Summary:
Paul tells the believers to treat as dead the things that belong to their earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which he identifies as idolatry. These are the kinds of things that bring the wrath of God, and they are also the things in which the believers once walked when they lived in that former way of life.
But now, because they no longer belong to that old life, they must put away anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech. They must also stop lying to one another, because they have laid aside the old self with its practices.
Paul then describes the new identity of the believer. They have put on the new self, which is being renewed according to the image of the One who created it. This renewal is not based on earthly distinctions such as Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free. In this new life, Christ is all, and Christ is in all.
The passage presents the believer as someone who has left behind the old earthly life and is now being renewed into a new life shaped by Christ. The former ways of sin must be put to death and removed, because the believer now belongs to a new identity where Christ is everything.
Teaching:
Jesus weighs us on an exact scale. While we are on this earth, we must continue in the faith of dying with Jesus and living with Him until the end of our lives. Do not be shaken by any word other than this word of truth. Do not believe the lies that try to disturb the path we must walk, and do not be swept away by the atmosphere around us.
God has renewed us according to His image, even in knowledge. A person who believes in Jesus comes to have the judgment of Jesus; that means receiving what Jesus wills and living it out in one’s own life. This knowledge is not merely knowledge as information, but relational knowledge - knowledge in which persons truly understand and are connected with one another.
The new person is someone who resembles the image of God and lives toward God. In other words, the new person is one who has been renewed, and this renewal is ongoing.
Excerpt from the sermon by Pastor Lee, June 18, 2026
Colossians 3:5-11