In the New Testament book of Colossians the author lists a series of
behaviors: "fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil,
covetousness".  The text was written in Greek in about 60AD.  Is the
order of the terms signficant - i.e. are the words rank ordered as
they would be in English?  Or are the terms in reverse order with the
emphasis on the last item in the list?

Dear cerretani-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question. Many people misinterpret this scripture and its important
message and see something that really isn?t there, thus missing the
author?s intent entirely. Let me shed some light on this for you?

In Colossians 3:5 the author says:

?Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and
covetousness, which is idolatry?

He exhorts the Colossians to the mortification of sin. Here he reminds
them that it is their duty to mortify that to which they are naturally
inclined, the worldly (and thus sinful) passions. According to HENRY?S
COMMENTARY the message is, in effect, saying this:

?Mortify them, that is, subdue the vicious habits of mind which
prevailed in your Gentile state. Kill them, suppress them, as you do
weeds or vermin which spread and destroy all about them, or as you
kill an enemy who fights against you and wounds you.?

Henry goes on to specify the very activities to which the author
refers that were being practiced at that time contrary to the law of
God:

?The lusts of the flesh, for which they were before so very
remarkable: Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence - the various workings of the carnal appetites and
fleshly impurities, which they indulged in their former course of
life, and which were so contrary to the Christian state and the
heavenly hope.?

The sequence of ?sins? mentioned in this portion of Colossians has no
particular bearing on them in terms of rank (i.e. bad to worse, for
example). I will explain that in a moment. In fact, it is important to
understand that what the author is saying is actually quite redundant.
Let?s examine the ORIGINAL terms taken from Colossians 3:5 as written
in the ORIGINAL Greek Bible:

?porneia? (translated as fornication) in this context means harlotry
(including adultery and incest); figuratively idolatry

?akatharsia? (translated as uncleanness) in this context means
impurity (the quality), physically or morally

?pathos? (translated as inordinate affection) in this context means
affection or lust.

?kakos? (translated as evil) in this context means depraved,
worthless, bad, wicked.

?epithumia? (translated as evil concupiscence) in this context means a
forbidden longing, desire, or lust.

?pleonexia? (translated as covetousness) in this context means greed,
a lustful avarice.

Cleary then we see that the author is merely restating his message
using a variety of terms and that his general message is righteous
people should curb their own lusts, WHATEVER they may be. It is the
PASSION TO SIN then that he is referring to and exhorting them to
refrain from in this passage and NOT the individual sins themselves,
for they are already understood to be sinful. So, in answer to your
question, the relevence of sins listed in Colossians are in no
particular order as the magnitude of the sins are not the subject of
his sermon at all. The passion, or lust the Colossians had to sin is.


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The clarification that all of the Greek words imply the same condition
was most helpful.

I wouldn't assume that the word order has any particular meaning. This
is a bit like asking whether the Ten Commandments are listed in order
of importance, or (to take a non-Biblical example) which of the Seven
Deadly Sins is the worst.

The user ASKED the question of whether the word order was significant.
Just because YOU wouldn't assume the word order has any particular
meaning doesn't mean another might not wonder. It is a legitimate
question.

I meant no offense in my earlier comment. I certainly did not mean to
imply that there was anything wrong in asking the question. I was
simply expressing my view on this. I am not a trained theologian nor a
serious scholar of New Testament Greek. However, I do have some
academic background in Bible study, and it is my opinion that the
order of the words in this passage does not indicate rank or emphasis.
No criticism of the asker was intended.

No offense was taken.  I heard several people teach this passage and
remark that the last item in a list was perceived as the most
important to the first century audience.  I agree that many lists do
not have implicit hierarchy - and this dialogue confirmed my
suspicion.