Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
– Colossians 3:16 (ESV)
Have you ever noticed that a lot of the “3:16” verses in the New Testament are amazing?
What I picture when I read this verse is the foundation of a healthy, balanced church. Notice the ingredients:
1. The words of Jesus, who is the Word of God, dwelling in us richly. What a great choice of words: to “dwell” means to “live and make one’s home in”. This is not a call for us to merely learn the Bible. It goes far beyond that. It is aking those sacred words in, letting them dwell in us, a living influence and governor over our thoughts, actions and words. And the words of Christ are not to just live a poor, shabby existence in our lives. No, they are to dwell in us richly; putting down deep roots, taking up the best rooms in our spiritual “house”.
2. Members of the body teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. Each member of the Body of Christ is commanded and empowered to build up those around them. To “admonish” means to “reprove gently but earnestly”. “Reprove” means “to find fault with”. There is a corrective principle in the church that is to be put in action, gently but earnestly, and with wisdom. If done right, this is a beautiful thing. If done right, it is God’s grace lived out among brothers and sisters who are not content to let eachother fail.
3. Rejoicing and worshipping in song together. We are to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, thanking God for all He’s done. When the voice of the church is lifted up in spirit and in truth, there is nothing like it. As an aside, churches are splitting these days in their wars over worship. I’m no theologian, but it appears to me that God grants us freedom here to sing psalms (and what a treasure-trove the psalms are), hymns (for those who love the great songs of the faith) and spiritual songs (which can include almost anything God-honoring, including praise choruses and modern worship). I don’t see any way to lose here, provided attributes 1 and 2, above, are put in practice.
Picture a Body living all three of these! And let us begin being that Body in our world.