Putting Sin to Death, Part 2

(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 to Be

‘and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.’ (Col 3:7)

Definition: ‘walked’ – The Greek word, peripateō { per-ee-pat-eh'-o } means ‘to make one's way, progress; to make due use of opportunities.’ Louw and Nida define it as, “to live or behave in a customary manner, with possible focus upon continuity of action—‘to live, to behave, to go about doing.’” [1]
Definition: ‘living’ – The Greek word, zaō { dzah'-o } means ‘pass life, in the manner of the living and acting.’
There is an implication that when the Colossians were living in sin, they also walked in it. ‘Living in’ implies you are alive and existing in a state that tolerates sin in yourself and others. But ‘walking’ in sin implies you are actively participating in it with no desire to change your behavior or that of others. There is also an implication in ‘walking’ that someone is moving or progressing from one sin to another like was implied in Paul’s list in Col 3:5.
Paul is reminding the Colossians that they knew how it was to live and walk in sin, and they hated it, which is why they came to Christ. [2] And we see something similar Eph 2:1-5,

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (Eph 2:1-5)

This is the God we serve, the one who makes sure we know Him and His will for us, as well as the things that displease Him. He is also the one that warns us and then encourages us in the next breath. MacArthur reproduced something from Spurgeon quite relevant for this passage. Updating the English a little, Spurgeon said, ‘having been burned already, will you continue to play with fire? Having been in the jaws of the lion, are you going to step into the lion’s den a second time? … Don’t be angry and don’t be foolish! Did sin ever give you the real pleasure you wanted? Did you find satisfaction in it? If so, go back to it! Wear sin’s chains again if it makes you happy. But since sin never gave you what it promised, it only made you believe something that was not true, it lied to you, so don’t let it trap you a second time. Let your remembrance of its bondage stop you from entering into its net again!’ [3] (2 Cor 4:2)

MacArthur completes verse 7 with this:

Why would anyone who has been made rich return to the slums to live in poverty? How can the new creature act like the old one (cf. 2 Cor 5:17) “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom 6:1-2) [4]

The Sins of Hate

But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. (Col 3:8)

Definition: ‘anger’ – The Greek word, orgē { or-gay' } means ‘originally any "natural impulse, or desire, or disposition," and came to signify "anger," as the strongest of all passions. It is used in [reference to] the wrath of man.’ Also, ‘the natural disposition, temper, character; movement or agitation of the soul, impulse, desire, any violent emotion; wrath, indignation.’
Definition: ‘wrath’ – The Greek word, thymos { thoo-mos' } means ‘passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again.’ Louw and Nida defined as “a state of intense anger, with the implication of passionate outbursts—‘anger, fury, wrath, rage.’” [5]
Definition: ‘malice’ – The Greek word, kakia { kak-ee'-ah } means ‘ill-will, desire to injure; malicious behavior or nature.’ Louw and Nida define it as “a feeling of hostility and strong dislike, with a possible implication of desiring to do harm—‘hateful feeling.’ ” [6]
Definition: ‘slander’ (‘blasphemy’ - KJV) – The Greek word, blasphēmia { blas-fay-me'-ah } means ‘detraction, speech injurious to another's good name.’ Louw and Nida define it as “to speak against someone in such a way as to harm or injure his or her reputation (occurring in relation to persons as well as to divine beings)—‘to revile, to defame, to blaspheme, reviling.’” [7]
Definition: ‘abusive speech’ (‘filthy communication’ - KJV) – The Greek word, aischrologia { ahee-skhrol-og-ee'-ah } means ‘foul and obscene speech.’ Louw and Nida define it as “obscene, shameful speech involving culturally disapproved themes—‘vulgar speech, obscene speech, dirty talk.’ ” [8]
The sins in verse 7 are committed against other people. And similar to the list we saw in verse 5, there is a progression of the sins, this time from motive to the evil act. From anger to wrath to malice to slander and finally to abusive speech.
Paraphrasing the commentator, Max Anders, the imagery of ‘put them all aside’ is that of taking off one’s clothes, which is to say believers are to discard their old and repulsive habits like they are a set of old, worn-out and no longer usable clothes. The implication is that they are to cloth themselves with the type of behaviors that would make them ‘well dressed’ and appropriately fashionable. [9]
Concerning the specific sins mentioned, another commentator noted that, “anger and rage [wrath] destroy harmony in human relationships. Malice is a general term describing an evil force that wrecks fellowship. Slander here means the insulting of human character ... Filthy language [abusive speech], as the last in the series, is emphasized: it ought to be stopped before it comes out of their mouths.” [10]
And again from Anders,

believers must also rid [themselves] of a hot temper. Anger (orge) is a settled feeling, the slow, seething, smoldering emotion that boils below the surface. Rage (thumos) is a quick, sudden outburst, the blaze of emotion which flares up and burns with intensity.

Between the sins of the hot temper (anger, rage) and the sins of the sharp tongue (slander, filthy language), Paul mentions malice. The Greek term (kakian) refers to “ill will, the vicious, deliberate intention of doing harm to others.” This ill will may work itself out through angry outbursts or sinful speech.

Slander (blaspemian) is basically defamation of character. To slander someone is to injure their reputation. This term is sometimes used in reference to God; but in this context, it probably refers to slanderous speech against another person. Filthy language refers to “obscene or abusive speech.” [11]

This list of sins are relational sins and Paul is calling upon the Colossians, as well as all who have ever read Colossians, to put aside, or rid yourselves, of any attitudes and/or actions that would cause the breakdown of relationships between people. The strong emphasis here is within the body of Christ because that is for whom the letter was intended. But if we are ridding ourselves of these sins, they will impact our relationships both inside and outside the body of Christ. We don’t rid ourselves of them only within the body. We cannot be one thing within the body and the opposite outside of it. We cannot be double minded!

and in these [sinful things] you also once walked, when you were habitually living in them [without the knowledge of Christ]. But now rid yourselves [completely] of all these things: anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene (abusive, filthy, vulgar) language from your mouth.

Col 3:7-8 AMP - Bible Gateway

Footnotes

Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), p. 504, p/o Logos Bible Software, Ver 10, © 2026.
Paraphrased from John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Colossians & Philemon, (Moody Bible Institute: ©1992) pp. 142-143.
Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), p. 761, p/o Logos Bible Software, Ver 10, © 2026.
Ibid, p. 763.
Ibid, p. 433.
Ibid, p. 392.
Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, vol. 8, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), p. 329, p/o Logos Bible Software, Ver 10, © 2026.
Peter T. O’Brien, “Colossians,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), pp. 1272–1273, p/o Logos Bible Software, Ver 10, © 2026.
Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, vol. 8, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), p. 329, p/o Logos Bible Software, Ver 10, © 2026.

All Scriptures quotes are from the New American Standard Bible, 1995 Revision, unless otherwise noted. Verse links from Blue Letter Bible.

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