In verse 16 Paul goes on to say, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.” The word of Christ is the word spoken by Christ. In His New Testament economy God speaks in the Son, and the Son speaks not only directly in the Gospels, but also through His members, the apostles and prophets, in Acts, in the Epistles, and in Revelation. All these may be considered as His word.
In this passage, the infilling of spiritual life that overflows in praising and singing is related to the Word, whereas in its parallel passage, Ephesians 5:18-20, the infilling of spiritual life is related to the Spirit. This indicates that the Word and the Spirit are identical (John 6:63b). A normal Christian life should be one that is filled with the Word so that the Spirit may bubble from within us in melodies of praise.
Colossians is focused on Christ as our Head and our life. The way for Him to exercise His headship and to minister His riches to us is through His word. Hence, the emphasis is on the word of Christ. Ephesians is concerned with the church as the Body of Christ. The way for us to live a normal church life is to be filled in our spirit unto all the fullness of God. Hence, the emphasis is the Spirit. In Ephesians both the Holy Spirit and our spirit are emphasized again and again. Even the Word is counted as the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). In Colossians the Holy Spirit is mentioned only once (1:8), and the human spirit is also mentioned once (2:5). In Ephesians the Word is for washing away our natural life (5:26) and fighting against the enemy (6:17), whereas in Colossians the Word is for revealing Christ (1:25-27) in His preeminence, centrality, and universality.
We have pointed out that in Ephesians the emphasis is on the Spirit, whereas in Colossians the emphasis is on the Word. Ephesians takes care of our living, but Colossians takes care of the revelation of Christ. Paul’s concern in Colossians is for the revelation of Christ unto full knowledge. For this, we need the word of Christ.
The word of Christ includes the entire New Testament. We need to be filled with this word. This means that we should allow the word of Christ to dwell in us, to inhabit us, to make home in us. The Greek word rendered dwell means to be in a house, to inhabit. The word of the Lord must have adequate room within us so that it may operate and minister the riches of Christ into our inner being. Furthermore, the word of Christ must dwell in us richly. The riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8) are in His word. When such a rich word inhabits us, it must inhabit us richly. The word of Christ should have free course within us. We should not simply receive it and then confine it to a small area of our being. On the contrary, it should be given a free course to operate within us. In this way the word will inhabit us and make home in us.
I appreciate Paul’s skill as a writer. He emphasizes, on the one hand, the peace of Christ and, on the other hand, the word of Christ. Some of us may think that as long as our spirit is living, everything is all right. Perhaps you have not realized the need for the peace of Christ to arbitrate within you and for the word of Christ to make home in your heart. If we let the peace of Christ work in us and the word of Christ dwell in us, we shall be proper Christians. Instead of our preference, we shall have Christ’s arbitration. Instead of our opinion, concept, thought, and estimation, we shall have Christ’s word.
Certain saints love the Bible and read it daily. But in their living it is their concept, opinion, and philosophy that move within them, not the word of Christ. They may study the Bible, but they do not allow the word of Christ to dwell in them. Neither do they permit it to move, act, and have its being in them. As a result, what prevails in their being is their philosophy, not the word of Christ. Although they read the Bible, God’s word remains outside of them. It is crucial for us to let the word of Christ enter into us, dwell in us, and replace our concepts, opinions, and philosophies. We need to pray, “Lord Jesus, I am willing to let go of my concepts. I want Your word to have ground in me. I am willing to forget my opinion and philosophy. I want Your word to be prevailing in me. I do not want my concepts to prevail any longer.”
We cannot separate the word of Christ from His arbitration. The arbitrator settles a dispute by speaking a word. We need to bring our case to the arbitrator and listen to his word. This means that we need to allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts and the word of Christ to dwell in us. Then we shall be filled with singing and giving of thanks.
According to verse 16, when the word of Christ dwells in us richly, we shall teach and admonish one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to God. Teaching, admonishing, and singing are all related to the verb dwell. This indicates that the way to let the Lord’s word dwell in us richly is by teaching, admonishing, and singing. We should teach and admonish not only in words, but also in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
In verse 17 Paul says, “And in everything, whatever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” The name denotes the person. The Lord’s Person is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17a). To do things in the name of the Lord is to act in the Spirit. This is to live Christ.
We have seen that as the new man we are one with Christ and that our living should be in union with Christ. In order to live in this way, we need to allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate within us. This peace should have the last word and should make the final decision. As we allow the peace of Christ to preside in us, we should simultaneously allow the word of Christ to dwell in us and to have free course to work in us. As long as the peace of Christ arbitrates in us and the word of Christ dwells in us, we shall have a proper daily living, as described in 3:18—4:1. We shall be proper husbands, wives, parents, children, slaves, and masters. What we need today is to live in union with Christ, to be ruled by the peace of Christ, and to be inhabited by the word of Christ.