Colossians 3.5a-Colossians Must Put to Death the Members of Their Body in Relation to the Manifestation of the Sin Nature
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday May 15, 2016
Colossians: Colossians 3:5a-The Colossians Must Put to Death the Members of Their Body in Relation to the Manifestation of the Sin Nature
Lesson # 72
Colossians 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (NASB95)
“Therefore” is the inferential conjunction oun (οὖν), which is introducing a statement that is an inference from the previous statements recorded in Colossians 3:1-4.
“Consider as dead” is the second person plural aorist active imperative form of the verb nekroō (νεκρόω), which is used in a figurative sense and means “to put to death” since it pertains to cease completely from activity, with the implication of extreme measures taken to guarantee such a cessation.
Therefore, this verb indicates that Paul is commanding the Colossians to “put to death” the members of their earthly bodies with regards to the practice of these sins in the sense of completely ceasing from practicing such things based upon the fact that they are identified with Christ in His death and resurrection.
The second person plural form of this verb refers to the faithful Christians in Colossae and is used in a distributive sense meaning “each and every one of you” emphasizing no exceptions.
The aorist imperative form of the verb nekroō is a constative aorist imperative which is expressing the solemn nature of this command and emphasizing the urgency and importance of the Colossians obeying this command.
“The members of your earthly body” is composed of the following: (1) noun melos (μέλος), “the members of your body” (2) definite article ho (ὁ), which is not translated (3) preposition epi (ἐπί), “earthly” (4) noun gē (γῆ), “earthly.”
The noun melos is used in a literal sense for the different parts of the human body and is used with reference to the old Adamic sin nature, which resides in the genetic structure of the human body (cf. Romans 6:13, 19; 7:5, 23).
The articular construction of this word should be translated “your” since it is functioning as a possessive personal pronoun indicating that these members of a body belong to the bodies of the Colossians.
Colossians 3:5 Therefore, I solemnly charge each and every one of you to put to death the members of that which belongs to your earthly nature with regards to the practice of sexual immorality, sexual impurity, sexual lust, evil desire as well as that which is greed which is, as an eternal spiritual truth characterized as idolatry. (My translation)
The command issued by Paul in Colossians 3:5 is an inference from his previous statements recorded in Colossians 3:1-4.
The emphasis in the first four verses of chapter three is that the Colossians have died with Christ and have been raised with Him or in other words, they are identified with Christ in His death and resurrection.
The commands in verses 1 and 2 are based upon this identification with Christ and the promise of a resurrection body in verse 4 is also based upon this identification.
Now, here in Colossians 3:5, Paul solemnly issues another command which requires that the Colossians put to death the members of that which belongs to their earthly nature with regards to the practice of immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed.
The Colossians must put to death the members of their bodies with regards to the practice of immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed based upon the fact that they have died with Christ and have been raised with Him.
In other words, the command in verse 5 is issued based upon the fact that the Colossians are identified with Christ in His death and resurrection.
When Paul issues this command, he is doing so with a sense of urgency.
Consequently, the Colossians must also have a sense of urgency with regards to this command.
They must obey this command without reservation or delay since their fellowship with God and experiencing their sanctification is contingent upon doing so.
Their spiritual growth is contingent upon obeying this command.
Paul’s statements in Colossians 1:3-5 and 2:5 make clear that the Colossians were already obeying this command along with the others in this epistle since they affirm that the Colossians were obedient to the gospel.
This obedience manifested itself in their conduct with each other in that they were exercising God’s love toward one another and this obedience protected them from the practice of the sins listed in Colossians 3:5.
Putting to death the members of that which belongs to the Colossians’ earthly nature would demand that they completely cease from practicing sexual immorality, sexual impurity, sexual lust, evil desire and greed based upon the fact that they are identified with Christ in His death and resurrection.
It would constitute appropriating by faith their identification with Christ in His death and resurrection.
Ceasing completely from practicing such sins would result in their living in a manner consistent with this identification with Christ in His death and resurrection.
By obeying this command in Colossians 3:5, the faithful believers in Colossae would be appropriating by faith their identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death and burial.
Therefore, he is spelling out for the Colossians and for all Christians in every generation of the church age what is involved in appropriating by faith one’s identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death and burial.
To appropriate by faith one’s identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death and burial would demand the believer putting to death the members of their human body with regards to any thought, word or action which would manifest their sin nature.
To appropriate by faith one’s identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death and burial would demand the believer considering the members of their human body as dead to the sin nature and alive to God.
To consider oneself as dead to the sin nature and alive to God demands that the believer submit to the Lordship of Christ over their lives.
Their union and identification with Christ means that they are under the headship of Christ and thus no longer under the headship of Adam.
Consequently, they must behave in a manner which is consistent with being under the headship of Christ.
To consider oneself as dead to the sin nature and alive to God or to put off the old Adamic nature and to put on the new Christ nature involves the Christian submitting to being under the headship of Christ.
To appropriate by faith one’s union and identification with Christ would involve the Christian adopting God’s viewpoint of them which is that they are in union with Christ and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.
This results in conduct which is consistent with this union and identification with Christ.
Faith is submitting to the Father’s will for one’s life and is submitting to the sovereign will of God.
It manifests itself in obedience to the commands and prohibitions in the Word of God.
The Father’s will for the church age believer is that they are crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with His Son at His right hand and the believer who agrees with this by viewing himself or herself as identified with Christ in these events in our Lord’s life is appropriating by faith their union and identification with Christ.
If a believer does not adopt this view of himself or herself, they will automatically live according to the lusts of their sin nature since it is only when the Christian is thinking properly about themselves that they can experience victory over sin.
It is through faith that they can experience victory since victory is contingent upon them appropriating by faith this union and identification with Christ and this is accomplished by considering themselves dead to the sin nature and alive to God.
The Colossians’ behavior or conduct was to be governed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and specifically the good news that they have the victory over sin and Satan through their union and identification with Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the Father’s right hand.
The Judaizers attempted to persuade the Colossians to live according to the commands and prohibitions of the Mosaic Law and specifically to live by means of the purity regulations of the Law.
Observance of these purity laws in addition to the rest of the ceremonial aspect of the Law would constitute the sanctification of the Israelite who possessed a covenant relationship with God as a result of being declared justified by faith in the Lord.
However, the church age believer’s sanctification and moral purity is based upon something superior and is based upon the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session of Christ at the right hand of the Father.
The Colossians would continue to experience moral purity and their sanctification when they appropriate by faith this union and identification with Christ and this is why Paul wanted them to continue to reject the teaching of the Judaizers.
What the Colossians are in fact, is to manifest itself in their conduct.
They are to live their lives in a manner which is consistent with who God made them to be through their union and identification with Christ.
What they are positionally in Christ is to become their experience and faith is the key to this taking place.
The emphasis with putting to death the members of one’s body parts in relation to these various sinful vices is not upon the body parts but upon the conduct or actions related to the use of these body parts.