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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadWilliam Burkitt Notes and Observations - Colossians 3:5 - 3:5
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Note here, 1. That although the apostle told them in the third verse, that they were dead to sin, yet here, in the fifth verse, he bids them mortify sin; intimating, that the work of mortification, at the best, is but imperfect, and must be carried on daily and progressively; they were mortified but in part; the old man has a strong heart, and is a long time a dying, after it has received its deadly wound: Sin lives a dying life, and dies a lingering death; Mortify therefore, &c.
Note, 2. What it is they are called upon to mortify, their members upon earth; where, by members, we are to understand all the lusts and corruptions of our hearts and natures, all the relics and remains of sin unsubdued and unpurged out of the soul; he instances in fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affections and desires and covetousness, which loveth the world above God, and is therefore no better than idolatry.
But why are these called members, and members upon earth?
Ans. They are called members, in allusion to what St. Paul had called sin before, namely, a body of sin Col_2:11; therefore he calls particular lusts members of that body; and also because they require and call for the members of the body, as instruments to bring them into act; likewise, because these lusts are naturally as dear to men as their bodily members, they can as soon part with a right hand or a right eye, as with a bosom and beloved lust; they are also called members upon the earth, because they are conversant about earthly things, because they will cleave to us as long as we live upon earth; and to intimate, that none of these must be carried to heaven with us, but be mortified on earth.
But what is it to mortify these members?
Ans. To mortify sin is to deny our consent to the solicitations of sin, to suppress the first motions of sin, to enervate the power and activity of sin.
Learn hence, 1. That in the holiest and best of God's children and servants, there are relics and remains of sin, to be daily mortified, and gradually subdued.
Learn, 2. That after God has brought a person into a state of grace, it is his duty, and ought to be his endeavour, daily to mortify sin, and all the remains of unsubdued corruption. A caution, Take heed of concluding sin is mortified, because it is restrained, because the acts of sin are intermitted, because some particular sins are subdued: Is all sin hated of thee, loathed and left by thee? It is more to loath a sin, than it is to leave a sin; sin may be left, and yet be loved; but no man can loath a sin, and love it at the same time.
Learn, 3. That covetousness is a sin, which, above others, a Christian should set himself against, and endeavour to mortify and subdue, it having a sort of idolatry in it, drawing our love, our trust, our fear, our joy, from God, and placing the supremacy of our affections in and upon the creatures. True, the covetous man does not believe his money to be God; but by his inordinate loving of it; and fiducial trusting in it he is as truly guilty of idolatry, as if he bowed his knee unto it: for God more regards the internal acts of the mind, than he doth the external acts of the body.
In like manner, the Papist do not believe their saints and angels to be gods; but by praying to them, and trusting in them for relief and help, they give them the inward worship of the soul, and consequently they are as guilty of idolatry as if they did believe them to be God.