Amplified Bible
Colossians 3:5
5So put to death and deprive of power the evil longings of your earthly body [with its sensual, self-centered instincts] immorality, impurity, sinful passion, evil desire, and greed, which is [a kind of] idolatry [because it replaces your devotion to God].
Colossians 3:5 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
- New International Version (NIV)Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Context of Colossians 3:5
3For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. So put to death and deprive of power the evil longings of your earthly body [with its sensual, self-centered instincts] immorality, impurity, sinful passion, evil desire, and greed, which is [a kind of] idolatry [because it replaces your devotion to God]. 6Because of these [sinful] things the [divine] wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience [those who fail to listen and who routinely and obstinately disregard God’s precepts], 7and in these [sinful things] you also once walked, when you were habitually living in them [without the knowledge of Christ].
Read all of Colossians 3Colossians 3:5 word by word
Νεκρώσατε οὖν τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, πορνείαν, ἀκαθαρσίαν, πάθος, ἐπιθυμίαν κακὴν καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν ἥτις ἐστὶν εἰδωλολατρία,Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Mortifyνεκρόωnekroō · to put to deathG3499
- thereforeοὖνoun · therefore/thenG3767
- yourσύsu · youG4771
- membersὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- membersμέλοςmelos · memberG3196
- uponἐπίepi · upon/to/againstG1909
- the earthγῆgē · earth: planetG1093
- fornicationπορνείαporneia · sexual sinG4202
- uncleannessἀκαθαρσίαakatharsia · impurityG167
- inordinate affectionπάθοςpathos · passionG3806
- evilκακόςkakos · evil/harm: evilG2556
- concupiscenceἐπιθυμίαepithumia · desireG1939
- andκαίkai · andG2532
- covetousnessπλεονεξίαpleonexia · greedinessG4124
- whichὅστιςhostis hētis ho6ti · who/whichG3748
- isεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
- idolatryεἰδωλολατρείαeidōlolatreia · idolatryG1495
Cross-references for Colossians 3:5
- Romans 6:6We know that our old self [our human nature without the Holy Spirit] was nailed to the cross with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.
- Romans 8:13for if you are living according to the [impulses of the] flesh, you are going to die. But if [you are living] by the [power of the Holy] Spirit you are habitually putting to death the sinful deeds of the body, you will [really] live forever.
- Galatians 5:24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature together with its passions and appetites.
- Ephesians 5:3But sexual immorality and all [moral] impurity [indecent, offensive behavior] or greed must not even be hinted at among you, as is proper among saints [for as believers our way of life, whether in public or in private, reflects the validity of our faith].
- Romans 6:13Do not go on offering members of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness. But offer yourselves to God [in a decisive act] as those alive [raised] from the dead [to a new life], and your members [all of your abilities—sanctified, set apart] as instruments of righteousness [yielded] to God.
- Romans 7:5When we were living in the flesh [trapped by sin], the sinful passions, which were awakened by [that which] the Law [identifies as sin], were at work in our body to bear fruit for death [since the willingness to sin led to death and separation from God].
- James 4:1What leads to [the unending] quarrels and conflicts among you? Do they not come from your [hedonistic] desires that wage war in your [bodily] members [fighting for control over you]?
- Matthew 15:19For out of the heart come evil thoughts and plans, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slanders (verbal abuse, irreverent speech, blaspheming).
- Mark 7:21For from within, [that is] out the heart of men, come base and malevolent thoughts and schemes, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, adulteries,
- Romans 1:29until they were filled (permeated, saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice and mean-spiritedness. They are gossips [spreading rumors],
- 1 Corinthians 5:1It is actually reported [everywhere] that there is sexual immorality among you, a kind of immorality that is condemned even among the [unbelieving] Gentiles: that someone has [an intimate relationship with] his father’s wife.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor (perversely) effeminate, nor homosexuals,
- 2 Corinthians 12:21I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality and decadence which they formerly practiced.
- Galatians 5:19Now the practices of the sinful nature are clearly evident: they are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control),
- 1 Thessalonians 4:3For this is the will of God, that you be sanctified [separated and set apart from sin]: that you abstain and back away from sexual immorality;
- Hebrews 12:16and [see to it] that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.
Commentaries on Colossians 3:5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5Mortify, therefore, you members - · Put them to death: the verb is used metaphorically to signify, to deprive a thing of its power, to destroy its strength. Use no member of your body to sin against God; keep all under dominion; and never permit the beast to run away with the man. To gratify any sensual appetite is to give it the very food and nourishment by which it lives, thrives, and is active. However the body may suffer by excessive sensual…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5Mortify therefore your members - Since you are dead to sin and the world, and are to appear with Christ in the glories of his kingdom, subdue every carnal and evil propensity of your nature. The word mortify means to put to death (Romans 8:13, note; Galatians 5:24, note), and the meaning here is that they were entirely to subdue their evil propensities, so that they would have no remains of life; that is, they were not at all to indulge them. The word…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 5-11Verses 5-11 It is our duty to mortify our members which incline to the things of the world. Mortify them, kill them, suppress them, as weeds or vermin which spread and destroy all about them. Continual opposition must be made to all corrupt workings, and no provision made for carnal indulgences. Occasions of sin must be avoided: the lusts of the flesh, and the love of the world; and covetousness, which is idolatry; love of present good, and of outward…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 5Put to death, therefore: We must truly die to this life by how we live each day (3:3) . greed, which is idolatry: Greedy people pursue money, sex, power, and possessions instead of God. They hope to find happiness in those things and treat them like idols.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. Mortify--Greek, "make a corpse of"; "make dead"; "put to death." therefore--(See on Col 3:3). Follow out to its necessary consequence the fact of your having once for all died with Christ spiritually at your regeneration, by daily "deadening your members," of which united "the body of the sins of the flesh" consists (compare Col 2:11). "The members" to be mortified are the fleshly instruments of lust, in so far as the members of the body are abused to…Read the comment
Topics related to Colossians 3:5
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Colossians 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
Amplified Bible — © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631
Commentaries