Colossians 3:5

Universal Holiness the necessary issue of the life of Union: the negative side

5. Mortify therefore Observe the "therefore." Because ofthe possession of a hidden life, and in its power, they were to put sin to death. Here is no mere assertion of duty, but an implied assurance of power, the power of life, life welcomed and developed. So, in nature, the rising sap of the tree makes the dead leaf fall.

" Mortify" :the verb occurs elsewhere, in Biblical Greek, only Romans 4:19; Hebrews 11:12; in both cases of Abraham's physical condition in old age. Its plain meaning is to reduce to a state of death, or like death; a state helpless, inoperative. The Christian, in the power of his hidden life in Christ, is thus to deal with his sins; entirely to renounce the thought of compromise or toleration, and to apply to them the mighty counter-agent of his union with his Head.

The verb is in the aorist tense; decisive and critical action is in view. The believer, reminded of his resources and of the will of God, is now, with full purpose, to "give to death" (Conybeare) all his sins, and to carry that purpose out with critical decision at each moment of temptation, in the power of his true life.

No assertions of an attained "sinless perfection" are warranted by such a word. The following context is enough to shew that St Paul views his converts as all along morally imperfect. But that side of truth is not in view here; the Christian is called here to an unreserved decision of will and to a full use of Christ's power.

In the closely parallel words, Romans 8:13, the verb (another verb in the Greek) is in the presenttense, indicating the need of continuous actionafter however critical a decision.

your members Your limbs, as if of an invisible, non-material, body, viewed in its separate organs. A bold but intelligible transition of thought thus speaks of the organ rather than of its action; giving a more concrete effect to the mental picture. See below, the next note but one.

Lightfoot compares the phrases "old man, new man." See below however on Colossians 3:9-10.

upon the earth Conversant, sympathetic, with "earth" as the scene of temptation, and not with heaven, where lies the Source of victory. Cp. the language of Article xvii "Such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their minds to high and heavenly things."

fornication, &c. Lightfoot places a colon before this word in the Greek, and goes on to the imperative verb "put off" (Colossians 3:8) for the (broken) grammatical government. The startling identification of "members" with sins is thus avoided. But the construction is extremely difficult and really unlikely. The R.V. constructs as the A.V.

" Fornication" :a sin often in view in the Epistles; evidently an evil wofully rife, but not the less ruthlessly condemned. Cp. 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Corinthians 6:13; 1 Corinthians 6:18; Galatians 5:19; Eph 5:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Hebrews 13:4. See our note on Ephesians 5:3. It is to be decisively "done to death" by the Christian.

uncleanness A word of wider reference than "fornication," and so conveying a still stronger appeal. Act, word, thought, unworthy of the member of the All-Pure Christ all are to be put to death in the power of His life.

inordinate affection Lit. and better, passion (R. V.). Cp. Romans 1:26; 1 Thessalonians 4:5; the other places where the Greek (pathos) occurs in N. T. The word denotes lust from the passiveside of experience, uncontrollabledesire, to which the man is a slave. All the more significant is the implied statement that even this form of sin is to be, and can be, "done to death" in Christ.

evil concupiscence Concupiscentiam malam, Latin Versions; and so all the English Versions, except Wyclif, "yvel coveitise," and R. V., evil desire. "Passion" and "desire" (or, in older English, "lust") are combined, 1 Thessalonians 4:5, and collocated, Galatians 5:24. "The same vice may be viewed as a [passion] from its passive and a [desire] from its active side … The epithet (" evil") is added because ["desire"] is capable of a good sense." (Lightfoot).

covetousness … idolatry "Avarice, whiche is servyce of mawmetis" [84] (Wyclif). See Ephesians 5:3; Ephesians 5:5 for a close parallel. Lightfoot here sees a reference to covetousness in its ordinary sense; "the covetous man sets up another object of worship besides God." And he shews clearly that the Greek word never, of itself, denotes sensual lust. But cp. this passage with Ephesians 4:19; Ephesians 5:3; Ephesians 5:5; 1 Corinthians 5:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:6; and it will appear that it at least lends itself to a connexion withsensual ideas, just as our word "greed" lends itself to a connexion with avarice. If so, the "idolatry" of the matter lies in its sensuous and unwholesome admiration, developing into acts of evil.

[84] i.e. idols. Strangely enough, the word is a corruption of Mahomet, the name of the great Iconoclast.

" Which is" :more precisely, seeing that it is.