Commentary on Colossians 3:12-17

Chris Blumhofer

Colossians 3:12–17 is an inspiring and lofty vision of what the Christian life looks like. But this vision is not sentimental, and nothing in it is random or boilerplate. Paul is giving practical expression to the teaching that he has just set out two verses earlier (3:10). In that place, he urged the church to put off the “old self” and put on “the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” In the identity that has been renovated by the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the old categories hold no sway: We are not Greek or Jew, circumcised or not, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free. The only identity is Christ (verse 11). The teaching in 3:12–17 presses further into this new life that is based entirely in Christ.

The statement about putting off/taking on clothing in 3:10–11 is derived from an early church baptismal formula (see Galatians 3:27; 1 Corinthians 12:12–13). The believers in the church had very likely heard these words before at their own or other baptisms. Now they are repeated, but with an intense focus on the meaning of baptism for the common life of the community. The thrust of the metaphor is this: We have taken off the clothes that constrain our lives and limit us to living in sin-bound ways. (The list describing this old way of life is in 3:5–9.) We are now putting on the “clothing” of Christ.

We have record that in the early church baptism sometimes took place in the following way: After the candidate had prepared over a period of months (or years), they would come forward for baptism, remove all their clothing, enter naked into the water, and be baptized into Jesus Christ. Upon coming out, the one who had been baptized would be clothed in a white robe.

We do not have record of this exact practice in the earliest churches, but it stands as an enacted exegesis of Paul’s imagery here—an “old self” taken off with one set of clothing removed, a complete identification with Jesus in the water, a “new self” put on that now resembles the holiness and beauty of the One who is the perfect image of God (1:15; 3:10). Many churches today continue to clothe people in white robes when they come to be baptized.

What does this new wardrobe of Jesus Christ look like?

Paul begins by listing five character traits that make up the clothing of the Christian life in the church. Each trait is rooted in the character of God. The terms reward further word study, and a sermon or class could certainly go deeper into any of them. Many are used to describe Jesus in the gospels. Very briefly, we can say the following:

Paul’s word for compassion here refers to an inner self defined by mercy (literally, “entrails” or “bowels of mercy”). The first usage of this term for mercy in the Greek Old Testament is Exodus 34:6, “The Lord, a God compassionate and merciful.” Jesus shows compassion to the hungry crowds in Matthew 15:37. Christians are, first and foremost, to resemble God the Father and his Son, Jesus, in their posture of compassion.
Paul regularly envisions God’s kindness in his action to redeem the sinful world through his Son (Romans 2:4; Ephesians 2:7). Thus, believers are also empowered for far-reaching and redemptive kindness.
Humility is always modeled on Jesus’ example (Philippians 2:1–11).
Meekness is often used with a particular emphasis on gentleness (Galatians 6:1; Matthew 11:29), and indeed might be thought of as humility plus
Patience also exhibits the character of God, even toward those who offend God (again, see Exodus 34:6; see also Galatians 5:22).

Clothed with this character, believers are instructed next in verse 13 to “bear with” and to “forgive” (literally, “be gracious to”) one another. The combination is important. Paul expects that life in community will give rise to “complaints,” which then must be handled not primarily with defensiveness or denial but instead with grace and forgiveness. A realistic portrayal of these tensions and needs for forgiveness is captured in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book Life Together.

Within the clothing metaphor, the character traits so far are base layers. The final piece is the top layer, or perhaps the belt: “Above [or, “over”] all these, put on love” (verse 14). Love brings these other traits to their completion or, as the New Revised Standard Version has here, into “harmony.” Love is, of course, the defining virtue of God (Romans 5:5; 8:39; John 13:1–8; 1 John 4:16).

Without love, all the virtues of the Christian life are empty and incoherent (1 Corinthians 13:1–3). With love, however, the virtues shine for what they really are: re-presentations in our here-and-now lives of the character of our God, who loves the world and, through sending his Son, has redeemed it to wholeness and joy, holiness and freedom. Love keeps everything in perspective and enables Paul’s next command.

In verse 16, Paul admonishes the church community to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” In her commentary on Colossians,¹ Marianne Meye Thompson points to the “peace” that was established through the blood of the cross (1:20). She notes that the “peace of Christ” is not only inner peace, but it is the life of the community of sinners who were once estranged but have now been brought to life with God and in the company of one another as “one body”: It is in this body (“your hearts”) that the peace accomplished by Christ becomes visible (verse 15; see also 1:21–23).

The peace of Christ rules in the community through the practices of teaching and admonishing one another and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude that is directed toward God. Fascinatingly, Paul connects the unity of the body to both sound teaching and heartfelt, gratitude-filled worship. The practices empower one another and they ground the life of believers in the amazing grace of God, which is surely indispensable to any pursuit of the peace of Christ.

Paul’s soaring admonition in verse 17 calls the believers to see the virtues, behaviors, and practices of their lives as carried out within the identity of Jesus Christ, whom they have just “put on,” and through whom they live in grateful response to God.