Colossians 3:8

Colossians 3:8; Colossians 3:8-10 are largely parallel to Ephesians 4:22-25; Ephesians 4:31. νυνὶ δὲ : “but now,” emphatic contrast to ποτε, now that you have passed from that life of sinful conduct, see that you strip yourselves of these vices. ἀπόθεσθε καὶ ὑμεῖς τὰ πάντα : “do ye also put away all of them”. κ. ὑμ.: obviously not you as well as the Ephesians (Holtzm.), but you as well as other Christians. It is not clear whether τὰ π. refers exclusively to the preceding sins, to which then ὀργ. κ. τ. λ. forms a loose apposition, or whether it includes the latter also. It seems less harsh to give the injunction a forward as well as a backward reference. ὀργήν, θυμόν : usually the former is regarded as the settled anger, of which the latter is the sudden and passionate outburst. Cremer, however, followed by Haupt, regards θ. as the inner emotion, of which ὀρ. is the external expression. ὀρ. is certainly used of the external manifestation of wrath in Colossians 3:6. κακίαν : “malignity,” the feeling which prompts a man to injure his neighbour. βλασφημίαν : as the other sins are against men, so this, “slander” not “blasphemy”. αἰσχρολογίαν. The word may mean “filthy speech” or “abusive speech”. Here the context decides for the latter. Lightfoot, combining both senses, translates “foulmouthed abuse,” but such combinations are generally to be distrusted. ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν : probably this should be connected both with βλ. and αἰσχρ. Whether it is dependent on ἀποθ., “banish from your mouth” (Mey., Ol., Abb.), is more doubtful, since the interpolation of sins which are not sins of speech makes such a connexion awkward. Probably, then, the meaning is “proceeding out of your mouth”. ὑμ. is emphatic, and recalls the readers to their Christian profession.