Colossians 3:12–17
A Christ-centered community is marked by compassion, forgiveness, Word-saturation, peace, and gratitude.
12 Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
14 Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.
A Christ-centered community is marked by compassion, forgiveness, Word-saturation, peace, and gratitude.
To instruct believers, as God’s chosen and beloved people, to clothe themselves with Christlike virtues and live under the governing peace and Word of Christ in grateful obedience.
Colossians 3:12-17 follows the command to put to death earthly sin and put off old-self practices in Colossians 3:5-11. Paul now gives the positive clothing of the new self. The passage explains what the renewed community looks like when Christ is all and in all: Christlike virtue, forgiveness, love, peace, thankfulness, word-shaped worship, mutual teaching, and comprehensive life under the name of Jesus.
Raised with Christ: Putting Off the Old Life and Putting On the New
Because believers have been raised with Christ and their life is hidden with him, they must put off the old life, put on the new, and bring every relationship and action under the lordship of Christ.