Colossians 3:9

Lie not to another (mh pseudesqe ei allhlou). Lying (pseudo) could have been included in the preceding list where it belongs in reality. But it is put more pointedly thus in the prohibition (mh and the present middle imperative). It means either "stop lying" or "do not have the habit of lying." Seeing that ye have put off (apekdusamenoi). First aorist middle participle (causal sense of the circumstantial participle) of the double compound verb apekduomai, for which see 1 Corinthians 2:15 . The apo has the perfective sense (wholly), "having stripped clean off." The same metaphor as apoqesqe in verse 1 Corinthians 8 . The old man (ton palaion anqrwpon). Here Paul brings in another metaphor (mixes his metaphors as he often does), that of the old life of sin regarded as "the ancient man" of sin already crucified ( Romans 6:6 ) and dropped now once and for all as a mode of life (aorist tense). See same figure in Ephesians 4:22 . Palaio is ancient in contrast with neo (young, new) as in Matthew 9:17 or kaino (fresh, unused) as in Matthew 13:52 . With his doings (sun tai praxesin autou). Practice must square with profession.