Colossians 4:5

Verse 5. Walk in wisdom. That is, conduct upright and honest. Deal with them on the strictest principles of integrity, so that they may not have occasion to reproach the religion which you profess. Toward them that are without. Without the pale of the church, or who, are not professing Christians. See Barnes "1 Co 5:12". They were surrounded by heathens, as Christians now are by men of the world. The injunction is one that requires us to act with prudence and propriety (en sofia) towards them; and there is, perhaps, not a more important direction in the New Testament than this.