{"id":427,"date":"2010-05-13T05:58:59","date_gmt":"2010-05-13T09:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=427"},"modified":"2013-06-26T11:27:06","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T15:27:06","slug":"that-which-destroys-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=427","title":{"rendered":"That Which Destroys Relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cBut now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.\u201d<\/em> <\/strong>(Colossians 3:8)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With an adversative (\u201cBut\u201d) Paul makes a turn from what used to be true of us as believers (v.7) to what must \u201cnow\u201d be true of us.\u00a0 What should be \u201cnow\u201d is in direct contrast with what was \u201conce\u201d true of us (v.7).\u00a0 Instead of the indulgence we once practiced (v.7) now we are to \u201cput . . . away\u201d such practices.\u00a0 To \u201cput . . . away\u201d simply means to put aside or put off something, as one would do with clothing (cf. Acts 7:58).\u00a0 Over time the word came to mean to give up or renounce.\u00a0 This is another way of describing what Paul meant when he earlier commands us to \u201cPut to death\u201d (v.5).\u00a0 Paul will employ yet another verb in verse 9 to communicate the same basic idea (\u201claid aside\u201d).\u00a0 This is a matter of urgent, immediate obedience.\u00a0 Paul makes the personal nature of compliance emphatic (\u201cyou\u201d).\u00a0 The expression may mean either \u201cyou also\u201d (NASB) as with all other Christians or \u201cyou . . . yourselves\u201d (NIV).\u00a0 That which is to be put aside is \u201cthem all.\u201d\u00a0 Does this expression serve as \u201ca summation of what precedes\u201d (the list of sins in v.5) or does it anticipate the list of vices that is to now follow here in verse 8?\u00a0 Most likely it serves in an all-inclusive manner, indicating all that relates to the \u201cold self\u201d (v.9)\u2014including all the items in these two vice lists and whatever else may be added to them\u2014must be \u201cput . . . away\u201d as worn out clothing from a previous life.<\/p>\n

Now, as in verse 5, Paul strings together another series of five nouns to form a second list of vices.\u00a0 Whereas verse 5 dealt with sexual sins, here the focus is upon social sins.\u00a0 First is \u201canger<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 The word is a powerful one.\u00a0 Thayer says it derives from another word which means \u201cto teem, denoting an internal motion, especially that of plants and fruits swelling with juice\u201d (452).\u00a0 Unresolved conflicts fester and eventuate in bitterness.\u00a0 The churning resentment eventually erupts upon the surface and destroys those in its path.\u00a0 What is holy in God (\u201cthe wrath of God,\u201d v.6) is unholy and destructive in man (v.8).\u00a0 Second, is \u201cwrath<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 The previous word describes a settled wrath, but in contrast this word \u201cis used of anger <\/em>that boils up and subsides again\u201d (Friberg, 200).\u00a0 Thus it describes active<\/em> anger or wrath.\u00a0 It is can be thus variously translated as \u201cangry tempers\u201d (2 Cor. 12:20, NASB) and \u201coutbursts of anger\u201d (Gal. 5:20, NASB).\u00a0 Third is \u201cmalice<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 Paul can use it more generally simply of \u201cevil\u201d (1 Cor. 14:20), but often also in the more specialized sense, as here, of \u201cmalice\u201d (Rom. 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:8; Eph. 4:31; Tit. 3:3).\u00a0 In this latter sense it describes \u201cmaliciousness or inward viciousness of disposition\u201d (Robertson, 4:332).\u00a0 Then comes \u201cslander<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 We derive our word \u201cblasphemy\u201d from this word, and it can have that connotation when used of speech directed against God (e.g., John 10:33).\u00a0 When directed at persons, however, it can also refer to \u201cslander\u201d or more generally to \u201cabusive language\u201d (1 Tim. 6:4).\u00a0 And finally Paul cites \u201cobscene talk<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 The word is used only here in the New Testament.\u00a0 The word comes from through another word from a compound formed from two words meaning \u201cdisgraceful\u201d and \u201cword\u201d (Thayer, 17).\u00a0 The dual elements of \u201cfilthiness\u201d and \u201cevil-speaking\u201d may be contained in the word (Lightfoot, 212).\u00a0 It is \u201cevil speech<\/em> in the sense of obscene speech<\/em>\u201d (BAGD, 25).\u00a0 This is to be kept \u201cfrom your mouth,\u201d or more literally \u201cout from the mouth of you.\u201d\u00a0 It is possible that this clause governs both of the last two words, since they both have to do most directly with sins of the tongue.<\/p>\n

In the previous list of vices (v.5) Paul began with the manifestation of the evil and worked backward toward its root motivation (see post \u201cDealing Radically With Sin, Part 3<\/a>\u201d).\u00a0 Here, however, he moves in the opposite direction\u2014beginning with the root motivation (\u201canger<\/span>\u201d) and moving outward in ever increasingly demonstrative expressions of that anger (concluding with \u201cobscene talk\u201d).\u00a0 Thus we may trace the progressive nature of these sins.\u00a0 It begins with an inward anger (\u201canger<\/span>\u201d), which, if not checked, moves forward into a flash of anger (\u201cwrath<\/span>\u201d).\u00a0 Such \u201cwrath,\u201d if not \u201cput . . . away\u201d quickly, festers and becomes increasingly intent on actually harming the other person (\u201cmalice<\/span>\u201d), an impulse which may express itself in \u201cslander<\/span>\u201d or \u201cobscene talk<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 Many a married couple, if they are willing, can trace this pattern through many of their worst moments together.\u00a0 Jesus was correct in His analysis of the order: \u201cthe mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.\u201d (Matt. 12:34b).\u00a0 Again, as in verse 5 (though here it is developed in reverse order), the implication is that victory is found in dealing with the sins at the level of their root motivation, not at the level of fruit-bearing.<\/p>\n

If, then, we have accurately perceived the root-to-fruit pattern <\/strong>of the vice lists in verses 5 and 8, that means that Paul is identifying two key root sins here: \u201cgreed<\/strong>\u201d (v.5) and \u201canger<\/strong>\u201d (v.8).\u00a0 What are \u201cgreed\u201d and \u201canger\u201d except selfishness<\/strong>\u2014self-orientation toward what another has (\u201cgreed\u201d) or does (\u201canger\u201d)?\u00a0 This serves only to underscore the essential nature of a Christ-focused, heaven-directed orientation for our thinking as set forth in 3:1-4.\u00a0 The key to deliverance from the power of these sin-vortexes is found at the root of our thoughts and interpretations of life and its relationships: \u201cSet your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth\u201d<\/em> (v.2)!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBut now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.\u201d (Colossians 3:8) With an adversative (\u201cBut\u201d) Paul makes a turn from what used to be true of us as believers (v.7) to what must \u201cnow\u201d be true of us.\u00a0 What should be \u201cnow\u201d is in direct contrast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-colossians","post-preview"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYGxX-6T","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1604,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions\/1604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}