Colossians 3

₁God made Christ live again and He also made you live again with Christ. The things that are important to Christ must also be important to you, because Christ is in heaven with God. He sits in the most important place next to God. ₂You must always think about the things that are important to Christ, about the things in heaven. Do not think about the things that are important to people, the things here on earth. ₃Your sinful life has stopped, and it is dead. You now have a new life with Christ, who is with God, but other people do not know it. ₄It is Christ who gave you this new life. He will come again and then everyone will know that you belong to Him, the King.

₅You must stop doing bad things that sinful people always want to do. Do not live immorally, or think about them, and don't desire bad things. Don't always want to have more things, because that is the same as people who worship_idols. ₆People who do these bad things do not listen to God and God will punish them. ₇You did those bad things before and you lived like those sinful people. ₈But now you must not do those bad things anymore. Don't get angry and say bad things to other people. Don't hate, and don't do or say things which hurt other people. ₉Do not lie to each other. You have stopped doing the things that you did before.

₁₀You are new people. God has changed you and He has made you new so that you can know Him and be like Him. ₁₁If God has changed you and made you new, then it does not_matter if you are a Greek or a Jew, if you are circumcised or not, if you can speak the Greek language or not, if you are important or not, or if you are a slave or free. No, what is important to us now is Christ and that He lives in all of us.

₁₂God has chosen you to belong to Him and He loves you. That is why you must do good things. You must feel sorry for other people and be good to them. Do not be proud. Be friendly and do not become angry quickly. ₁₃You must be patient with each other. If someone has done something wrong, do not be angry with him but forgive him. The Lord has forgiven you and you must also forgive other people. ₁₄The most important thing is to love each other because then you will belong together and you will be as God wants you to be.

₁₅Christ has given you peace and that peace must rule your lives. God has chosen you to be as one. You are the one body_of_Christ, his church. That is why you must live in peace with each other and be thankful. ₁₆You must always think about the Good_News of Christ. You must be like wise people. Teach and warn each other so that you will not do something wrong. You must sing psalms, hymns and other songs to thank God. ₁₇You belong to the Lord Jesus. Say and do only the things that He wants. Thank God the Father and ask Christ to help you do it.

₁₈Wives, you must listen to your husbands. This is what God wants.

₁₉Men, you must love your wives. Do not make them suffer.

₂₀Children, you must always listen to your parents because the Lord loves it when children listen to their parents.

₂₁Fathers, do not be so angry with your children that they become discouraged.

₂₂Slaves, you must do everything that your owners here on earth tell you to do. Don't work hard only when your owners see you and don't work just to please people. You must enjoy working for your owners, because then you honour the Lord. ₂₃Slaves, don't do something just to please other people. No, do it well. Do it for the Lord ₂₄because you know that the Lord will reward you. He will give you what He promised you. You are working for Christ, and He is your Owner. ₂₅The people who are doing wrong must know that the Lord will give them what they must get. He will punish them, because He is fair to everyone.