Colossians 3:9

Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) Lie not one to another.—Comp. Ephesians 4:25, and note the characteristic insertion there of a clause to which there is nothing here to correspond, “for we are members one of another.”

Seeing that ye (have) put off the old man.—Comp. the fuller description of Ephesians 4:22-24.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:5-11 It is our duty to mortify our members which incline to the things of the world. Mortify them, kill them, suppress them, as weeds or vermin which spread and destroy all about them. Continual opposition must be made to all corrupt workings, and no provision made for carnal indulgences. Occasions of sin must be avoided: the lusts of the flesh, and the love of the world; and covetousness, which is idolatry; love of present good, and of outward enjoyments. It is necessary to mortify sins, because if we do not kill them, they will kill us. The gospel changes the higher as well as the lower powers of the soul, and supports the rule of right reason and conscience, over appetite and passion. There is now no difference from country, or conditions and circumstances of life. It is the duty of every one to be holy, because Christ is a Christian's All, his only Lord and Saviour, and all his hope and happiness.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Lie not one to another - Notes, Ephesians 4:25.

Seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds - Your former corrupt and evil nature; Notes, Ephesians 4:22. The reason for putting away lying, stated in Ephesians 4:25, is, that we "are members one of another" - or are brethren. The reason assigned here is, that we have put off the old man with his deeds. The sense is, that lying is one of the fruits of sin. It is that which the corrupt nature of man naturally produces; and when that is put off, then all that that nature produces should be also put off with it. The vice of lying is a universal fruit of sin, and seems to exist everywhere where the gospel does not prevail; compare the notes at Titus 1:12. There is, perhaps, no single form of sin that reigns so universally in the pagan world.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. (Eph 4:25.)

put off—Greek, "wholly put off"; utterly renounced [Tittmann]. (Eph 4:22).

the old man—the unregenerate nature which ye had before conversion.

his deeds—habits of acting.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Lie not one to another: here he puts them upon laying aside that vice which violates the ninth commandment, being opposite to truth in word and work: see Ephesians 4:25, where he doth more fully urge the putting away lying, from the same argument that follows here: a lie being no other than that voluntary expression by word or deed, which accords not with the conception of the mind and heart, on purpose to deceive those with whom we do converse; contrary to the principles of a new creature, because God, after whose image he is renewed, hates it more than any vice, since it is contrary to truth, and proceeds from the father of lies, Psalm 5:6 15:2 Proverbs 12:22 John 8:44 Revelation 21:8,27. They who in conversation do most stomach to be told of it, are most ordinarily guilty of it. But the apostle requires Christians indeed to put away all fraud and fallacy in commerce with men and one another, (as well as converse with God), that there may be in all due circumstances a just representation of that without which is conceived within, Ephesians 4:15 Jam 3:14.

Seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds: the apostle subjoins his reason from the parts of regeneration or sanctification, viz.

1. Mortification, which he reassumes under an elegant metaphor, (intimating his solicitude to have the foregoing and the like vices to be wholly laid aside, as much as was possible in this life), borrowed from the putting off old and worn garments, which did as it were crawl with vermin; intimating that if the old man, as the cause, were put off with loathing, then those inordinate affections and actions which did proceed from it would also be removed; see on Romans 6:6,11, with Ephesians 4:22: if that which is born of the flesh and contrary to the Spirit, John 3:6, with Galatians 5:17, then inordinate affections and lusts, Galatians 5:24.

(To see number 2: See Poole on "Colossians 3:10").

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Lie not one to another.... Which is another vice of the tongue, and to which mankind are very prone, and ought not to be done to any, and particularly to one another; since the saints are members one of another, and of the same body, which makes the sin the more unnatural; of this vice; see Gill on Ephesians 4:25, and is another sin that is to be put off, or put away; that is to be abstained from, and not used. The arguments dissuading from this, and the rest, follow,

seeing that ye have put off the old man, with his deeds. The Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read this as an exhortation, as they do the next verse also. Who is meant by the old man; see Gill on Romans 6:6, and what by putting him off; see Gill on Ephesians 4:22, and as for "his deeds", they are the same with the deceitful lusts there mentioned, and the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19 and with the members of the body of sin in the context, Colossians 3:5. Some, as Beza, think, that here is an allusion to the rite of baptism in the primitive church; which, as he truly observes, was performed not by aspersion, but immersion; and which required a putting off, and a putting on of clothes, and when the baptized persons professed to renounce the sins of the flesh, and their former conversation, and to live a new life.

Geneva Study Bible

Lie not one to another, {7} seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

(7) A definition of our new birth taken from the parts of it, which are the putting off of the old man, that is to say, of the wickedness which is in us by nature, and the restoring and repairing of the new man, that is to say, of the pureness which is given us by grace. However, both the putting off and the putting on are only begun in us in this present life, and by certain degrees finished, the one dying in us by little and little, and the other coming to the perfection of another life, by little and little.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Colossians 3:9. Μὴ ψεύδεσθε εἰς ἀλλ.] i.e. lie not one to another, so that εἰς expresses the direction of the ψεύδεσθαι (comp. ψ. κατά τινος in the sense of the hostile direction, Plat. Euthyd. p. 284 A, al.; Jam 3:14), like πρός in Xen. Anab. i. 3. 5; Plat. Legg. xi. p. 917 A; Leviticus 6:2. It is different in Susann. 55. 59. It connects itself with what precedes, and hence it is to be separated only by a comma from Colossians 3:8 (with Lachmann and Tischendorf); the following ἀπεκδυσάμενοι κ.τ.λ. adds a determining motive for the whole ἀπόθεσθε … ἀλλήλους: since ye have put off the old man … and put on the new, etc., with which the retaining of wrath, etc., and the farther lying (observe the present ψεύδ.) would not be consistent; on the contrary, this transformation which, in principle, has taken place in and with the conversion to Christ, must manifest itself practically by the laying aside of those vices. Accordingly, the aorist participles are not synchronous with the foregoing (exuentes, etc., so Vulgate, Luther, Calovius, and others, including Flatt, Olshausen, Huther, de Wette, Ewald, and Bleek), but precede it; they are not included in the exhortation, for which reason 1 Peter 5:6 f. is inappropriately appealed to, but assign a ground for it. This is clear, even in a linguistic point of view, from the fact that ψεύδεσθε is the present; and also, as regards the sense, from the circumstance that if the words be regarded as part of the exhortation itself, as a definition of the mode of what is required, the exuentes only, and not the induentes, would correspond with the requirement to lay aside and to abstain from lying. Besides, Colossians 3:11 is inappropriate as a constituent part of an exhortation, but suits well as an argumentative enlargement. Finally, the assumed figurative exhortation only comes in expressly at Colossians 3:12, and that by way of inference (οὖν) from what had been said previously from ἀπεκδυσάμ. onwards in the same figure, though not yet in paraenetic form. Without any sufficient reason, and out of harmony with the simple paraenetic form of the entire context, Hofmann begins with ἀπεκδυσάμ. a new period, whose protasis ends in Colossians 3:11, and whose apodosis begins with οὖν in Colossians 3:12 (comp. on Romans 2:17 ff.); by this we gain only a more clumsy complication of the discourse, especially as the supposed apodosis has again participial definitions. The entire practical part of the Epistle proceeds in plain sentences, not dialectically joined together. Comp., moreover, on Colossians 3:12.

Respecting the double compound ἀπεκδυσ., comp. on Colossians 2:11.

The terminus ante quem for παλαιός is the adoption of Christianity, so that, by the whole expression ὁ παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος generically the collective pre-Christian condition in a moral respect[147] is presented as personified.[148] Comp. on Romans 6:6; Ephesians 4:22.

σὺν ταῖς πράξεσιν αὐτοῦ] not generally: with his doing (Hofmann), but in the bad sense: along with his evil practices, with his bad tricks. Comp. on Luke 23:51 and Romans 8:13.

[147] Original sin is not denoted by the expression and the conception to which it is subservient (in opposition to Calvin: “veteris hominis nomine intelligi pravitatem nobis ingenitam; “comp. Calovius: “concnpiscentiam pravam congenitam “); it is, however, according to the biblical view (Romans 7:14 ff.), its presupposition and the regulative agent in the moral character of the old man.

[148] With the entrance of Christianity into the life of humanity, the old has passed away, and all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). But the old man was individually put off by the several subjects through their own historical conversion to Christ. The Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε of Galatians 3:27 is not in substance different from the having put on the new man.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Colossians 3:9. μὴ ψεύδεσθε εἰς ἀλλήλους: “lie not to one another”. The imperative changes its tense from aorist to present, the exhortation to the decisive act being followed by a rule for their daily life. εἰς expresses the direction of the utterance. It should not be translated “against” (Kl[19], Fr.).—ἀπεκδυσάμενοι … ἐνδυσάμενοι. These participles may be translated as part of the exhortation, “lie not one to another putting off … and putting on,” in other words, “put off … and put on … and lie not”. Or they may give a reason for the exhortation, “lie not, seeing ye have put off … and put on”. In favour of the former is the addition σὺν τ. πρ. αὐτ., for if the practices had been put off at conversion the warning might seem superfluous. ἀνακαιν. (pres.) also points to a continuous process. Either view harmonises with Paul’s theology, for he speaks of death to the old and life to the new either as ideally complete in the moment of conversion or as realised gradually in actual experience. But the latter, which is taken by most commentators, is preferable; for the reference is much wider than in the foregoing words. They refer only to the discarding of vices. Paul now emphasises the positive side also, the putting on the new as well as casting off the old.—τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον: i.e., the old non-Christian self (cf. Romans 6:6, Ephesians 4:22).—πράξεσιν: “practices,” such as those already enumerated.

[19] Klöpper.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. Lie not] Cp. Ephesians 4:25. Entire truthfulness is an essential Christian characteristic, for Christ is “the Truth.” In the light of His words and deeds it is certain that nothing untruthful, not even the most “pious” of “frauds,” can possibly be holy.—The uniform emphasis on truthfulness in the precepts of Scripture is the more significant of the origin of Scripture when we remember the proverbial Oriental laxity about truth. See our note on Ephesians 4:25.

one to another] As Christian to Christian (cp. Ephesians 4:25). Not that truth was to be spoken less to heathen or misbeliever; as if fides non servanda esset cum ethnicis, cum hœreticis. But Christian intercourse was to be, so to speak, the nursery-plot for the right temper in all intercourse.

seeing that ye have put off] So R. V. Lightfoot recommends the translation “putting off,” taking this as part of the exhortation; as if to say, “put off the old man and lie no more.” This is fully allowed by the grammar; but we think that the parallel in Ephesians 4:21-24 (see our notes there) is much in favour of the A. V. and R. V. See further below on Colossians 3:10.—In position, possession, idea, they had “taken off” “the old man.” In experience, they were to “take off” the related sins.

the old man] Elsewhere only Romans 6:6; Ephesians 4:22 (where see our notes). In Romans it is a thing which “was crucified with Christ.”—It may be explained as “the old state,” the state of the unregenerate son of Adam, guilty under the sentence of the eternal law, and morally the slave of sin. To “take off” the old Man is to quit that position, stepping, in Christ, into the position of acceptance and of spiritual power and liberty.—“The old Man” is thus not identical with “the flesh,” which is an abiding element (Galatians 5:16-17) in the regenerate, though it need never be the ruling element.—The phrases “old Man” and “new Man” have a probable inner reference to the First and Second Adam respectively (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49). The “taking off” and “putting on” here may be explained as meaning, practically, “you broke connexion (of guilt and helplessness) with the First Adam, and formed connexion (of acceptance and of life) with the Second.”

with his deeds] See Romans 8:13, for the same Greek word; “the practices, machinations of the body.” And cp. Acts 19:18.—“The old Man” is, so to speak, the parent of “the deceitfulness of sin” in all its phases; connexion with “the new Man” is the death-blow to it, as the anxious conscience is set at rest, the relation of the believer to God wholly altered, and a spiritual force not his own given to him.

Bengel's Gnomen

Colossians 3:9. Μὴ ψεύδεσθε, Lie not) Ephesians 4:25.—εἰς) to, or against. See History of Susanna, 3:55, 59, ἐψεύσω εἰς τὴν σεαυτοῦ κεφαλήν, thou hast lied against thy own head.—ἀπεκδυσάμενοι, having put off) Ephesians 4:22.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - Lie not one to another, having stripped off the old man with his deeds (Ephesians 4:14, 15; 20-25; 1 Timothy 1:6; Revelation 21:8; Colossians 2:11; Romans 6:6; Romans 8:12, 13; Galatians 5:16, 24). The imperatives of vers. 5 and 8 were aorists, enjoining a single, decisive act; this is present, as in vers. 1, 2, 15, 18, etc., giving a rule of life. Only in Colossians and Ephesians do we find the apostle give a general warning against lying. What reason there was for this we cannot tell; unless it lay in the deceit of the heretical teachers (Colossians 2:8: comp. Ephesians 4:14, 15; Acts 20:30; 2 Corinthians 11:13; 1 Timothy 4:2; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1; Revelation 2:2; Revelation 3:9). The lying in question is uttered within the Church ("to one another"), and is fatal to its unity (ver. 11; Ephesians 4:25; Acts 20:28-30). The following aorist participles, "having stripped off" and "having put on" (ver. 10), may, grammatically, be part of the command - "strip off," etc., and "lie not" - as e.g. in 1 Thessalonians 5:8; Hebrews 12:1; or may state the fact on which that command is based. The latter view is preferable (Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, English Version; but see Lightfoot); for the participles describe a change already realized - a change of principle, which has, however, still to be more fully carried out in practice (Colossians 2:11-13, 20; Colossians 3:1, 3, 7, 11; Ephesians 4:20-24; Galatians 3:27, 28): in ver. 12 the imperative mood is resumed with an emphatic "therefore," implying a previous reference to fact. (On the double compound ἀπ εκ δυσάμενοι, "having stripped off (and put) away," see notes, Colossians 2:11, 15.) The "Old man"; is the former self, the "I no longer living" (Galatians 2:20) of the Colossian believer, to whom "the members that are upon the earth" (ver. 5) belonged - the entire sinful personality of "him who is in the flesh" (Romans 8:8). His "deeds" ("practices," "habits of doing," Romans 8:13; see Trench's 'Synonyms' on πράσσω) are the pursuits of which vers. 5, 8, 9 supply examples. Colossians 3:9

Vincent's Word Studies

Seeing that ye have put off (ἀπεκδυσάμενοι)

See on Colossians 2:15.

The old man

See on Romans 6:6.