Clothes for the New Self

Paul has already had them take the old self off, back at 3:9. Now he hands them the clothes that go on instead, and he begins by saying who he is talking to.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

He calls them God's elect, holy and beloved. Chosen, set apart, loved. Those words are laid down before a single instruction arrives, and they are not offered as a target. They are how he addresses the people he is about to ask something difficult of.

Then five garments, and they are all about how a person is with other people at close range. Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. Not one of them can be practiced alone in a room, and none of them show up until somebody else is being difficult.

Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity.

Bear with is a plain phrase for putting up with somebody, and Paul assumes there will be complaints. He does not tell them to stop having any. He tells them what to do with the ones they have, and then he sets the measure: forgive as the Lord forgave you. Not as much as somebody deserves, and not once they have earned it back.

Love goes on over all of them, like the outer coat that holds the rest in place. Then three short commands that fill the room.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Rule is a word about settling matters, which means that when this house cannot agree and both sides have a case and everybody is tired and somebody is about to say the thing they will regret, the casting vote has already been handed to peace rather than to whoever is loudest or most obviously right. Then be thankful, which Paul asks three times in six verses and never explains, as though he expects it to follow on its own. Then let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, which is a phrase about living somewhere rather than visiting.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Whatever you do, in word or deed, is as wide as an instruction gets, and it lands on the smallest things. Paul argued at 2:10 that they had already been made complete in Christ, and here is what that looks like on an ordinary evening: no separate holy activity to perform, just everything already being done, done in his name.