To read on in Colossians 3 is to be struck by what amounts to a miniature version of the Sermon on the Mount: a blueprint for a new-creation people, demonstrating before the world what a genuinely human community should look like: You must be tender-hearted, kind, humble, meek, and ready to put up with anything. You must bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against someone else, you must forgive each other . . . On top of all this you must put on love, which ties everything together and makes it complete. Let the Messiah’s peace be the deciding factor in your hearts; that’s
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