PUT OFF ALL THESE

8 BUT NOW YOU YOURSELVES ARE TO PUT OFF ALL THESE: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.
9 DO NOT LIE TO ONE ANOTHER, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
10 AND HAVE PUT ON THE NEW MAN WHO IS RENEWED in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
11 WHERE THERE IS NEITHER GREEK NOR JEW, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, BUT CHRIST IS ALL AND IN ALL."
Colossians 3:8-11 (NKJV)

In one of our other teachings we have talked on what to put on as a believer in Christ Jesus. But in this part of that same Colossians chapter 3, believers are admonished to put off a number of negative traits or attributes that would not help them in their Christian journey (Colossians 3:8).
The things mentioned in the passage that believers should put off are byproducts of the works of the flesh that are listed in Galatians 5:19-21. In that Galatians, It says those who are practicing or doing such things will not inherit God's Kingdom (Galatians 5:21).

The flesh is one of the enemies of believers in Christ. When works of the flesh are being talked about, they are the fruits or products or results of the human nature or adamic nature—the flesh and the unrenewed mind or soul.
Human being is a triune or tripartite being. Human being is a spirit, has a soul and lives in a body.
When someone is reborn or born-again, It was the spirit of the person that became a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), the soul or the mind and the flesh are yet to be reborn, they remained unchanged. Thus, there is a work to be done on them (Romans 12:1,2).

That said, after being reborn, God would want the believer to walk in agreement and cooperation with the Holy Spirit on the inside of the newly recreated human spirit, for the renewing of the mind through the knowledge of the Word of God, the Bible (Romans 12:2). And also makes the flesh submissive by presenting it as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1).

Now, the soul has three functional parts;
the thought or Mind, the Will, and the Emotion.
I. After being born-again, God would want the thought of the believer to be purged or renewed or changed (Romans 12:2).
This is largely done through the reading and studying and pondering on the Word of God, the Bible (Romans 12:2; James 1:22-25).
What you feed your mind with determines your thoughts, and that determines what comes out of your mouth, your speeches, and it is what comes out of a person's mouth that defiles him or her (Matthew 15:18-20).

II. God would also want to have the believer's Will; the place where decision is made. God would want the believer to be broken and be submissive that he or she might not be recalcitrant—rebellious or unruly.
This is the reason why some who have strong Will usually experience God's severe hand of discipline in order to break their Will and make them submissive to God's own Will.
A believer with a strong Will would always experience a severe or tough hand of God, to break his or her strong Will and make them tenderhearted and submissive.
After being born-again, your Will should be submitted to God, being made willing to cooperate with God when He made any demand or call.

III. The emotion which is the third functional part of the soul is also required or expected to be made submissive or be taken over by God through the Holy Spirit on the inside of the believer.
God would no longer want you to express your emotion, love or whatever, through your human nature.
Your emotion would now be controlled by the Holy Spirit. You would not love or like other people, or express your emotions, carnally again.
In other words, your emotional expression would no longer be through your old human nature but through the Holy Spirit on the inside of your newly recreated human spirit.
When your emotion is taken over by God, you will no longer be sentimental in your relationship with people again. You would discover that you can only express your emotion as God did permit or enable you.
You would not just love or like someone sentimentally, because the person is from your tribe, race or whatever. If you love someone, it would be with the love of Christ, the love of God—no sentiment and partiality about it.

If that is successfully done, It means your emotional life has been taken over by God; you would not be able to harbour any grudge or resentment or hatred, anger, wrath, and malice in your mind, and also would not be able to blaspheme or badmouth others, and of course filthy language would no longer find a place in your mouth.
Your emotion would have been taken over by God that you would find it difficult to be angry easily with people, and you would not be able to keep malice or allow wrath and would not easily blaspheme other people or think and say filthy things about them.
Your language would be polished and refined and be in line with God's Word because your thoughts are purged or renewed or transformed.

Through the illustration here, one could see that putting off of the negative character traits is a process of work that requires a measure of self discipline and a strong cooperation of the believer with the Holy Spirit.
The putting off of the negative traits or attributes is a process that also takes time.
The intentionality and the decisiveness of the believer would determine how fast or soon that such a believer is able to subdue—put in check or under control—the human or adamic nature.

Even after a milestone has been reached on it, that is, a significant point of the development has being reached, the work or process should still be ongoing.
As long as you are still living on the earth and still living in the flesh, you have to keep subduing the flesh and renewing the mind (Romans 12:1,2).
You should on no account allow your emotion to go wild or let loose that you begin to merry or sorrow like the unbelievers (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
Whether at the joyous occasion or mournful period, you should never go wild, nor let your emotion loose and do things like that of the unbelievers—either in rejoicing or sorrowing.

In all, believers are to put off all the negative traits or attributes that are listed in the passage, Colossians 3:8: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of their mouths.
Peace!