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12 Characteristics of Life in Common.[a] As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Bear with one another, and forgive one another if anyone has reason to be offended with another. You must forgive just as the Lord has forgiven you.

14 Over all these put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it was for this that you were called together in one body. Always be thankful.

16 Let the word of Christ[b] with all its richness dwell in you. Teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God with gratitude in your hearts. 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.

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Footnotes

  1. Colossians 3:12 The Church is a community of persons bound together by love to give testimony to love. Without ceasing, models must be invented to express this truth. As a community united with the Lord, the Church lives in peace and joy. She lives in faith and mutual pardon, and she puts forth her deepest sentiments in prayer and thanksgiving.
  2. Colossians 3:16 Word of Christ: principally Christ’s teaching, which was transmitted orally at that time but which also includes the Old Testament and the New. Hymns: these set forth some of the most important doctrines and have been preserved for us only in Paul’s Letters (e.g., Col 1:15-20; Eph 5:14; Phil 2:6-11; 1 Tim 3:16).