(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three) (Part Four) (Part Five)

One last post in this series before we begin to look specifically at the application of the gospel to particular family and societal relationships. Consider Colossians 3:16.

Colossians 3:16—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.

The phrase “the word of Christ” is just another way of referring to the gospel. The word that is to dwell richly in the congregation at Colossae is the word about the Messiah, the one who in himself, seated at the right hand of God, is the New Creation. Paul is exhorting the Colossians to let the message of what God has done in and through the Messiah fill every aspect of their corporate existence. This is what it means for the word of the Messiah to dwell richly in them.

Paul goes on to say that not only must the gospel dwell richly in their teaching and admonishing and in their singing, but also in everything that they do, in word or deed (verse 17). It is not until after this point in his epistle that Paul begins to make concrete applications to specific areas of life. In other words, it is not until after Paul has established the functional centrality of the gospel in all of life that he gives commands to wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters. Therefore, as interpreters, we must be very careful not to separate these commands from the gospel message as it is articulated in Colossians.