Colossians 3:5-11
Taking Off the Old Coat
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5Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.
7When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways.
8But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
9Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices,
10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.
Berean Standard Bible
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Because their life belongs to Christ, the believers must put to death the sinful practices of their earthly nature. Paul names sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed. Greed is idolatry because desire for more takes the place that belongs to God.
These sins are serious: God's wrath is coming because of them. Paul reminds the Colossians that they once lived in these ways. Their former practices must not govern the life they now have in Christ.
They must also put away anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy speech. They are not to lie to one another. Destructive desires and destructive words both contradict their new life.
Paul describes the change as taking off the old self and putting on the new. The new self is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. God's work of renewal continues as His people learn to know Him and live accordingly.
In this new life, distinctions of ancestry, religious background, culture and social status do not give one believer a superior place. Christ is all and is in all His people. The community He forms must turn from the sins that damage its life together.
Questions
1 Why does Paul call greed idolatry?
AnswerGreed lets desire for more take the place that belongs to God. What a person wants can begin to rule them.
2 What warning shows the seriousness of the sins Paul names?
AnswerGod's wrath is coming because of these practices. Believers must not return to the ways in which they formerly lived.
3 Why must they put away lying and destructive speech?
AnswerThey have taken off the old self with its practices and put on the new, which is being renewed in the Creator's image.
4 What gives believers their shared place in the new community?
AnswerChrist is all and is in all His people. Ancestry, culture and social status cannot give one believer a superior standing.
What This Means for Us
Identify a sinful practice you have been excusing. Putting it to death requires a real response: stopping the dishonest message, turning away from impure material or refusing to feed greed. Ask Christ's help and involve a trustworthy believer where support is needed.
The new self is still being renewed. When you fail, confess the sin and return to obedience rather than making peace with it. God's grace gives reason to keep fighting what harms you and others.
Prayer
Father, renew us in Your image. Help us turn decisively from sinful desires and destructive words, confess what we have excused and treat one another as people who belong to Christ. Amen.