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.
Again, we begin with the word “therefore.” In our previous study, we see that Paul frames his teaching on the fact that each believer is “raised with Christ.” Part of being grounded in this foundation truth, Paul instructs each believer to “seek the things above.” In other words, to set one’s mind on those things which are dear to the heart of God, our Father, and His Son. Paul states, “you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Beloved, that statement must sink in deep. We are dead to the world, and our great HOPE is in Christ’s appearance, known as “the second coming.”
With that in mind, Paul is pointing us toward our daily walk and the issue we face of “putting to death our members which are on the earth.” Let’s camp here for a moment. There is a need for each of us to understand what Paul means “to put to the death” of our members in order to know how we should walk in this new life in Christ. Paul is saying that it is impossible without the “power of the Holy Spirit.” What Paul states in Acts 24:15-16 is very helpful for our understanding. “I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, (speaking of the “Pharisees)” that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” The context in which Paul speaks of his “conscience” is in “the hope of the resurrection of the dead, both the just and the unjust.” In other words, we will all have to give an account to God for how we lived this new life in Christ (see 1 Corinthians 3:9-15). We are God’s fellow workers, we are God’s field, and you are God’s building. These are metaphors to picture how God sees those He has raised up in Christ.
We are all critical in the process of this new life we have received in Christ. By God’s grace, Paul says, “I laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take care how he builds on it.” There is no other foundation. Christ alone is that foundation because of His death, burial, and resurrection. That is the foundation laid. Christ is raised up and seated on the right hand of God the Father. Paul warns believers to be careful of “how we build on that foundation.” Paul then describes the judgment that every believer will face. It is a judgment of our works to see if they will stand or be burnt by fire. Again, I suggest a full study of 1 Corinthians 3.
Back to Colossians 3, consider how clear Paul is in verse 5. Therefore put to death your members on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. The believer has the responsibility to apply the “cross” to every fleshly area. Jesus did His part on the cross by “carrying our sins to hell.” We are to “reckon ourselves dead to the flesh and alive to Christ.” The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us resurrection life. Our life is now to be lived by the power of God.
This list of the flesh is just a sample that could be accumulated. This list represents what Paul was addressing in Chapter 2:23 when he spoke of “the indulgences of the flesh.” We are living in a time that our culture magnifies the “FLESH.” These five words are perfect for describing the perversion we face every day in “media and arts.” Both the media and arts are part of the “Mountains of Culture” or significantly influence the culture. There are at least “seven” mountains of culture that can be identified throughout the world. There is the mountain of Religion, Family, Education, Government, Business, Media, and Arts. All of these are significant influences in the culture.
These Mountains of culture today are filled with fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which Paul identifies as idolatry. These areas are the affections of the flesh for which multitudes are “addicted.” We don’t need to dig any deeper into the mire and the muck. But the believer needs to understand what we are up against in the world.
The three significant enemies that the Word of God identifies are, the flesh, the world, and the devil. The flesh is what every person in Christ must overcome day by day, and sometimes many times in a day. We can overcome because He overcame through obedience to His heavenly Father in everything. He also overcame the world. Listen to what Jesus said to His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). And finally, He overcame the devil. He overcame beginning in the wilderness after 40 days of fasting. Then the devil came tempting the Lord at His weakest point. But He overcame by the “Word of God.” Then He overcame for us, in His great sacrifice on the cross and his descent into Sheol, the place of the dead. Through the power of His resurrection, we too overcome. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:11).
Paul then gives us the understanding of the end result of embracing the works of the flesh that are tied to the world and empowered by the devil and his demons when he says, “Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience” (Colossians 3:6). The Eternal, Holy, and altogether Righteous God of all creation and the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ must judge the disobedience of humanity. The disobedience that is rooted in Paul’s message on Mars Hill when he decrees, “Therefore since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:29-31).
As we wrap up today’s teaching, we end with verse 7 of Colossians 3 that states, “in which you yourselves once walked when you lived them.” All of us were born in this world and into its corruption through sin. There are varying degrees of involvement, but no one is innocent. It is crucial to think through our life and face anything that the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance by confessing, repenting, renouncing, and receiving God’s forgiveness and, in some cases, the forgiveness of others. God wants to cut us free from persons, places, things, and experiences that can still be “soul ties” that cause us damage and hinder our walk with Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The “Word of God” is the “Sword of the Spirit,” as defined in Ephesians 6:17. In this scripture, Paul also mentions “the helmet of salvation.” The sword and the helmet go hand in hand. The sword cuts us free from our sins and the result of our sin and the sins of others. The helmet speaks to our minds. Our mind, first of all, needs to be renewed. Repentance opens the door for a mind delivered from demonic power. But that mind must be filled with the reasoning of God’s holy word. Our mind cannot remain with the old thoughts and ways but must be cleansed by the “blood of the Lamb.” Then our mind must be filled with the “word of God.” This is done through memorization of scripture, meditating upon the truths of God’s word, and applying the word of God in our daily walk. There is one other part of our development, and that is to “share with others” what you have learned about God, who is our Father, about His Christ, who is our Savior and Lord, and the power of the Holy Spirit that was promised to be given to be our “helper” in our everyday walk.
In our next lesson, we will focus on the putting off of the “old man” and the putting of the “new man.” This is the key to a real understanding of God’s work in our life and His vision and purpose in the nations.