Colossians 3:5-9 Mortify therefore your members which are on the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence… There are a great many men who are like one of my roses. I bought a Gloire de Dijon. It was said to be one of the few everblooming roses. It was grafted on a manetti-stalk — a kind of dog-rose, a rampant and enormous grower, and a very good stalk to graft fine roses on. I planted it. It throve the first part of the summer, and the last part of the summer it grew with great vigour; and I quite gloried, when the next spring came, in my Gloire de Dijon. It had wood enough to make twenty such roses as these finer varieties usually have; and I was in the amplitude of triumph. I said, "My soil suits it exactly in this climate; and I will write an article for the Monthly Gardener, and tell what luck I have had with it." So I waited and waited and waited till at blossomed; and behold! it was one of these worthless, quarter-of-a-dollar, single-blossomed roses. And when I came to examine it I found that it was grafted, and that there was a little bit of a graft down near the ground, and that it was the manetti-sprout that had grown to such a prodigious size. Now, I have seen a great many people converted, in whom the conversion did not grow, but the old nature did. (H. W. Beecher.) I. THE GENERAL PERSUASION. 1. The circumstance of time — "now." Ye did indulge in these as long as sin lived, but now, since sin is mortified, ye must put these things away (Romans 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:5-6). 2. The act commanded. The word may be explained either to "put off" as men put off their old and dirty clothes, or to "lay aside" from the affections and senses, as dead bodies shut up in sepulchres. The last best agrees with "mortify." 3. Learn then — (1) We must not account sin a pleasure, but a thing to be hated as deadly poison, or to be avoided as a putrid carcase. (2) This putting off applies to all sin, of which anger, etc., are only samples. II. We are to put off SINS OF THE HEART. 1. What they are. (1) Anger, an inordinate desire to injure one's neighbour for some past offence. Damascenus defines it as "an appetite for revenge," and in this what the schoolmen term the "formal" of anger is contained. (2) Wrath denotes the hasty excitement of this passion, and that accession of blood round the heart which schoolmen call the "material" of anger. "Wrath," says Damascenus, "is the boiling up of the blood around the heart, and arises from the kindling of resentment."(3) Malice some affirm to be that vicious propensity which infects all the affections and desires, and inclines them to evil; and Bernard, "the taste for evil," which makes evil sweet and good insipid. But it is rather that machination of evil in the heart which is wont to arise from anger in malevolent minds (Genesis 4:5; Genesis 27:41). 2. The reasons why they should be extirpated. Because — (1) Through anger wisdom is lost, and reason for the time extinguished (Ecclesiastes 7:19). "Anger is a short madness."(2) Justice is violated for while an exasperated mind sits in judgment everything which its fury may suggest it thinks right (James 1:20; Genesis 34:1.; cf. Genesis 49:7)(3) The kindness of social life is lost (Proverbs 22:24). (4) The illumination of the Spirit is shut out. (5) Forgiveness of sin is hindered (Matthew 11:26). (6) The attribute of God is usurped with sacrilegious audacity (Proverbs 20:22; Deuteronomy 32:35). An angry man makes himself the judge, and would have God the executioner. 3. But is all anger unlawful? No! for God has implanted in the mind the faculty of anger, and Christ was angry (Mark 3:5). Hence the apostle enjoins, "Be ye angry and sin not."(1) Anger is good — (a)Which arises from a good motive, viz., from the love of God or our neighbour. (b) Which tends to a good end, the glory of God and the correction of our neighbour. (c) Which proceeds according to a good rule, awaiting or following the determination of reason. Basil would have anger to be a bridled horse, which obeys reason as a curb. (2) Anger is evil — (a) Which arises from a bad beginning — hatred or love of praise. (b) Which tends to a bad end — revenge and our neighbour's injury. (c) Which is exercised in an improper manner, forestalling the judgment of reason. III. SINS OF THE MOUTH, arising from the inordinate affections of the heart. 1. What they are. (1) Evil speaking. Blasphemy means injuring the fame of another by evil words. (a) It is offered to God; first, when that which is repugnant to His nature is attributed to Him; secondly, when that which most befits Him is taken away; thirdly, when that which is His property is attributed to the creature. So heinous was it that God made it a capital crime (Leviticus 24:16, 23). (b) It is offered to man (Romans 3:8; 1 Corinthians 4:13; Titus 3:2), and is secret (detraction) and open (railing). Rash and angry persons take the open course; the crafty and malicious the secret. Its grievousness is evident. First, it greatly injures the person himself. His reputation, a principal external blessing is wounded, and is not easy to repair, since the quantity of the loss cannot be estimated. Secondly, it greatly injures those who take it up, engendering as it does suspicions and strifes (Psalm 120:2). Thirdly, it is a great injury done to God. For as He is praised in the saints when the works He effects in them are praised; so when they are defamed He is defamed. (2) Corollaries. (a) Such as respect the blasphemers. First, the habit argues an unregenerate state, for it is one of the principal deeds of the old man. Second, slanderers are unhappy, for, as Nazianzen says, "It is the extreme of misery to place one's comfort not in one's own happiness, but in the evils of others." Third, they are the disciples of the devil (Revelation 12:10). (b) Such as respect hearers. First, since it is so great a crime, those who delight to hear it are not void of sin. Each has a devil; this in the ear, that in the tongue. Second, it behoves a pious man to turn away from and reprove slanderers, and to defend his brother (Proverbs 25:23; Psalm 101:5; Job 29:17). (c) Respecting those injured. First, grieve more for the slanderer than for what he says. Second, slander harms not a good conscience. Third, there is the counterbalancing testimony of conscience and good men. Fourth, do not be provoked to return evil for evil (1 Corinthians 5:12). 2. Filthy communication (Ephesians 2:29; 1 Corinthians 15:33). This is to be avoided because — (1) It makes that most precious and peculiar faculty of speech foul and ridiculous. (2) It indicates a corrupt mind. (3) It is opposed to the sacred profession of a Christian (Ephesians 5:3-4). (4) It corrupts speaker and hearers. Wherefore rebuke it in others. Avoid it yourselves. (Bishop Davenant.) Parallel Verses KJV: Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: |
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