Colossians 2:13

When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses,

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Paul writes to the Colossian believers, looking back over what God has already accomplished in them (cf. v.12). The moment is retrospective: a completed act of God, not a future promise.

The words — νεκροὺς (nekrous) is the same word used for Christ's physical death, applied here to the believer's prior state. παραπτώμασιν (paraptōmasin) means "stepping aside" from the path, a more precise term than the general "sin."

The thread — Ephesians 2:1 and 2:5 repeat the same formula: dead in trespasses, made alive with Christ. Romans 8:11 grounds the raising in the Spirit's indwelling.

Why it lands — The verse is a declaration, not a request; it asks the reader to stop negotiating with a verdict that has already been executed. "All our trespasses" closes the ledger — nothing remains to be added.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Cross-references

Ephesians 2:5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!
Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.
Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 Corinthians 5:19 that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
Hebrews 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!
2 Corinthians 3:6 And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Ephesians 2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)—
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Psalms 71:20 Though You have shown me many troubles and misfortunes, You will revive me once again. Even from the depths of the earth You will bring me back up.
Luke 15:24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.