Colossians 4:5

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunities.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Eph 5:15-17 : 15 Live Wisely Therefore consider carefully how you live– not as unwise but as wise, 16 taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is.
  • 1 Thess 4:12 : 12 In this way you will live a decent life before outsiders and not be in need.
  • 1 Tim 3:7 : 7 And he must be well thought of by those outside the faith, so that he may not fall into disgrace and be caught by the devil’s trap.
  • Jas 3:13 : 13 True Wisdom Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings.
  • Matt 10:16 : 16 Persecution of Disciples“I am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
  • Rom 16:19 : 19 Your obedience is known to all and thus I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.
  • 1 Cor 5:12-13 : 12 For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 But God will judge those outside. Remove the evil person from among you.
  • 1 Cor 14:19-25 : 19 but in the church I want to speak five words with my mind to instruct others, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue. 20 Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking. Instead, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 21 It is written in the law:“By people with strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, yet not even in this way will they listen to me,” says the Lord. 22 So then, tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 So if the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and unbelievers or uninformed people enter, will they not say that you have lost your minds? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or uninformed person enters, he will be convicted by all, he will be called to account by all. 25 The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and in this way he will fall down with his face to the ground and worship God, declaring,“God is really among you.”
  • Mark 4:11 : 11 He said to them,“The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables,
  • Jas 3:17 : 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical.
  • 1 Pet 3:1 : 1 Wives and Husbands In the same way, wives, be subject to your own husbands. Then, even if some are disobedient to the word, they will be won over without a word by the way you live,
  • Ps 90:12 : 12 So teach us to consider our mortality, so that we might live wisely.
  • Jas 1:5 : 5 But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him.
  • Col 3:16 : 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Eph 5:14-17
    4 verses
    84%

    14For everything made visible is light, and for this reason it says:“Awake, O sleeper! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!”

    15Live Wisely Therefore consider carefully how you live– not as unwise but as wise,

    16taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

    17For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is.

  • Col 4:6
    79%

    6Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone.

  • 1 Thess 4:12
    78%

    12In this way you will live a decent life before outsiders and not be in need.

  • Col 4:3-4
    2 verses
    77%

    3At the same time pray for us too, that God may open a door for the message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

    4Pray that I may make it known as I should.

  • Eph 4:17
    74%

    17Live in Holiness So I say this, and insist in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

  • 1 Pet 4:3-4
    2 verses
    72%

    3For the time that has passed was sufficient for you to do what the non-Christians desire. You lived then in debauchery, evil desires, drunkenness, carousing, drinking bouts, and wanton idolatries.

    4So they are astonished when you do not rush with them into the same flood of wickedness, and they vilify you.

  • Col 3:7
    72%

    7You also lived your lives in this way at one time, when you used to live among them.

  • 1 Thess 4:5
    72%

    5not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.

  • Col 2:4
    71%

    4I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments that sound reasonable.

  • Eph 4:1
    71%

    1Live in Unity I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called,

  • Eph 5:6-8
    3 verses
    71%

    6Live in the Light Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience.

    7Therefore do not be sharers with them,

    8for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live like children of light–

  • 1 Pet 2:12
    70%

    12and maintain good conduct among the non-Christians, so that though they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears.

  • Titus 2:8
    70%

    8and a sound message that cannot be criticized, so that any opponent will be at a loss, because he has nothing evil to say about us.

  • 1 Pet 1:17-18
    2 verses
    70%

    17And if you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one’s work, live out the time of your temporary residence here in reverence.

    18You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed– not by perishable things like silver or gold,

  • Phil 2:15
    70%

    15so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world

  • Col 1:10
    69%

    10so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects– bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

  • Phil 4:5
    69%

    5Let everyone see your gentleness. The Lord is near!

  • Eph 1:8
    69%

    8that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.

  • Phil 1:10
    69%

    10so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ,

  • Eph 4:22-23
    2 verses
    69%

    22You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires,

    23to be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

  • Heb 12:14
    69%

    14Do Not Reject God’s Warning Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, for without it no one will see the Lord.

  • Jas 3:13
    69%

    13True Wisdom Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings.

  • Eph 4:26
    69%

    26Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on the cause of your anger.

  • Eph 4:31
    69%

    31You must put away all bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and slanderous talk– indeed all malice.

  • 1 Pet 3:2
    68%

    2when they see your pure and reverent conduct.

  • 2 Cor 4:2
    68%

    2But we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not behaving with deceptiveness or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

  • Eph 2:12
    68%

    12that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

  • 1 Thess 2:12
    68%

    12exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you live in a way worthy of God who calls you to his own kingdom and his glory.

  • 1 Pet 3:15
    68%

    15But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess.

  • Jas 3:17
    68%

    17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical.

  • Luke 21:14
    68%

    14Therefore be resolved not to rehearse ahead of time how to make your defense.

  • Eph 4:29
    68%

    29You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it would give grace to those who hear.

  • Jas 4:13
    68%

    13Come now, you who say,“Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”

  • 1 Cor 10:15
    68%

    15I am speaking to thoughtful people. Consider what I say.

  • 2 Cor 5:7
    68%

    7for we live by faith, not by sight.

  • Rom 13:11
    68%

    11Motivation to Godly Conduct And do this because we know the time, that it is already the hour for us to awake from sleep, for our salvation is now nearer than when we became believers.

  • Col 1:28
    68%

    28We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ.

  • Eph 3:10
    68%

    10The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.

  • Eph 5:10
    68%

    10trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

  • Rom 13:13
    68%

    13Let us live decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in discord and jealousy.

  • Titus 3:14
    68%

    14Here is another way that our people can learn to engage in good works to meet pressing needs and so not be unfruitful.