Explanatory note on Colossians Chapter 3 verses 5 and 11 from the Hebrew-Greek Study Bible (compiled and edited by Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D.):
Colossians 3:5This verse combats
Gnosticism (a
Heresy) which taught that the body is evil, and since it is evil in itself and cannot be redeemed from its evil ways, it might as well do whatever it wants
. This is the reason Paul says, "Mortify therefore, the members of your body." Bring them under control. Treat them as if they were dead. Your spirit should have them under subjection because the two, the spirit and the body, are interrelated and
the body behaves only as the spirit commands it. The evils of the body which Paul lists are material expressions:
porneia, "fornication," including all sexual sins among unmarried or married including adultery, homsexuality, incest, etc.;
akatharsia, uncleanness of all kinds that defile the body;
pathos, passion which here is translated "inordinate affection";
epithumia, "desire," which in this instance is similar to "lust" because it is coupled with the adjective
kakē, "bad" or constitutionally evil (
these two words are translated as "evil concupiscence" which actually means lustful desire);
pleonexia, "coveteousness or greediness," desiring to have more than one has , not because it is insufficient but because others have more. Such desire is called "idolatry."Colossians 3:11The Scythians
were a tribe of nomads and warriers from west Siberia inhabiting the Caspian area of the Black Sea from about 2000 B.C. In the late eighth century they moved into northern Persia. Their initial advances to the southwest were checked by Sargon II of Assyria (727-705 B.C.). Paul is using them as an example of barbaric people (e.g.
) who were constantly at war.