The big picture
Colossians 3 takes the death and resurrection language of chapter 2 and asks what such a life looks like when it becomes visible. The believers’ life is hidden with Christ in God and will appear with him in glory, but seeking the things above quickly reaches earthly conduct. The old life is stripped off through the rejection of disordered desire, covetousness, anger, malice, lying, and corrupt speech. The new life is being renewed after the Creator’s image in a community where inherited divisions cannot occupy Christ’s place. Compassion, humility, patience, forgiveness, love, peace, thanksgiving, teaching, and song become the clothing of that community. The chapter then enters the household. Wives, husbands, children, fathers, and enslaved people are addressed directly, with authority and obedience placed under “the Lord.” The section on slavery does not erase the institution, but it gives those without earthly inheritance a promised inheritance from Christ and places every wrongdoer under judgment without partiality.
Central truth
Because believers share Christ’s risen life, Paul calls them to put away destructive conduct and put on the compassion, forgiveness, love, peace, and word-filled worship of one renewed body. Paul brings household relationships under Christ’s authority, requiring love, wholehearted service, and justice while denying that human status shields anyone from judgment.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Colossians 3:1: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.”
Slow down at the turning point
Colossians 3:8: “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.”
Keep this word trail visible
Christ, Lord, children, affection, anger, appear
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Colossians 3:1–17
Colossians 3:1-4
Start where Christ is
Open by connecting 3:1 to 2:12 and 2:20: died with him, raised with him. The if is an assumption, so read it as since. Then show the shape of 3:1-4: seek things above, set your mind there, because your life is hidden with Christ and will be revealed with him. Explain "things above" as the realm where Christ reigns at God's right hand, not as a distant heaven that makes earth unimportant. Teach this first because chapter 2 has just shown that rules cannot change desire. Paul's answer is a new life already given, and the commands that follow are that life taking shape.
Colossians 3:5-7
Put to death what belongs to the old life
Read "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth" and explain mortify as put to death. Then let the verse define members: it lists practices, "fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness". Say clearly that this is not a call to harm the body; 2:23 has already rejected harsh treatment of the body as useless. Pause on "covetousness, which is idolatry": greed puts something else in God's place. Read 3:6-7 soberly. The wrath of God is real, and these believers once "walked some time" in these things. Teach it plainly and without singling anyone out.
Colossians 3:8-11
Take off the old, put on the new
The second list moves to the mouth: "anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication", and lying. Explain that blasphemy here includes slander against people. Then introduce the clothing picture that controls the rest of the passage: they have "put off the old man with his deeds" and "put on the new man". Show that the renewal is "after the image of him that created him", tying back to Genesis 1:27 and Colossians 1:15. Then read 3:11 slowly and explain Barbarian as a non-Greek and Scythian as the name used for the most despised outsider. Close on "Christ is all, and in all".
Colossians 3:12-14
The new wardrobe
Begin with the names before the clothes: "elect of God, holy and beloved". These were Israel's titles and they are given, not earned. Then lay out the garments: heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering. Explain "bowels of mercies" as compassion felt deep inside. Show that forbearing and forgiving assume real complaints, "if any man have a quarrel against any". Give "even as Christ forgave you" its full weight; the measure is his forgiveness. Last, explain charity as love and "the bond of perfectness" as the belt that holds everything else in place. Teach this after the old list so the group sees replacement, not mere removal.
Colossians 3:15-17
Peace, word and song in one body
Explain "rule" as an umpire's decision, and point out the setting: "ye are called in one body". When members disagree, Christ's peace is to have the final word. Count the thanks in these three verses: be thankful, singing with grace, giving thanks. Then read 3:16 as a description of a gathered church where the word of Christ dwells "richly", and where psalms, hymns and spiritual songs teach and admonish. Do not build rigid categories out of the three words. Finish with 3:17, which carries the name of the Lord Jesus into every word and deed and leads straight into the household instructions of 3:18.
Colossians 3:18–4:1
Colossians 3:17-19
One name over the household, then husbands and wives
Begin with 3:17, "do all in the name of the Lord Jesus", because it is the roof over everything that follows. Then show the shape: three pairs, wives and husbands, children and fathers, servants and masters, and in each pair the one with less power is addressed first and addressed directly. Read 3:18 and 3:19 together. Explain "submit yourselves" as a voluntary ordering of oneself, limited by "as it is fit in the Lord". Explain "be not bitter" as a ban on harshness and resentment. Say plainly that both commands bind, and neither cancels the other. Teach this first because the household codes are often quoted half at a time.
Colossians 3:20-21
Children and fathers
Read 3:20 and notice that children are present in the congregation and addressed as believers in their own right. Their obedience is grounded in what is "well pleasing unto the Lord". Then read 3:21 and stay on its reason, "lest they be discouraged". Explain provoke as constant irritation, harshness or unreasonable demand. The point of this step is that authority in a Christian home is measured partly by what it does to the person under it. Speak gently, because there will be people present who were discouraged as children and people who fear they have discouraged their own.
Colossians 3:22-25
Servants who work for the Lord
This is the longest instruction, and it was addressed to enslaved members of the church. Explain eyeservice and menpleasers, then singleness of heart. Show the repeated Lord: fearing God, as to the Lord, of the Lord, the Lord Christ. Then the promise: "the reward of the inheritance", given by the Lord to people the law did not allow to inherit. Read 3:25 slowly and explain "no respect of persons" as impartial judgment. Teach this step with the dignity it gives the servants in view, and without suggesting that the text approves of their condition.
Colossians 4:1
Masters who have a Master
Do not let the chapter break end the lesson early. "Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven." Explain just as what is right and equal as fair, without favouritism. The motive is accountability: the master stands before a Master who has already said there is no respect of persons. Compare Ephesians 6:9. Show how this reframes the whole household: every person in it, at every level, answers to the same Lord. This is the place to introduce the limit that the passage addresses an existing unequal relationship and requires justice within it, without endorsing it.
Colossians 3:18-4:1
Applying it without flattening it
Now step back and help the group apply the passage honestly. Name what carries over directly: love without bitterness, children's honour and parents' care, work done heartily for the Lord, justice from those with power. Name what needs care: marriage roles that Christians read differently, and the ancient slave household that is not the modern workplace. Bring in Philemon 15-17, where Onesimus is to be received as "a brother beloved", and Acts 5:29 on obeying God rather than men. Finish with the shared frame of 3:17 and 3:24: everyone in the house serves the Lord Christ.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
Colossians 3:1–17
"Mortify your members means we should punish our bodies."
Verse 5 defines the members by naming practices: sexual immorality, impurity, evil desire and covetousness. The target is sin, not flesh and bone. Paul has just said that rules involving harsh treatment of the body have "a shew of wisdom" but no value against the flesh (2:23). Christians put sin to death by the new life of 3:1-4, not by hurting themselves. If anyone in the group is harming themselves, this is a moment for private care and help, not a public correction.
"Setting my mind on things above means earthly life does not matter."
Look at what follows. Everything from 3:5 to 4:1 is about earthly life: desire, speech, quarrels, songs, marriage, children and work. Things above are where Christ is (3:1), and setting the mind there changes how a person lives below. Verse 17 says "do all in the name of the Lord Jesus", which includes every ordinary task. The heavenly mind in this chapter is the most practical one.
"Forgiving as Christ forgave means acting as if the harm never happened, or staying where I am in danger."
Christ's forgiveness did not pretend sin was nothing; it named sin and dealt with it at the cross (2:13-14). Forgiving one another, "even as Christ forgave you", means giving up revenge and the right to keep the debt. It does not cancel the truth, remove every consequence or require anyone to remain under abuse. Forbearing is different from tolerating harm. Teachers should say this out loud, because some in the room will have been told otherwise.
"Neither Greek nor Jew means our culture and background no longer matter."
Verse 11 says that in the renewed humanity these categories no longer decide belonging or worth: "Christ is all, and in all". It does not say they cease to exist. Paul still writes to bond and free in 3:22-4:1, and Jewish and Gentile believers kept their histories. The point is that no label gives a person higher or lower standing in Christ's body. Churches that honour people's cultures while refusing to rank them are applying the verse well.
Colossians 3:18–4:1
"Submit means a wife has to obey her husband in everything, even if he is cruel or asks her to do wrong."
The verse limits itself: "as it is fit in the Lord" (3:18). Nothing that is sin is fitting in the Lord, and Acts 5:29 places obedience to God above every human command. The same passage commands husbands to love and forbids bitterness (3:19), so cruelty is disobedience on his part, not a duty on hers. Christian traditions understand marriage roles differently, and the group can hear that fairly. No tradition that takes 3:19 seriously can use 3:18 to require someone to stay under abuse. Say this clearly and know where to send anyone who needs help.
"Children must obey in all things, even if a parent tells them to do something wrong or to keep a secret about harm."
Verse 20 gives the reason for obedience, "for this is well pleasing unto the Lord", and Ephesians 6:1 says "in the Lord". Obeying a command to do wrong is not well pleasing to him. Verse 21 also warns fathers not to provoke. Telling a trusted adult about harm is not disobedience to God; it is the kind of honesty 3:9 requires. Teachers working with children should say this in words a child can understand.
"Paul did not condemn slavery here, so the Bible approves of owning people."
The passage addresses an existing relationship and makes demands on it: servants are told their true master is Christ, and masters are told to give what is "just and equal" because they have a Master in heaven (4:1). Paul has just said that in the new humanity there is no "bond nor free" (3:11), and he calls Onesimus a "faithful and beloved brother" (4:9; see Philemon 16). Elsewhere menstealers are listed among the lawless (1 Timothy 1:10), and 1 Corinthians 7:21 urges a slave to take freedom if possible. The passage regulates a reality it did not create; it does not defend it.
"Working heartily as to the Lord means I must accept whatever my employer does to me."
Verses 22-24 can be applied to work by analogy: do the job well whether watched or not, because the Lord sees. But the same passage says the wrongdoer will be judged without respect of persons (3:25) and requires those in charge to give what is just and equal (4:1). Seeking fair pay, safe conditions or a different job is not ruled out; 1 Corinthians 7:21 even encourages taking freedom. Working heartily and asking for justice can belong to the same faithful person.
Learning objectives
- Connect seeking things above with belonging to the risen Christ.
- Identify the conduct named for death or removal in 3:5–9.
- Explain renewal in the Creator’s image across the divisions in 3:11.
- Connect the command to forgive with Christ’s prior forgiveness.
- Describe peace and thanksgiving within the one body.
- Explain how shared song teaches and admonishes through Christ’s word.
- Identify the three pairs directly addressed in the household instructions.
- Explain both instructions to wives and husbands.
- Explain the warning against discouraging children.
- Distinguish wholehearted service from work performed only for inspection.
- Explain the promised inheritance and impartial judgment in 3:24–25.
- Identify the obligations placed on masters by their own heavenly Master.
Teacher preparation
- Read 2:20–3:17; distinguish the human regulations rejected from Paul’s moral commands.
- Explain “mortify” as put to death, “charity” as love, and “bowels of mercies” as heartfelt compassion.
- Prepare clothing labels from 3:5–9 and 3:12–14; replace named practices, not merely a vague bad attitude.
- Read “mortify your members” through the named practices in 3:5; explicitly exclude bodily harm or punishment exercises.
- Prepare one fictional disagreement and a short invented song text; assess their words without demanding confession or musical performance.
- Read 3:12–17 first; retain love, forgiveness, and Christ’s name as the household instructions’ frame.
- Explain that servants here belong to the bond-and-free setting named in 3:11; do not silently substitute modern paid employment for slavery.
- Mark references to the Lord, Christ, God, and the heavenly Master; chart each group’s duties.
- Explain “eyeservice” as work done merely to be seen, “singleness” as sincerity, and “no respect of persons” as impartial judgment.
- Use fictional households only; do not require family disclosures or use the passage to silence reports of harm or demand obedience to wrongdoing.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Locate the old practices in 3:5–9, the new clothing in 3:12–14, and the one body, indwelling word, and thanksgiving in 3:15–17. Locate wives and husbands in 3:18–19, children and fathers in 3:20–21, servants in 3:22–25, and masters in 4:1; none of these addresses may be omitted.
Scripture-supported
Read 3:13 beside Ephesians 4:32: the command to forgive is grounded in forgiveness already received through Christ, not the other person’s social rank. Read 4:1 beside Ephesians 6:9: masters themselves answer to a heavenly Master, and earthly rank does not erase accountability.
Strong inference
Infer from “one body” in 3:15 and “one another” in 3:16 that peace and the indwelling word concern shared life, not merely private experience. Infer that the inheritance promised in 3:24 gives servants a standing not measured by their earthly master’s approval; the reward comes from the Lord they serve.
Possible or traditional reading
Present identifying psalms with the Psalter and hymns with other Christian praise as one reading of 3:16; the verse does not define rigid musical categories. Present differing Christian readings of 3:18 as enduring differentiated marital roles or instructions applied through a historically situated household order; require both to account for 3:19 and 3:17.
Limit
Do not treat “things above” in 3:1–2 as permission to neglect earthly responsibilities; 3:17 includes every word and deed, and 3:18 continues into household conduct. Do not call 3:22–4:1 an explicit abolition decree or a justification for owning people; it addresses an existing unequal relationship while requiring justice and divine accountability.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. Why begin the commands with Christ’s resurrection, hidden life, and coming appearance?
What a good answer contains
Because the commands are what that identity looks like in practice. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (3:1). The if assumes it is true: they were raised with him (2:12). Their past is settled, "For ye are dead", their present is secure, "your life is hid with Christ in God" (3:3), and their future is fixed, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory" (3:4). Only then does Paul say "Mortify therefore". A good answer sees the therefore. A weak answer turns the chapter into a self-improvement programme, which is exactly the kind of rule-keeping 2:20-23 has just shown to fail.
Show teacher guidance
Read 3:1–4: identity and future belong with Christ; the commands arise from this relationship rather than an independent self-improvement program.
2. What must be removed from both desire and speech?
What a good answer contains
Two lists, one about desire and one about speech. Verse 5 names "fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry". Verse 8 names "anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth", and verse 9 adds "Lie not one to another". Notice that greed is called idolatry, and that anger and slander are as much part of the old man as sexual sin. A good answer keeps both lists in view and lets the respectable sins be named. A weak answer concentrates on the first list and lets bitterness, contempt and lying pass as personality, which is the very thing the question warns against.
Show teacher guidance
Compare 3:5 with 3:8–9: name covetousness, corrupt desires, anger, malice, abusive speech, and lying; do not let respectable-looking hostility escape the list.
3. What connects the renewed image with Greek, Jew, bond, and free?
What a good answer contains
The renewal itself. The new man "is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him" (3:10), which recalls humanity made in God's image and Christ as "the image of the invisible God" (1:15). Then 3:11 says that in this new humanity "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all". The labels that ranked people by race, religion, culture and status no longer decide who belongs. A good answer notes that the same letter still addresses bond and free in 3:22-4:1, so differences remain while their power to rank is broken. A weak answer either erases every difference or keeps the ranking.
Show teacher guidance
Use 3:10–11: Christ defines the renewed community across these divisions; do not claim the text erases every cultural difference or social circumstance.
4. How do “holy and beloved” and “as Christ forgave you” shape the new clothing?
What a good answer contains
They come first. The believers are dressed "as the elect of God, holy and beloved" (3:12) before they put on anything; the titles once given to Israel are now theirs. The clothing is "bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering", then "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another" (3:13). The pattern and the motive of forgiveness is "even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye". Over everything goes "charity, which is the bond of perfectness" (3:14), holding the rest together. A good answer sees that the virtues flow from received love and forgiveness. A weak answer makes being beloved the reward for wearing the virtues.
Show teacher guidance
Read 3:12–14: received identity and forgiveness ground compassion and forbearance; love binds the virtues rather than replacing them with sentiment.
5. Why read the rule of peace together with the call into one body?
What a good answer contains
Because the peace in question settles disputes between people. "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful" (3:15). The word behind rule is the one used of an umpire deciding a contest. It comes straight after quarrels and forgiveness in 3:13, so peace is to be the deciding voice when members of the body pull against each other. Thankfulness keeps it from turning sour. A good answer reads it communally. A weak answer turns it into a private feeling of calm used to settle personal decisions, which the verse is not discussing.
Show teacher guidance
Use 3:15: peace belongs to communal life and thankfulness; avoid turning a private feeling into an infallible answer to every decision.
6. What work do songs perform when Christ’s word dwells richly?
What a good answer contains
They teach and they correct. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (3:16). Song goes in two directions at once: to the Lord, and to one another as instruction and warning. That makes the content matter, because a song is teaching. Verse 17 then widens worship to everything, "do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him". A good answer keeps both directions and the link to daily life. A weak answer treats singing as performance or as the only place worship happens.
Show teacher guidance
Read 3:16–17: people teach and admonish one another while singing to the Lord; gratitude connects worship with all speech and action, not performance alone.
7. Why must the instruction to wives be read alongside the instruction to husbands?
What a good answer contains
Because Paul wrote them as a pair, and each changes how the other is heard. "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord" (3:18) addresses the wife as a moral agent who chooses, toward her own husband, not men in general, and within what is fitting in the Lord. "Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them" (3:19) places on the husband a command of love and a ban on harshness. In that world the second instruction was the surprising one. Both sit under 3:17, everything done in the name of the Lord Jesus. A weak answer quotes 3:18 alone, or treats "in the Lord" as decoration rather than a frame and a limit.
Show teacher guidance
Read 3:18–19: wives are addressed concerning their own husbands and the Lord; husbands must love without bitterness. Read both duties, not only the one owed to a person.
8. What outcome explains the warning to fathers?
What a good answer contains
Discouragement. "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged" (3:21). The danger named is a child who gives up, whose spirit is broken by constant provocation, harshness or impossible demands. Verse 20 does tell children to obey "for this is well pleasing unto the Lord", and children are addressed directly as members of the church. But the next breath limits the father's use of authority by its effect on the child. A good answer keeps both verses and notices which one names a cost. A weak answer reads only the duty of children and treats any correction as justified because it came from a parent.
Show teacher guidance
Read 3:21: provoking children can discourage them; distinguish responsible guidance from crushing a child’s willingness through persistent provocation.
9. What separates eyeservice from singleness of heart?
What a good answer contains
The audience the worker has in mind. Servants are to obey "not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God" (3:22). Eyeservice is work done only when someone is watching; singleness of heart is undivided sincerity. Verse 23 gives the reason, "do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men". The Lord sees all the time, so the work has the same quality seen or unseen. Note that Paul addresses enslaved people directly, as people whose work has meaning before God. A weak answer turns the verse into a tool for supervisors or forgets that the master's own conduct is about to be examined.
Show teacher guidance
Use 3:22–23: the contrast concerns the worker’s orientation toward human inspection or the Lord; do not treat hidden wrongdoing by masters as irrelevant.
10. Who promises the servants an inheritance, and whom do they ultimately serve?
What a good answer contains
The Lord does, and they serve him. "Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ" (3:24). In that world slaves did not inherit; here they are promised the inheritance itself, the same inheritance of the saints mentioned in 1:12. Their final master is not the one who owns them on earth but "the Lord Christ". A good answer feels how much dignity this gives people whose labour was taken for granted. A weak answer credits the earthly master with the reward or reads the verse as payment for good behaviour rather than an inheritance.
Show teacher guidance
Read 3:24 carefully: the Lord gives the reward, and they serve the Lord Christ; do not attribute the promise to their earthly master.
11. Why does the warning about wrongdoing matter before the address to masters?
What a good answer contains
Because the warning applies to everyone, and the next verse turns it on the powerful. "But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons" (3:25). No respect of persons means the judge does not favour rank. Then 4:1 follows: "Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven". The masters' own word, master, is turned back on them. A good answer reads 3:25 as reaching both sides. A weak answer hears it only as a threat to servants and lets the masters off.
Show teacher guidance
Read 3:25–4:1 together: wrong is judged without favoritism, and masters must provide what is just and equal because they also have a Master.
12. What must a modern workplace application acknowledge before borrowing these instructions?
What a good answer contains
That the setting is household slavery, not paid employment. Verse 11 has just named "bond nor free", and 4:9 introduces Onesimus, whose situation Philemon describes. Slavery meant being owned; employment is a contract with pay, rights and the freedom to leave. So the passage can be applied to work by analogy, working heartily as to the Lord and treating those under you justly as people who answer to God, but it cannot be used to defend owning people or to demand unconditional obedience to employers. A good answer names both the analogy and the difference. A weak answer treats slavery and employment as the same thing.
Show teacher guidance
Identify the bond-and-free setting in 3:11 and masters in 4:1; label employment comparisons as analogies, not claims that slavery and paid work are the same.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Have learners replace one line of hostile speech in an invented exchange with a response shaped by a named virtue in 3:12–14.
Relationships and community
Ask groups to revise a fictional community rule that treats social status as spiritual worth; test it against 3:10–11.
Songs that carry the word
Give pairs the invented song text and ask what it teaches about Christ; evaluate clarity and gratitude, not musical taste or the singer’s skill.
Accountability above authority
Have groups evaluate a fictional leader who quotes only duties owed to him; require the missing obligations and heavenly accountability from 4:1.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
Colossians 3:1–17
45 minutes
Raised with Christ
Read 3:1-4 aloud. Take question one and write past, present and future on the board with the verse for each.
The old clothes
Read 3:5-9. Take question two, sorting the two lists without asking anyone for examples, and answer the first confusion.
The new image
Read 3:10-11. Take question three and the fourth confusion.
The new wardrobe
Read 3:12-14. Take question four, then the third confusion with care.
Peace, word and song
Read 3:15-17. Take questions five and six together, and finish on 3:17.
One response and the handout
Choose one application, hand out the sheet, and read the key verse together before praying.
90 minutes
What clothes say
Ask what clothing tells people about who we are or where we belong. Keep the answers short and use them to introduce put off and put on.
Raised and hidden
Read 3:1-4. Take question one and the second confusion, connecting back to 2:12 and 2:20.
Desire and speech
Read 3:5-9 with Ephesians 4:22-32. Take question two and the first confusion, and keep all examples invented.
Renewed in the image
Read 3:10-11 with Genesis 1:27. Take question three and the fourth confusion.
Forgiven to forgive
Read 3:12-14 with Ephesians 4:32. Take question four and give the third confusion its full time.
The church that sings
Read 3:15-17 with Ephesians 5:19-20. Take questions five and six, then read or sing a psalm together and ask what it taught.
Application
Work one of the three applications in small groups and report back.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, point to the take-home line, and pray for one quarrel to be settled by Christ's peace.
Colossians 3:18–4:1
45 minutes
Six groups
Read 3:17-4:1 straight through. List the six groups on the board in three pairs and note who is addressed first in each.
Wives and husbands
Read 3:18-19. Take question one and the first confusion, keeping both commands on the board.
Children and fathers
Read 3:20-21. Take question two and the second confusion in plain words.
Servants and the Lord
Read 3:22-24. Take questions three and four, then the third confusion.
Masters and the Master
Read 3:25-4:1. Take questions five and six and the fourth confusion.
The handout
Hand out the sheet, read the key verse together and pray for every household represented.
90 minutes
Who holds power
Read 3:17-4:1. List the six groups and ask the class which of them held power in the first century and which did not.
Wives and husbands
Read 3:18-19 with Ephesians 5:21-25. Take question one and the first confusion, presenting the differing readings fairly.
Children and fathers
Read 3:20-21 with Ephesians 6:1-4. Take question two and the second confusion.
Servants and the Lord
Read 3:22-24 with Philemon 15-17. Take questions three and four and the third confusion.
Masters and the Master
Read 3:25-4:1 with Ephesians 6:9. Take question five and the fourth confusion.
Analogy and difference
Take question six. Ask each pair to state one warranted workplace analogy and one important difference from the ancient household.
Application
Work one of the three applications using invented households only.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, point to the take-home line, and pray for homes and workplaces by category, not by name.
Adapting the lesson
Colossians 3:1–17
Children
Bring a box of old clothes labelled with words like lying, grabbing and shouting, and new clothes labelled kindness, patience and forgiving. Let the children take off the old labels and put on the new ones while you read 3:8-14. Leave out the sexual sins in 3:5 and say only that some ways of living hurt God and others. Make sure every child hears that God calls them beloved before they put anything on.
Youth
Use an invented group chat where a disagreement turns nasty. Read 3:8-9 and have them spot the old clothes in it, then rewrite the thread using 3:12-15. Talk honestly about how anger and lying online feel normal. Address the first confusion carefully, since some young people do harm themselves; give a private route for anyone who needs to talk afterwards.
Adults
Spend time on covetousness as idolatry and on respectable hostility, since adults are often better at hiding these than at avoiding them. Work through the forgiveness confusion with care, separating forgiveness, trust and reconciliation. Use 3:11 to ask which labels still rank people in their own congregation. Bring in Ephesians 4 and 5 as the parallel passage.
One to one
Ask which item in the two lists of 3:5-9 they find hardest to take off, and which piece of the new wardrobe in 3:12-14 they most want. Do not press for confession. If a specific grievance comes up, read 3:13 slowly and talk about what forgiving would and would not mean in their situation. Close by reading 3:3 over them: their life is hid with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:18–4:1
Children
Keep the lesson on homes where everyone serves Jesus: children listen to their parents, and parents are kind and do not make children lose heart. Use a simple picture of a house with a cross on the roof for 3:17. Leave slavery to one sentence about workers long ago. Say clearly that if any grown-up hurts them or asks them to keep a bad secret, telling a trusted adult is right and pleases God.
Youth
Teens notice when adults quote only half a passage. Give them the six groups and ask which commands are usually remembered and which are forgotten. Spend real time on 3:21 and on 3:23 for schoolwork and part-time jobs. Handle 3:18 with care and avoid turning the session into a debate about their parents' marriages. Make a private route available for anyone living with harm at home.
Adults
Adults will bring strong views on marriage roles and on slavery. Present the main Christian readings of 3:18 fairly and require each to account for 3:19 and 3:17. Give the slavery question its full historical weight, including Philemon and 1 Timothy 1:10. Ask those who supervise others to sit with 4:1. Keep every example fictional and never invite people to describe their own homes.
One to one
Find out first which relationship in the passage the person is living in: spouse, parent, child, worker or employer. Read the verses for that relationship and its partner together. If harm is present at home, set the lesson aside, make sure they are safe and know where help is, and return to 3:19 and 3:21 as God's own words against it. Otherwise, close on 3:24: whoever they serve, they serve the Lord Christ.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Colossians 3:1–17
The passage in brief
Because believers have been raised with Christ, Paul tells them to set their minds on him and live the new life they already have. They are to put to death sinful desires, including greed, and take off anger, malice, slander and lying like old clothes. In their place they put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, forgiving one another as Christ forgave them, with love holding it all together. Christ's peace and his word shape the whole church, and everything is done in his name with thanks.
A verse to keep
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Colossians 3:13 · King James Version
Questions to take home
According to 3:3, where is a believer's life now?
Choose one old garment from 3:8-9 and one new garment from 3:12-14. How would changing one for the other look in your week?
What does 3:13 give as the pattern for forgiving others?
This week
Pick one person you need to forbear or forgive this week, read 3:13 each morning, and take one concrete step of kindness toward them.
Colossians 3:18–4:1
The passage in brief
Paul speaks to every member of a first-century household: wives and husbands, children and fathers, servants and masters. Wives are to submit as fits the Lord, and husbands must love their wives and never be harsh. Children are to obey, and fathers must not provoke them until they lose heart. Servants are to work sincerely as for the Lord, who will give them an inheritance. Masters must be just and fair, because they too have a Master in heaven. Everyone in the home answers to the same Lord.
A verse to keep
And what soever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
Colossians 3:23-24 · King James Version
Questions to take home
Which command in 3:18-4:1 is given to the person with more power in each pair?
What does 3:21 say can happen to a child who is constantly provoked?
Who gives the reward in 3:24, and who do the servants really serve?
This week
Do one task this week that no one will see or praise, and do it as well as you would if Christ were checking it.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
