Lie not one to another, having stripped off the old man with his deeds (Ephesians 4:14, Ephesians 4:15; 20-25; 1 Timothy 1:6; Revelation 21:8; Colossians 2:11; Romans 6:6; Romans 8:12, Romans 8:13; Galatians 5:16, Galatians 5:24).
The imperatives of Colossians 3:5 and Colossians 3:8 were aorists, enjoining a single, decisive act; this is present, as in Colossians 3:1, Colossians 3:2, Colossians 3:15, Colossians 3:18, etc., giving a rule of life.
Only in Colossians and Ephesians do we find the apostle give a general warning against lying. What reason there was for this we cannot tell; unless it lay in the deceit of the heretical teachers (Colossians 2:8: comp.
Ephesians 4:14, Ephesians 4:15; Acts 20:30; 2 Corinthians 11:13; 1 Timothy 4:2; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1; Revelation 2:2; Revelation 3:9). The lying in question is uttered within the Church ("to one another"), and is fatal to its unity (verse 11; Ephesians 4:25; Acts 20:28-30).
The following aorist participles, "having stripped off" and "having put on" (verse 10), may, grammatically, be part of the command—"strip off," etc., and "lie not"—as e.g. in 1 Thessalonians 5:8; Hebrews 12:1; or may state the fact on which that command is based.
The latter view is preferable (Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, English Version; but see Lightfoot); for the participles describe a change already realized—a change of principle, which has, however, still to be more fully carried out in practice (Colossians 2:11-13, Colossians 2:20; Colossians 3:1, Colossians 3:3,Colossians 3:7,Colossians 3:11; Ephesians 4:20-24; Galatians 3:27, Galatians 3:28): in Hebrews 12:12 the imperative mood is resumed with an emphatic "therefore," implying a previous reference to fact.
(On the double compound ἀπ εκ δυσάμενοι, "having stripped off (and put) away," see notes, Colossians 2:11, Colossians 2:15.) The "Old man"; is the former self, the "I no longer living" (Galatians 2:20) of the Colossian believer, to whom "the members that are upon the earth" (Colossians 2:5) belonged—the entire sinful personality of "him who is in the flesh" (Romans 8:8).
His "deeds" ("practices," "habits of doing," Romans 8:13; see Trench's 'Synonyms' on πράσσω) are the pursuits of which Colossians 2:5, Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:9 supply examples.