DEC 2

Colossians 3:13
Memorise Ephesians 4:31-32
"...forbearing one another..."

Paul continues exhorting how to treat Christian brethren in Colossians 3:13 “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” This exhortation applies for any one of us who has a quarrel or grievance against another brother. The word “forgiving” in Greek is “charizomai”, which has the root word “charis”, meaning grace, unmerited favour. To forgive is to show grace to others. That is why Paul says that just as you are sinners forgiven by grace, we need to forgive others by grace as well. We do not deserve to be forgiven by Christ, and thus we need to be prepared to forgive those who do not deserve forgiveness, otherwise we show we do not understand the meaning of grace in the first place. Even if our grievance against our brother stems from extreme hurt, we must be prepared to forgive our brother, since Christ forgave us for a far greater hurt against Himself. Note that this verse does not call us to forgive others when there is no repentance. What this verse exhorts us to do is to freely forgive when the offending party acknowledges that he is wrong, and to always be prepared in our heart to forgive. If we do not do so, we risk allowing a spirit of bitterness to fester in our hearts (Ephesians 4:31-32).

The word “forbearing” in Greek has the connotation of holding up oneself against, to put up with someone difficult. We must learn to tolerate the offensive behaviours of others, even though it can be very hard to do so. We must also not be so easily offended by other brethren, nor quickly retaliate against those who offend us, thus minimising the chance of having grievances against others. Yet we must realise that all this only applies to personal disputes, and not to attacks on God’s Name. Paul condemns the forbearing of false teachers in 2 Corinthians 11:4, using the same Greek word in a negative sense. We should not think our church leaders harsh when they vigorously defend God’s Name when attacked. On the other hand, our own name is not worth anything in comparison to God’s Name. So often the reason why we do not forbear or forgive is because we think our own ‘valuable’ name has been sullied. We must realise our sin of pride, and humbly realise all of us are the same: sinners saved by grace.

Thought: Am I that proud to think my name is valuable?
Prayer: May I have the spirit of forbearance and not be petty.