Put on therefore, as [the] elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering;
The verse turns from what the believer strips off to what he puts on: five qualities to wear like clothing. But it opens with three names — chosen, holy, beloved — so do these clothes earn those names, or grow out of them?
The word "therefore" ties the instruction to everything said before it. Commentators are clear that the order runs one way only.
Our walk and practice could never secure this place of privilege before God. Our standing in blessing is wholly the result of the grace of God that has reached us through Christ. The walk cannot secure that position of privilege. But the position is meant to govern the walk.
The same point is put in terms of the gospel: these qualities are the crop, not the seed.
The Gospel does not expect to find ready-made saints: it makes them. It is preached to sinners, not to saints, and the first thing is to receive it as a sinner... All such things are fruits of the Gospel. So the Gospel must be received first, and the fruits follow.
Each of the three words says something different.
As "the elect", God chose us "before the foundation of the world" for heavenly blessing, according to His purpose. As "holy", He sets us apart for Himself, out of this present world. As "beloved", He cares for us every step of our journey through it.
These titles were not invented for us. Writers point out that Scripture uses them of the Lord Jesus.
In Colossians 3:12 the apostle uses of Christians the same terms as are used elsewhere of Christ... Compare Isaiah 42:1, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights." ... Matthew 3:17 says, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." God in His grace speaks of us as He speaks of His own Son. So let us "walk in the same way in which he walked" (1 John 2:6). Those who are beautiful before God should also be beautiful before men. Our practical state should correspond to our standing.
The word "beloved" is not decoration. It is the engine of the whole list.
If a person loves me, that draws out love in return. So knowing God's love and God's delight creates bonds of affection that do not exist without it. Being accepted does not only mean my sins are gone, so that I could stand before Him. I am the object of His delight... So the Christian should walk through the world knowing he is loved by God. With that, we do not want the world. Without it, we have to turn to something that puts self at the centre.
The list is not five words for one idea. Each has a distinct field of action.
Mercy is grace to those who depend on us in some way, and who are in special need. Kindness does not always mean meeting a real need... It serves the happiness and comfort of others who may have no special need. Lowliness looks at self; meekness looks at others. Lowliness thinks low thoughts, or no thoughts, of self; meekness gives way to others.
Every one of them was already on display in the life of Jesus.
We see tender mercy in Him when He was "moved with compassion" (Matt. 9:36). We see kindness in His gentle dealings with Judas, right to the end... Meekness (not standing up for His rights) shows all through His life. It showed even when Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) hated Him, persecuted Him, and were determined to crucify Him. He opened not His mouth (Isa. 53:7). Patience (bearing up under constant suffering) marked His entire life.
"Put on" is a clothing word, and clothing has two sides.
These graces have to be put on. They are meant to be seen on the outside, but they come from the life within... The fragrant oil of the sanctuary was poured on the head of Aaron, the high priest, and it ran all the way down to the hem of his robes. Christ is the Head of the body. All that delights God rests on Him in perfection. But the whole body must carry the grace of the Head.
That display is not for special settings only.
It is the Christian's privilege to show the character of Christ in a world where people are not like Christ at all. And to do so not only in one circle, or on one special occasion, but in every circle the Christian is called to move in.
- Chosen first. Nothing you wear buys the name you are given. Grace gives the standing. The standing then governs the walk.
- Christ's own names. Elect, holy, beloved belong first to the Son. God speaks them over believers in grace, so the walk should match the words.
- Loved into loving. Knowing you are God's delight draws out love that grows no other way. It also cures the pull of the world.
- Clothed deliberately. Compassion meets need. Kindness adds comfort. Humility forgets self, meekness yields, patience endures. Five garments, all worn perfectly by Jesus.
- Seen everywhere. The graces show on the outside. The life within feeds them. They are worn in every circle the Christian enters, not just the religious one.
forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any should have a complaint against any; even as the Christ has forgiven you, so also [do] *ye*.
Paul has just told the Colossians to put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. This verse turns those qualities toward the people who irritate and wound us, and it sets one standard for both bearing and forgiving: the Lord's own forgiveness of us.
The verse names two things, not one. Commentators tell them apart by what provokes each.
Long-suffering has more to do with trying circumstances. Bearing with one another has to do with trying people. We rightly speak of a person showing great forbearance when provoked. This provocation may be general — something that calls for the forbearance of all. There may also be personal wrongs, which would give the one wronged just cause for complaint. Such personal wrongs call for forgiveness. The measure of the forgiveness is to be even as Christ forgave us.
The phrase points both ways, and that changes who we picture in the sentence.
To bear with the other does not only mean carrying the burdens of others. It also means bearing with their weaknesses. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus did with His disciples. They had a lot of flaws, but He was ready to bear with them. It may even be that we must bear with the brother himself if he has become a burden to others. And we should not forget that Paul says: "bearing with one another." This is not a one-way street. Today, I may be the one who must do this; tomorrow, others may have to bear with me.
The clause "as the Lord has forgiven you" is not decoration. It supplies the pattern, and that pattern has a clear shape.
This may be the most difficult of these instructions. It assumes that my brother (or my sister) has sinned against me. How did our Lord react when they nailed Him to that shameful and cruel cross? He prayed for His enemies: "Father, forgive them" (Luke 23:34). He sets the example. So our standard is: "as Christ has forgiven us"! And how has He forgiven us? First, He did it completely. Second, He did it at once. Third, He did it willingly — from the depths of His heart… To forgive means to grant the grace to take something away. So the one who forgives shows grace, and the one forgiven receives it.
The wording "if one has a complaint against another" is also read broadly, beyond one person and one grudge.
There is to be forgiveness should there be occasion to blame another. The wording "any … against any" perhaps covers not only individual complaints but difficulties that may arise between families and so on.
The command looks impossible until we remember our own debt.
I do not say this lightly. When believers live and walk together there are sometimes difficulties. Something a brother or a sister does may hurt us deeply, and we say, "I cannot forgive this." On our own we cannot forgive. But we can when we realise how much God has forgiven us in Christ… Does this not sometimes happen among believers? We have been forgiven such a great debt in Christ, and yet we are sometimes unable to forgive our brother or sister.
One writer separates the forgiveness we carry inside from the moment we say it out loud.
We must always keep a spirit of forgiveness. Whenever we have a complaint against anyone, we must hold him in our hearts as already forgiven. And we learn when to speak that forgiveness out loud: when the person we blame confesses the sin.
One writer starts from how far His forgiveness reaches, then names what refusing to forgive costs.
Think of the measure of His forgiveness. He has not only pardoned all our sin and hostility against Himself. He has made us members of His body… He can have nothing against us for ever, since we are members of His body. How could the head of a body keep up a quarrel with any member of it, or hold hard feelings against it?… But we are also members of one another. To be unforgiving, impatient and hard toward one another denies in practice the whole truth of the body of Christ. To be unforgiving upsets everything. It blocks all joy and progress, grieves the Holy Spirit, dishonours the Lord and delights the devil.
One more quality is added to the list, and it is the spring of everything else.
We are to add love to the mercy, the kindness, and all the other qualities. All these blessed activities of the new man are to spring from love. If we show mercy, or kindness, or forbearance, or forgiveness, it should be because we love our brother.
- Forgiven first — we cannot forgive on our own. The power comes from seeing how great a debt God has already cancelled for us in Christ.
- Two garments — bearing with one another covers trying people and their weaknesses. Forgiving covers personal wrongs.
- Christ's measure — He forgave completely, at once, and willingly. Nothing lower is the pattern for us.
- Heart ready — hold the offender as forgiven in your heart at once. Say the words when the wrong is confessed.
- Love binds — mercy, kindness, patience and forgiveness are only real when they spring from love.
And to all these [add] love, which is the bond of perfectness.
The verse closes a list of what the new life puts on — mercy, kindness, forbearance, forgiveness — and then names one thing to go over all of them. Commentators ask why love ranks highest, and what it means to call it a bond that ties everything together in perfection; older translations end the verse with "the bond of perfectness," which is the wording the writers below use.
Love is not one more item alongside the others; it is what makes the rest hold.
To the Colossians he says, "Above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness." It completes all the rest. Without it there is a gap that no mix of the other qualities can fill.
Commentators differ on how to read "above all these." Some take love as standing over the list. Others take it as added into the list, so that every item springs from love.
It is not, as some translations put it, "Above all these things put on love", as if love were a separate quality standing above all the others. Add love to the mercy, the kindness, and all the other qualities. All these blessed activities of the new man are to spring from love. If we show mercy, or kindness, or forbearance, or forgiveness, it should be because we love our brother.
Love outranks the rest because it is God's own nature in action, not just a good attitude toward people.
There is more in love than simple kindness and forgiveness; it goes beyond these. Love always brings in God, being the activity of His nature. In His nature He is light, but the energy of that nature is love going out in goodness to others.
This love comes from God. So it is not the same as a naturally gentle nature, which can fail at the very point where holiness is needed.
But all this is not natural gentleness. He says, "Above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness." This is the real love of God. It perfects a thing and makes it divine. It is not the mild nature we see so often, with no power to resist and no firmness of character — the kind of person who cannot say "no." Many people find it torture to say "no," even when staying silent would grieve the Spirit. That is human kindness, not divine love. This bond of perfectness is a holy thing.
Warm feeling among Christians is not the same as this love. Affection that goes no further than fellow believers lets them set the standard for how you act.
It is quite true that love between believers is a sweet and precious fruit of grace. It is precious in the heart that is full of it, and precious as it grows between them. But it is not the love this verse means. When love between believers becomes an end in itself, other believers become the motive and the rule of our conduct. Then our conduct is as uncertain as the state of the believers we happen to meet. So the apostle says, "Above all these put on love, which is the bond of perfectness."
A bond works in two directions at once. It ties the qualities together, and it ties together the people who show them.
It is called the 'bond of perfectness' because it binds in two ways. First, it binds these different qualities together by keeping their divine character. They belong to the moral nature of God, which every believer shares. They must never turn into, or be mistaken for, a naturally pleasant manner. Second, when the life and character of Christ show in these qualities, believers are held together in practice, and the local church keeps its unity and its witness.
Practically, the command does not depend on finding your brother or sister lovable.
I will always find something in my brother and my sister which does not invite me to show love. But there is no need to wait for an invitation. Because the love of God has been poured out in my heart, I can love the other without finding a reason in him or her to do so. Love is the bond of perfectness. Love is not everything, but without love everything is nothing.
Where this love is present, imperfections elsewhere lose their power to damage.
Be united, closely united, united in that charity which is the bond of perfectness. No blessing without that; nothing will be lacking where love abounds… But if there are imperfections it is love and union which will prevent their bad effects.
- Source — love is the activity of God's own nature, so putting it on brings God into every dealing with others.
- Standard — a mild nature that cannot say "no" is not this love. This bond is a holy thing, and that is how you tell it from mere niceness.
- Scope — affection that reaches only fellow believers makes them the measure of your conduct. This love keeps God as the measure.
- Strength — the bond holds twice over: it keeps the other graces divine in character, and it holds believers together in practice.
- Sum — you can have every other quality and still be missing the one thing only love supplies.