In Colossians 3:17 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.” Doing all things in the name of the Lord Jesus is related to letting the word of Christ saturate us and permeate us. We are filled, saturated, and permeated with the Word by praying, singing, and psalming the Word and giving thanks to God the Father for the Word. In this way we stir up our whole being, our mind, will, emotion, and spirit.
However, instead of being stirred up by the Word, many Christians are halfhearted in relation to the Word; their contact with the Word is extremely cool. We should not read the Bible in this way. On the contrary, we need to let the word of Christ inhabit us by singing, praying, psalming, and thanking. The more we exercise in this way, the more our inner being will be stirred up, and the more the word of Christ will not only saturate us, but become mingled with us. In this way our entire inner being will be saturated with the word of Christ.
The word of Christ is actually the embodiment of Christ. Thus, when the Word as the embodiment of Christ is mingled with our inner being, inwardly we are one with Christ. It is at such a time that we can spontaneously do things in the name of the Lord. Because the Lord has saturated us, permeated us, and mingled Himself with us, making us one with Him, we can do all things in His name. To do things in the Lord’s name means to do things in Him.
Colossians 3:17 corresponds to Philippians 4:13, where Paul tells us that he can do all things in the One who empowers him. If the words in Him are not to be simply terminology but a practicality and a reality to us, we need to let the word of Christ saturate our whole being. When the word of Christ enters into us and stirs us inwardly, we are truly one with Christ. We are in Him actually and experientially. Then just as we live by the food we have eaten, digested, and assimilated, we shall do all things in the name of the One with whom we have been permeated, saturated, and mingled and with whom we are one in a practical way.
In Colossians 3:18—4:1 Paul gives a charge to wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters. The wives are to be subject to their husbands, the husbands are to love their wives, the children are to obey their parents, the fathers are not to provoke their children, the slaves are to obey their masters, and the masters are to grant their slaves that which is just and equal. But how is a wife to submit to her husband, or a husband to love his wife? The only way to submit or to love is to be in the name of the Lord, to be one with the Lord.
Notice that 3:18—4:1 is the direct continuation of Paul’s word in verses 16 and 17. This means that if we are not in the name of the Lord Jesus, one with Him by having the word of Christ dwell in us richly, we cannot submit or love. The fulfillment of all the charges given by Paul in this portion of Colossians comes out of being “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” If a sister is mingled with the Lord and one with Him, she will spontaneously submit to her husband. Likewise, if a husband is mingled with the Lord, he will automatically love his wife. In like manner, a child will honor his parents, a father will refrain from provoking his children, a slave will obey his master, and a master will give to his slave what is just and equal. This means that a wife must submit to her husband in the name of the Lord, and a husband must love his wife also in the name of the Lord. Furthermore, children should obey their parents, parents should care for their children, servants should obey their masters, and masters should be fair to their slaves—all in the name of the Lord.
In 4:2 Paul goes on to say, “Persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving.” Having become one with the Lord by singing, psalming, praying, and thanking, we need to preserve this oneness by persevering in prayer. By prayer we preserve the oneness, the mingling with the Lord. To persevere in prayer is to pray continually, unceasingly. This is necessary if we are to live Christ.
In Ephesians 5:18 Paul tells us to be filled in our spirit. With what should our spirit be filled? We need to be filled in spirit with the rich word of Christ. When we let the word of Christ inhabit us richly, this word will saturate us and produce an inner filling. We shall be filled with the riches of Christ contained in the Word, filled even unto all the fullness of God. When a brother is filled in this way, God will love his wife through him. Likewise, when children are filled like this, their honoring of their parents will be with the fullness of God.
Most Christians today are taught to live according to ethics. They neglect the Triune God dispensing Himself into the believers and mingling Himself with them that they may live Him. Some even go so far as to oppose this revelation. They accuse us of lowering God, of uplifting man, and of teaching pantheism and evolution into God. What blindness and ignorance! The Bible teaches that God was incarnated. He even stooped so low as to be born in a manger. Eventually, after Christ was crucified on the cross, He was buried in a tomb and even descended into Hades in order to prepare the way to enter into us. It is not we who have uplifted man; it is Christ who has uplifted us. According to the New Testament, when He ascended, we ascended also. Otherwise, how could we be seated with Him in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6)?
It is indeed sad that so many divine truths are neglected by Christians today. But in His mercy the Lord has shown these things to us. We have seen from the Bible that the Triune God wants to come into us, mingle Himself with us, and uplift us to the heavens that we may live with Him and be one with Him. If this is our experience, then everything we do will be in the name of the Lord Jesus. What a blessing it is to see this marvelous truth! It will take eternity to make known how much we have been blessed by the Lord in seeing this. Oh, what a blessing that we can do all things in the name of the Triune God! If a sister submits to her husband in the name of the Triune God, her submission will be wonderful, divine, altogether different from submission that is according to the ethics of Confucius. Her submission will not be by the natural human life, but by the divine life which has been wrought into her.
It is a wonderful fact that as believers we possess the divine nature. Second Peter 1:4 says that we are partakers of the divine nature. The way to enlarge the sphere of the divine nature within us is to take the word of Christ not only by reading, but also by praying, singing, psalming, and thanking. If the word of Christ is to dwell in us richly, we need to open our entire being and exercise our spirit. Then the Word will enter into us, stir us up, and become mingled with us, causing us to be one with the Lord in an actual and practical way. As a result, we shall do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus. Spontaneously we shall live Christ. We shall be one with Christ in deeds and words.
Therefore, to do all things in the Lord’s name is to do all things in oneness with the Lord by reading, praying, singing, and psalming the Word, exercising our spirit to be mingled with the Word and thereby to become one with Christ experientially. Then we shall live Christ, doing all things in His name. This is the normal Christian living.