Bible Study - Colossians 3
S – Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Colossians 3:12–14 ESV
O – Commentary:
Again Paul called on believers to take a decisive action: Clothe yourselves (endysasthe). Because they have “put on (endysamenoi) the new self” (v. 10), they should live accordingly, with appropriate attributes and attitudes. In verses 8–9 Paul listed six vices (anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, and lying). Now in contrast to them, Christians—as God’s chosen people (cf. Rom. 8:33; Titus 1:1), holy (“separated to God”; cf. Col. 1:2) and dearly loved (cf. Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:9–11, 19)—are to have several virtues. These include compassion (splanchna oiktirmou, lit., “tender sympathy of heartfelt compassion”—an unusually touching expression; in Phil. 2:1 Paul joined these two nouns with “and”), kindness (benevolence in action; cf. 2 Cor. 6:6), humility (a lowly attitude toward God; cf. Phil. 2:3; 1 Peter 5:5), gentleness (prautēta), meekness, a lowly attitude toward others, and patience (makrothymian, self-restraint, a steady response in the face of provocation; cf. Col. 1:11). The last three of these are mentioned in the Greek in the same order in Ephesians 4:2; and Galatians 5:22–23 in the Greek includes three of them: patience and gentleness, as well as kindness.
Norman L. Geisler, “Colossians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 682.
A – Pick one. Compassion. Kindness. Humility. Meekness. Patience. Just one. Now do it really well today. Watch what happens. One intentional act can change the whole trajectory of your day.
Paul isn't handing us a checklist, though. He's describing clothes. You put them on because of who you already are: chosen, holy, and loved. And he tells us what goes on over everything else: love. Love is what holds the whole outfit together.
That changes the question. It's not "How many boxes did I check today?" It's "Did the love God showed me show up in how I treated people?" When it does, these qualities stop being goals. They start flowing out of you naturally, in step with your gifts and your heartbeat.
And if you want to know how you're really doing, look at verse 13. Is there someone you need to bear with today? Someone you need to forgive? You've been forgiven much. So forgive.
R – Heavenly Father, You are love. It still amazes me that as big as You are, You know and love each of us by name. Help us pass that love on today. Let it take whatever shape the people around us need: compassion for one, patience for another, forgiveness for someone who hasn't earned it. Make our lives a living picture of Your love, so others are drawn to You. In Jesus' name, amen.
