Colossians 3:5

Mortify. Literally, “put to death” (see on Romans 8:13; Galatians 5:24).

Therefore. That is, in view of what the apostle has just said (vs. 2-4).

Your members. That is, the organs and faculties of the body, here probably to be understood as those pertaining to the old man, as indicated by the phrase “which are upon the earth.” The old man, with his members employed as instruments of unrighteousness, must die.

Fornication. Gr. pomeia, a general term for illicit sexual relationships of all kinds (cf. Ephesians 5:3).

Uncleanness. Or, “impurity,” “moral defilement.”

Inordinate affection. Gr. pathos, “passion,” “passionate desire,” used in an evil sense in the NT. In Romans 1:26 pathos is used with atimia, “dishonor,” in the expression “vile affections.”

Concupiscence. Gr. epithumia, “desire” (see on Romans 7:7).

Covetousness. Gr. pleonexia. “the desire to have more.” Compare the use of the word in Romans 1:29; 2 Corinthians 9:5; Ephesians 4:19; 5:3; etc. Covetousness is an antisocial vice, a self-assertive longing for or grasping of what is the right or possession of another.

Which is idolatry. The substitution of anything in the heart in the place of God is idolatry (cf. on Galatians 5:20).