Colossians 3:8
in Colossians 3But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
but now do ye also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of your mouth:
KJV
But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
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This verse in Colossians 3
Commentary
12 notes on this verseBut now ye also put on all these - See on Eph 4:22 (note). Being now converted, sin had no more dominion over them. Anger, wrath, etc - They had not only lived in the evils mentioned Col 3:5, but also in those enumerated here; and they had not only laid aside the former, but they had laid aside the latter also. They retained no bosom, no easily besetting, sin. They were risen with Christ, and they sought the things which were above. Blasphemy - The word seems here to mean injurious and calumnious speaking.
This site's exposition
When you lived among them
on Colossians 3:7-8
The next list, anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips, turns from bodily sins to the tongue and temper. To put aside is the garment language the chapter uses for putting on the new self.
This site's exposition
anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language
Henry grades the list: anger and rage are bad, and malice is worse, anger settled into a purpose. The word rendered slander is blasphemia, and Barnes takes it of injurious words against God or men. Chrysostom notes that filthy language from the lips pollutes the mouth.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
A commentator
Desert FathersThe Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks · Written before 500.
proposed
A hermit said, 'A monk ought not to listen to disparagement; he ought not to be disparaging, and he ought not to be scornful.'
"But now put ye also away all these." He speaks always both universally and particularly; but this is from earnestness. "Anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of your mouth. Lie not one to another." "Shameful speaking," he saith, "out of your mouth," clearly intimating that it pollutes it.
But against others he advanceth his discourse. Under the head of "passion and railing" he means revilings, just as under "wrath" he means wickedness. And in another place, to shame them, he says, "for we are members one of another." He makes them out to be as it were manufacturers of men; casting away this one, and receiving that. He spoke of a man's "members"; here he saith, "all." He spoke of his heart, wrath, mouth, blasphemy, eyes, fornication, covetousness, hands and feet, lying, the understanding itself, and the old mind.
The Medieval Church2 voices
How is this? He just said: "you once walked," showing by this that they no longer live that way, and suddenly he says again: put off all these things! How can they put off what they no longer have? To this one can answer that …
Above, the Apostle warned the faithful about sins of the flesh; here he warns them about spiritual sins. First, he lays down a general admonition; and secondly, he divides it into parts. So he says: At one time you walked in sins, but now put …
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Wrath - Is lasting anger. Filthy discourse - And was there need to warn even these saints of God against so gross and palpable a sin as this? O what is man, till perfect love casts out both fear and sin.
The gospel religion introduces a change of the higher as well as the lower powers of the soul, and supports the dominion of right reason and conscience over appetite and passion. Anger and wrath are bad, but malice is worse, because it is more rooted and deliberate; it is anger heightened and settled.
But now you also put off all these,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
But now ye also put off all these - All these which follow, as being also inconsistent with the Christian calling. Anger, wrath - Notes, Eph 4:26. Malice - Notes, Eph 4:31. Blasphemy - Notes, Mat 9:3. The word here seems to mean all injurious and calumnious speaking - whether against God or man. Filthy communication out of your mouth - Lewd, indecent, and immodest discourse; Notes, Eph 4:29. The conversation of the pagan everywhere abounds with this. A pure method of conversation among men is the fruit of Christianity.
The words behind it
16 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Νυνὶ | nuni | Now | G3570 → | |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| ἀπόθεσθε | apothesthe | do put off | G659 → | |
| καὶ | kai | also | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ὑμεῖς | humeis | you yourselves | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| τὰ | ta | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| πάντα, | panta | all [these] things: | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| ὀργήν, | orgen | anger, | G3709 → | |
| θυμόν, | thumon | rage, | G2372 → | |
| κακίαν, | kakian | malice, | G2549 → | |
| βλασφημίαν, | blasphemian | slander, | G988 → | |
| αἰσχρολογίαν | aischrologian | foul language | G148 → | |
| ἐκ | ek | out of | G1537 → | 911 times |
| τοῦ | tou | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| στόματος | stomatos | mouth | G4750 → | |
| ὑμῶν.¶ | humon | of you. | G4771 → | 2973 times |
ΝυνὶNow
nuniG3570 →
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
ἀπόθεσθεdo put off
apothestheG659 →
καὶalso
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ὑμεῖςyou yourselves
humeisG4771 →2973 times
τὰ<the>
taG3588 →19766 times
πάντα,all [these] things:
pantaG3956 →1235 times
ὀργήν,anger,
orgenG3709 →
θυμόν,rage,
thumonG2372 →
κακίαν,malice,
kakianG2549 →
βλασφημίαν,slander,
blasphemianG988 →
αἰσχρολογίανfoul language
aischrologianG148 →
ἐκout of
ekG1537 →911 times
τοῦthe
touG3588 →19766 times
στόματοςmouth
stomatosG4750 →
ὑμῶν.¶of you.
humonG4771 →2973 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ephesians 4:29Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.
it leads to
- Colossians 4:6
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.
- Ecclesiastes 10:12
The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool consume him.
- Proverbs 15:7
The lips of the wise spread knowledge, but not so the hearts of fools.
- Colossians 3:8–9
But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
- Colossians 4:6
Through
Colossians 3:5Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
it leads to
- Romans 8:13
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
- Galatians 5:19–21
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
- Romans 8:13
Through
Ephesians 4:22to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
it leads to
- Romans 6:6
We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
- Romans 6:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies20
About Colossians
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks; John Chrysostom, Homily on Colossians 8; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Colossians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Colossians.