Daily Bible Reading 20th July 2025 // Colossians 3:11-17
11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 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. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
'Now', Paul says, (building on the previous Note) 'because Christ has been reconciled, because the reality, in Christ, in the new humanity, is mankind reconciled within itself, that is how it must be within your fellowship. Nothing must be allowed to separate believer from believer' (vv 12 -17). It is important to realise that everything Paul urges upon the Colossian believers, and upon every believer, depends upon the very nature of the Church, the Body of Christ, as the new creation, God's renewed society, the new humanity, which he has just described in v 11. Notice the exalted titles given to the believers/the Church: 'Elect of God', 'holy', 'beloved' (v 12). This is what God has graciously made us in Christ. He has chosen us. He has sanctified us. He has poured out His love upon us. These were the titles used of the Children of Israel as God's chosen possessions. These are descriptions given of Jesus Himself. Jesus is The Elect One and in Him all men are elect (Ephesians 1:4-14). Jesus is The Holy One (Matthew 1:24) and in Him all are made holy. Jesus is The beloved (Matthew 3:17) and in Him all are dearly loved. Each one of the virtues, with which Paul urges the believers to clothe themselves (v 12), epitomises the very nature and character of God, the very nature and character of Jesus Christ. God in Christ is all compassion. In His gracious attitude and action towards sinners He is the abundance of kindness. He is lowly and gentle: gentle and humble in heart, and O how patient and long-suffering He is towards us the sinful children of men. Paul's exhortation then is that we must put on Christ. He writes exactly that to the Church at Rome (13:12-14). 'So', says Paul, and it is an imperative, an insistent command, 'This is what God, in Christ, has made you, be like that'. Our response to the merciful kindness and compassion of God must be to show kindness and compassion to others.