Jesus Is Sufficient for Our Holy Christan Lives
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
A Christian’s life ought to break with the old vices and be filled with Christian virtues. In the previous paragraph the apostle described the negative action, the putting off of the sinful, corrupt nature that Christians strive for daily. In this paragraph he presents the positive. He shows what virtues ought to result in Christians’ lives from putting on the new nature that is daily renewed in the image of God, and he urges Christians to live and grow in these virtues. These virtues are to become permanent, distinguishing marks of each Christian’s life.
For beauty of style and direct appeal to the heart, this little section is unsurpassed. It is likewise unsurpassed in practical value. The author of this book has found this section to be a particularly rich source of material for wedding addresses. With wonderful clarity the apostle here sets forth the general, positive principles that ought to govern Christians’ lives in general and our conduct in Christian marriage in particular.
By God’s grace Christians have been made a special people, a people who belong to God and are united in fellowship with Christ. As a result, they now seek to lead lives that conform to the fellowship they have with their Savior, to express in their lives and actions the truth that they belong to Christ. In verse 12 Paul addresses believers with words that remind them of what God has made of them. These titles are applied here to the Colossian believers, but they describe all believers.
Believers, Paul says, are God’s chosen people. From all eternity, God, out of pure grace, chose out of the mass of sinful humanity those whom he would call to be his children. He carries out that eternal, gracious decree in time by bringing individual sinners to faith in Christ through the gospel. This gracious choice did not rest on any merit or worthiness of any individuals, nor was it a matter of some sinners being more inclined to believe than others. Since Adam’s fall, all human beings by nature are equally sinful and spiritually dead. They are equally unable to save themselves or to respond to the call of the gospel.
In his undeserved and unfathomable love, God brings it to be that some sinners believe the gospel and are saved. The fact that the Colossians believed in Jesus showed that they were chosen ones of God. The fact that we believe in Jesus provides us with the same comfort, and as we use God’s gospel and sacraments to strengthen and nourish our faith, we “make [our] calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10).
The fact that God has chosen believers to be his saved people makes them also “holy and dearly loved.” Cleansed by the blood of Christ and delivered from the bondage of sin, believers are God’s holy ones. They are set apart for him to be the continual recipients of the blessings of his love and to be renewed daily in his image, so they can live lives that serve him. These designations of honor (“chosen people,” “holy,” “dearly loved”) are the same titles that, in the Old Testament, are applied to the ancient covenant people of Israel. Believers in Jesus, no matter what their nationality, are God’s covenant people of the New Testament age. In the blessed spiritual condition to which they have been called, they are empowered to continually put off the old nature with its sins and vices and to put on the virtues associated with the new nature, which is created and continually renewed by the Holy Spirit through the gospel.
As he did in the previous section when discussing vices of the old nature to be put off, the apostle here presents us with a representative sampling of attitudes and virtues that will affect Christians’ conduct toward their fellow human beings. These virtues overlap. One leads into, or even includes, the next, and they are all held together by love.
“Clothe yourselves with compassion,” the apostle begins. The compassion that the apostle calls for is a deep feeling of affection rooted in the love of Christ that fills believers’ hearts. Believers extend compassion especially to those who are suffering or in distress.
“Kindness” is somewhat broader than compassion. The very opposite of malice, kindness is a cordial, loving disposition that knows no harshness. Kindness is shown by believers to anyone whom they can benefit in any way. The early Christians were well known for their kindness, both to one another and to all their fellow human beings. Christians today should also excel in this fruit of faith.
The believer who, with a loving heart, is kind to others does not have too high an estimate of himself. He is clothed with “humility,” the virtue that leads Christians to strive to place themselves below others and to put the welfare of others before their own. Paul is not speaking here of a pretend humility, like that of the false teachers (see 2:18), but of a genuine humility that marks the believer who recognizes his own sin and unworthiness and truly appreciates what God has done for him and for all sinners in Christ. The humble Christian seeks to serve God and neighbor in self-sacrificing love.
Lowliness and humility were attitudes thoroughly despised by the pagan world. The world today also admires assertiveness, self-confidence, and pride. Nice guys finish last, the world tells us. But lowliness and self-sacrificing humility were characteristics of Jesus, and he wants those whom he has called into his family of believers to imitate his humility (see also the commentary on Philippians 2:5-8).
By his own humility Jesus ennobled the virtue of humility for his followers. What a happy, peaceful atmosphere exists in a Christian congregation where each member counts the other as better than himself and rejoices to serve others.
The virtue of “gentleness” has also been ennobled by Jesus through his perfect example. Christian gentleness is not a spinelessness that bows before every breeze or refuses to take a stand on any principle. The Christian who follows Jesus will always stand firm in him. At the same time, that Christian will exhibit gentleness in his dealings with others, including his enemies. He will not be easily provoked to fits of rage or anger by the carelessness of others, and he will overlook insults in the spirit of forgiveness. A gentle Christian would rather suffer injury than inflict it.
Together with “gentleness” the apostle couples “patience,” a holding out despite provocation and injustice. The patient Christian does not bear a grudge and refuses to harbor thoughts of revenge when he is wronged. Gentleness and patience are rare characteristics among human beings, but they ought to be distinguishing marks of the chosen, holy, and beloved children of God.
As they live together with one another and with their unbelieving neighbors in the world, believers must always remember that they are sinners living with sinners. In spite of all their efforts, there will be lapses in their Christian living. Blemishes and faults will show. There will be occasions when even Christians will hurt one another and complaints against one another will arise. But day after day, believers will work to understand. They will “bear with each other” and help one another, lovingly overlooking slights and injuries. They will try to help one another grow, and they will strengthen one another rather than cruelly tearing one another down. And they will cheerfully “forgive whatever grievances . . . against one another,” just as Christ has forgiven them.
While he was here on earth, Jesus often encouraged his disciples to cultivate a forgiving spirit. He taught them to pray, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” He forgave his enemies from the cross, and on that cross he endured injustice that makes the injuries we may suffer at one another’s hands seem minor indeed. Even now, though we often spurn his love, he daily restores and forgives us.
If we understand this, there should never be any question in our hearts about willingness to forgive one another. Think of how the quality of our Christian lives could be changed for the better if all of us learned to forgive one another from the heart—and, having forgiven, to forget. When Paul encourages mutual forgiveness, he is not speaking of a forgiveness with conditions. It is easy to agree to forgive when pardon is asked or amends are offered to soothe our wounded pride, but Jesus’ forgiveness to us is not based on any conditions we must fulfill in order to be forgiven. The forgiveness we give to one another should not be, either. Immediate, unconditional forgiveness is forgiveness according to the spirit of Christ. Such forgiveness extinguishes quarrels at their source and refuses to allow resentment or hatred to fester and grow. Is that the kind of forgiveness we are showing in our lives? If it is not, let’s ask our Savior’s help in doing so.
Over all these virtues, Paul concludes, put on love, which binds these virtues “all together in perfect unity.” Love is the virtue that heads the list of the fruits of faith. It is the crowning virtue in every Christian’s life, the one without which all the others cannot even exist. Love, as Paul uses the term here, has a depth of meaning that non-Christians cannot grasp. To a believer love is more than the outward fascination or erotic feelings in which the world glories. It is also much more than the love of mere friendship.
The love that crowns all Christian virtues finds its perfect example in Christ. It is a love of conscious, purposeful selfgiving that is shown to others not for the sake of reward but simply for its own sake. It is love extended even to the unloving and the unlovable, without discrimination. Believers show this love to one another, but it also overflows the boundaries of the Christian community to all people. This special Christian love in believers’ hearts gives value to everything else they do, and it enables believers to move forward together as they strive for the goal of perfect maturity in their lives, a goal they will ultimately reach, by God’s grace, in the glory of eternal life.
By emphasizing the importance of love and all the virtues which flow from it and which it binds together, the apostle reminds his readers once more that it is not philosophy or human wisdom or strict outward obedience to regulations and laws but is the love in believers’ hearts that leads them forward to maturity and real fullness in their Christian lives. Love, as well as all the other virtues that it binds together, comes alone from Christ, in whom all fullness dwells.