The two participles “forbearing” and “forgiving” (Revised Standard Version) further characterize the attitude of Christians toward one another. As often happens, the participles may be understood and translated as imperatives, and not as dependent qualifying clauses. Be tolerant is of particular relevance in dealing with people who are ignorant or weak (compare especially 2 Cor 11.19). Be tolerant is very similar in meaning to patience (verse 12). In some instances, one may be expressed positively and the second negatively, for example, “putting up with people a long time” and “not being irritated by people.”

The word for complaint occurs only here in the NT (compare the cognate verb memphomai “find fault with, blame” Rom 9.19, Heb 8.8). It may be important to indicate that both the forgiveness and the complaints may be reciprocal, for example, “you should forgive one another when you have any complaints one against the other.”

The command for them to forgive one another (for the verb charizomai see 2.13) is directly related to the fact that the Lord has forgiven you (see also Matt 6.14-15, Rom 15.7, Eph 4.32). The Lord here is clearly Christ (some Greek mss in fact have “Christ”—see King James Version).

Some languages employ quite different expressions depending upon whether the object of the forgiveness is a sin or a person. For example, one may speak of forgiving a sin as “wiping out the sin” or “throwing away the guilt,” but in “forgiving a person,” it may be necessary to say “to return a person’s sin to him,” or “to give back a person’s sin,” or even “to accept a person again.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .