31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Verses 31-32 reemphasize what we are to do in contrast to what we are not to do, and all of these elements pertain to how we should interact with the brethren, who are part of the Body of Christ with us. Kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness toward one another in the Body is specifically included, which implies that there will be a need to do so! None of us are what we should be as often as we should be it, and so there will be grievances among us, just as we cause grievances for the Holy Spirit. Yet we are forgiven, and have the very Spirit of the one who forgives. Thus we are expected to do even as He does, which is only possible because of the new birth (see I John 4:19, II Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15). That God forgives us for Christ's sake is another tremendous doctrinal truth that hearkens back to "not of works" in 2:8-9. It is not by our merit, or solely because God loves us – our forgiveness was earned for us by Christ.
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