Colossians 3:13

Forbearing one another - Notes, Ephesians 4:2.

And forgiving one another - Notes, Matthew 6:12, Matthew 6:14.

If any man have a quarrel against any - Margin, “or complaint.” The word used here - μομφή momphē - occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means, “fault found, blame, censure;” and here denotes occasion of complaint. The idea is, that if another one has given us just occasion of complaint, we are to forgive him; that is, we are:

(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 be asks it; and,

(4)We are always afterward to treat him as kindly as if he had not injured us - as God treats us when he forgives us; see the notes at Matthew 18:21.

Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye - Learn here that Christ has power to forgive sin; compare the Matthew 9:6 note; Acts 5:31 note. Christ forgave us:

(1)Freely - he did not hesitate or delay when we asked him;

(2)Entirely - he pardoned all our offences;

(3)Forever - 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.