"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 to the Lord."
Colossians 3:16
“Let the word of Christ.”
Allow the wonderful words of Jesus Christ to penetrate your heart and take up lodging there. Learn well His teachings and doctrines, appreciate and fall in love with His words. We, believers, need to be well acquainted with the Lord’s teaching. We need to be close friends with His Gospels, for we want to know Him well.
“Tell me the story of Jesus,
write on my heart every word;
tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard.
Tell how the angels, in chorus,
Sang as they welcomed His birth,
‘Glory to God in the highest!
Peace and good tidings to earth.’
Refrain:
Tell me the story of Jesus,
write on my heart every word;
tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard.” [1]
“Dwell in you richly in all wisdom.”
To “dwell in you” is to be “at home” there. His words are no strangers to us. They live in us. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has taken up permanent residence in us. And not just a few crumbs of His truth, but a whole feast! We are wealthy with the Gospel truth. And these beautiful words make us wise.
“Teaching and admonishing one another.”
As Christ cares for us, so we care for others, we teach them and warn each other. And it’s not just through the spoken word, but also,
“In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.”
Our worship of Christ is designed to bless the Lord. And as we worship Him together in song, we educate each other also.
“The word of Christ is to dwell in them so richly that it finds spontaneous expression in religious song in the Christian assemblies or the home” [2] (Peake).
“Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Because of Christ’s grace, we have plenty to sing about.
“Singing with grace. Or, more literally, ‘in grace,’ Christ’s grace.” [3]
The “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,” are part of our public worship, edifying each other through our praise to the Lord. “Singing with grace in your hearts” is our private worship, our personal devotion to the Lord. This praise is in our hearts and expressed to the Lord there; this is where our worship begins. We ought to be very careful. Without our genuine “private worship,” our “public worship” could be hypocritical. If we are giving public praise to the Lord but have not praised Him in our private meditations, something is wrong. Our public praise and worship should spring up from hearts that are full of individual, personal appreciation to the Lord. As with our willing service, Christ desires our worship to be “from the heart” (Ephesians 6:6).
[1] The first verse and refrain of, “Tell Me the Story of Jesus” by Fanny J. Crosby, 1880. Copyright Status: Public Domain.
[2] Peake, as quoted by Guzik. David Guzik’s Enduring Word Commentary, the electronic version in eSword.
[3] Popular New Testament, A Popular Commentary on the New Testament, the electronic version in eSword.