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Col_3:8. Νυνὶ δέ ] In contrast to the past, which has just been described: but now, when ye are no longer alive in those things.
καὶ ὑμεῖς ] does not refer to the fact that the Ephesians also are thus exhorted (Eph_4:22; Eph_4:25; Eph_4:31), as Holtzmann here contrives critically to suggest; but as καὶ ὑμ . in Col_3:7 reminded the readers of the immoral pre-Christian society, which they also had formerly resembled, so this καὶ ὑμεῖς reminds them of the moral Christian society, which they also ought to resemble now.
τὰ πάντα ] the whole of these, i.e. the things indicated by ἐν τούτοις without any exception; ye shall retain nothing of them, “ne quid veneni resideat” (Grotius). To this τὰ πάντα the apostle then annexes directly and in rapid asyndetic continuation yet other sins, which are likewise to be left off. Bleek erroneously takes ὀργὴν κ . τ . λ as in apposition to τὰ πάντα ; for the latter can only be retrospective (comp. Hofmann), and cannot, consistently with the text, be taken as meaning, “everything that belongs to the old man.”
ἀπόθεσθε ] like garments (see on Eph_4:22); a lively change of figures; the conception of members is laid aside.
θυμόν ] distinguished from ὀργήν as the ebullition, the effervescing of the latter (Eustath. ad Il. i. p. 7. 17). See on Rom_2:8; comp. Eph_4:31; Rev_16:19; Sir_48:10; 1Ma_2:49; Hom. Il. ix. 629; Plat. Phil. p. 47 E: τοῖς θυμοῖς κ . ταῖς ὀργαῖς .
κακίαν ] wickedness, malicious nature. Comp. on Rom_1:29; Eph_4:31.
βλασφημίαν ] slander, not against God, but against others, as oral outbreak of the evil dispositions mentioned. Comp. Eph. l.c.; 1Co_4:13; Rom_3:8; Tit_3:2; frequently in classic writers; in Dem. 312. 19 joined with συκοφαντία .
αἰσχρολογίαν ] only used here in the N. T.: shameful discourse, which, in accordance with the category of all the sins here named, is not to be understood of unchaste discourse, as, following the Fathers (see Suicer, Thes. I. p. 136), it has commonly been taken (Hofmann: “obscene” discourse); comp. Epictet. Enchir. 33. 16; Xen. de Lac. rep. 5. 6; αἰσχρολογοῦντας in Plat. Rep. p. 395 E; Pollux, iv. 105; and the passages in Wetstein; also αἰσχροεπέω in Athen. xiii. p. 571 A; and respecting the αἰσχρολογία ἐφʼ ἱεροῖς , see Lobeck, Aglaoph. p. 689. Rather: railing speech (Polyb. viii. 13. 8, xxxi. 10. 4), forming one genus with βλασφημίαν , but a wider idea. Comp. αἰσχρὰ ἔπεα , Hom. Il. iii. 38, xxiv. 238. All the elements in Col_3:8 specify the malevolent and hostile disposition; and the two last, especially the oral manifestation thereof; hence the addition of ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμ ., which, without arbitrariness, cannot but be referred to both words (so also Bleek), not to αἰσχρολ . alone, and is, with Grotius, to be conceived as depending on the still operative idea of ἀπόθεσθε , so that it may not be characterized as a “secondary malformation” (Holtzmann). The readers are to lay aside, generally, ὀργὴν , θυμὸν , κακίαν ; and to lay aside from their mouth βλασφημίαν , αἰσχρολογίαν . We are not to suppose any special purpose in connection with the addition; it serves merely for the concrete representation; but, if we should regard it as the more precise definition of αἰσχρολ . (Hofmann), or should even, as is often done, by supplying an ἐκπορευομένην , join it with αἰσχρολογ ., or with βλασφ . and αἰσχρολογ ., it would be utterly void of meaning. The special idea of that which defiles (Chrysostom), or of the opposite of Christian praise to God (Hofmann), does not form the basis of the ἐκ τ . στόμ . ὑμ .; on the contrary, it is the conception in general of what is unsuited and foreign (comp. on νυνὶ δέ ) to Christian fellowship and intercourse, which serves as the presupposition for the entire exhortation. Comp. Eph_4:29.