shadmans Musings  

   (7) and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. (8) But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. (Col 3:7-8) In these two verses, especially verse 8, Paul directs the believer to another list of sins that need to be ‘put to death.’ Where Col 3:5 concerned sexual sin and its wickedness, the list of sins in verse 8 pertains to the sins of how we use our tongues. The tongue is that one member that seems to be out of our control. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; (James 3:8-9) Even though we are made in God’s image, our tongue gets us into all kinds of trouble when it is not controlled. To control our tongue, we must be able to ‘take every thought captive’ (2 Cor 10:5), for that is the only way to put these sins out of our minds.  How We Used ...

  (5) Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (6) For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, (7) and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. (8) But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. (Col 3:5-8) In these next verses of chapter 3, we see the inescapable result of what it means to live the risen life we just read about in verses 1 through 4. It is the need to put to death the sin that permeates our being. As we see in Rom 6:6-7,  knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. (Rom 6:6-7) As we see in Romans 6, we have already been rendered dead to sin, positionally, but there is still more th...