Colossians 3:16

16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

Translation and Paraphrase

16. Let the word (the message) of Christ dwell within you richly. (Learn it fully; meditate upon it; live by it.) (Then) with all (the) wisdom (you can employ, be) teaching and admonishing one another by psalms (songs and music such as David wrote in the book of Psalms; and) hymns (of praise to God, and) songs having the character of the (Holy) Spirit.

Notes

1.

If we expect to have the peace of Christ (Colossians 3:15) in our hearts, we must let the word of Christ dwell in us richly.

2.

The word of Christ must refer to the Scriptures. If it refers to anything else, we are left to be pushed around about in our thinking according to the conflicting and changing ideas of men. We must fill our hearts with written words of the gospel.

3.

The word of Christ is not to dwell within us, and then remain there. We are to teach and admonish (or warn) one another with this word.

4.

The words in all wisdom may be grammatically interpreted as being connected with dwell (as in KJV, dwell in you richly in all wisdom). Or they may be connected with the word teaching that follows them (as in ASV, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing). In the light of verses using similar expressions (Colossians 1:28; Ephesians 5:18-19), we feel that in all wisdom goes with the phrase that follows it. We are to teach and admonish one another in all wisdom.

5.

One of the most effective ways to teach and admonish one another is by music. (Ephesians 5:19). People quickly learn songs and remember them. They hum and meditate upon the music. Ancient peoples taught and preserved the famous events in their history by ballads, before written material was easily available. The ungodly people in our world today know the power of music. They keep a tidal wave of suggestive, lawless, emotion-stirring songs coming on all the time, and see to it that the radio waves are saturated with them. Talented Christians should dedicate themselves to the composition, production, promotion, and teaching of worthwhile gospel music. Christianity has always been a singing religion.

6.

Our music should be designed to teach and admonish, not just to appeal to the emotions, or to vanity. So often a hymn or anthem is just rendered, and is not used for instruction and admonition of one another.

7.

Three types of music are listed as desirable: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. The distinction between these terms is given in Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, under the word humnos (hymn).

Ode (song) is the generic term; psalmos (psalm) and humnos (hymn) are specific, the former (psalmos) designating a song which took its general character from the O.T. -Psalms-' (although not restricted to them; see 1 Corinthians 14:15; 1 Corinthians 14:26), the latter (humnos) a song of praise. [Thayer then quotes Bishop Lightfoot, on Colossians 3:16.] While the leading idea of psalmos is a musical accompaniment, and that of humnos praise to God, ode is the general word for a song, whether accompanied or unaccompanied, whether of praise or on any other subject. Thus it was quite possible for the same song to be at once psalmos, humnos, and ode.

Paul exhorts us here to use psalms. How many of the psalms have you learned or used?

8.

Psalmos (or its cognate verb psallo) is used to mean instrumental music, or a song played to musical accompaniment in the Greek Old Testament (LXX) in 1 Samuel 16:23; Psalms 98:5; Psalms 71:22; and many other places. Also Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century A.D., used the word to refer to instrumental accompaniment in Antiquities VI, viii, 2; VI, xi, 3; and some other places.

For these reasons and others we believe that Paul's use of the term psalm shows that God approves the use of instrumental music in our teaching and admonishing. However, they do not establish that such music must be used at all times. The music referred to as hymns and spiritual songs is not necessarily accompanied by instruments.

9.

Colossians 3:16, when very literally translated, closes by saying, In the grace singing in your hearts unto God. This suggests that we sing in grace. It is perfectly correct to translate this as it is in most versions, singing with grace, but it seems to us that the idea of singing in grace is a very likely situation. Those people who are most keenly aware of the grace of God and what it has done in their lives are the people most likely to sing about it. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!

Study and Review

5.

How is the word of Christ to dwell in us? (Colossians 3:16)

46.

Which does in all wisdom refer to, to dwell in you richly, or to teaching and admonishing?

47.

With what are we to teach and admonish one another? (Colossians 3:16)

48.

What distinction can be made between psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs?

49.

How do we go about singing with grace in our hearts?