Putting to Death What Is Earthly: The Colossians 3 Blueprint

Short summary:

This post uses Colossians 3 to show that Christians must not merely manage sin but “put to death” earthly patterns like sexual immorality, greed, anger, and slander. It lays out a tactical approach—identifying sin, cutting its “supply lines,” and replacing it with new habits and virtues in community.

Key takeaways:

Scripture calls you to kill sin, not cohabitate with it; tolerating “small” sins keeps you spiritually stuck.
Sin lives off “supply lines” (triggers, access, secrecy, rationalizations); cutting these is a key strategy for mortification.
You don’t put sin to death by willpower alone but by setting your mind on things above and acting in dependence on Christ.
Practical steps include clear confession, removing access points (devices, locations, relationships), and building accountability.
The blueprint replaces old patterns (lust, greed, anger) with Christlike habits (purity, generosity, patience, forgiveness) through deliberate practice.

There’s a warfare term that the apostle Paul uses that makes most modern Christians deeply uncomfortable: mortification.

When Paul writes to the Colossians, he doesn’t use soft language. He doesn’t say, “Try to do better at managing your sinful desires.” He doesn’t say, “Work on gradually reducing your engagement with fleshly lusts.” He says: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5, ESV).

Put to death. Not manage. Not minimize. Not moderate. Kill it.

This is the biblical call to mortification—to actively, aggressively, relentlessly eliminate the supply lines that feed your sin. And in our age of constant stimulation, endless access, and normalized compromise, this command is more critical than it has ever been.

Because here’s the truth: you cannot simultaneously be feeding your sin and starving it. You cannot have one foot in the kingdom of God and one foot in the kingdom of darkness. You cannot be half-committed to holiness. The old nature wants what it wants, and if you provide it with oxygen, it will keep breathing. If you keep the door cracked open, it will keep pushing through.

Paul understood this. And he’s giving us a blueprint for how to actually, practically, specifically put sin to death.

Understanding What “Put to Death” Actually Means

First, let’s understand what Paul means when he uses the Greek word “nekroō”—to put to death.

It doesn’t mean to completely eliminate the desire. It doesn’t mean that temptation will never arise again. The Puritan theologian John Owen understood this deeply, and he wrote something that has become a rallying cry for Christians committed to holiness: “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

Notice the word “killing”—not “killed” (past tense), but “killing” (ongoing process). Owen is describing mortification not as a one-time event where you eradicate sin completely, but as a daily, relentless practice of weakening sin’s power over you. The Greek term literally means to render something as dead, inoperative, lifeless. It means to deprive something of its power, to drain the energy from it, to make it unable to function according to its nature.

In other words, mortification is the spiritual equivalent of what happens when you starve a fire of oxygen. The fire doesn’t instantly vanish—but without fuel, without air, its power is broken. Its intensity diminishes. Its ability to spread is curtailed. Over time, if you keep cutting off its supply lines, the fire dies out entirely.

This is exactly what Paul is calling for. He’s not promising sinless perfection. He’s calling for a daily refusal to grant sin oxygen. He’s calling for you to actively, deliberately, strategically cut off the supply lines that pump temptation into your life. He’s calling for you to be ruthless in your pursuit of holiness.

Because sin is ruthless. Temptation is relentless. The forces arrayed against your purity are organized and strategic. They know exactly where your weak points are. They know exactly what will draw you in. They know exactly how to make sin look attractive. And if you’re passive about your holiness, you will lose.

The Three Categories of Sin in Colossians 3

Paul lists specific sins in Colossians 3:5-9, and he organizes them into categories. Understanding these categories helps you see where you might be vulnerable.

The Lust of the Flesh: Sexual Immorality, Impurity, Passion, and Evil Desire (3:5a)

Paul begins with sexual sin—sexual immorality, impurity, passion, and evil desire. Notice that he doesn’t just list one sexual sin. He lists several, each one capturing a different aspect of sexual brokenness.

Sexual immorality is any sexual activity outside of the marriage covenant. Impurity includes not just the act but the unclean thoughts and attitudes that accompany sexual temptation. Passion refers to the intense, uncontrolled craving for sexual gratification. Evil desire is the fundamental orientation of the heart toward sexual indulgence.

Why does Paul start here? Because sexual sin is unique in its power over men. It’s the sin that most easily enslaves. It’s the sin that most easily creates a secret life—a compartmentalized existence where nobody knows the real you. It’s the sin that erodes your marriage, damages your sense of integrity, and disconnects you from God.

And here’s what’s critical to understand: in our age, the supply lines feeding sexual sin have never been more accessible. A man can access virtually any sexual content in seconds. He can do it in complete privacy, on a device he carries in his pocket at all times. The enemy has never had better infrastructure for delivering temptation into your life.

This is why Paul’s call to mortification is so urgent. You must cut the supply lines. If you want to overcome sexual sin, you cannot have unlimited access to your phone. You cannot browse the internet without filters. You cannot spend time alone with devices in private rooms. You cannot justify “just looking” at something provocative. You have to be ruthless.

The Lust of the Eyes: Covetousness and Idolatry (3:5b)

Paul then addresses covetousness—the constant wanting, comparing, and coveting of what others have. And notice something crucial: he identifies covetousness as idolatry.

This is shocking. We often think of idolatry as bowing down to carved images or worshiping false gods. But Paul says that covetousness—the endless appetite for more, the constant looking at what others have and wishing it was yours, the perpetual sense of dissatisfaction with what God has given you—that is idolatry.

Why? Because covetousness is the worship of stuff. It’s elevating material possessions to the level of ultimate significance. It’s treating acquisition as if it were the path to happiness, security, and meaning. It’s making a god out of money, possessions, status, and comfort.

In our age, covetousness has been industrialized. The entire advertising industry exists to cultivate dissatisfaction in you. Companies spend billions of dollars figuring out how to make you feel like you’re not enough—unless you have their product. They show you carefully curated images of lifestyles you don’t have, possessions you don’t own, experiences you haven’t had—all designed to generate in you a sense of lack, inadequacy, and craving.

And the supply lines for this sin are everywhere. Every time you scroll social media, you’re exposed to carefully curated highlights of other people’s lives—their vacations, their homes, their possessions, their accomplishments. Every time you see an advertisement, you’re being told that you need something you didn’t know existed an hour ago. Every shopping app, every product review, every influencer post is designed to generate in you the desire for more.

To mortify covetousness, you must cut these supply lines. You must limit your exposure to material that cultivates desire for things you don’t have. You must be intentional about what you consume and who you follow. You must actively cultivate gratitude for what you have instead of focusing on what you lack.

The Pride of Life: Anger, Wrath, Malice, Slander, and Obscene Talk (3:8-9a)

Finally, Paul addresses a third category of sin: the pride that manifests in anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk. These are the sins of the tongue and the emotions that fuel them.

Notice that Paul doesn’t just address the words that come out of your mouth. He addresses the underlying emotions—anger and wrath—that generate those words. Because slander, obscene talk, and filthy language are symptoms of a heart that’s been corrupted by pride and rage.

A man consumed by anger is a man who believes he’s been wronged. A man full of wrath believes someone deserves his fury. A man prone to malice believes he has the right to harbor bitterness. A man who slanders is a man who thinks he has the right to tear down another person’s reputation. A man whose speech is obscene is a man who lacks reverence.

All of these sins are rooted in pride—the belief that you are the center of the universe, that your feelings matter more than others’ well-being, that your judgments are righteous, that your anger is justified.

To mortify these sins, you must address the pride underneath them. You must recognize that anger is often rooted in a desire to control. Wrath is often rooted in a belief that you’ve been treated unfairly. Malice is rooted in unforgiveness and bitterness. Slander is rooted in the desire to elevate yourself by diminishing others. Obscene talk is rooted in a lack of reverence and self-control.

The Blueprint: How to Cut Off Supply Lines

Now we get to the practical part. Now we move from diagnosis to treatment. Now Paul shows us how to actually, specifically, strategically mortify sin.

The key insight comes from N.T. Wright, a contemporary biblical scholar who has studied this passage carefully. He writes: “To put something to death you must cut off its lines of supply: it is futile and self-deceiving to bemoan one’s inability to resist the last stages of a temptation when earlier stages have gone by unnoticed, or even eagerly welcomed.”

This is the breakthrough. You don’t conquer sin primarily through white-knuckling resistance in the moment of temptation. You conquer sin by identifying the supply lines that feed it and cutting them off without pity.

Let me give you specific examples of what this looks like for each category of sin:

Cutting Supply Lines for Sexual Sin

If you struggle with pornography or other sexual temptation, cutting the supply line means:

Delete the apps. Remove social media apps that expose you to provocative content. Delete browsers that make it easy to access pornography. Get rid of apps that encourage comparing yourself to others based on physical appearance.
Install filters and accountability software. Use tools like Covenant Eyes or Canopy that filter adult content and notify an accountability partner of suspicious activity. This isn’t about distrust—it’s about recognizing your weak points and building a hedge around them.
Change your phone settings. Restrict your phone’s capabilities. Disable Safari or Chrome. Use a “dumb phone” if necessary—a phone that only makes calls and sends texts. Some men have found that eliminating the smartphone entirely is the price of freedom.
Avoid private access. Don’t browse the internet in private rooms. Don’t have your phone in the bathroom. Don’t scroll in bed before sleep. Create accountability in your physical environment.
Cut off the fantasy. If there are specific places, TV shows, or music that trigger sexual thoughts, eliminate them. This might mean canceling a streaming service. This might mean changing the radio station. This might mean avoiding certain sections of town. Whatever it takes.
Break eye contact. When you see something provocative—in person or online—deliberately look away. Practice this discipline. Retrain your eyes to not linger.

Cutting Supply Lines for Covetousness

If you struggle with dissatisfaction and the constant desire for more, cutting the supply line means:

Limit social media. Significantly reduce or eliminate your exposure to the carefully curated highlight reels of other people’s lives. Unfollow people who trigger comparison in you. Mute accounts that make you feel inadequate.
Reduce exposure to advertising. Use ad blockers. Skip sponsored content. Mute or fast-forward through commercials. Stop reading product reviews of things you don’t need. Unsubscribe from sales emails and promotional lists.
Establish a “no spend” period. Commit to not purchasing anything non-essential for 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days. This breaks the cycle of constant consumption. It allows you to experience contentment with what you have.
Practice gratitude. Each morning or evening, write down three things you’re genuinely grateful for. This rewires your brain to focus on what you have rather than what you lack. It reminds you of God’s provision.
Unsubscribe from desire. Get off shopping apps. Delete Amazon. Close credit cards if you can’t control their use. Make purchasing difficult rather than easy.

Cutting Supply Lines for Pride and Anger

If you struggle with anger, wrath, malice, or a critical tongue, cutting the supply line means:

Limit consuming outrage media. Some TV news, some podcasts, some social media accounts are specifically designed to generate anger and outrage in you. They succeed. Stop consuming them. This is not burying your head in the sand—it’s refusing to fuel the fire of anger in your heart.
Monitor your speech. Become acutely aware of when you’re about to say something malicious, critical, slanderous, or obscene. Practice pause. Count to five before you speak. Ask yourself: “Is this kind? Is this true? Is this necessary?” If it fails any of those tests, don’t say it.
Limit interactions that trigger you. If certain people consistently trigger anger in you, limit your exposure to them or limit the depth of interaction. This isn’t being unforgiving—it’s being wise. “Leave the presence of a fool, for there you will not find knowledge” (Proverbs 14:7, ESV).
Create accountability for your words. Tell someone who loves you that you’re working on controlling your tongue, and give them permission to gently call you out when they hear you speaking harshly.
Practice forgiveness. Many times, anger is rooted in unforgiveness. Deliberately work through the process of forgiving the person who wronged you. Write out what they did, write out how you forgive them, and even consider burning the paper as a symbolic act of releasing bitterness.

The Reality: Putting Off and Putting On

But here’s something critical that Paul adds to this teaching. It’s not enough to just put off sin. You also have to put on righteousness.

Paul writes: “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:9-10, ESV).

This is crucial. If you just eliminate sin without replacing it with something better, you’ve created a vacuum. Your mind will fill that vacuum with something—and if you don’t deliberately fill it with God’s truth, it will fill it with the world’s lies again.

So as you cut the supply lines to sexual temptation, begin to feed your mind with purity. Instead of the degrading images, fill your mind with the beauty of God’s design for sexuality. Instead of lustful thoughts, meditate on Scripture passages about God’s design for covenant marriage. Instead of pornographic videos, spend time in prayer and in God’s Word.

As you cut the supply lines to covetousness, begin to feed your mind with gratitude and contentment. Instead of social media comparisons, study Scripture passages about generosity and sufficiency in Christ. Instead of comparing yourself to others, deliberately pour your resources into serving others and building God’s kingdom.

As you cut the supply lines to anger, begin to feed your mind with peace and forgiveness. Instead of outrage media, listen to worship music and sermons that point you to Christ. Instead of thinking about how you’ve been wronged, meditate on how much you’ve been forgiven.

This is the biblical pattern: put off, put on. Die to the old self, put on the new self. Eliminate the lies, replace them with the truth.

Three Essential Practices: Confession, Accountability, and Scripture Memorization

If you’re serious about mortifying sin—if you’re serious about putting it to death—there are three non-negotiable practices that Paul and the other apostles repeatedly emphasize.

Practice #1: Confession

James writes: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16, ESV).

Confession sounds simple, but it’s one of the most powerful tools for overcoming sin. Here’s why: sin thrives in darkness. Sin loves secrecy. Sin grows stronger the more you hide it. But the moment you confess it—the moment you speak it out loud to another person—something shifts.

The shame loses power. The isolation breaks. You realize you’re not alone in your struggle. And you become accountable not just to God, but to another human being who knows the truth about you.

When you confess, you must be specific. Don’t say, “I struggle with temptation.” Say, “I looked at pornography three times this week.” Don’t say, “I struggle with my temper.” Say, “I yelled at my wife in anger and said things I didn’t mean.” Name it specifically. Own it fully. Speak it aloud.

Confession is not a one-time act. It’s an ongoing practice. Every time you fall into the sin you’re trying to mortify, you confess it. You don’t hide it. You don’t minimize it. You admit it to God and to the person you’ve asked to walk with you in this.

Practice #2: Accountability

Once you’ve confessed to someone, give them permission to ask you hard questions. An accountability partner is not someone who judges you or condemns you. An accountability partner is someone who loves you enough to help you stay on the path, someone who will ask you the questions you need to be asked, someone who will celebrate your victories and help you back up when you fall.

Practically, this might look like:

A weekly text or phone call where you answer these questions: “How are you doing with your purity this week?” “Have you used the tools we discussed?” “Are you staying connected to Scripture?” “Have you maintained honesty in our conversations?”
Permission for your accountability partner to check your phone periodically—not as a violation of privacy, but as a commitment to transparency.
A clear plan for what will happen if you fall. Will you confess immediately? Will you tell your wife? Will you seek professional help? Having a plan ahead of time means you’re not making decisions in a moment of weakness.
Regular prayer together. Your accountability partner should be praying for you, and you should be praying for them. This is not just a transactional relationship—it’s a spiritual partnership.

Practice #3: Scripture Memorization

Finally, fill your mind with God’s truth. This is the offensive strategy—not just cutting off sin, but actively replacing it with righteousness.

Jesus modeled this for us. When He faced temptation in the wilderness, He didn’t say, “No, I won’t do that.” He responded to each temptation with Scripture. “It is written…” (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10, ESV). He had Scripture memorized and available in the moment of temptation.

You need to do the same. Identify the specific sin you’re struggling with and find Scriptures that directly address it. Memorize those passages. Write them down. Put them in your phone. Pray them. Meditate on them throughout the day.

For sexual sin: Memorize 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20, Colossians 3:5.

For covetousness: Memorize Philippians 4:11-13, 1 Timothy 6:6-10, Hebrews 13:5.

For anger and pride: Memorize Proverbs 29:11, James 1:19-20, Ephesians 4:26, Philippians 4:4-9.

The goal is not just to have these verses in your head, but to have them deeply rooted in your heart so that when temptation comes, the truth is immediately available to you.

The Reality of the Struggle: It’s Not Easy, But It’s Possible

Let me be honest: putting sin to death is hard. It’s not a one-time decision and then you’re done. It’s a daily practice. Some days you’ll win. Some days you’ll struggle. Some days you’ll fail and have to start over.

And that’s okay. The goal isn’t perfection. The goal is progress. The goal is that over time, week by week, month by month, year by year, you’re making progress toward freedom. The sin that used to control you has less power. The temptation that used to overwhelm you becomes more manageable. The lies that used to deceive you become easier to see through.

But here’s the promise Paul gives: “If you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live” (Romans 8:13, ESV, paraphrased). It’s not a promise of instant freedom. It’s a promise that as you actively, aggressively mortify sin through the power of the Holy Spirit, you will experience the freedom and life that comes from obedience to God.

This is what it means to have your mind renewed. This is what it means to be transformed. This is what it means to put off the old self and put on the new self.

Your Challenge: Create Your Mortification Plan

The retreat is over. The challenge has been issued. Now it’s time for action.

I want you to identify one sin—one “earthly” pattern—that you’re going to put to death. It might be sexual sin. It might be covetousness. It might be anger or pride. Pick one. Be specific.

Then, create a plan for cutting off its supply lines:

Step 1: Identify the supply lines. Where does this sin come from in your life? What feeds it? What triggers it? Be honest about this.

Step 2: Cut the supply lines. What specific actions will you take to eliminate access to this temptation? What apps will you delete? What websites will you block? What relationships will you change? What environments will you avoid? What habits will you break?

Step 3: Find an accountability partner. Who will you trust with this struggle? Who will ask you hard questions? Who will walk with you in this process? Reach out to them this week.

Step 4: Memorize Scripture. Find passages that speak to your specific struggle. Memorize at least one. Write it down. Put it where you’ll see it.

Step 5: Confess. Tell your accountability partner what you’re struggling with. Be specific. Be honest. And then commit to being accountable going forward.

This is the blueprint. This is how you put sin to death. This is how you experience the freedom and life that comes from obedience to God.

Because here’s the truth: you can’t stay the same. You can’t maintain the status quo. You’re either moving toward holiness or away from it. You’re either mortifying sin or feeding it. You’re either being transformed or conformed.

The time to choose is now.