“Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:5.

So far here in chapter 3 we are told the following in verses 1-3.

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:1-3.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21.

It is only the Christian, someone who has put their faith in Christ as Savior, who is risen with Christ.

All others are spiritually dead still. This is so, no matter what church a person goes to, or how active they are in it. Neither the right church nor works get a person to heaven.

These verses then go on to tell us to set our minds on things above, not on the things on the earth. It is this mental state that brings us to our current study.

“Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth…” Colossians 3:5a.

This does not mean to literally put out your eye if it causes you to sin, nor to cut off your hand if it causes you to sin. It means to consider yourself dead in your heart to the things which cause you to sin.

This is a difficult thing to accomplish, but it begins with fixing your eyes on Jesus and Him alone. The disciple Peter is a good example of how this is done.

The incident in question took place on the Sea of Galilee at about 3 to 6 a.m. in the morning, the sea itself was in turmoil the waves tossing the boat, in which Peter and the other disciples were in, to a fro preventing them from reaching their destination.

It was at this point when things were at their worst that Jesus arrived walking toward them on the water.

“And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.’ And Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.” Matthew 14:26-32.

It is interesting to note that of the twelve disciples in the boat (which seems to be the case), only one asked to walk on the water.

With the exception of Judas Iscariot, all of these men were tough characters, so no less should be thought of them. But at that time in their lives only one had the faith to reach a little further than the rest and walk on water.

I believe this to be true of us all at some point in our lives. Are we willing to be the one who determines to trust the Lord with our lives, or like the eleven just remain in our comfort zone in the boat?

Nobody is going to call you lazy or a coward if you remain in the boat; because if you are a true Christian, you have already painted a target on your back, and that takes courage.

As they say, “Any dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream.”

Now note this, Peter got out of the boat, and he actually walked on water, but only as long as he had his eyes fixed on Jesus.

“But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid…” Matthew 14:30a.

And Peter began to sink.

Fix your eyes on Jesus this is rule number one for putting to “death your members which are on the earth” Colossians 3:5a.

“…seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.” Colossians 3:3b. Even if you were to do nothing more than this you would make great progress as a child of God.

Assume that someone wants to go a bit further in Christ, following rule number one above has to be the first thing that they would determine to do.

But how do we put to death our members?

I believe that understanding a problem is about eighty per cent of solving it. So instead of just reading the things God wants us to put away, it would be better to define them.

Our members which are on the earth are:

Fornication, the dictionary defines this word as, voluntary intercourse between two unmarried persons, or two persons not married to each other.

The Greek word as it is used in this verse means, illicit sexual intercourse.

The word as used means either heterosexual or homosexual intercourse, male or female. It also encompasses adultery, incest, sodomy, bestiality, pedophilia, necrophilia, and any other unnatural lusts.

I am sorry but this word covers everything, there is no loophole.

Ex-president Bill Clinton’s, “I did not have a sexual relationship with that woman.” means nothing, oral sex is still sex and by extension fornication. And if that does not cover it then you can call him an adulterer.

Uncleanness refers to moral uncleanness and it suggests that sensuality and evil doctrine (heresy) are frequently associated.

Uncleanness as it is used in this verse means, the impurity of lustful, luxurious, profligate living. This last word, profligate means, utterly and shamelessly immoral; thoroughly dissolute.

Passion, as used by the Greeks could either be a good or a bad desire. It is used only in a bad way in the New Testament as it is in this passage.

It is a lustful passion, an inordinate affection; the Greek word comes from a word which means to suffer, as such it is an affection of the mind, a passionate desire.

Stalkers and rapists would be a good example of this sort of passion, but someone lusting after his neighbor’s wife would also come under the heading of passion, or an inordinate affection.

Christians need to cleanse their minds of such dangerous things.

Evil desire, rendered evil concupiscence in the King James Version is really clearer as evil desire, but this is not the whole story. We commonly think of evil as simply, evil, bad, wicked, or sinful and leave at that, but the evil here has a bit of a slant on it.

This evil refers to a mode of thinking, feeling, acting; it is base, wrong, wicked. The word concupiscence, or desire if you will, means a desire for what is forbidden, lust.

Put evil and concupiscence together and you have someone who is constantly thinking, feeling, and acting out from a base, wrong, or wicked mindset which is filled with desire for lustful things that are forbidden.

The simplest example of this sort of person is one we have all met, the person with a dirty mind. No matter what you say to them their mind will twist it to mean something filthy.

The more serious of these would be the sexual predator, pedophiles, and the internet predators. Others have probably crossed your mind as you read this.

The Christian is not immune to this type of thinking. All of us have had the vilest things come to mind on which we have dwelt. I can say this because I have.

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:12-13.

Satan has a way of making us feel special when he comes in and says, “Ooh, the Christian has been naughty haven’t we, thinking thoughts that only a devil would entertain!”

Often these thoughts may have been suggested to the Christian by the devil himself, so he is able to make you consider sin and then accuse you for it.

You can tell him to take a hike because you know that these temptations are, “common to man”, God said so Himself. Still, God does want us to turn away from such an evil mindset, and the more we do so, the more our hearts will change.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

The last one in Colossians 3:5, covetousness, is also a bit more sinister than it looks on the surface.

Covetousness is an immoderate love of money. It is an insatiable desire of having more. The word implies a self-idolizing grasping spirit.

Another word that can be used for covetousness is avarice which the dictionary defines as; an insatiable greed for riches; an inordinate desire to gain and hoard wealth.

Now the apostle does not compare this with idolatry, he says it is idolatry; “…covetousness which is idolatry.”

A covetous person worships the things he has hoarded not God, his heart is filled with things, leaving no room for God.

One thinks of Auric Goldfinger in the movie “Goldfinger” (1964), Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol”, some of the super rich bankers of today may have crossed your mind, but here is one for you to consider, Judas Iscariot.

Five things which the Christian must forsake have been defined; I hope fairly clearly, shortly we will examine five more.

“Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you also once walked when you lived in them.” Colossians 3:6-7.

Colossians 3:5 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 2-8-14, updated on 4-14-20.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.