Albert Barnes Commentary Colossians 3:13

"forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye:" — Colossians 3:13 (ASV)

Forbearing one another (Ephesians 4:2).

And forgiving one another (Matthew 6:12, Matthew 6:14–15).

If any man have a quarrel against any. The margin reads, “or complaint.” The word used here, momfh, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means fault found, blame, censure, and here denotes an occasion of complaint.

The idea is that if another has given us just occasion of complaint, we are to forgive him. This means:

1. To harbor no malice against him;
2. We are to be ready to do him good as if he had not given us occasion of complaint;
3. We are to be willing to declare that we forgive him when he asks it; and
4. We are always afterwards to treat him as kindly as if he had not injured us—as God treats us when He forgives us (Matthew 18:21).

Even as Christ forgave you, so also do you. Learn here that Christ has power to forgive sin (Acts 5:31).

Christ forgave us:

1. Freely—he did not hesitate or delay when we asked him;
2. Entirely—he pardoned all our offenses;
3. For ever—he did it so as to remember our sins no more, and to treat us ever onward as if we had not sinned. So we should forgive an offending brother.