King James Version
Colossians 3:5
5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Colossians 3:5 in other versions
- 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.
- New Living Translation (NLT)So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
Context of Colossians 3:5
3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
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
- 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 6:6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
- Romans 8:13For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
- Galatians 5:24And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
- Ephesians 5:3But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
- Romans 6:13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
- Romans 7:5For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
- James 4:1From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
- Matthew 15:19For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
- Mark 7:21For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
- Romans 1:29Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
- 1 Corinthians 5:1It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
- 2 Corinthians 12:21And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.
- Galatians 5:19Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
- 1 Thessalonians 4:3For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
- Hebrews 12:16Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
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
King James Version — Public Domain except in the United Kingdom (Crown rights)
Commentaries