¹Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at God’s right hand.

²Think about things that are above, not about things that are only on earth.

³You have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

⁵So put to death anything that comes from your wrong desires: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

⁶Because of these things, God is going to punish the world.

⁷That’s the way you lived at one time in your life.

⁸But now you must also get rid of things like anger, rage, hatred, lies, and dirty language.

⁹Don’t lie to one another, since you’ve gotten rid of the old way of life with its habits

¹⁰and started living a new life. Your life is being made new in knowledge in the Creator’s likeness.

¹¹In that likeness, there’s no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free. Christ is all, and he is in all.

¹²As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, put on tender mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience as if they were new clothes.

¹³Put up with one another and, if you’re holding something against someone, forgive each other, just as the Lord forgave you.

¹⁴Over all these good things put on love, which holds them all together perfectly as if they were one.

¹⁵Let the peace that Christ gives rule in your hearts, since as parts of one body, you were called to peace. And be thankful.

¹⁶Let the message about Christ live among you richly as you teach and correct one another with great wisdom. Sing psalms and hymns and songs from the Spirit to God with gratitude in your hearts.

¹⁷And whatever you say or do, let it be in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks to God the Father through him.

¹⁸Wives, follow the lead of your husbands, as is appropriate in the Lord.

¹⁹Husbands, love your wives and don’t be mean to them.

²⁰Children, obey your parents in everything. That pleases the Lord.

²¹Fathers, don’t make your children bitter. If you do, they’ll lose hope.

²²Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything. Don’t do it just to please them when they’re watching you. Obey them genuinely, out of respect for the Lord.

²³Work at everything you do with all your heart, as if you were working for the Lord, not for human masters.

²⁴You know that in the end you’ll receive the reward that the Lord wants you to have. You’re slaves of the Lord Christ.

²⁵Anyone who does wrong will be paid back for what they’ve done. God doesn’t give anyone special privileges.