Colossians 3:13 tells Christians to put up with each other’s faults and to forgive when someone has wronged them, because Christ forgave them first. Paul is not asking for a cold tolerance or a quick pretense of peace. He is describing a forgiveness that copies the one Christ gave, so the way believers treat each other reflects the way they were treated by God. Paul wrote this letter to the church at Colossae, a congregation he had not founded in person, and he speaks to its members as people who belong to Christ.
Bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
Colossians 3:13 (WEB)
What Colossians 3:13 Means
The verse begins with “bearing with one another,” which means patiently putting up with someone whose habits, opinions, or failings grate on you. The word carries the sense of holding steady under a load rather than dropping the other person at the first irritation. Paul assumes that people in the same church will sometimes annoy and disappoint each other, and he does not treat that as a reason to leave.
Next comes “forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any.” Paul is realistic here. Real complaints arise, and he names them plainly instead of pretending that love means having no grievances. The instruction is that when a grievance exists, the response is forgiveness rather than keeping a record of wrongs or waiting for an apology before softening.
The verse closes by pointing to Christ: “even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.” The forgiveness Paul has in mind is modeled on something the believer has already received. The verse does not promise that forgiving someone will automatically repair the relationship or that the other person will change. It describes the posture a follower of Christ is to take.
The Context of Colossians 3:13
Paul wrote Colossians, traditionally attributed to him, probably during imprisonment, and the letter addresses a church facing pressure from false teaching and from the ordinary friction that comes with mixing people of very different backgrounds. Verse 11 notes that in Christ there is no longer Greek and Jew or slave and free in the sense that defined status before God. Verse 12 then calls the church “God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,” and lists the qualities of a heart shaped by that identity, including compassion, kindness, humility, and perseverance.
Read in that setting, verse 13 is the practical outworking of the new identity. Paul moves straight from who the believers are to how they must treat each other, and verse 14 adds that love is the bond that holds all of it together. Forgiveness, then, is not an isolated rule but one expression of a community that has been reshaped around Christ.
Key Phrases in Colossians 3:13
Ephesians 4:32
And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
(WEB)
This verse, like Colossians 3:13, grounds the call to forgive in the kindness and forgiveness God has shown in Christ. Reading the two together shows that Paul consistently links the believer’s conduct toward others with the mercy already received.
Matthew 18:21-22
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.
(WEB)
In this passage Peter asks how often he must forgive, and Jesus answers with a limitless standard. Together with Colossians 3:13, it shows that forgiveness among believers is meant to be ongoing rather than a one-time act.
A Short Prayer From Colossians 3:13
Father, you have forgiven me far more than I could ever repay, and I thank you for that mercy. Some people in my life have hurt me, and I bring those hurts to you honestly rather than pretending they do not matter. Give me patience to bear with the ones I find difficult, and give me a willing heart to forgive when I have been wronged. Let my forgiveness of others reflect the forgiveness I have received from Christ. Amen.
