🌟WEB · Colossians 3:9
What does Colossians 3:9 mean?
"Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,"
— Colossians 3:9 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
for which things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
You also once walked in those, when you lived in them;
but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,
and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,
where there can’t be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.
Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;
Explanation
Colossians 3:9 reads, "Don't lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings." In plain language, Paul is telling the Christians in Colossae to stop lying to each other, and he grounds this command in something that has already happened to them: they have taken off, like a set of old clothes, their former way of life and the person they used to be before knowing Christ.
The letter to the Colossians was written by the apostle Paul, likely while imprisoned, to a church in the city of Colossae that he had not personally founded but felt responsible for, since it emerged from the ministry of Epaphras. The church was facing false teaching that mixed elements of Jewish legalism, mysticism, and philosophy, which threatened to distort the gospel and lead believers into confusion about who Christ is and how they should live. In chapter 3, Paul shifts from correcting bad theology to giving practical instructions for holy living. Verses 5-9 list vices to be put away—sexual immorality, impurity, evil desire, greed, anger, malice, slander, and lying—as part of the natural outworking of the gospel he has just described.
Theologically, this verse rests on the idea of union with Christ and the transformation that comes with conversion. Paul uses the imagery of clothing: believers have "put off the old man," meaning their old, sinful identity tied to Adam and to life apart from God, and are in the process of "putting on the new man," renewed in the image of their Creator (verse 10). Lying is singled out because it belongs to the old self-centered way of relating to others
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