On the basis of their position in Christ, Paul urged his readers to separate from the practices of their former way of life. He did this to enable them to realize in their experience all that Jesus Christ could produce in and through them. Three imperatives indicate Paul's main points: consider as dead (lit. put to death, v. 5), put aside (v. 8), and do not lie (v. 9).
3:5 In view of our actual position (v. 1) we should adopt a certain attitude toward our present phase of experience. We should become what we are. The key word translated "consider . . . as dead"is an aorist imperative and means "put to death."There must be a decisive initial act (aorist tense) that introduces a settled attitude (present tense).143
"Despite the power of their having been identified with Christ in his death, there were still things, parts of their old lives, habits of hand and mind, which tied them to the earth' and hindered the outworking of the mind set on what is above.'"144
To put something to death is never pleasant.
"This practice of reckoning dead finds an excellent illustration in the gardener's practice of grafting. Once the graft has been made on the old stock the gardener is careful to snip off any shoot from the old stock that may appear. So, in the believer's life, since he has now been grated into the Last Adam and His new life, he must by the Spirit put to death any products of the old life that may appear (cf. Rom. 8:13)."145
Paul's first list deals with sexual practices.146
Immorality (Gr. porneia) refers to illicit sexual intercourse.
Impurity (akatharsia) in any form is in view, especially moral impurity in this context.
Passion (pathos) means uncontrolled illegitimate desire.
Evil desire (epithymian kaken) means any evil desire in a more general sense.
Greed (pleonexian, lit. "desire to have more") is any materialistic desire including lust that disregards the rights of others. It is "the arrogant and ruthless assumption that all other persons and things exist for one's own benefit."147
3:6-9 Such behavior will bring God's wrath eventually. That is, God will discipline Christians as well as non-believers who practice these things. These activities normally characterize the unsaved. Christians are to put them aside.
The phrase "the wrath of God"(v. 6) is usually eschatological in the New Testament and refers to the Tribulation period (cf. 1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9; Rom. 5:9). That is probably its reference here too.
Paul's second list deals with sins of speech.
Anger (Gr. orge) is a settled attitude of hostility.
Wrath (thymos) means a verbal outburst of evil passion.
Malice (kakia) is ill-will, a vicious disposition that results in hurt to one's neighbor.
Slander (blasphemia) refers to injurious, malicious speech.
Abusive speech (aischrologia) means filthy, disgraceful, dishonorable speech.
Lying (pseudesthe) refers to deceptive, distorting, untruthful speech.
The imperative command against lying is very strong. Paul said, never lie. The reason given (v. 9) applies to all the preceding activities. The "old self"is the person the Christian was before God united him or her with Christ.
3:10 The "new self"is who the Christian is after his or her union with Christ.148Verse 10 describes the process of sanctification. "True knowledge"(epignosis) is full knowledge of God and His will. Sanctification results in increasing likeness to Christ. Only by sanctification can people attain to the full image of God and Christ that God created them to bear (Gen. 1:26-28).
3:11 There is no national or racial distinction that determines one's acceptability to God nor is there any religious, cultural, or social distinction. Jesus Christ is all that we need for new birth and growth. He indwells every believer and permeates all the relationships of life. "In all"probably means that Christ is everything (cf. 1 Cor. 15:28; Gal. 3:28).149A barbarian was one who did not know Greek; his or her language was foreign. Scythians originated from the Black Sea and Caspian Sea area, and the Greeks thought of them as the lowest type of barbarian.
"The new man lives in a new environment where all racial, national, religious, cultural and social distinctions are no more. Rather, Christ is now all that matters and in all who believe. The statement is one of the most inclusive in the New Testament and is amply supported by the pre-eminence of Christ in New Testament theology. It is a particularly appropriate statement for the Colossians and affords an excellent summary statement of the teaching of the letter. There are three realms, relevant to the Colossians, in which He is all. He is everything in salvation; hence there is no place for angelic mediation in God's redemptive work (cf. 1:18-22; 2:18). He is everything in sanctification; hence legality and asceticism are out of place in the Christian life (cf. 2:16-23). He is our life (3:3-4). Finally, He is everything necessary for human satisfaction; hence there is no need for philosophy, or the deeds of the old man (1:26-28; 2:3, 9-10). He fills the whole life, and all else is hindering and harmful."150
