Spiritual Slaying
Paul begins his list with the worst, the most deadly things which must be put down, mortified. The word mortify is from the Greek nekrow: to put to death, to slay, to deprive of power,
Mortify, put down, these things which may be a part of us
Fornication: sexual sin
Uncleanness: sinful lifestyle
Inordinate affection: lust
Covetousness, which is idolatry: sinful desire
Paul reminds them that God’s wrath comes upon the children of disobedience because of these things. and they know this because you used to be just like them. He is saying, you have seen what happens to those who live this way.
Kill ‘em dead!
These terribly dangerous sins must not have any place in the Child of God’s life. Slay them, bury them, walk away and never bring any flowers to the grave.
The child of God has died to these and is no longer under the power of those things which used to dominate them. For Paul, this is a consistent teaching theme.
Romans 6:4-6 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
One of the hardest passages of scripture to understand in the New Testament is Matthew 5:29-30 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Yet, it fairly easy to understand when you listen to Paul in Colossians 3:4 and Romans 6. What Jesus was teaching in Matthew 5 was not physical maiming but spiritual slaying. Put them down, mortify them, is the same truth as pluck them out or cut them off. You have died to these things old sinful thing that once dominated you so now they shouldn’t have any part of your daily lives.
Why then do we still see these things in our lives? Well, it probably because we never held the funeral. We need to stop, go back and remember what happened to us at salvation. As Paul tells us “Reckon yourselves dead indeed to sin.”
You must believe that the person who once was dominated by those sins, that person and those sins were crucified with Christ, buried with Christ and now we are risen new in Christ. That new man is no longer dominated and controlled by that old sin!
Too many times we simply don’t believe this is true. We are like Lucy in the "Peanuts" comic strip, she asks Linus, "Do you think people ever really change?" "Sure," replies Linus, "I feel I’ve changed a lot this past year." Lucy says, "I meant for the better."
Here are some better quotes: "Everything that is born of God is no shadowy work. God will not bring forth a dead fruit, a lifeless and powerless work, but a living, new man must be born from the living God."-Johann Arndt (1555-1621)
"In the natural world it is impossible to be made all over again, but in the spiritual world it is exactly what Jesus Christ makes possible." - Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the captain of the ship sought to turn him back. "You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages," he cried. Calvert only replied, That is alright, "We died before we came here."- David Augsburger,
This is the understanding and the power of the child of God who knows they died with Christ and are now risen to walk in the new life.
