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COLOSSIANS - Christ in you, the hope of glory!
Studies in the Letter of Paul to the Colossians
Part 3 - What Does Your Resurrection Life Look like? (Colossians 3:1-17)
18. The Elixir that Keeps a Church Alive (Colossians 3:16)
Colossians 3:16
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
The power of God is hidden in His word. By His word He created all elements and creatures and revealed to Moses His law. The word of God leads us to repentance and heals sickness. It realizes in us the forgiveness of our sins and comforts the saddened. The word of the Lord renews man and will judge the world. We should never underestimate the word of God. The authority and power of the triune God works in it!
In strange manner, Paul does not write of the word of God, but of the Word of Christ! There is an essential difference between the Old and the New Testament. The Old Testament is occupied mainly with the themes involving the first article of faith, while the New Testament revolves around salvation in Christ, as well as the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit, corresponding to the second and third articles of faith. These themes are only prophetically touched upon in the 39 books of the Old Testament. The description of the person of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit are clearly and extensively outlined in the Scriptures of the New Testament. The books of the Old Testament resemble the ground floor of a building, through which one can pass to the second and third floors. The ground floor, however, does not contain the fullness of information and power that are found in the second and third floors. With the gospel of Christ, there dawned a new epoch of world history; the age of the grace of God had entered through the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. This age of grace continues until this day.
Which words of Christ were they that the church in Colosse possessed, between the years 56-62 A.D., which were to dwell in them? The Gospel of Mark (64 A.D.) did not exist when Paul wrote this letter, and neither did the books of John (85-90 A.D.). Presumably, the Gospel of Luke (A.D. 60) was still being composed and would hardly have showed up in the remote church at Colosse. Perhaps a copy of the Gospel of Matthew, composed in Aramaic or Hebrew and translated into Greek around 50 A.D., had been written down and taken to Colosse. It may be that under the term “word of Christ”, excerpts from the collection of the words of Jesus, either written or oral, and under the supervision of the apostle (Luke 1:2), were being preciously handled by the churches in Anatolia. Furthermore, Paul had described his own words and letters as being “our or my gospel of Christ”. These epistles had not been made up by him, but contained only the words which his Lord had revealed to him (Rom. 2:16; 16:25; 1 Cor. 9:16; 15:1; 2 Cor. 4:3; Gal. 1:8-9; 1 Thes. 1:5; 2 Thes. 2:14).
Regarding the content of the “word of Christ”, they not only contain the description of His life, including His deeds and words, but especially His law, with more then 1,000 commands, as well as His completed salvation, accomplished on the cross and in His resurrection from the dead. To that also belong His promises regarding the coming of the Holy Spirit and His prophecies over the coming final judgment. In the event this term, “Word of Jesus”, also include the proclamation of Paul, so do the inspiring words also bear testimony to the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit and His Divine power. Included in this expression, however, is not the Law of Moses, with its 365 prohibitions and its 248 commands. Neither does it include the teaching of the Pharisees and the scribes, coming amidst the Jewish Christians, against which Paul fought with strong emotion. Rather, it testifies to salvation by faith alone, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, just as Paul clearly testified in his letters. Teachers that offered and tried to force through other ways to salvation, Paul called “accursed”! (Gal. 1:8-9)
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we thank You for each of Your words. They are our life, our strength and our salvation. We thank You that, in our day and age, we possess not just one Gospel (in four accounts - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), but five, for we also understand the inspired writings of Paul to be one of Your gospels. Help us, so that Your words in us and through us will complete the purpose in us for which You sent them. Amen.
Question 44: Why are the words of Jesus so indispensable in their importance?