2The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 3You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4For the yoke of His burden and the staff of His shoulder, the rod of His oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over His Kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
19Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. 20This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it. 21I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. 22The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 24This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success!
26Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD. 27The LORD is God, and He has made His light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!
28You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. 29Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.[1]
Greetings Sojourners!
I usually begin with a little banter, but my battling a migraine necessitates jumping right into the meat of today’s study. Please check out last week’s Bible study for the context (because context is key!).
Just like the pain in my head, sin lingers and clings to us. For the past two Bible studies in our Jesus Over All study (June 29 and July 13), we have been diving into the way Paul approaches the subject of sin in his letter to the Colossian church and how they (us, too) were taught the importance of putting it to death and taking it off and out of their lives. It seems like these past two weeks are negatively focused – and they were if you are looking at the dire circumstances and wages of sin, but part of what makes the gospel good news is what Jesus does with the bad news. Sin produces death. Jesus gives life. To a certain extent, knowing the fragility of life and the existence of death can make one’s life precious. Knowing that Jesus has saved us from the wrath of God our sin was due makes eternal life more precious. So, stick with me as we move through the last of what we need to take off (negative) to walk with Christ so that next week, when we look at what we need to put on (positive), our study can lead to worship in our lives!
As we did with verses 5-7, we are going to rely on a single lexicon/dictionary (Spiros Zodhiates’ The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament[2]) and lay out the definition and verses that contain the same word so that we get the full picture and context and avoid the temptation to cherry-pick definitions to suit bias. Also, remember that while this – as with vv. 5-7 – appears to be a list of sins, it is neither exhaustive (meaning these lists are all the sins there are) nor is the inclusion of any of these sins because of Paul’s or my dislike of certain behaviors. Each sin included in these lists needs to be put to death or taken off because God’s Spirit chose for these to be written here, “breathed out” by God through Paul’s writing, and “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). If offended – as I have been in studying Colossians 3:5-11 and writing these Bible studies, ask yourself what God is trying to teach you – or what correction do you need in your beliefs to square them with the Bible – or what training is God’s Spirit applying to your life that you may be righteous – or what course-correction does your lifestyle need in order to be in step with God rather than your own desires?
Now You Must Put Them All Away (v.8)
As in verses 5-7, these lists are specific sins that were plaguing the church at Colossae (and likely its sister church Laodicea), but the list in verse 8 seems to be more focused with sins within oneself, as in one’s heart-set and mind-set, than in specific actions (as in v. 5). This list shows more of what is going on within a person rather than the specific sins that make them visible in one’s life. Also, these are the sins Paul says are sins in which we “too once walked” and lived in but have no place in the new life in Jesus Christ. Think of it like this: we are sin-sick and have gone to the Great Physician to see what treatment needs to occur. Last week’s sins (vv. 5-7) are seen through the physical examination and may even appear on an x-ray. They are symptoms that are observable. But our Physician is thorough and because “no creature is hidden from His sight” and all “must give an account” to Him who is “living and active” and discerns “the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12-13), we have a deeper view, akin to an MRI or PET scan. The sin in verse 8 is malignant within us and festers within our hearts before its symptoms are seen in our lives. These sins can be hidden to all but God and need treatment by God’s Spirit so that those who are in Christ are being and have been brought from dead in their trespasses and sins – again “in which [we] once walked” (Ephesians 2:1-2) – to “made alive…in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
Those who believe in Christ and confess Him as their Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9-10) are saved from their sin and the wrath that accompanies it. But this is not a new or a New Testament phenomenon; it goes all the way back to how God showed it would work back in the Old Testament prophecies (Ezekiel 36:26-27):
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
It was made abundantly clear – and continues to be made clear through God’s Word – that one’s life matches one’s spiritual standing. For those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, that death is eventually apparent – those sins do not stay hidden within one’s nature because one’s nature always exhibits itself. Jesus Himself clarified this in Matthew 15:18 when He said that “what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person”. What is inside will come out! In the same way that one’s sin goes from nature to behavior, those who are in Christ and have His Spirit dwelling within them will bear fruit of that relationship. The fruit – “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23) – will be visible – will come out – because the life that comes from believing and learning Jesus (Ephesians 4:20-21) is not a learned set of skills and cannot be faked. It will do what Paul prayed for the Colossian church in chapter 1:10: bear “fruit in every good work” exhibiting that we have increased “in the knowledge of God”! Notice that I did not say those good works earn the life; they are results of the life! Think about how one assesses whether someone is alive or dead. How can you tell the difference? Easy! The living person has life, and there is no life in a corpse. Like Ezekiel wrote in the verse we read earlier: God puts His Spirit in His people, His Spirit causes His people to walk in His ways, and even the desire to do good comes from Him.
Let me repeat some of that to make sure that we do not miss it. Being in Christ is not a learned set of skills and cannot be faked. It is a state of being. We are. Or we ain’t.
So often the world tells us to “fake it ‘till you make it.” Well, dear Sojourner, that just will not cut it with the Christian life because what God does is the genuine article. Just as sure as turkey does not make tasty bacon and tofu will never satisfy like a ribeye, only the divine power of God by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ will produce the genuine article. Christ alone brings the dead to life (Ephesians 2:4-5). And we need to be sure that if we are not taking off these sins Paul shows us here and are content to live in them, we need to understand that, even if we fool the whole world, Jesus will recognize us as either the genuine article or imitation because He will recognize us by our fruits (Matthew 7:20).
Note that the way I illustrated that could be seen as humor above, but it is not. It is heavy – eternally heavy. It is not meant to make something serious a joke but is what is known as satire – to show how ridiculous it would be to believe that one is in Christ all the while wearing every fixture and tapestry of sin. It cannot be so. No one ordering and paying for a steak would be satisfied with a soybean gelatin mold that looks like and smells like beef. One taste will tell the truth. You can fool your congregation, your pastor, or your grandmama, but imitation will not stand the test on the day of judgment but will hear some of the most chilling words found in all of Scripture: “I never knew you; depart from me you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23).
So, taking these sins off is important. We cannot continue to try and be satisfied by the imitation joy and empty pleasure that sin offers, even within our hearts and minds. The world wants us to think that as long as we do not say it or do it there is no danger, but God knows best. He knows what we need (Him) and what we do not need (sin). With that in mind, here are those things that the Holy Spirit (through Paul) is telling us do not belong in our lives – that which needs to be taken off and put away from us.
“anger” ὀργή (orgḗ) — We all know what anger is, just like we know when anger is appropriate or not. In the context of Colossians 3:8, this is an enduring state of mind. Aristotle defined this particular Greek word for anger as “desire with grief”.
For me, this is the type of anger that seems like it is going to produce relief in me by blowing off steam but ends by immediately making me feel horribly guilty.
Mark 3:5 – And He looked at them with anger grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and was restored.
Romans 12:19 – Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay says the Lord.”
Ephesians 4:31 – Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with malice.
“wrath” θυμός thumós — This was used to describe wind and gave a picture of violent movements or passionate responses. When it was combined with the word translated “anger” above, it communicates something ferocious. Basically, “wrath” here is an outburst of “anger”.
Romans 2:8 – …but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
Ephesians 4:31 – Let all bitterness and wrath and anger clamor and slander be put away from you, along with malice.
Revelation 19:15 – From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
Deuteronomy 6:15 (Septuagint[3]) – …for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God – lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you from off the face of the earth.
“malice” κακία kakía — This word describes a wickedness that occurs simply because it is a habit in the minds of evil people. It is used to describe people who want to do evil and comes from those who are genuinely wicked (and who enjoy doing evil).
Ephesians 4:31 – Let all bitterness and wrath and anger clamor and slander be put away from you, along with malice.
Titus 3:3 – For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
1 Peter 2:1 – So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
Proverbs 1:16 (Septuagint) – …for their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed blood.
“slander” βλασφημία blasphēmía — This word is often grouped together with the sin of false witness (like lying but much more purposeful and pointed). It is damaging someone’s reputation by saying or reporting things that wickedly seek to hurt or wound.
Matthew 15:19 (also Mark 7:22) – For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
1 Timothy 6:4 – …he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions….
Ephesians 4:31 – Let all bitterness and wrath and anger clamor and slander be put away from you, along with malice.
The last in this list is “obscene talk” which essentially goes back to what Jesus said in Matthew 15:18 – what comes out of our mouths evidences what is really in our hearts. And, ultimately, it is the heart that matters. Works do prove faith (James 2:17), but there are those who appear to do good works that fall away.
Wrapping Up
There was a man named Demas whom Paul mentions at the end of Colossians. In Colossians 4:14, he tells the church at Colossae that Demas “greets” them just like Luke did. In Philemon (which was mailed with the letter to the Colossians), Paul calls him one of his “fellow workers” (Philemon 24). Yet in 2 Timothy 4:10 when Paul was in his final years and a prisoner in Rome, he reported that Demas, “in love with this present world”, deserted him and went to Thessalonica.
There is a saying in contemporary America that is used to justify whatever a person wants to do, especially things that someone might call sinful: “The heart wants what the heart wants.” It is the verbal equivalent to shrugged shoulders and communicates that people cannot help what they want to do. This is right and wrong. For those who do not know Christ, it is right. They want what they want and can do what they want. One cannot get more lost. Those who are dead in their sin are dead and cannot get dead-er. But the Bible does not leave room for those who profess Christ to take that path.
Demas was able to act like a Christian convincingly. He even convinced Paul and Luke! But he could not hide his heart – eventually he did not want to hide it anymore. 1 John 2:19 tells us that the enduring mark of faith in Christ is whether we continue in the faith – that those who “went out from us” were not “of us” because those who are in Christ continue in the faith until the end. Pretend does not endure. Acting does not endure. But what Jesus does on the inside is long lasting. So, Sojourner, we have some soul-searching to do.
As you read this, you may be tempted to work or try to earn our way out of any of these sins that are present in our lives because seeing the reality of our sin can be overwhelming. That will not work. Remember, the wages of sin is death. Our hope is not in what we can do – which amounts to our sin, but in the grace given to us in Christ. We need His work.
We need to fix our eyes on Jesus and repent, trusting in His Spirit to give us what He promised back in Ezekiel 36 – to see His fruit bear in our lives.
Let Psalm 139:23-24 be our prayer as we look at our own lives and seek to take off these sins – as we desire to love and follow Jesus and not allow our love for our sins draw us away like Demas:
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
I am praying for you as always and want you to know that you are not alone in the struggle against sin. Sometimes it seems harder to take certain sins off than others but know this: Jesus has paid the penalty for our sin and made a way – the only Way (John 14:6) out of death and into His eternal life. Will you trust Him or continue in sins? Do you love Jesus, or are you in love with this present world? I pray He helps you see which and draws you to Himself.
[3] The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Old Testament in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC by Jewish scholars who understood Hebrew (and Greek) better than anyone who has lived in the last 1,800 years.
The Bible is what it claims to be (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It is God’s Word. It is true. It contains everything that can be known about God and is sufficient to bring us to Him.
There is a difference in the lives of those who know Christ – are saved/born again – and those who are not – lost/dead in their sin (Ephesians 2:1-10, 4:20-24).
God has authority over His creation. What He intended to be right is right, and what He calls sin is sin (Isaiah 5:20). He is the supreme authority of such (John 1:1-5).
Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8), “not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:9).
If one is in Christ, His surpassing worthiness changes one’s life to the point that the things of this world pale in comparison to knowing Him (Philippians 3:7-11) and God’s Spirit produces change – or fruit (Galatians 5:16-26) – that is evident in real life.
Repentance is, per Wayne Grudem, “a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ”.[1]
Repentance Means Seeking God’s Grace and Mercy (vv. 1-2)
God’s forgiveness is fueled by His “steadfast love” and “abundant mercy” (v. 1).
God’s forgiveness cleanses us from our sin and covers it by the blood of Christ (vv. 1b-2).
Repentance Requires Us to Own Up to Our Sin (vv. 3-6)
If we are in Christ and are filled with His Spirit, we know what we have done and are convicted of its wrongness (v. 3).
If we are in Christ, we understand that He is holy and worthy and that sin is against and opposed to Him – and that His righteous judgment is fair/final and His grace is good (v. 4).
If we are in Christ, we recognize that sin is part of our nature and causes consistent struggles (v. 5).
If we are in Christ, we are loved by God despite our failings and can trust that God delights in hearts changed by Him through salvation (v. 6).
Repentance Desires Restoration and Renewal (vv. 7-12)
Sin damages and dirties, requiring us to need purging, cleansing, and restoration (v. 7).
The process of repentance can be painful, but even the scars produce worship in the end (v. 8).
Repentance is a beautiful picture of a restored relationship with God – from death to life, lost to saved, being distant from the Father to drawn into His embrace (vv. 9-10).
Repentance means turning from sin and seeking God even if the consequences of sin never allow things to return to what they once were (v. 11).
By God’s grace and mercy, joy returns and, by the power of His Spirit, He upholds us and carries us through (v. 12).
Repentance Produces Worship and Worshipful Service (vv. 13-17)
Sin stops service to God. Repentance begins the restart. (v. 13)
Worship is the only fitting response to being delivered from sin and is a result of repentance, which is worship (vv. 14-15).
Repentance is not religion. It is a response to God’s Spirit who gives us “a broken and contrite heart” refining our lives to be holy and acceptable to Him. (vv. 16-17).
Repentance Strengthens the Body of Christ (vv. 18-19)
Individual repentance produces lives that impact the part of the world where God has us, meaning the Spirit of God is active in those who follow Christ and produces fruit in the real world (vv. 18-19).
16He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; 17my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; 18so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.”
19Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! 20My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. 21But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; 23they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him.”
Invitation | You are My King (Amazing Love) — Scripture Inspiration: Galatians 2:19-20, 1 Peter 2:24, Romans 8:9-11, Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 5:17, Psalm 22:1, Matthew 27:46, Isaiah 9:6, Micah 5:2, John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, 1 John 4:9-10, 1 John 4:19-20
Offertory | Build My Life — Scripture Inspiration: Psalm 47:6, Psalm 18:3, Psalm 105:2, Psalm 145:3, Psalm 150:6, Philippians 2:9, Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 2:21-23, Revelation 4:8, 1 Peter 1:15-16, Exodus 8:10, Ephesians 1:18, Ezekiel 36:26, 1 John 4:19-21, Matthew 7:24-27, 1 John 4:8, Isaiah 64:8
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.[1]
📖 Revelation 3:7–13We’re back!After a few months off, The King is Coming returns in 2026 with one of the most encouraging letters in Revelation — Jesus’s message to the faithful church in Philadelphia. In a world filled with opposition and weakness, Jesus opens a door no one can shut.In this episode, Keith Harris and Jamie Harrison explore:✔️ Jesus’s identity as the Holy One, the True One — God Himself✔️ What the “key of David” means and how Jesus alone opens and shuts✔️ The debated phrase “I will keep you from the hour of trial” — and how to read it biblically✔️ Why “little power” doesn’t disqualify faithfulness✔️ How being kept through the trial glorifies Christ’s strength in us✔️ What it means to be a pillar in God’s presence foreverThis church had no rebuke — only encouragement. And Jesus’s call still stands today: “Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” (Revelation 3:11, ESV)🔗 Missed earlier episodes in the series? You can click here to catch up and listen from the beginning.✍️ If you’d like to see a written version of this podcast, complete with footnotes and cross-references, you can find it here.
I hope those of you reading this in the US had a good and relaxing 4th last week – and that y’all reading it elsewhere are well, too! As I reflected on the idea of independence and freedom, I found myself thinking of a verse again and again that reminded me of something really beautiful regarding today’s passage. The verse has been Galatians 5:1:
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
This verse reminds me that there is beautiful freedom in Christ that does not come from sin. He is not keeping us from joy or happiness by telling us that the sin we want to commit is sin; He is freeing us from the bondage we do not know accompanies sin.
This comforts me as I ponder my own life and sin (which, if you read or listened to last week’s Bible study was the challenge). I am about to turn 38 at the end of this month, and reflecting is kind of what I do now.
When I was younger, I had plans for where I thought I would be by this point in my life. At 7, I wanted to be a “singing-preacher” (what I thought a minister of music was). At 17, my plans included teaching for a few years, getting my master’s degree, becoming a principal, and having a doctorate by 35 years old. At 27, I wanted to overcome the burnout and depression I was experiencing. I had burned out and quit ministry a few weeks before my 30th birthday in 2015 and moved back home.
If someone had told 2015-me that I would have the contentment and peace I have today in my walk with Christ and in my home life, I would have laughed in their face and probably told them they were full of something. I spent so long wanting to be something that I lost track of who I was. My identity became wrapped up in my job. That is a very modern way of putting the situation. Biblically, workaholism is a form of the sin of pride. Burnout, for me, was when my prideful pursuit of being somebody turned into the realization that work or status could never give me what I was looking for – was never intended to provide the feelings and validation I craved (really, coveted, which is sinful itself).
That sounds really negative (it definitely felt negative), but as I have learned by reflecting, God has blessed me and fulfilled me over the past seven years in ways I never could have imagined. The first blessing was finding Him in His Word and in prayer and realizing that He had never moved. The second blessing is realizing how amazing and beautiful a life God had built me by giving me Candice and the kiddos. There were more blessings than I can possibly list here, but ultimately, finding my identity in Christ helped me see which aspects of my life needed to removed – or put to death. Work had to have its place. Success and recognition had to have theirs, too. Eventually, after a lot of repenting, life rearrangement, correction through the Word, and more than a little training from Candice, I found joy in pastoral ministry that I never had in the years prior to burning out.
I do not want you to miss this: the issue that burned me out was sin. Pride is a dangerous thing. It is like the carbon monoxide of sinfulness – tasteless, odorless, and deadly. It crept in subtly and slyly. It began with a mix of not getting the recognition I felt I deserved. People told me that. Church folks, even. Then, I got a taste of recognition. Humility left quickly. I wanted more. The idea that I could become something quickly overtook my ministerial life. The fulfillment that came from compliments and attaboys was fleeting. The larger my pride became, the smaller my satisfaction. I just wanted to quit – and did! But pride tainted that, too. I faked a sabbatical so I would not have to live with the reality of failure, intending to extend it until I could bear the reality that I was spent.
As I said, there were things in my life that needed to be killed – that needed to be dead to me. There were areas of my life that had to be pruned, cutting away some of the weeds and thorns that were keeping me from growing. And in that is freedom. Christ had set me free from the bondage created by my own sin. Hear that: my own sin. I am not discounting the powers and principalities that are at work in the world – satanic and demonic (Ephesians 6:11-12). I am simply owning how my own sinful desires were leading toward bondage and foolishness I am thankful not to have fully experienced (Jeremiah 17:6, James 1:13-15).
That is what Paul is talking about in this section of Colossians. In the midst of their dealing with false teachers, they had sin of their own that needed to be taken off as well as aspects of being like Christ that they needed to put on. This was not Paul molding the Colossian church in his image but an opportunity to show them what it looks like to set their minds on Christ rather than this world (Colossians 3:1-2). This was, as Paul said in Romans 12:2, an opportunity “not [to] be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of [their] mind”. We, like the Colossian church, need to be active in putting to death the sin in our lives and taking it off so that we can live the life we have in Christ.
Put to Death (vv. 3-7)
There is a famous quote from the puritan pastor John Owen: “Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.”[2] Really, the last part of that quote – “be killing sin or it will be killing you” – is the most commonly quoted and most apropos to our study today. In that quote, he describes a daily process of examining one’s life in order to kill – mortify, as he calls it – sin before it kills you. If you compare that to the way we talk about sin today, Owen sounds a bit crazy. How can he take something so seriously that obviously is not taken seriously anymore? Either he is wrong, or the modern view of sin is. Which one lines up with the Bible? Owen, obviously.
We talked last week about how there is a lot of anxiety surrounding calling sin sinful. I have read or heard no fewer than a dozen people – in the last month, mind you – who talked about how things that used to be a sin or actions that people used to consider sin are sins no longer. This is related to the necessary presuppositions we have been talking about. If you believe the Bible really is the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17), then what it calls sin issin. If you believe that those who are saved are different, as taught in the Bible (Ephesians 4:20-24), then what is taught to be sin in the Bible should no longer be a part of our lives. God knows what we need and how we need to live – and not live. The “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), but our God specializes in taking those dead in their trespasses and sins and making them alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5)!
So, before we dive into what appears to be the first of two lists of sins, we need to ask ourselves a question: if sin really is as deadly as the Bible says it is (Romans 6:23, James 1:14-15), why would someone want to convince us otherwise?
Really take a second and consider that question. Why would someone want to convince us that what is deadly is safe, and how evil and hateful would that individual have to be?
It reminds me of the difference in the way people talk about cigarettes now versus how they did thirty years ago. Thirty years ago, the Marlboro Man and Joe Camel were cool (or Kool?) culturally and iconic. Then, the dadgum surgeon general decided to attack the tobacco industry and act like cigarettes could cause lung cancer. I remember seeing commercials in the 90s talking about why “big tobacco” wanted to downplay the cancer risk of smoking: they wanted to sell cigarettes. Who would take advantage of us like that in regarding sin?
Ultimately, Satan! Look at the way he is described in Revelation 12:12: “But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). His agenda is to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). He is dangerous in that since “he knows his time is short” he is like a predator backed into a corner. But understand this: he is not looking for minions to rule over in hell. He is not going to be in charge there. He is going to be an inmate. And he is spitefully evil and wants to see as many people misled as he can.
Now, we need to acknowledge a few things about these lists of sins – only one of which we will cover today, almost like a referee before a big fight, but instead of prohibiting kidney punches, we need to clarify what is and is not a low blow when it comes to discussing sin. First, God’s Spirit gave the list, not Paul. These were not pet peeves that Paul had and wanted to get rid of or to pick on. We need to be careful and guard against calling “evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). Second, we must be careful to present it as it is in the Bible. There is always a temptation to emphasize sins that we hate while making light of sins we either commit ourselves or that we just do not think are a big deal. God alone gets to set the agenda regarding His righteous standard and sin. We must guard against letting our own agendas try to steer the text of Scripture.
I have thought a lot about how to present this information and have decided to list it out in a chart format. I have used the same lexicon and Greek dictionary on all the words to present their definitions fairly and not whitling the context to fit any agenda. Even when there are not quotations in the definitions, the information comes from Spiros Zodhiates’ The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament[3]. More importantly, I looked at every verse in the New Testament and a few from the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament, circa 3rd century b.c.) that contained these words. This may seem like a boring way to present the information, but I want to make sure you can see what the information is and keep it as objective and free from bias as I can. Take notice of some of the passages that are used multiple times as it shows that those particular sins were affecting multiple places, people groups, and churches.
These are the sins Paul says we need to put to death – things that are “earthly” rather than godly:
“sexual immorality” πορνεία (porneía) — This is a catch-all term that describes anything sexual that deviates from the intimacy between husband and wife. The WSNTDICT uses “fornication” as a part of the definition, which means any sex outside of marriage, emphasizing that the sin is not merely an issue of timing (like calling it premarital sex) but emphasizing that marriage between a husband and wife is God’s plan for sex. And, for clarity’s sake, every bit of lust or sex outside of that is sin.
1 Corinthians 6:13 – “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” – and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
1 Corinthians 6:18 – Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
1 Corinthians 7:2 – But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
2 Corinthians 12:21 – I fear that when my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.
Galatians 5:19 – Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality….
Ephesians 5:3 – But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 – For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality….
Revelation 9:21 – …nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
“impurity” ἀκαθαρσία akatharsía — This basically means unclean, but it not as clear cut as the idea of being unclean in the OT. This means that something has been tainted by sin and gives a connotation of being rotten. This sort of sin can be by oneself or with others.
Romans 1:24 – Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.
Galatians 5:19 – Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality….
1 Thessalonians 2:3 – For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive….
Matthew 23:27 – “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.
“passion” πάθος páthos — This word is only used three times in the NT. Our passage and the one from 1 Thessalonians imply or include lust while the Romans usage is accompanied by “dishonorable”. The understanding is that these particular passions negatively affect those who participate in them.
Romans 1:26 – For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature….
1 Thessalonians 4:5 – …not in the passions of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God….
The word “pathos” does not always reference sin. Note how “dishonorable” and “lust” clarify the context. Passion is good. It can be beautiful. But only in fitting with God’s plan and intent. We must ask the questions of Proverbs 6:27-28: “Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?”
“evil desire” ἐπιθυμία epithumía — This word is stronger than the English portrays. There is a longing – almost lustfully so – that accompanies this desire. It is like an appetite that needs to be satisfied. Think about the context of some of the instances of this word being translated as “passions” and consider the connotation of passionate hunger.
1 Timothy 6:9 – But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction….
2 Timothy 3:6 – For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and lead astray by various passions….
2 Timothy 4:3 – For the time has come when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions….
Titus 3:3 – For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
James 1:14-15 – But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
1 Peter 1:14 – As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance….
1 Peter 4:2-3 – …so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensualities, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
2 Peter 1:4 – …by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
2 Peter 3:3 – …knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
Jude 16-18 – There are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires, they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”
“covetousness, which is idolatry” πλεονεξία pleonexía — It means covetousness or greediness, but it has a kind of inherent meaning of being the root of other sins – like greediness that sparks a desire to do other sins. Or wanting something that belongs to another with a twinge of bitter rivalry that believes they don’t deserve to have it as much as we would. It is idolatry because it seeks to forsake God as the object of worship by being filled or satisfied by things of earth.
Romans 1:29 – They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips….
Ephesians 5:3-5 – But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among the saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.
Luke 12:15 – And He said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Wrapping Up
He follows this list saying that “on account” of these sins “the wrath of God is coming” (v. 6). The wrath of God is not to be taken lightly. It describes the attitude of God toward sin. He hates it (Psalm 5:4). That hatred drives His wrathfulness toward sin. That sounds harsh, doesn’t it? How could a God who is literally love (1 John 4:16) hate? Isn’t that contradictory? If you have a loved one beset by some sickness, do you love it? I want to be careful in my wording here because God does show love toward sinners in salvation, but I also want us to understand what the Bible says. Those He shows love toward in grace and mercy – those who have confessed Him as Lord and believed in their hearts that Jesus has risen from the dead (Romans 10:9) have been, in love, “saved by Him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:9).
I mentioned earlier how we need to be careful not to over-emphasize or de-emphasize sin but rather to look at it the way it is presented in the Word. There are many preachers who use sin and fear of God’s wrath (which is an appropriate fear) to, in a sense, scare the hell out of people – to motivate them to follow Christ out of a fear of God’s wrath and eternal damnation.
What I want you to see here is that, for those who put their faith in Jesus, He bore the wrath of God our sins deserve on the cross (Colossians 2:13-14, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 9:26, Isaiah 53:10-11). We are all of the things represented – all of the wickedness – in the lists above. Jesus is none of those things. But “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Love is a much better motivator than fear, which brings us full circle to consider the beauty of Galatians 5:1! Christ has set us free for freedom – not in bondage to sin. John Donne was an English poet and pastor from the turn of the late 1500s and early 1600s. He wrote a poem[4] that describes God seeing us in our sin as captives in a labor camp built out of a conquered town. In this poem, we have Stockholm syndrome – we have grown to love our captor and embrace the labor camp as life when it is our death and demise. Donne writes of God coming in and busting down the doors to bring His bride home to Him, essentially saying to Hell with Death because He will never leave or forsake His bride. What a beautiful image! God coming to earth to redeem His Bride from this world of sin. Amen!
So, if you read through those sins and looked at the verses that show them for what they truly are – that show us sinners who we are, you can either decide to ignore what you know about the wrath of God or you can embrace the offer of love and forgiveness. You can choose to sit in the squalor of the labor camp or embrace the conquering King!
I do not sit here and type this in judgment. There is no ulterior motive of condemnation. I am a sinner, too. The difference is that I have put my trust in Jesus – what He has done on the cross, His resurrection, and what He is doing and going to do. I have given my life to Him. And little by little, day by day, year by year, He makes me more like Him. The sin that I clung to so closely becomes distasteful. And He appears more lovely and dear and brings freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17)!
Will you take an honest assessment of your life? I hope that in doing so you realize your need for Him.
If you would like to talk to someone, reach out; I would love to help you. If you realize that you have become distant from Him, repent and turn back; He has not moved. Remember the warning from John Owen: you better be killing the sin in your life because it is surely killing you.
[4]The poem is one of Donne’s “Holy Sonnets”. Here is the text with / marking the end of a line: “Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for you / As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; / That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend / Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. / I, like a usurp’d town to another due, / Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end; / Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, / But is captiv’d, and proves weak or untrue. / Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov’d fain, / But am betroth’d unto your enemy; / Divorce me, untie or break that knot again, / Take me to you, imprison me, for I, / Except you entrall me, never shall be free, / Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.”
The Bible is what it claims to be (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It is God’s Word. It is true. It contains everything that can be known about God and is sufficient to bring us to Him.
There is a difference in the lives of those who know Christ – are saved/born again – and those who are not – lost/dead in their sin (Ephesians 2:1-10, 4:20-24).
God has authority over creation, which He Himself created. What He intended to be right is right, and what He calls sin is sin. He is the supreme Authority of such.
Breakdown of the Text
Sin is not of God (v. 13)
v. 13 – Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts on one.
God is holy and sinless – since before the beginning and forever and ever,
Leviticus 19:2 – Speak to the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy.
2 Corinthians 5:21 – For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
To illustrate how sin works from a wholly biblical perspective, our illustrations today are going to come from the life of King David – “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14).
So, for us to understand how sin works, and specifically in this first example how temptation occurs, we are going to look at 2 Samuel 11:1-2: “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon….
David was not where he was supposed to be.Because of that, he put himself in a position he should have never been.
Then, IT happened. What happened? Temptation – then, sin – then…death.
Our temptation is rooted in our own desire (v. 14)
v. 14 – But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
“lured” – used to describe wild game being baited into a trap meant to capture for the kill
“enticed” – used to describe the moment of being captured (or hooked) by the bait
“by his own desire” – used to describe the reality that our sin is rooted in what we want (that we know is wrong)
The life of King David:
The Bible clearly illustrates David had issues with this sort of sin, illustrated by his pursuit of multiple wives:
Michal (1 Samuel 18:27) – daughter of King Saul; at one point was taken away from him by King Saul and given to another (1 Samuel 25:44), but David never stopped viewing her as his wife (2 Samuel 3:13-14) despite his marrying other women (pl)
Abigail – wife of Nabal and described as “discerning and beautiful” (1 Samuel 25:3); helped keep David from making mistakes due to her husband’s treachery; David’s encounter with her happened to coincide with Saul giving Michal to another, so David married her.
Before we let David off the hook – see what I did there? – he married a woman named Ahinoam at the same time he did Abigail (1 Samuel 25:43).
NOTE: These are descriptive passages, not prescriptive. God’s design for marriage has always been what we see in Genesis 2:24-25 – one man and one woman for life.
If you think that this is putting David in a false context, I want you to also consider that Nathan the prophet reminds David in 2 Samuel 12:8 that he had taken King Saul’s harem of concubines for himself, too….
So, to illustrate James 1:14, David was not where he was supposed to be (2 Samuel 11:1), saw what he should not have seen (2 Samuel 11:2), asked his servants about the woman he should not have been looking at or asking about (2 Samuel 11:3), had this woman brought to him to consummate his desires into reality (2 Samuel 11:4), sent her home after his desire was satiated, thinking he had gotten away with it all scot-free (2 Samuel 11:4), and ultimately found out “desire when it has conceived gives birth” (James 1:13, 2 Samuel 11:5).
The Wages of Sin is Non-Negotiably Death (v. 15).
v. 15 – Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
God has been clear regarding sin and death since the beginning.
Genesis 2:17 – …but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 3:22-23 – Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent Him from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
Genesis 5:5 – Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.
Romans 5:12 – Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned….
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The life of King David:
Rather than admit his sin, confess it to God, and repent, David set out to cover up his sin (2 Samuel 11:6-13) and ultimately had Bathsheba’s husband Uriah killed (2 Samuel 11:14-25).
David, after the 7-day mourning period was over, took “the wife of Uriah” to be his wife, thinking once the child was born no one would be the wiser (2 Samuel 11:25-27), but God….
God sent the prophet Nathan to tell David a parable to illustrate the heinous and wicked nature of his sin with “the wife of Uriah” (2 Samuel 12:1-4).
David’s response to the parable was right and ended up prophetically responding to his own sin:
2 Samuel 12:5-7 – Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
David’s response to the terrible results of his sin (2 Samuel 12:7-12)??? “I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Samuel 12:13)
The Lord’s response: “The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless….
Conclusion/Application
1 Peter 2:22-24 – He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds we have been healed.
1 John 2:1-2 – My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world.
Romans 10:9-13 – …because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing riches on all who call on Him. For “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”
1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3to grant to those who mourn in Zion– to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. 4They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
Scripture | Galatians 5:1 —
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
31So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33They answered Him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
34Jesus answered them, “Truly. truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
1Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
5I acknowledged by sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
6Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. 7You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
8I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.
10Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD. 11Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will scarcely die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die — 8but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. 11More than than, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
📖 Revelation 3:7–13We’re back!After a few months off, The King is Coming returns in 2026 with one of the most encouraging letters in Revelation — Jesus’s message to the faithful church in Philadelphia. In a world filled with opposition and weakness, Jesus opens a door no one can shut.In this episode, Keith Harris and Jamie Harrison explore:✔️ Jesus’s identity as the Holy One, the True One — God Himself✔️ What the “key of David” means and how Jesus alone opens and shuts✔️ The debated phrase “I will keep you from the hour of trial” — and how to read it biblically✔️ Why “little power” doesn’t disqualify faithfulness✔️ How being kept through the trial glorifies Christ’s strength in us✔️ What it means to be a pillar in God’s presence foreverThis church had no rebuke — only encouragement. And Jesus’s call still stands today: “Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” (Revelation 3:11, ESV)🔗 Missed earlier episodes in the series? You can click here to catch up and listen from the beginning.✍️ If you’d like to see a written version of this podcast, complete with footnotes and cross-references, you can find it here.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.[1]
Colossians 3:5-11
Greetings Sojourners!
I cannot speak for you, but it has been an interesting week trying to set my mind on Christ. It almost seems like the more I try to make Him my focus 1) the more distractions arise, and 2) the more opportunities to serve Him are noticeable. It has been a challenge for me, and – as bad as this is going to sound, I hope it has been challenging for you, too! It is, after all, my hope that our time spent studying the Bible has an impact on your life.
That being said, we are continuing farther into Colossians 3. If you have been on this journey with us in this study, you know that I thoroughly enjoy this epistle. I do. I love to read it, study it, write about it, preach from it. But this book can be tough – it is meant to be, yet it is loving in its toughness. The section we are beginning to look at today, though…. I am not particularly excited to write on it. Why? It deals with sin.
Oftentimes, if asked, church folks would remark that sin is a constant topic in sermons they hear. And it may be in some places. I am reminded of an episode of The Andy Griffith Show that features Barney Fife, sitting right on the front row, sleeping through the sermon of a prestigious visiting preacher. As they were filing out of the church, Aunt Bee, Andy, and Barney stop to talk to their pastor and the visiting preacher:
The studio audience’s laughter follows as does Andy’s embarrassment, but this reveals something about the nature of people’s attitudes toward preaching and studying the Bible – especially within the church. There is a hellfire-and-brimstone view that has left many callous toward talking about sin, in some cases injured by a misuse of talking about sin, or ignorant of it because some pastors refuse to talk about it at all.
When we talk about sin, read about it in the Bible, or listen to sermons from passages that deal with sin, what do we say, understand, or hear about it? If asked, most who are part of a local church would say that they believe the Bible is true and what it says is necessary to live, but what about when we get out into the world? What about our lives and the lives of those around us? When the rubber hits the road, the majority of us would definitely disagree with Barney and feel that we have had enough talking about sin.
Before we get into this passage, I believe we need to have a brief reminder of the presuppositions – “basic beliefs that are essential for a particular type of study to be conducted”[2] – that we have stated to be necessary to study the Bible.
The Bible is what it claims to be (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It is God’s Word. It is true. It contains everything that can be known about God and is sufficient to bring us to Him.
Notice what I did and did not say. I did not say that the Bible contains God’s Word. That is a different view entirely that invites people to say that some parts of the Bible are true and others are open to individual interpretation.
The presupposition I am presenting here is that the Bible is exactly what God intended it to be. It teaches what He wants taught. It means what He meant. It is more than a book; it is “living and active”, discerns “the thoughts and intentions of the heart”, and all of one’s life is exposed by it (Hebrews 4:12-13).
There is a difference in the lives of those who know Christ – are saved/born again – and those who do not – are lost/dead in their sins (Ephesians 2:1-10, 4:20-24).
Again, notice what I did and did not say. I did not say “There is supposed to be a difference in the lives of those who know Christ and those who do not”, giving the impression that one could be a Christian and not bear fruit (John 15:4-6, Galatians 5:19-24). Read the references listed on this point, and the Bible is clear and plain on this.
The presupposition I am presenting here is that there is a difference between when one was dead in their trespasses and sins and when they “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4) as a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21). Are those who are in Christ perfect? Unfortunately, no. Romans 7:15-25 describes the struggle between the spirit and our sinful flesh. While we understand we are not perfect, though, those who are in Christ grow to be more like Him because “those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” instead of “the things of the flesh” (Romans 8:5, cf. Romans 8:1-11). Setting one’s mind should sound familiar. It is directly related to the context of this section of Colossians!
Today, we add to those presuppositions the fact that God has authority over creation, which He Himself created. What He intended to be right is right, and what He intended to be wrong is wrong. What He says (see presupposition one) goes. That means He has the authority to declare what sin is. Again, most church folks would say they agree with those statements, but what about when His Word declares an activity you enjoy as a sin? What if it was your family, friends, or kids?
What happens when one of your presuppositions or your world view is challenged by something you come across in the Bible? I am quick to say that, when confronted with this in theory, my beliefs will change if I find they are contradictory to God’s Word. That is theory; what about when that theory intersects real life? You see, I am not uncomfortable writing about sin because I am worried about offending you; I am uncomfortable because my own heart is exposed and laid bare when I study the Word (Hebrews 4:13). I am uncomfortable because I am confronted with the reality of my own sin.
This is why the pre- part of our two presuppositions is extremely important. These beliefs need to be nailed down before the rubber hits the road. Look at people in the Bible who we would call “heroes” whose beliefs before their trials and tribulations made the difference in how they made it through.
Joseph survived his brothers faking his death, selling him into slavery (Genesis 37:12-28), being slandered by his master’s wife (Genesis 39:1-21), and ending up forgotten in Pharaoh’s dungeon (Genesis 40). Yet he was faithful throughout all of those trials because of the beliefs that came before, and he could say to the very brothers whose jealousy set all those terrible events in motion – that led to Joseph being exalted by Pharaoh: “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:19-20).
Job’s worship of God was tested in ways we never hope to experience. God Himself described him as being unlike any other person on earth – “a blameless and upright man” (Job 1:8, 2:3). Satan took his children. Job’s great material wealth was brought to nothing. Satan asked even to be able to attack his health because if one were to “stretch out [their] hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse You to Your face” (Job 2:5). In that vein, Satan made it so their were sores from the tip top of Job’s head to the soles of his feet (Job 2:7). Yet despite all the loss and pain – including three knot-headed friends and a disparaging wife – Job never recants his faith in God.
Daniel, Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach), and Azariah (Abednego) were taken from their homes, imprisoned, indoctrinated, and made into eunuchs (Daniel 1). Their names that spoke of Yahweh were traded for names proclaiming gods of Babylon (Daniel 1:7). Yet they continued the faith in Babylon as they “had done previously” (Daniel 6:10) and saw God strengthen their bodies (Daniel 1:8-21), answer their prayers (Daniel 2:17-18), give interpretation to dreams (Daniel 2:19-45, 4:19-27), stand with them in the midst of the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:16-26), and shut the mouths of lions (Daniel 6:16-24).
The faith and beliefs that comes before matters when it comes time to live it out.
For that reason, today’s Bible study will serve as a reminder of what the Bible teaches about sin and why Paul wrote Colossians 3:5-11.
Most of the time when we talk about sin, we talk about it generically, but Colossians 3:5-11 does not leave that as an option. If you or I have ever done anything sexually immoral, impure, driven by our own passions and desires for evil, or if we have ever coveted anything, these verses are talking to us. I cannot speak for you, but as I wrote this Bible study and studied these verses, the reality of my sin in those categories came to my mind. As if the first list in v. 5 was not enough, it is expanded in vv. 8-9 to include “anger, wrath, malice, slander, …obscene talk”, or lying – we are all covered in at least one of those categories. But while we would like to deny our own sinfulness, if asked in church who is a sinner, we are quick to remark that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
At Christ Community, if one of our pastors asks the congregation what the “wages of sin” is, there is a resounding “death” (Romans 6:23). But that is generic. That is hypothetical sin. What about when it gets personal like when we consider our own lives compared to the lists in vv. 5, 8-9? We see it in other people’s lives and are well-acquainted with their sins. But, when it comes to recognizing it in ourselves, we are like the hypocrite Jesus describes in Matthew 7:1-5; we have a giant log stuck in our eye (unconfessed sin we are willfully ignorant of) while trying to point out the sawdust in the eye of another (sin we would rather recognize).
We know how sin works in the lives of others, but all too often fail to recognize it – and repent of it – in our own lives. It is important for us to know and understand how the Bible talks about sin and let our lives – “assuming that you have heard about [Jesus] and were taught in Him, as the truth is” (Ephesians 4:21).
If we were to describe the workings of one’s life, we call it the life cycle. James 1:13-15 clearly defines the cycle of sin from temptation to death:
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.[3]
In this brief passage, we see three things that are necessary for our understanding of sin.
First, we see that sin does not come from God. To see it one needs only to look back to the Fall in Genesis 3 and the first sin ever to be committed. God told Adam what was right. He gave Him the idyllic garden of Eden and every tree in the garden for food – except one. God told Adam that to eat of that tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, would cause him to “surely die” (Genesis 2:16). There has been debate as long as there has been a Bible as to who made whom sin: Adam, Eve, or the Serpent. The serpent had his role, to be sure, but Adam and Eve each made their own decisions to disobey the commandment of God. But, as we said in our third presupposition above, God has the right and authority as Creator to declare what is right in His creation – and to command against going against that as sin. Adam, who heard the command from God Himself, willingly disobeyed. And every one of his descendants from the beginning until the return of Jesus has dealt with the repercussions and struggles that come from their own sin (Romans 5:12).
Second, we get a picture of what exactly temptation is. Temptation originates in our “own desire”. James gives a fishing analogy. Temptation is like a lure attached to a fishing pole. Fishing lures are designed to look like the most appetizing food for certain types of fish. When a fish sees the lure moving through the water, it cannot help but bite it. Then, the hook hidden within the lure is set, and it is too late for the fish. They are reeled into the real-life consequences of biting onto the lure.
For humans, it is not a shiny lure attached to nearly invisible fishing line but be assured: there is a lure. It looks like what we desire most – what we want that we either know we should not have, or our wants wrapped in a way we should not have them. Do not be mistaken; the sins we desire are attractive to us. So often the struggle one has with sin is because of the great desire they have to commit that sin. Think of the time spent thinking or fantasizing about sinning – not planning to commit said sin, of course, just looking.
Think about King David. He could have easily made the list of “heroes” above as Joseph, Job, Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were all sinners, but David gives a better example of what it looks like to be hooked. David was described as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22). David’s lure was lust and desiring sexual sin.
Early on in David’s narrative, he married Saul’s daughter Michal (1 Samuel 18:27). Later, he met Abigail who was described as “discerning and beautiful” (1 Samuel 25:3). She helped keep him from making mistakes due to her husband Nabal’s treachery, and Nabal’s death happened to coincide with Michal marrying another (1 Samuel 25:44 – though 2 Samuel 3:13-14 shows David never stopped considering her his wife). It would make sense if David simply married Abigail, yet David married her and a woman named Ahinoam at the same time (1 Samuel 25:43). God never supported polygamy but intended marriage to be between a husband and wife (Genesis 2:24-25). David obviously wanted three wives to support his appetites.
Fast forward to 2 Samuel 11, and we see David chose to stay home rather than be where he should be – at war with his soldiers, on his roof with a clear view of a naked woman – Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, and his sending of his servants to take her (2 Samuel 11:1-4). In 2 Samuel 11:2, it says “It happened, late one afternoon”. What happened? Sin. His looking gave way to taking. David’s sin had him hook, line, and sinker. And what he thought would be casual sex – that 2 Samuel 11:4 seems to say he thought could not result in conception – produced live evidence of their union.
That is a good segue into the third thing James 1:13-15 teaches us about sin. The fishing analogy gives way to the analogy of conception and birth. That desire that lures in verse 14 is compared to conception – to human biology. Conception is when a man’s sperm fertilizes a woman’s egg. Lust does not do this. Sex does. Conception is supposed to lead to birth. The baby has a life. But sin is about death. The conception of sinful desire in the mind and heart ultimately leads to committing the sin. It is rarely enough to just enjoy the guilty pleasure of sin once. The behavior grows into a lifestyle. And sin, “when it is fully grown” brings forth death. That life of sin earns – remember “the wages of sin” (Romans 6:23) – death.
Wrapping Up
When we look at sin, it is tempting to question all this talk of sin producing death and doubt and whether a good and loving God would allow such – whether He would really let the consequences of sin be death. To that, I would remind you 1) of the existence of death, and 2) what our good and loving God did for sin was to give Himself as a sacrifice to bear the death we deserve on the cross, not ignore it.
In our next Bible study, we are going to dive into the specifics of Colossians 3:5-11. The sheer volume and span of the lists (there are two, remember) of sins will hit us all more than once. It will not be enjoyable. It will be uncomfortable. You may even be mad at me before it is over. I promise you that I have been mad at me in studying this, too.
I want to give you some homework in the meantime. Consider what we have studied regarding the two necessary presuppositions and what the Bible teaches regarding sin in passages like James 1:13-15. Meditate on that passage an on Colossians 3:1-11. As you do, consider the Holy Spirit’s motives for giving such a passage to the church at Colossae and to us today. Why would He take the time to tell us here – and again and again throughout Scripture – what we should be putting to death in us (Colossians 3:5) and what we should be taking off as if it were a filthy garment (Colossians 3:8)? Does He just not want us to get to do what we want to do and be happy? Or does He just know more than us?
God is the Creator. He knows how He designed life to work best. He knows what truly brings happiness – following Him, and He knows what brings death and sorrow – sin. He knows how to take lost sinners who are dead in their trespasses and sins and make them alive together by grace through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:1-10).
So, I pray that God grants repentance for you where you need it. I pray the same thing for me. And I ask God to help us learn to pray like David in Psalm 139:23-24:
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
1Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
2“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.
4“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5Who determined its measurements — surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, 9when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, 11and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
12“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, 13that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? 14It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. 15From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.
16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? 17Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? 18Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.
25At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal to Him. 28Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Just Keith Harris 