Colossenses 3

ARC · Chapter 3/4

1Portanto, se já resuscitastes com Christo, buscae as coisas que são de cima, onde Christo está assentado á dextra de Deus.

2Pensae nas coisas que são de cima, e não nas que são da terra;

3Porque já estaes mortos, e a vossa vida está escondida com Christo em Deus.

4Quando Christo, que é a nossa vida, se manifestar, então tambem vós vos manifestareis com elle em gloria.

5Mortificae pois os vossos membros, que estão sobre a terra: a fornicação, a immundicia, o appetite desordenado, a vil concupiscencia e a avareza, que é idolatria;

6Pelas quaes coisas vem a ira de Deus sobre os filhos da desobediencia:

7Nas quaes tambem d'antes andastes, quando vivieis n'ellas.

8Mas agora despojae-vos tambem de todas estas coisas, a saber, da ira, da colera, da malicia, da maledicencia, das palavras torpes da vossa bocca.

9Não mintaes uns aos outros, pois que já vos despistes do velho homem com os seus feitos,

10E vos vestistes do novo, que se renova para o conhecimento, segundo a imagem d'aquelle que o creou:

11Onde não ha grego nem judeo, circumcisão nem incircumcisão, barbaro, scytha, servo, ou livre; mas Christo é tudo em todos.

12Revesti-vos pois, como eleitos de Deus, sanctos, e amados, de entranhas de misericordia, da benignidade, humildade, mansidão, longanimidade:

13Supportando-vos uns aos outros, e perdoando-vos uns aos outros, se algum tiver queixa contra outro: assim como Christo vos perdoou, assim o fazei vós tambem.

14E, sobre tudo isto, revesti-vos de caridade, que é o vinculo da perfeição.

15E a paz de Deus domine em vossos corações para a qual tambem fostes chamados em um corpo, e sêde agradecidos.

16A palavra de Christo habite em vós abundantemente, em toda a sabedoria, ensinando-vos e admoestando-vos uns aos outros, com palavras, hymnos e canticos espirituaes, cantando ao Senhor com graça em vosso coração.

17E, quanto fizerdes por palavras ou por obras, fazei tudo em nome do Senhor Jesus, dando por elle graças a Deus e ao Pae.

18Vós, mulheres, estae sujeitas a vossos proprios maridos, como convém no Senhor.

19Vós, maridos, amae a vossas mulheres, e não vos irriteis contra ellas.

20Vós, filhos, obedecei em tudo a vossos paes; porque isto é agradavel ao Senhor.

21Vós, paes, não irriteis a vossos filhos, para que não percam o animo.

22Vós, servos, obedecei em tudo a vossos senhores segundo a carne, não servindo só na apparencia, como para agradar aos homens, mas com simplicidade de coração, temendo a Deus

23E, tudo quanto fizerdes, fazei-o do coração, como ao Senhor, e não aos homens:

24Sabendo que recebereis do Senhor o galardão da herança, porque a Christo, o Senhor, servis.

25Porém quem fizer aggravo receberá o aggravo que fizer: pois não ha accepção de pessoas.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Paul urges the Colossians to seek the things above, since they have died and been raised with Christ, putting aside old sinful practices and putting on a new character marked by compassion, humility, and love. He closes with instructions for family life in Christ.

Explanation

From this chapter on, Paul applies the exalted theology of the first two chapters to daily practical living: since the Colossians "were raised with Christ," they must live according to this new spiritual reality, "putting to death" old behaviors such as immorality, anger, and lying, and "putting on" a new character marked by mercy, meekness, and love, the "bond of perfection" that unites all the other virtues. The statement that in Christ "there is neither Greek nor Jew... barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free" (v. 11) breaks down ethnic and social barriers that were extreme for the time, even including peoples considered "barbarians" by Greco-Roman culture. The final family instructions concerning wives, husbands, children, and servants follow a household-ethics pattern common to the period, but guided by the central principle of doing everything "as unto the Lord." The application today is to live consistently with the new spiritual identity received in Christ, genuinely leaving the old character behind.

Fun facts

  • The word 'Scythian,' mentioned in verse 11, referred to a nomadic people of the Central Asian steppe, regarded by the Greeks and Romans as the most extreme example of an uncivilized 'barbarian' — including them explicitly reinforces the radical scope of equality in Christ.
  • This chapter has very close parallels with Ephesians 5-6, likely written around the same time and delivered by the same person (Tychicus), suggesting that Paul was developing and reapplying the same ethical teachings for different churches in the region.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Colossenses 3:1Paul applies the spiritual resurrection from the previous chapter in a practical way: since they were raised with Christ, they should direct their pursuit toward the heavenly reality where He is.
  2. Colossenses 3:2Paul reinforces the request: set their minds on things above, not on earthly priorities, a call to mental focus, not to escape from real life.
  3. Colossenses 3:3Paul explains the basis of this change of focus: the old life has already died, and the Colossians’ present life is “hid” with Christ in God, a reality not yet fully visible.
  4. Colossenses 3:4Paul promises that this hidden life will become visible when Christ, called here “our life,” is revealed publicly, also revealing the glory of Christians together with Him.
  5. Colossenses 3:5Paul puts greed on the same list as serious sexual sins, and even calls it idolatry outright — worshiping something else in God’s place. The comparison makes sense because whoever lives only for accumulating wealth is, in practice, putting money at the center of life where God should be.
  6. Colossenses 3:6Paul explains why abandoning the sins listed in the previous verse is urgent: it is precisely because of them that God’s wrath comes on those who disobey.
  7. Colossenses 3:7Paul reminds the Colossians that they themselves once lived this way in the past, before knowing Christ, which reinforces how real the change needs to be.
  8. Colossenses 3:8Paul moves from sexual sins and greed to sins of relationship: anger, hatred, malice, slander, and vulgar language, all of it to be put aside.
  9. Colossenses 3:9Paul uses the image of changing clothes to describe the change of life after becoming a Christian: taking off an old way of living like taking off a dirty garment, and putting on a new way, like a clean, different garment. It is a practical image of decision, not something automatic.
  10. Colossenses 3:10Paul completes the image of changing clothes: putting on the “new man,” who is continually being renewed toward knowledge, following the image of the Creator Himself.
  11. Colossenses 3:11This list covers the main social divisions of the ancient world: ethnic origin, culture, and even the legal status of free or slave. “Scythian” was the people the Greeks and Romans considered the most uncivilized and far removed from civilization, the ultimate example of a barbarian — Paul includes it on purpose to show that none of these categories, not even the most despised, changes a person’s worth in Christ.
  12. Colossenses 3:12Paul describes the spiritual wardrobe of the new life: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, virtues expected of someone chosen and loved by God.
  13. Colossenses 3:13Paul continues the list with something harder: bearing with and forgiving one another over the real offenses that happen, using Christ’s own forgiveness as the standard.
  14. Colossenses 3:14Paul places love above everything else, calling it “the bond of perfectness,” the piece that holds all the other virtues together and makes them truly work.
  15. Colossenses 3:15Paul asks that the peace of Christ rule the Colossians’ decisions, reminding them that they were called to that peace precisely as part of one body, the church.
  16. Colossenses 3:16Paul asks that the message of Christ dwell richly among them, expressed through mutual teaching and through psalms, hymns, and songs sung with sincere gratitude.
  17. Colossenses 3:17Paul sums it all up with a general principle: whatever is done, in word or deed, should be done in the name of Jesus, with thanks to God the Father through Him.
  18. Colossenses 3:18This set of instructions for spouses, parents and children, and then for masters and servants, follows a format common in the ethical literature of the time called a household code, used by Greek, Roman, and Jewish authors alike to organize relationships within a household. Paul uses the same familiar structure, but includes something many codes of the time left out: he also demands responsibility from husbands, fathers, and masters, not just obedience from the others.
  19. Colossenses 3:19Paul addresses husbands with a direct instruction: love their wives and avoid treating them with bitterness or constant irritation.
  20. Colossenses 3:20Paul asks children for full obedience to their parents, describing this as something that directly pleases the Lord.
  21. Colossenses 3:21Paul balances the previous instruction by asking parents not to provoke their children excessively, because this can discourage them and cause them to lose heart.
  22. Colossenses 3:22In the Roman world, domestic slavery was a legal and common institution, present in most households, including Christian families — it was not something apart from society, but part of daily life in the early churches. Paul addresses slaves directly as full members of the Christian community, and in the following verse reminds masters that they too have a Master to answer to.
  23. Colossenses 3:23Paul extends the principle given to servants in the previous verse to any work: doing everything wholeheartedly, as if for the Lord, not merely to please people.
  24. Colossenses 3:24Paul reminds servants, many with no earthly reward for their work, that they will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward, because in practice they serve Christ.
  25. Colossenses 3:25Paul warns that whoever does wrong will receive back the wrong they have done, because God judges without favoring anyone based on social status, whether master or slave.

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