has true knowledge will have both knowledge that is true and truth that affects their life.
How can we evaluate if knowledge is True knowledge? If it is according to the image of the One who created him. The act of ‘being renewed to true knowledge’ is according to Christ. We are being made like Christ. When Paul talks about who created us, usually he is talking about who created us through the second birth. So true knowledge is according to Christ, who caused us to be born again. Specifically, our knowledge is being renewed. We are growing to be more like Christ as we put aside this list of sins and as we put to death the other list of sins.
Now we shouldn’t think that God is only doing this special work in a certain kind of believer. The next section tells us that God is renewing all believers, no matter of their
- Nationality (Jew or Greek)
- Religious history (circumcised and uncircumcised), or perhaps religious Jew verses non-religious Jew.
- Barbarian, Scythian, These two are not compared, They are more like saying a barbarian and a wild, low life barbarian. The Scythian is one at the lowest point of barbarism, as we might say a savage, or a Bushman. The Scythian races represented by the modern Tartar or Cossack races of Asia and Eastern Europe, were regarded as at the bottom of the scale
- Social Status (slave and freeman) –
Quote from a commentary about this verse.
“Christ is everything to all of them having the new man. To one and all of them He is everything, so far as the sufficiency and enjoyment of salvation are concerned, or as the apostle says in the similar passage in Galatians, “ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Now, the meaning of the apostle is not that a person loses nationality when they become a Christian; or that social rank disappears when a person joins the church. The chain of the slave was not broken by his religion, any more than the circumcision of the Jew was erased. But the meaning of the apostle is—
First, That such distinctions do not prevent the putting on of the new man. In other words, such differences of nation, religion, culture, and social position, do not interfere with what needs to be done. It is not restricted by geographical limits. The Greek was no closer to Christ for his philosophy, nor the Scythian more distant. The Jews have no preference nor do those who were not raised in a Jewish home. The slave was as welcome as the freeman—the wandering nomad as the polished citizen. Whatever a man’s descent or race, his creed or rites; whatever his language or pursuits, his color or climate, his dwelling or usages, his position or character—the gospel comes to him with the special offer, and he will know renewing power of God’s work in his life. The gospel doesn’t insist that we change to come to God, but that once we have come to Him, the gospel does demand change.
Secondly, the passage teaches that in the church, all the benefits of the Christian life are not restricted by the previous status of the believer. In other words, just because someone is rich doesn’t mean that they have an advantage to the blessing of God in terms of the renewing of their mind. In our spiritual family, there is no wall to keep the Jew and Greek separated; the barbarian is not degraded to a lower seat, nor is any outer court appropriated for the Scythian. The slave’s song of praise is not diminished because he isn’t free. The faith of the untaught peoples in the woods might even be more earnest, childlike, and fearless in its reliance; it might be a greater source of gladness and triumph than the faith of those who might use logic to rationalize their belief in God.
We don’t need schools and seminaries in order to be taught of God! The trappings of civilization or culture are not necessary to understand the grace of God. This is the glory of Christianity, that as it is developed in the church, it has none of the barriers of this verse indicate as obtaining in the world, and dividing it into jealous and exclusive ranks and castes, but is at once and fully enjoyed by all the believing possessors of our common humanity.”
From the “Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul to Colossians by Eadie”
Next week, we will examine what Paul writes that we should put on.