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

3Remember that your old nature has died. God is keeping your new life safe with Christ. 4You have that new life because you belong to Christ. One day, Christ will show himself clearly to everyone. Then everyone will see that you are with him. They will see that you also are great, like he is. Your old nature likes to do bad things that belong to this earth. But your old nature is dead, so do not do these bad things any more. Do not have sex with someone that you are not married to. Do not think bad, disgusting thoughts. Do not want to have sex in a wrong way. Do not want to do any kinds of bad things. Do not want to have many things for yourselves. That shows that you worship those things as your idol. 6God will certainly punish people who do those kinds of bad things. 7At one time, you lived like that. You did those kinds of bad things.

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 6:6We know that God has caused our old nature to die with Christ on the cross. This happened so that God could make us free from the power of sin in our lives. We are no longer like slaves who have sin as their master.
• Romans 8:13If you agree to live in that way, you will die. Instead, you should let God's Spirit help you with his power. Then you can stop doing the wrong things that your bodies want to do. As a result, you will have life with God.
• Galatians 5:24We belong to Christ. As a result, we no longer obey our wrong human thoughts. We stop doing the bad things that our thoughts want us to do. It is like we have killed those thoughts on the cross.
• Ephesians 5:3So, as God's people, you must never have sex with anyone that you are not married to. Do not do any kind of disgusting thing like that. Do not want many things for yourselves, just to make you happy. That is not how God's people should live.
• Romans 6:13Sin can use your body to do things that are wrong. So do not let any parts of your body serve sin as their master. Instead, be ready to serve God as your Master. You can do that because you now have a new life. Your old life is dead. So give every part of your body to God. Then he will use you to do right things.
• Romans 7:5In our old lives, we did the bad things that we wanted to do. God's laws brought bad thoughts into our minds. As a result, our bodies did many wrong things. In the end, those bad things lead to death.
• James 4:1You fight and quarrel among yourselves. Do you know why that happens? It is because of the troubles in your thoughts. You want to do bad things that you think will make you happy.
• Matthew 15:19Evil thoughts come out from people's minds. As a result, they do wrong things. They murder people. They have sex with another man's wife. They have sex in other wrong ways. They rob people. They tell lies about other people. They insult people.
• Mark 7:21Evil thoughts come out from people's minds. As a result they do wrong things. They have sex in wrong ways. They rob people. They murder people.
• Romans 1:29They only think about wrong and bad things that they want to do. They want many things for themselves. They want to hurt other people. They are always jealous of other people. They kill people. They quarrel and fight with people. They are not honest or kind. They say silly things about other people.
• 1 Corinthians 5:1We have heard bad news about what is happening among you. Some of you are having sex in wrong ways. We have heard that one man is even having sex with his own father's wife! Even people who do not know God do not do things as bad as that!
• 1 Corinthians 6:9People who do wrong things like that will never belong to God's kingdom. You surely know that. Do not think that people like this will receive God's good things: People who have sex in wrong ways. People who worship idols. People who have sex with anyone that they are not married to. Men who have sex with other men.
• 2 Corinthians 12:21I am afraid that I may be very sad when I come back to you. My God may cause me to feel ashamed about you. Some of you may still be doing bad and disgusting things. You may be having sex with people that you are not married to, or in other wrong ways. Those are the bad things that many of you did at one time. If you have not turned away from those bad things, that will make me weep.
• Galatians 5:19Everyone knows the kinds of bad things that weak people want to do. They have sex with people that they are not married to. They do things that are bad and disgusting.
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3This is how God wants you to live: As his own people, he wants you to be completely good. So you must not have sex in a way that is wrong.
• Hebrews 12:16Make sure that nobody among you has sex in a wrong way. Be careful that nobody is careless about God's rules, like Esau was long ago. He gave away everything that he would have received as his father's first son. He gave it all away so that he could get only one 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