COLOSSIANS: OVERCOMING SYNCRETISM THRU CHRIST

Part VIII: Living In View Of Christ’s Sufficiency And Supremacy, Colossians 3:1-4:6

B. Putting Off The Sins Of Our Old Life

(Colossians 3:5-9)

I. Introduction

A. Recent research indicates that the average American adopts beliefs and practices from approximately nine distinct worldviews, what produces a jumble of often contradictory philosophies known as syncretism.

B. The epistle to the Colossians handled a mixture of Jewish legalism, Greek philosophy and Oriental mysticism (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, p. 1690, “The Colossian Heresy”), so it applies to the syncretism that we face.

C. In view of Christ’ sufficiency and supremacy, Colossians 3:5-9 calls us to put off the sins of our old life:

II. Putting Off The Sins Of Our Old Life, Colossians 3:5-9.

A. Paul had just called us believers to set our minds and affections not on the world, but on the things that are in heaven, that we apply our position in the risen Christ as a way of thinking to our lives on this earth, Col. 3:1-4.

B. This change in our thinking should fittingly produce a change in our lifestyle, so Colossians 3:5-11 directs us believers to align our lives with our heavenly focus by putting off the sins of our old life of sin that had characterized our lives before we had come to trust in Christ:

1. In Colossians 3:5 KJV, Paul urged us to “mortify,” that is, to “put to death” our “members which are upon the earth,” a phrase that contrasts with “the ‘things above’” in verse 2 (B. K. C., N. T., p. 680) as follows:

a. Paul did not mean that we must destroy the body parts by which we had sinned, for he told of the right use of body parts by which one had sinned in Ephesians 4:28-29 (working with one’s hands to repay what one stole with his hands and edifying speech with one’s mouth versus its use in past corrupt communication).

b. Thus, by the Colossians 3:5 phrase “members that are on the earth,” Paul figuratively meant putting off of the “earthly nature,” that is, the sin nature by which one had committed sins via his body parts, Ibid.

2. Paul named specific sins of the old sin nature in Colossians 3:5 NIV that we can clarify (as follows):

a. The sin of “immorality” translates the noun porneia, what is fornication or immorality in general, Ibid.

b. The sin of impurity is a wider form of perversion like pornography, pederasty, bestiality, etc. (Ibid.)

c. The sin of lust translates the Greek term pathos, what is “uncontrollable passion,” Ibid.

d. The sin of evil desires constitutes “illicit craving,” desiring what is unbiblical. (Ibid.)

e. The sin of greed is coveting, which is idolatry, for it seeks satisfaction in things below, not above. (Ibid.)

3. Such sins will be met with God’s wrath (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Ibid., p. 681), so they are displeasing to Him and they must be avoided by believers who will spend eternity with the Lord! (Colossians 3:1-4, 6)

4. At one time Paul’s readers had committed such sins as their way of life, but now they were called of God to cease living in those sins, what is achieved by relying on the Holy Spirit, Colossians 3:7; Romans 8:3-4.

5. Thus, believers are to “rid, put off” (apothesthe) acts of sin as if putting off a suit of clothes, ridding themselves of the vices of “anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language” that “are unbecoming to believers (cf. Eph. 4:17, 31),” Colossians 3:8a; Ibid. We clarify such sins (as follows), Colossians 3:8-9:

a. “Anger (orgen)” in this context “is a chronic attitude of smoldering hatred,” Col. 3:8a; Ibid. [In Ephesians 4:26-27, God actually commands us to be angry at evil, but if we let such an anger smolder, it is sin!]

b. The sin of “rage” (thumon) is an acute outburst of anger that had smoldered for some time, Col. 3:8b; Ibid.

c. The sin of “malice” (kakian)” is the “vice that lies below anger and rage as their root,” Col. 3:8c; Ibid.

d. The sin of “‘slander’ (blasphemian) is “‘railing or evil speaking,’” Colossians 3:8d; Ibid.

e. “‘Filthy language’ (aischrologian) is shameful or abrasive speech,” Colossians 3:8e; Ibid.

f. Believers should not lie to one another, for that is another product of the sin nature, Colossians 3:9.

Lesson: Since we believers are positionally dead and risen in newness of life with Christ Who now sits enthroned in the heavens at the Father’s right hand, and we are thus obligated to focus on our heavenly destiny with Him, we should have a change in behavior on the earth in putting off the deeds of the sin nature of our pre-salvation days. This includes putting off immorality, impurity, uncontrollable passion, illicit craving, coveting, smoldering anger, acute outbursts of anger, malice, slander, shameful or abrasive speech and lying by relying on the Holy Spirit.

Application: May we so identify with our spiritual position in our Savior Who died to sin and lives in righteous newness of life in the heavenlies that we apply that positional truth to our current experience by putting off all of the deeds of our former life in our sinful nature through relying on the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.