Daily Verse Daily Verse by Faithlife | Colossians 3:16
- Thread starter SCAdmin
- Start date
I really like this one.
Here are some commentaries:
3:16 The words teaching and admonishing express the means of how the gospel is to dwell among believers. Singing and gratitude characterize the manner of this teaching and admonishing.
Köstenberger, A. J. (2017). Colossians. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 1898). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
Colossians 3:12–17 therefore represents Paul’s instructions on how to live as the community of God’s renewed people. In this passage Paul exhorts the Colossians to imitate their Lord in His forgiveness of others (Col 3:13), to let “the peace of Christ” determine every decision and action in their lives, and to let “the word of Christ” dwell richly among them. The final verse of the section sums up Paul’s charge to the Colossians: Everything they do should be done “in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:17).
Brown, D. R. (2013). Colossians. (D. Mangum, Ed.) (Col 3:1–17). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Wright, N. T. (1986). Colossians and Philemon: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 12, pp. 148–149). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Dunn, J. D. G. (1996). The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon: a commentary on the Greek text (pp. 235–236). Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: William B. Eerdmans Publishing; Paternoster Press.
Here are some commentaries:
3:16 The words teaching and admonishing express the means of how the gospel is to dwell among believers. Singing and gratitude characterize the manner of this teaching and admonishing.
Köstenberger, A. J. (2017). Colossians. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 1898). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
Colossians 3:12–17 therefore represents Paul’s instructions on how to live as the community of God’s renewed people. In this passage Paul exhorts the Colossians to imitate their Lord in His forgiveness of others (Col 3:13), to let “the peace of Christ” determine every decision and action in their lives, and to let “the word of Christ” dwell richly among them. The final verse of the section sums up Paul’s charge to the Colossians: Everything they do should be done “in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:17).
Brown, D. R. (2013). Colossians. (D. Mangum, Ed.) (Col 3:1–17). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
16. The tasks Paul described as his own in 1:28 are not his alone: they are for the whole church, as you teach and admonish one another, in the mutual forgiveness and trust of verses 12–15. This activity is further described in two ways. First, it is to be achieved by letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly. The first phrase could refer to the teaching about Jesus Christ, stories such as we now have in the Gospels; and certainly there is something attractively wholesome in Williams’ comment, ‘be at home in the Gospel story, and let it be at home in you, so that it may be always ready for use’. But it more likely refers to the gospel message announcing what God has done in and through Christ, which was set out in 1:15–20 and applied to the Colossian situation in 2:6ff.; or, just possibly, to the word which Christ speaks in the present by his Spirit. None of these possibilities, of course, should be played off against another: the gospel message and the word given in the present are both recognized as authentic by their conformity with the man Jesus himself. This word is to dwell in them ‘richly’: the church is to be stocked with good teaching as a palace is filled with treasures. The teaching is to be with all wisdom: the ‘word’ concerns Christ, Wisdom himself (2:3, etc.), and will be characterized by wisdom in the teachers.
This ministry of teaching and admonishing is to be part of a life of thankfulness that overflows into song: as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. Linking the two parts of the verse in this way suggests that the singing is not the sole or primary means of teaching, though Christian hymns and songs have often been a powerful means of implanting and clarifying Christian truth. Rather, the ministry of instruction should always be seen as one part of a total life characterized by grateful worship. ‘To God’ could go with ‘singing’ instead of ‘gratitude’. But niv and rsv probably express Paul’s meaning. ‘In your hearts’ gives the location, not of the singing (though it should of course be heartfelt), but of the gratitude.
Wright, N. T. (1986). Colossians and Philemon: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 12, pp. 148–149). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
3:16 ὁ λόγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐνοικείτω ἐν ὑμῖν πλουσίως, ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ διδάσκοντες καὶ νουθετοῦντες ἑαυτούς, ψαλμοῖς ὕμνοις ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς ἐν [τῇ] χάριτι ᾄδοντες ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν τῷ θεῷ. The immediately preceding exhortations do not seem particularly to have been occasioned by the situation confronting the Colossian believers (contrast 3:1–4). They have a suitability and relevance to all churches of all times. Indeed, their relaxed character, if anything, suggests that the situation in Colossae fell well short of a crisis. One feature of the Colossian “philosophy” which seemingly was proving attractive, however, was its adherents’ experience of worship, of a worship shared, it would appear, with the angels (see 2:18, 23). Not surprisingly, therefore, this sequence of parenesis is rounded off by a description of the worship which the Colossian Christians should be enjoying and, by implication, should find sufficiently fulfilling—at least enough to reduce the attractiveness of the Jewish angel worship.
The elements of Christian worship commended are not altogether surprising: “the word of Christ,” teaching and admonition, and singing and thanksgiving, elements which have been a feature of typical Christian worship from the beginning till now. But this is in fact one of only a handful of passages that give us some insight into the content and character of earliest Christian worship and enable us to say anything at all about it (the most obvious others are 1 Cor. 14:26 and Acts 2:42; cf. Ernst, Philipper, Philemon, Kolosser, Epheser 229). Quite how the elements are related to each other is not made clear: Is it a coordinated series, the instruction explaining how the indwelling takes place, the singing as the means of (cf. Eph. 5:19) or the response to the instruction? Or is it an uncoordinated series, the elements appearing in different combinations in different gatherings? Unfortunately, we cannot tell, though the first clause is certainly the principal clause. Nevertheless, for those with liturgical interests the details are of more than usual interest. The failure to mention or refer to any leaders here (prophets or teachers) may be significant (cf. Gnilka, Kolosserbrief 200) as indicating a responsibility for worship shared by all (see also my Jesus chs. 8–9).
Dunn, J. D. G. (1996). The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon: a commentary on the Greek text (pp. 235–236). Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: William B. Eerdmans Publishing; Paternoster Press.