Colossians 3:5-8
Out of the believer’s assurance of Christ’s love, comes an identification with Him that fully embraces and identifies with Christ’s purposes in the believer. We must be careful not to separate what God’s Word joins together. Christ is fully capable of taking a redeemed sinner from dust to glory. His divine purpose is captured in what theologians call the golden chain of salvation (election, regeneration, justification, sanctification, glorification). According to Scripture, election has a destination. You might say well that destination is heaven. You would be correct, but it is heaven by way of holiness. Salvation saves from hell by saving from sin. The final form of unforgiven sin is a horrific thing to conceive of.
- Mortify—“make a corpse of,” “make dead,” “put to death,” “take to the morgue.” Put to death … whatever belongs to your earthly nature. This command suggests a decisive action, as if Paul said, “Mortify it! Do it now! Do it resolutely!” they 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. “Whatever belongs to your earthly nature” is literally “the members that are upon the earth.” These contrast with the “things above.” This “earthly nature” is the “old self” (or “sinful nature” [2:13], or “old man,” (Eph 4:22; Col 3:9).
therefore—Follow out the necessary consequence of the fact of your having once for all died with Christ spiritually at your regeneration, by daily “deadening your members,” of which united “the body of the sins of the flesh.” “The members” to be mortified are the fleshly instruments of lust. Habitually repress and do violence to corrupt desires (compare Rom 6:19; 8:13; Gal 5:24-25).
Members upon the earth—where they find their support. inordinate affection —“lustful passion.” evil concupiscence—“lustful passion.” covetousness—It implies a self-idolizing, grasping spirit. which is—that is, inasmuch as it is “idolatry.”
- Paul added that because of these evils the wrath of God is coming (2 Thess 1:7–9). The impenitent sinner as a ‘son of disobedience; has the same character and nature of sin itself. For sin opposes who God is, the holy One.
- sometime—“once.” walked … when ye lived in them—These sins were the very element in which you “lived” (before you became once for all dead with Christ to them); no wonder, then, that ye “walked” in them. Compare on the opposite side, “living in the Spirit,” having as its legitimate consequence, “walking in the Spirit” (Gal 5:25). The “living” comes first in both cases, the walking follows (see Williams on Rom 8).
- But now—that ye are no longer living in them. you also—like other believers; answering to “you also” (Col 3:7) like other unbelievers formerly. put off—“put away all these,” namely, those just enumerated, anger, wrath, blasphemy—rather, “reviling,” “evil-speaking,” as it is translated in Eph 4:31. filthy communication—The context favors the translation, “abusive language,” rather than impure conversation.¹ The list of evil activities flowing from man’s earthly nature includes immorality (porneia, “fornication”), impurity (a wider perversion), lust (pathos, “uncontrollable passion”), evil desires (“illicit craving”), and greed (or coveting), which is idolatry (because it seeks satisfaction in things below and not above). Similar lists of sins appear often in Paul’s writings (Rom 1:29–31; 1 Cor 5:11; 6:9; Gal 5:19–21; Eph 5:3–5). Though the Colossian Christians used to walk [live] in these evil ways, before they came to know Christ, Paul commanded that they do so no more. Now you must rid yourselves of all such things. The word “rid” (apothesthe) means “to put off” like a suit of clothes. In its ethical use here it means “throw it off like a dirty shirt” (Rom 13:12; Eph 4:22, 25; Heb 12:1; Jas 1:21; 1 Pet 2:1). In the Bible, behavior is often likened to a garment (Job 29:14; Ps. 35:26; Isa. 11:5; Rom. 13:12; 1 Thess 5:8). Repulsive habits—anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language—do not fit or suit Christians. They are unbecoming to believers (Eph 4:17, 31). “Anger” (orgēn) is a chronic attitude of smoldering hatred, whereas “rage” (thymon) is an acute outburst. Thymos elsewhere is rendered “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) is forbidden, as is “slander” (blasphēmian, “railing or evil speaking”). “Filthy language” (aischrologian) is shameful or abrasive speech.² You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the LORD. You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD (LEV 19:16-18).
The Gospel is the VICTORY won by Christ at Calvary
. Because of Christ’s substitutionary death for all who would ever believe, sin’s dominion is broken for God’s people. “Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin” (Rom 6:6-7). Christ came to destroy the works of the devil
1 Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 380). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. 2 Geisler, N. L. (1985). Colossians. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, pp. 680–681). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
(1 Jn 3:8). As Creator and Ruler of all did not need personal victory over sin and the world. He came to earth to be the prototypical Overcomer for the sake of His bride. He gained the victory over sin, death, and hell in order to give that victory to His church.
Everything Christ endured from His birth to His ascension was for His people. His vicarious life had one great aim for His people—to give them life, righteousness, sonship, pardon, holiness, adoption, and victory to the glory of the Godhead—all out of His infinite stores of grace (Rom 6:23). He gave His life to make the believer an overcomer in both position and practice. His conquest over the enemies of our souls was not merely an example to follow—His conquest and victory is the believer’s possession by sovereign decree, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD” (1 Cor 1:30).
Now, by faith and obedience, we participate in His conquest of our souls’ enemies. We daily enter into His victory by trust and obedience—it is a conquering of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Victory was gained decisively by Christ, our mighty Champion, but, we are to daily appropriate that victory through faith, love, and obedience. Colossians 3 speaks to the ‘how to’ (put to death, put off, put on).
The only possible way we can live for God is to ‘die with Christ’. This co-crucifixion is exactly what happened—the sin natures of all who would ever believe were judged in the body and soul of our Savior 2000 years ago—so that we would ‘no longer live for self, but for Him who died and rose on our behalf’ (2 Cor 5:14-15). By reckoning these truths (spiritual realities) by faith, the reality of ‘co-crucifixion’ (as power and enablement over sin) is worked into our daily walk so that this victory over sin becomes our normal Christian experience.
The victory Christ won is the rightful property of His church. He overcame in order to give that victory to His church. But it is not a victory that is enjoyed passively. We see in our text that the saint is commanded to enter into Christ’s victory by feeding the mind upon gospel realities. We are commanded to reckon, to count, to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (by means of His cross). Appropriation: “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God” (Rom 6:11-13). ‘Overcomers’ is what we are in Christ, and overcoming is how we are to live. Colossians 3:5ff. indicates that our work of slaying sin through Christ’s overcoming is our daily work.
All that Christ has accomplished at the cross is ours by virtue of being in union with Him. When the Spirit placed us in Christ, all of the benefits of Christ’s ‘crosswork’ became our possession—'deeded to us’ in the new covenant. But this is a ‘positional truth’ that is not immediately experiential. You may not wake up tomorrow morning and ‘feel’ dead to sin. In fact, if you allow yourself to be gripped by fear, anger, sinful passion, resentment, or lust, you may ‘feel’ very alive to sin!
Paul’s point is that true believers are to reckon themselves dead to sin regardless of how they feel. This reckoning is not an attempt to make something fictional into something real. It is an appropriation of Christ’s victory by faith. The Lord accomplished a mighty conquest of our souls’ enemies. Our part is to believe it and act upon it—what Christ accomplished is bedrock reality for His people. That is how we participate in victory that Christ has purchased for us.
We must be convinced (by counting God’s promises about us in Christ as fact) that through Christ’s substitution on our behalf, we are dead to sin. We must reckon ourselves dead to sin before we can fight sin successfully. ‘Put on the Lord Jesus Christ’ is a wonderfully relational way of saying the same thing as reckon oneself dead to sin by virtue of His atoning death (Rom 13:14). The gospel order is, reckon yourselves dead to sin, then say ‘no’ to sin’s overtures and solicitations. That is the gospel order—this is the means whereby we enter into Christ’s conquest. Christ has killed the sin that defiled us, separated us from God, and brought judgment upon us. Therefore, we are to ‘take to the morgue’ the sin that Christ has slain. Sin is put to death by starving it—by refusing to let it have expression through your body and spirit. And sin is put to death by habitually, intentionally putting on the ‘garments of grace’ described in Colossians 3:12ff.
“Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 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” (Col 3:2-7).
Victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil is not an option, it is the condition necessary to finish the race. The citizens of heaven are said to be overcomers. “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Rev 21:7). Those who live obediently by faith in Christ are overcomers (1 Jn 5:4-5). See Spurgeon quote on renouncing sin.
The victory Christ won for believers is joined to our overcoming; this is set in stark contrast to those who are overcome by the world instead. Scripture refers to them as ‘cowardly and unbelieving’ and not heirs of eternal life. What a cause for sober reflection! Those who do not overcome; but instead are overcome by sin and the world, will not enter heaven (Rev 21:8; 2 Pet 2:18-22). One cannot have his sin and heaven too. The wrath of God is alluded to in Revelation 21:8ff.
We must constantly keep in mind that Christ is our ‘sphere’ of life. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh in regard to its lusts” (Rom 13:14). There is the gospel order again; ‘put on Christ’ then ‘make no provision for the lusts of the flesh.’ Co-crucifixion with Christ is the ‘staging area’ from which the practical work of mortifying sin takes place. I reckon who I am in Christ, and what I am in Christ—a child of God who is dead to sin—THEN from that fact, or perspective of co-crucifixion, I make my forays against temptation and indwelling sin.
The genuine Christian defines him or herself as crucified with Christ (a positional truth) is an act of obedient faith. At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit set me apart in Christ as belonging to God. Set apart to Him is an accomplished fact that allows me to live the rest of my earthly life as God’s own possession (1 Cor 6: Heb 10:10, 14). The more I trust in this fact that God’s overarching purpose is to purify a people for Himself, for His own possession (Titus 2:14), the more I will understand why Christ does not want to share my heart with idols (Eph 3:14-17).
CONCLUSION: To deal with the wealth of the gospel is to deal directly with Christ’s Person. For the benefits He has won for us are not ‘commodities’ that have an existence apart from Him. Our wealth is in Him—we are sons in Him; overcomers through Him, heirs in Him. As we meditate upon our union with Christ, all that is ours through Him tends to put our Savior into more clear focus. Our hearts are drawn out in love and adoration to Him—our affection deepened, our loyalty to Him becomes more stable and firm.
We must always remember that Christ’s work in His atonement was a purchase (1 Pet 1:18-19)—not only a purchase of eternal life, but also a purchase of our very selves as well. To have received God’s free gift of redemption is also to have become God’s own possession. It is to be owned by the Lord as His possession “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:19-20). It is to be Christ’s ‘slave’ who is ruled by His Word. The Lord has an absolute right to control all aspects of the life of His child. What follows the rest of our lives (in time and eternity) is giving our selves back to God in overflowing gratitude (Rom 6:12-23).
Grace is commonly defined by professing Christians as boundless kindness but not as absolute obligation. Paul, in Titus 2:11-14, corrects this misnomer by declaring that grace instructs us in holiness. Grace fits us and motivates us to live our entire lives as an answer to God’s calling—to present ourselves back to God without reservation as our daily privilege (Rom 6:11-13). In this life, you will never outgrow your need for the gospel. The word of grace provides the foundation, the formation, and the motivation for loving obedience to Christ—which is the reason He called us to Himself. “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace [the gospel], which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).
Preaching the gospel to ourselves (what we are to reckon) is the key to thinking spiritually, it is the chief spiritual habit which the Lord utilizes to form Christ in us. It is essential to doing all from grace-driven motives. When we are gospel-centered, it is normal for us to experience fruitfulness and as well as victory over the world and its idolatrous offers. Only the gospel proclaims that a sinner may be right with the God of the universe by faith (Phil 3:10). There is no greater glory and honor than to know God and to be the beloved bride of the One who owns and rules the cosmos and who gave His blood to make us His own.