A.T. Robertson Commentary


A.T. Robertson Commentary
"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 (ανεχομενο αλληλων). Present middle (direct) participle of ανεχω with the ablative case (αλληλων), "holding yourselves back from one another."
Forgiving each other (χαριζομενο εαυτοις). Present middle participle also of χαριζομα with the dative case of the reflexive pronoun (εαυτοις) instead of the reciprocal just before (αλληλων).
If any man have (εαν τις εχη). Third class condition (εαν and present active subjunctive of εχω).
Complaint (μομφην). Old word from μεμφομα, to blame. Only here in N.T. Note προς here with τινα in the sense of against for comparison with προς in 2:31.
Even as the Lord (καθως κα ο Κυριος). Some MSS. read Χριστος for Κυριος. But Christ's forgiveness of us is here made the reason for our forgiveness of others. See Mt 6:12,14f. where our forgiveness of others is made by Jesus a prerequisite to our obtaining forgiveness from God.