Daily Bible Reading 17th July 2025 // Colossians 3:5-10
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.
You will notice, in the believer's experience, that before there is ever a putting on of the new man, there must be a putting off, a putting to death of the old, and this is what Paul concentrates on first of all. (Paul only turns to 'putting on the new man' at vv 10/12). He concentrates first of all on the putting off, the putting to death of the flesh. Putting off the old man involves putting off the mindset and the behaviour of the old man. It involves a once for all, decisive death to the flesh and an ongoing renewal in knowledge, day by day and moment by moment. The flesh expresses itself actively by means of these vices of immoral indulgence and lying, filthy language, which Paul lists (v5, 8; cf Mark 7:14-23). Following his Lord, Paul is quite explicit and unambiguous about the extent of evil in the human heart. This, the apostle says, is how we used to live, as slaves to sin, under the condemnation and wrath of God. We offered our bodies to sin as instruments of wickedness. We obeyed its evil desires, as out of our hearts poured forth all manner of filth. This is man without God, the old man in all of its sin and corruption. But now, in Christ, this old man/this old fleshly Adam has been crucified. So, Paul cries: put it to death, put off the old man with all of its detestable practices, discard these repulsive habits, take off these filthy, worn out rags and put on the robe of righteousness; clothe yourself with Christ (Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:11-13; 13:14). This is what it means to live in Christ. It is to actively reckon as ours that which Christ has accomplished for us on the Cross. This is what it means to be true to our new nature, the new nature Christ won for us at the Cross. A death must be died.