What is God’s will for the Christian experience now? Writing to the Colossians, Paul wanted them to be confident that they had a complete spiritual life in Christ, even though there were other apparently sincere religious people proposing a different path to spiritual fullness. Paul articulates what Christians should be pursuing in Christ, while undermining other religious approaches, to reassure them they have a complete spiritual experience available in Jesus.
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.
