May 16, 2021. Colossians 3:5-11

Posted byJohn Sanzone

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SIN SLAYERS.  Colossians 3:5-11.  05/16/2021.  #08.

Colossians 3:5-11 [New King James Version]

5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

  1. Malevolence of the flesh
    1. Paul states that believers do not live evil lives
    1. He lists several wicked motivations and deeds to overthrow
      1.  These do not automatically leave at conversion
      1.  Our fleshly desires still are active in us
      1.  We are now new creations indwelt by Holy Spirit
    1. Romans 7:18-8:2 one of the evidences that the Spirit dwells within us is the victory in the battle against sin in our lives
      1.  James 1:15-25 we recognize and acknowledge our sin nature and battle in the Spirit against enticement
      1.  Romans 8 we are more than conquerors in Christ
    1. The list Paul gives us a list of fleshly corruptions:
      1.  Fornication (porneo, Eng. = pornography) – sexual immorality in all its forms
      1.  Uncleanness (akatharsis, Eng. = not cathartic) – anything that is vile, profane, unseemly, or crude
      1.  Passion (pathos, Eng. = pathos) – affections (in this context, fondness of forbidden cravings)
        1.  Uncontrolled lustful feelings and emotions
        1.  Longings to fulfill sinful fleshly wants
      1.  Evil desires (epithumos, Eng. = thermal) – heated emotions producing obsessive sinful cravings
      1.  Covetous (pleovein, Eng. = plenty; plethora) – the desire to want more; not content; greed
      1.  Wrath (orgen, Eng. = orgy) – uncontrolled rage
      1.  Anger (thumos, Eng. = thermal) – seething ire
      1.  Malice (kakian) – evil intentions, meanness, spite
      1.  Blasphemy – slander, defame, libel, slur, vilify
      1.  Filthy language – profanity, crude, lewd, vile
      1.  Lying (pseudo) – falsehood, deception, fraud
  2. Motivation of the flesh
    1. Paul calls evil desires “idolatry”
      1.  Idol worship = serve fleshly desires
      1.  I Samuel 15:22-23 pride and rebellion are said to be idolatry, since we put ourselves on throne
      1.  Matthew 6:24 cannot serve both God and money
    1. At one time, the Col. believers were motivated by sin
      1.  Paul indicates that believers forsake sin
      1.  To continue in sin is to belie your faith
    1. Sinful flesh naturally desires to think and do evil
  3. Mortification of the flesh
    1. God will judge evil men who pursue evil desires (The Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, plagues of Revelation …)
    1. Put to death fleshly desires (nekron; a necropolis is
    1. a cemetery; lit., city of the dead)
      1.  Romans 6:1-11 = our sins have been put to death on the cross with Christ
      1.  Treat sinful desires as enemies against God
      1.  Move to slay temptation within you
    1. Put off evil passions (Ephesians 4:22-24)
      1.  Evil desires must be replaced with godly ones
      1.  Can’t be motivated by God and flesh at same time
    1. Those in Christ are new creations (II Corinthians 5:17)
      1.  Made in the image of God (I Corinthians. 6:19-20)
      1.  New motivation, power, and direction (Rm. 8:30)
    1. 3 ways to execute fleshly desires:
      1.  Commitment to Christ (John 14:15)
      1.  Submission to Word of God (Romans 10:17, Jm. 1)
      1.  Leading of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18, Romans 8:4)

Key verse: Romans 7:18-25; 8:1-2

18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.