“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:”
My Notes
What Does Colossians 3:5 Mean?
Paul commands the Colossians to mortify — put to death, kill — their earthly members: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
The word "mortify" (nekrosate) is violent and deliberate. Not manage. Not moderate. Kill. The old patterns do not get a negotiated surrender. They get a death sentence.
The list covers the spectrum of misdirected desire: sexual sin (fornication, uncleanness), disordered emotion (inordinate affection), evil desire (concupiscence), and greed (covetousness). Paul addresses the internal as well as the external.
"Which is idolatry" — Paul identifies covetousness as idolatry. Greed is not just a financial problem. It is worship of something other than God. When desire for things replaces desire for God, it is idol worship.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does 'mortify' — put to death — look like practically for a specific pattern in your life?
- 2.Why does Paul call covetousness idolatry? How does greed function as worship?
- 3.How is killing sin different from managing it?
- 4.What old desire or pattern are you negotiating with that needs to be executed?
Devotional
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. Kill them. Not negotiate. Not manage. Not gradually reduce. Put to death.
Paul does not describe the Christian life as a gentle improvement program. He describes it as an execution — killing the parts of you that belong to the old life. The old desires, the old patterns, the old allegiances — they do not get to coexist with the new. They die.
Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. The list moves from external behavior to internal desire. Paul is not just addressing what you do. He is addressing what you want. The murder starts in the heart.
Which is idolatry. Covetousness — wanting what is not yours, craving more, letting desire for things dominate your inner life — Paul calls this worship. You are worshipping something. If it is not God, it is an idol. And the idol needs to die.
What are you managing that you should be mortifying? What old pattern have you been negotiating with that Paul says should be executed? The Christian life is not coexistence with the old self. It is crucifixion of it.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
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Cross References
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