Bible Strands
Colossians 3:9
Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Colossian believers, extending his immediate command from verse 8 regarding the abandonment of destructive speech and attitudes. He frames this instruction as a direct consequence of their past spiritual transition rather than a new moral requirement.
The words — The Greek term ψευδεσθε (pseudesthe) commands the cessation of lying, while ἀπεκδυσάμενοι (apekdusamenoi) literally means having stripped off or put off the old man. These participles and imperatives bind the prohibition against falsehood directly to their completed act of discarding their former nature.
The thread — The command to reject falsehood mirrors the ethical instruction in Ephesians 4:25, which pairs putting off falsehood with speaking truth to one another. The language of discarding the old self echoes Paul’s parallel exhortation in Ephesians 4:22 and the broader Mosaic prohibition against deception in Leviticus 19:11.
Why it lands — The verse demands immediate honesty within the community as the natural outworking of having abandoned the old self. It requires readers to treat truthfulness not as optional virtue but as the baseline reality of their renewed identity.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Cross-references
- Ephesians 4:22 to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
- Ephesians 4:25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.
- Leviticus 19:11 You must not steal. You must not lie or deceive one another.
- Romans 6:6 We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
- John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
- Revelation 22:15 But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Zephaniah 3:13 The remnant of Israel will no longer do wrong or speak lies, nor will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths. But they will feed and lie down, with no one to make them tremble.”
- Revelation 21:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
- Jeremiah 9:3 “They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
- 1 Timothy 1:10 for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave traders and liars and perjurers, and for anyone else who is averse to sound teaching