Colossians 3:5

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, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient, 7and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.

Colossians 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 6:6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,
• Romans 8:13because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
• Galatians 5:24Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
• Ephesians 5:3But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints.
• Romans 6:13And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness.
• Romans 7:5For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused through the law were working in us to bear fruit for death.
• James 4:1What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you?
• Matthew 15:19For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander.
• Mark 7:21For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders,
• Romans 1:29They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,
• 1 Corinthians 5:1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles — a man is sleeping with his father’s wife.
• 1 Corinthians 6:9Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males,
• 2 Corinthians 12:21I fear that when I come my God will again humiliate me in your presence, and I will grieve for many who sinned before and have not repented of the moral impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality they practiced.
• Galatians 5:19Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity,
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality,
• Hebrews 12:16And make sure that there isn’t any immoral or irreverent person like Esau, who sold his birthright in exchange 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

• Adultery
• Affections
• Chastity
• Commandments
• Continence
• Covetousness
• Depravity of Man
• Holiness
• Lasciviousness
• Righteousness
• Self-Denial
• Worldliness

In the dictionaries

• Admonish
• Affection
• Bond
• Charity
• Concupiscence
• Covetousness
• Discourage
• Fit
• Idolatry
• Lord

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