1If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. 2Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. 3For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.
5Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6For these things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. 7You also once walked in those, when you lived in them, 8but now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth. 9Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings, 10and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator, 11where there can’t be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, or free person; but Christ is all, and in all.
12Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; 13bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
14Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection. 15And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
17Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
18Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19Husbands, love your wives, and don’t be bitter against them.
20Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord.
21Fathers, don’t provoke your children, so that they won’t be discouraged.
22Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. 23And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. 25But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality.
So serious is sin in the life of Christ's followers that eliminating its cause is worth taking the most drastic action. However, Jesus uses deliberate exaggeration (hyperbole) to stress the gravity of sin, not to prescribe literal amputation. Verses 9-10 emphasize the priority of a person's vigilance in regard to stumbling blocks in his own life. Only when a one has dealt with personal causes of stumbling can he exercise appropriate care for others in spiritual jeopardy. At risk are the spiritually immature ("little ones") of verses 6-7, and the stray sheep ("little ones") of verses 12-14. The whole discussion is bounded by an emphasis upon humbling oneself as a child, and receiving the child of God as one receives Jesus (v. 4-5); and sharing the Father's concern that none of them perishes (v. 14).
Appropriate discipline for causing a fledgling believer to stumble is described in verse 6 in terms of certain physical death by drowning. No one could swim with a grinding stone weighing several hundred pounds around his neck! In verses 8-9, however, the warning is against exclusion from the future Messianic kingdom. (See 7:14; 19:16-17, 29; 25:46 for other examples where ζωή (zoe) refers to life in the kingdom). The present tense of causes, in verse 9, may indicate that the warning is against an ongoing practice or habit of setting up others to fail doctrinally or morally. The application of the principle in Paul's epistles involves presenting the members of one's body as instruments of righteousness to God (Rom 6:3-4; Col 3:5); and limiting the use of one's liberty so as not to lead a fellow believer to defile his conscience (Rom 14:13, 21; 1 Cor 8:9, 13).