But now, put off, *ye* also, all [these] things, wrath, anger, malice, blasphemy, vile language out of your mouth.
Paul has just told believers to put to death the gross sins of the body; now he turns to a second list, almost all temper and speech. So why do sins we excuse in ourselves — a lost temper, a cutting word, a coarse joke — belong beside them?
Commentators see an order running through the passage. Verse 5, this verse and verse 9 each deal with a different outlet of the same nature.
So the three ways in which the flesh expresses itself are: corruption, violence, and lying. In verse 3 of this third chapter of Colossians we get corruption; in verse 8, violence; and in verse 9, lying. Unless you see these three forms of the flesh's expression, it seems strange that lying comes in here.
The instruction changes. It is no longer "put to death" but "put off" — the ESV's "put them all away." Behind it lies a picture of clothing.
But there are other things besides those listed in verse 5 which we must be done with, and verses 8 and 9 mention them. It is not now "put to death," but "put off." We once lived wrapped up in these things like a garment. When people looked at us, that is what they saw. But they are to be seen no more. The ugly garment that once marked us out is to be visible no more. We are to put on another garment, as we shall see when we reach verse 12.
The order matters: the shocking sins come first, then the ones we grade as minor.
Now Paul urges them to put off those features of the "old man" that the natural conscience may find less offensive. They were not only to "put to death" the gross sins in which they once walked.
Anger is not craving. It reveals something else about the person losing it.
If I get angry, it is proof that the will of the old man is not broken. Anger is not a lust; but if you are living in grace, you do not fly into a passion. There is the power of a life that does not do these things, and that masters the thing that does them. We find anger and violence in Satan, who is a murderer; corruption and violence in men… I am to put off the movements of the old nature.
Many treat a hot temper as a fixed part of their personality.
Verse 8 uses the same form of the verb as verse 5. We are once and for all to have put off such things as anger, wrath, malice, vile language and lies. A believer has no excuse for not controlling his temper. And he should thoroughly judge as evil the slightest tendency to hold on to hard feelings.
Most of what this verse names travels by the tongue — and the tongue only carries out what the heart has already decided.
Notice how much of verses 8 and 9 has to do with our tongues. That means it has to do with our hearts, which speak through them. Sins of the tongue are terribly common even among Christians. We all know the kind of words that anger, wrath and malice provoke. Would any true believer blaspheme? Hardly — yet how very easy it is to speak of God and of divine things in a light and irreverent way. How easy too it is to say unsavoury things, even if we do not go as far as filthy language.
The ESV calls the fourth item "slander"; older translations read "blasphemy". The word reaches wider than today's use of it:
In Scripture this does not always refer to speaking evil of God, which is what the word is now limited to. The same Greek word appears as "railing" in 1 Timothy 6:4 and Jude 9, and as "evil speaking" in Ephesians 4:31. It could well read that way in other places too.
The list is severe, but it rests on something already true of the believer — and on a settled heart, not a straining one.
It is sweet to see how the truth that we died with Christ brings deliverance from nature in all its forms, whether corruption or violence. It is the judgment of the first Adam as a whole; nothing is spared… God wants His children to enjoy the fullest comfort. Indeed, no one can be holy in practice until he is happy… If we are called to put off anger, wrath and the rest, it is because we are dead.
- Root — the flesh shows itself in three ways: corruption, violence (v.8) and lying (v.9); this verse targets the second.
- Reach — first the sins everyone condemns, then the ones the conscience excuses. Paul refuses the distinction.
- Refusal — "put off" is a garment word: what once marked you out must not show on you again.
- Speech — almost every item here leaves by the mouth, and the word behind "slander" covers railing at people, not only at God.
- Power — you strip these off because you died with Christ, not by straining; and holiness in practice follows a heart at peace.
Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds,
The command not to lie comes with an unusual reason: not a rule, but something that has already happened to the reader. That raises the two questions this verse turns on — what is "the old man," and in what sense has he already been put off?
Lying belongs to the nature this verse describes. One commentator traces it back to the first pages of the human story:
The old man is what accounts for lying; the old man is false, full of deceit. There is not, there cannot be, thorough truthfulness in nature as it is now. We see this from the first. Adam was false as soon as he sinned. Cain was false too. Other evils, such as violence, show up at times in some people and not in others. But all are false — lying you do see in everyone.
The ESV calls it "the old self." The writers quoted here keep the older wording, "the old man." Either way the phrase names a nature we inherit, not a person:
The old man and the new man speak of two natures. Both are found together only in someone truly born of God. The old man, palaios (Rom. 6:6; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9) is a term used of that sinful nature which governs the unconverted, and which we all inherit from Adam. It is also called the flesh, and sin… Before his conversion the man walked by the dictates of the old or former man. That is to mark him no longer. For that old man has been crucified with Christ; that is, God dealt with it in judgment at the cross.
"Put off" is the language of taking off a coat. The picture explains why these sins were things other people could see:
It is not now, "put to death," but, "put off." Once we lived wrapped up in these things as in a garment. When men looked at us that is what they saw. But they are to be seen no more. The ugly garment that once characterized us is to be visible no more. Another garment is to be put on as we shall see when we arrive at verse 12.
The reason given is not a threat or a reward. It is what faith has already done:
Put these off, because "you have put off the old man [faith has done it] and put on the new." You are done with the old in its very nature, and you have put on the new. So do not bring out the fruits of the old — the sour crab apples of the old tree.
Another writer names the day it happened, and adds what still needs doing with the old man's practices:
We have put off the old man. When did we do this? We put him off in the day when we trusted Christ as our Saviour. The exhortation in this chapter is to put to death the members of that old man which are listed for us here.
The words "to one another" point the command at the community, not just at private character:
Fellowship is the object here. Lying and deceit are marks of the old man. In verse 9 the Christian has put off the old man with his deeds. So honesty in our dealings with one another makes for brotherly confidence.
Ephesians 4:25 covers the same ground, but turns the instruction around:
We find in Col. 3:9, "Do not lie to one another." There it is a matter of practical life. But in Eph. 4:25 we have, "having put away lying, speak truth" to each other… In Colossians the call is only to refuse the practice of lying. Here the thing itself is looked on as gone, and the call takes the positive side.
The reason given differs too:
In Ephesians the ground for not lying is that we are members of one another. Here it is treated as inconsistent with our having put off the old man and put on the new man.
- Cross — the old man is the sinful nature we inherit from Adam, and God judged it at the cross of Christ.
- Conversion — that nature was put off the day a person trusted Christ; the verse states this as done, not as a goal.
- Clothing — what was once worn like a garment, and seen by everyone, is not to be visible any more.
- Conduct — lying shows up in everyone as a mark of the old nature, so honesty is the first test of the new.
- Community — honesty between believers builds confidence, and fellowship is what the command aims at.
and having put on the new, renewed into full knowledge according to [the] image of him that has created him;
Paul has just told the Colossians to stop lying to one another. He backs that command with something already true of them: they have taken off the old man and put on the new. Verse 10 describes that new man — renewed along the line of knowledge, after the pattern of the One who created him.
Commentators read the putting on of the new man as something already done at conversion. That is why the commands around it carry weight.
Truth, however, is required of us because we have put off the old man and have put on the new. This is what we have done in our conversion, and the calls to put off and put on in verses 8 and 12 rest upon it. Conversion means we have learned to judge, condemn and refuse the old order of man and his character. It means we have put on the new man, who is God's creation and shares His character. We do not say that we understood or realised this at the moment of our conversion. But in the light of this Scripture, this is what our conversion really involved, and it is high time we understand and realise it.
"The new man" is not a name for any one person. It describes a whole class of people.
These expressions do not refer to particular people. They describe different orders of men, each having certain characteristics... Also, "new man" does not mean simply a fresh man, the way we speak of a new man appointed to fill some position. It implies an order of man that is new in the sense of being entirely different from the old man.
Greek has more than one word for "new," and the one chosen here matters.
The Greek word for "new" does not mean repaired, or even renovated, the way you might renew an item that has fallen into disrepair. It means what is absolutely and radically new, something that had not existed before. It is the same word we find in Colossians 3:10, the "new man."
Everyday English uses "new" in two ways, and one writer applies both to Colossians and Ephesians 4.
We use the word 'new' in two senses in English. We speak of a 'new fashion,' and of a 'new coat.' "Renewed in knowledge" in Colossians 3:10 is a completely new thing, like a new fashion. "Renewed in the spirit of your mind," in Ephesians 4:23, is like a new coat, constantly renewed by the grace and Spirit of God.
This renewal runs through knowledge, and knowledge is more than the absence of wrongdoing.
The first man was innocent; he was not righteous but innocent... To be righteous and holy you must have the knowledge of good and evil... Colossians uses another expression of great importance — "renewed in knowledge according to the image of him that created him." There is a positive knowledge of God. It is not just that sin is absent. I have a positive knowledge of God Himself, and what God is gives the new man his character and essence.
The phrase can also be read "renewed into full knowledge," and one writer draws a conclusion for the mind.
Our renewing is according to the image of Christ. No lower standard is put before us. He Himself is the image of God. Notice again how this renewing is connected with the mind. The reading should be "renewed into full knowledge." How important it is, then, that our thinking should be in the direction God has indicated.
Older translations read "him that created him" where the ESV has "its creator." One writer names that Creator plainly.
The Creator is Christ; in Colossians all creation owes its existence to Him. The new man is formed after the pattern of Christ.
The verse says "image," not "likeness," and one writer explains the difference.
Likeness is in distinct qualities; "image" is the complete presentation of the person. So in Colossians 3:10 they were renewed in knowledge according to the image — the complete presentation of what He was, and of all that He was. That is a wonderful position and calling.
"Renewed" describes something ongoing, not finished.
This new man is "renewed", a word that implies it is daily gaining new strength. This fresh strength is found in the knowledge of the One who has created the new man. As we grow in the knowledge of Christ, we become like Christ. He is the perfect expression of the new order of man.
- New, not mended. The word means something that never existed before — not the old man repaired, but an entirely different order of man.
- New already. You put him on at conversion; every command in the chapter rests on a change already made, not one you are trying to earn.
- New by knowing. Renewal runs through knowledge — real knowledge of God Himself, which the first man's innocence never had.
- New after a Pattern. The measure is the image of the Creator — the full presentation of who He is, seen in Christ. There is no lower standard.
- New in practice. Grow in the knowledge of Christ and likeness to Him follows; that is how the new man shows day by day.