Housecleaning typically involves disinfecting surfaces with cleansers and removal of any build-up of dust and mildew. This is done to put to death germs and take away any filth which the home can do without. It is hardly anything I enjoy, but it needs to get done. It makes my own domicile life thriving as opposed to life depriving.
New life in Christ similarly calls for the removal of vices that remain from the former life in sin and separation from God. This is the gist of Paul’s instruction to the believers at Colossae: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them (Col. 3:5-7).”[1]
“Therefore” (3:8) signifies the result of what comes before. No longer in sin and separation from God, the Christian has a new position in Christ. They are united with Christ in death, resurrection and glory. Their present condition is living life in a sinful and fallen world. Nevertheless, they still have a new position in Christ. This new position in Christ calls for change in the attitudes and actions of the earthly condition.
A list of vices which must be “put to death” is introduced. They include:
- Sexual immorality
- Impurity
- Passion
- Evil desire
- Covetousness
The vices listed above related to “sexual sin” and they represent a way “Christians can be untrue to themselves and more, importantly, to God.”[2]
Paul describes the sexual vices as “what is earthly in you,” i.e., “your members that are on earth” (3:5a). Members neither in the sense of persons within the congregation nor parts of the physical body; rather, the attitudes and activities which formerly brought them to commit these sexual vices.[3] This is really a reiteration and expansion upon Christ teaching to daily take up the cross and follow Him (Lk. 9:23). This is an on-going battle against the sinful flesh.
The first list of vices reflects the corruption of God’s intended purpose for sex.[4] From the beginning, God intended the one man and one woman — Adam and Eve — to be joined together in matrimony for the purpose of procreation (Gen. 1:27-28; 2:15-25). The design and purpose (teleology) of the human body clues us in what moral laws apply to being human.[5] The prohibitions expressed the vices from v. 5 represent a defiled misuse of the body.
Biblical examples of sex defiled include: adultery (Exod. 20:14; Deut. 5:18; Lev. 18:20; Matt. 5:27-28), fornication (Deut. 22:13-29; Heb. 13:4), incest (Lev. 18:6-17; 1 Cor. 5:1-2), polygamy (Lev. 18:18; Deut. 17:16-17),[6] homosexuality (Lev. 18:22; Rm. 1:26-27; 1 Tim. 1:10; 1 Cor. 6:9),[7] and bestiality (Lev. 18:23).
Unveiled in the list of sexual vices from v. 5 is the interconnectedness between the act which defiles and the sinful condition of the heart. Put it another way: “in moving from the outward manifestations of sin to the cravings of the heart — from improper acts to their inner springs — Paul proceeds in the manner of our Lord, who in the Sermon on the Mount traces murder back to the angry thought, and adultery to the lustful glance.”[8] The list from sexual immorality to covetousness encompasses the entire spectrum of human sexual brokenness.
“On account of these the wrath of God is coming” (3:6).[9] Sexual brokenness affects us all, if it is not one of the vices it is another, but such things are detestable to the Lord. They represent the defilement of the body knit together by divine hands (Psa. 139:13-16). They being about the desecration of the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:16-20). Yes, there is judgment.
The good news is that God extends mercy to sinners. “In these you too once walked, when you were living in them” states Paul (3:7). Here we are reminded that sexual brokenness is characteristic of the former life in sin and separation from God. Yet, we have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God the Father’s beloved Son, who provided us with redemption and forgiveness of sins (Col. 1:12).
Christians have a new identity in Christ. They are to reckon themselves as having been raised up with Christ, who sits at the right hand of the Father, so they seek the things above. They have died and their lives are hidden with Christ in God, so they set their minds on things above. When the Lord returns, they too will appear with Him in glory. This union with Christ bids them to reimagine the way they carry on their earthly lives. They put to death the vices of their former lives apart from Christ.
— WGN
Notes:
[1] All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
[2] N.T. Wright, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: Colossians and Philemon (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1986),133.
[3] The clause “what is earthly in you” in v. 5 is also translated “your members which are upon the earth” (KJV) or “the members of your earthly body” (NASB). The differences has to do with the translation of the Greek word melē [μέλη], which refers to “a part of the human body” and can be rendered “member,” “part” or “limb” (William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000], 628). In Colossians 3:5 the word “member” is used figuratively. Just as one never takes Christ to be teaching literally of bodily mutilation in Matthew 5;29-30, so Paul is never advising the killing of members in the congregation. The apostle is employing metonymy. The way metonymy is employed in this passage, according to William Hendriksen, is “the name of the cause or source is substituted for the effect it produces, the consequences that flow forth from it, the fruit or product it yields. Thus in Num. 3:16 (in the original) the word mouth is in the Hebrew substituted for the word command that issued from the mouth; or just as in American slang the expression, ‘I’ll have none of your lip’ means, ‘I will not tolerate any saucy remarks that issue from your lips.’ So here also the command, ‘Put to death therefore your members that (are) upon the earth: immorality, impurity,” etc., means, ‘Put to death therefore the effects produced by, and associated so closely with, the members of your body, such effects, products or works, as immorality, impurity,’ etc.” (William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Exposition of Colossians and Philemon, vol. 6, [Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001], 145.) What does “earthly” or “members” refer to? Simply the vices listed.
[4] For further explication on the vices of sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, cf. Wright, 134; F.F. Bruce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Epistles to the Colossians to Philemon and to the Ephesians (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1984),143-144; Hendriksen, 146-147.
[5] Nancy Pearcy explains, “Morality is the guidebook to fulfilling God’s original purpose for humanity, the instruction manual for becoming the kind of person God intends us to be, the road map for reaching the human telos.” There is a “psycho-physical unity” between “body and person,” as such “We respect and honor our bodies as part of the revelation of God’s purpose for our lives. It is part of the created order that is ‘declaring the glory of God.’” She then points out that “the way our bodies function provides rational grounds for our moral decisions” and “that’s why…a Christian ethic always takes into account the facts of biology, whether addressing abortion (the scientific facts about when life begins) or sexuality (the facts about sexual differentiation and reproduction). Christian ethic respects the teleology of the nature and the body” (Nancy R. Pearcy, Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2018], 23).
[6] For further related reading, cf. Richard M. Davidson, “Condemnation and Grace: Polygamy and Concubinage in the Old Testament,” Christian Research Journal, 38, 5 [2015]: https://www.equip.org/article/condemnation-grace-polygamy-concubinage-old-testament/
[7] For further related reading, cf. C. Wayne Mayhall, “Is Arsenokoitai that Mysterious: ’Homosexual Sin’ in 1 Corinthians 6:9,” Christian Research Journal, 30, 6 [2007]: https://www.equip.org/article/is-arsenokoitai-really-that-mysterious/; Sean McDowell, “Does the Levitical Prohibition of Homosexuality Still Apply Today?” Christian Research Journal, 38, 2 [2015]: https://www.equip.org/article/levitical-prohibition-homosexuality-still-apply-today/
[8] Bruce, 142.
[9] Some ancient Greek copies of Colossians end v. 6 with the clause: “…on the children of disobedience.” The KJV, NKJV, NASB, NRSV follow the longer reading from the Greek.
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