Homily 9 — Colossians 3, verses 16 and 17

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” [a]

He had urged them to be thankful; now he also shows them the way to do it, the way I spoke to you about not long ago. And what does he say? “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Or rather, he shows not only that way, but another as well. For I said that we ought to count up those who have suffered more terrible things, those who have gone through heavier sufferings than ours, and give thanks that such things have not fallen to our lot. But what does he say? “Let the word of Christ dwell in you” — that is, the teaching, the doctrines, the counsel in which he says that the present life is nothing, and its good things nothing either (Matthew 6, verse 25, and the verses that follow). If we know this, we will give way before no hardship whatever.

“Let it dwell in you,” he says, “richly” — not simply dwell, but in great abundance. Listen, all of you who live in the world and have a wife and children to look after: see how he entrusts the reading of the Scriptures especially to you as well, and not to be done carelessly or any which way, but with great earnestness. A man rich in money can pay fines and damages; in the same way, a man rich in the doctrines of philosophy will bear not poverty only but every disaster easily — yes, more easily than the other. For when the rich man pays the fine, he must be made poorer and come up short, and if this happens to him often, he will not be able to bear it any longer. But here it is not so. We do not even use up our sound thoughts when we have to bear something we would not choose; they stay with us always. And notice the wisdom of this blessed man. He did not say simply, “Let the word of Christ be in you.” What, then? “Dwell in you,” and “richly.”

“In all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another.” “In all,” he says. He calls virtue wisdom. Humility is wisdom; almsgiving and other things like it are wisdom; just as their opposites are folly, for cruelty too comes from folly. That is why Scripture in many places calls all sin folly. “The fool,” someone says, “has said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14, verse 1); and again, “My wounds stink and are rotten because of my foolishness” (Psalm 38, verse 5, in the Greek Old Testament). [c]

For tell me, what is more foolish than a man who wraps himself up in his own clothes but takes no notice of his brothers and sisters who are naked; who feeds dogs and does not care that the image of God is starving; who is merely persuaded that human things are nothing, and yet clings to them as if they were immortal? As nothing is more foolish than such a man, so nothing is wiser than one who achieves virtue. Look, someone will say, how wise he is! He shares what he has; he is compassionate; he is kind to his fellow human beings; he has thought well on the fact that he shares a common nature with them. He has thought well on the use of wealth: that it deserves no esteem, and that we ought to spare bodies akin to our own rather than spare our money. The man who despises glory is wise through and through, for he understands human affairs; and the knowledge of things divine and human is philosophy. So he knows which things are divine and which are human; from the one he keeps himself, and on the other he spends his efforts. And he knows how to give thanks to God in all things; he counts the present life as nothing. So he is neither delighted by prosperity nor grieved by the opposite.

Do not wait, I beg you, for someone else to teach you; you have God’s own words. No one teaches you as they do. A human teacher often begrudges you a great deal, out of empty glory and envy. Listen, I beg you, all of you who are busy with this life: get books that will be medicines for the soul. If you will get nothing else, at least get the New Testament — the apostles’ letters, the Acts, the Gospels — to be your constant teachers. If grief comes upon you, dive into them as into a medicine chest; draw from them comfort for your trouble, whether it is a loss, or a death, or the loss of relatives. Or rather, do not merely dive into them; take them wholly into yourself and keep them in your mind.

This is the cause of all our evils: not knowing the Scriptures. We go into battle without weapons — how can we come out safe? We should be well content to come through safely with them, let alone without them. Do not throw the whole load on us! You are sheep, yes, but not sheep without reason; you are rational beings. Paul entrusts a great deal to you as well. Those who are being taught are not meant to be learning forever; if they were, they would never really be taught at all. If you are always learning, you will never learn. Do not come meaning to be always learning — that way you will never know — but come so as to finish learning and to teach others. In the trades, do not all people stay for a set time? And in the branches of learning, and in short, in all the arts? So we all fix a definite, known period. But if you are forever learning, it is sure proof that you have learned nothing. [d]

God made this very reproach against the Jews: “Born from the belly, and instructed even to old age” (Isaiah 46, verses 3 and 4, in the Greek Old Testament). If you had not always expected to go on being taught, things would not all have gone backward like this. If it had been otherwise — some having finished learning and others about to finish — our work would have moved forward. You would have made room for others, and you would have helped us besides. Tell me: if some people went to a teacher of letters and kept on learning their letters forever, would they not give their teacher a great deal of trouble? How long must I keep speaking to you about how to live?

In the apostles’ time it was not like this. They kept springing from place to place, appointing those who had learned first to be the teachers of others still under instruction. That is how they were able to go around the world: they were not tied to one place. How much instruction, do you think, your brothers and sisters in the countryside need, they and their teachers? But you keep me riveted here. For until the head is set right, it is useless to go on to the rest of the body. You throw everything on us. You alone should be learning from us, and your wives from you, and your children from you. But you leave everything to us. That is why our toil is beyond measure.

“Teaching,” he says, “and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” Notice how considerate Paul is here too. Since reading is hard work and its tedium great, he led them not to the histories but to the psalms, so that you might delight your soul with singing and at the same time gently lighten your labors. “Hymns,” he says, “and spiritual songs.” [e]

But as it is, your children will sing the songs and dances of Satan, like cooks and caterers and musicians. No one knows any psalm; it seems something to be ashamed of, even a mockery and a joke. There is the storehouse of all these evils. Whatever soil a plant stands in, that is the kind of fruit it bears. If it stands in sandy, salty soil, its fruit is the same; if in sweet, rich soil, again the fruit matches. So the material of instruction is a kind of spring.

Teach him to sing those psalms that are so full of the love of wisdom — for instance, about chastity; or rather, first of all, about not keeping company with the wicked, right at the very beginning of the book. That is why the prophet began this way: “Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly” (Psalm 1, verse 1). And again: “I have not sat in the council of emptiness” (Psalm 26, verse 4, in the Greek Old Testament). And again: “In his sight an evildoer is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord” (Psalm 15, verse 4, in the Greek Old Testament). Teach him about keeping company with the good — you will find these subjects there in abundance — about restraining the belly, restraining the hand, keeping from excess, not grasping for more; that money is nothing, nor glory, and other things like these.

Once you have led him through these from childhood, little by little you will lead him on even to the higher things. The Psalms contain everything, but the hymns, for their part, have nothing human in them. When he has been instructed from the Psalms, he will then come to know hymns as well, as something more divine. For the powers above sing hymns, not psalms. “A hymn,” someone says, “is not fitting in the mouth of a sinner” (Sirach 15, verse 9). And again: “My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may sit with me” (Psalm 101, verses 6 and 7, in the Greek Old Testament); and again, “He who acts with arrogance has not lived in the midst of my house”; and again, “He who walked in a blameless way, he served me” (Psalm 101, verse 6, in the Greek Old Testament). [f]

So you should carefully keep them from mixing, not only with friends, but even with servants. The harm done to freeborn children is beyond reckoning when we set corrupt slaves over them. Even when they enjoy all the benefit of a father’s love and wisdom, they can hardly be kept safe all the way through. When we hand them over to the unscrupulousness of servants, those servants treat them like enemies. They think the children will make gentler masters for them once they have made them utter fools, weak, and worthy of no respect.

More than all other things together, then, let us give serious attention to this. “I have loved,” he says, “those who love your law” (Psalm 119, verse 165, not exactly). Let us too imitate this man, and love such people. And so that the young may also be taught chastity, let them hear the prophet saying, “My loins are filled with illusions” (Psalm 38, verse 7, in the Greek Old Testament); and again let them hear him saying, “You will utterly destroy everyone who goes astray from you in sexual immorality” (Psalm 73, verse 27, in the Greek Old Testament). And that one ought to restrain the belly, let them hear again: “And he killed the greater part of them while the food was still in their mouths” (Psalm 78, verse 30, in the Greek Old Testament). [g]

And that they ought to be above bribes: “If riches abound, do not set your heart on them” (Psalm 62, verse 10). And that they ought to keep glory beneath them: “Nor will his glory go down after him” (Psalm 49, verse 17). And not to envy the wicked: “Do not be envious of those who do wrong” (Psalm 37, verse 1). And to count power as nothing: “I saw the ungodly lifted up on high, raising himself like the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed by, and look, he was gone” (Psalm 37, verse 35). And to count these present things as nothing: “They called the people happy who have these things; happy are the people whose helper is the Lord their God” (Psalm 144, verse 15, in the Greek Old Testament).

That we do not sin unnoticed, but that there is a recompense: “For you will repay each person according to his works” (Psalm 62, verse 12, in the Greek Old Testament). But why does he not repay them day by day? “God is a judge,” he says, “righteous and strong and patient” (Psalm 7, verse 11). That humility is good: “Lord,” he says, “my heart is not lifted up” (Psalm 131, verse 1). That pride is evil: “That is why,” he said, “pride took hold of them completely” (Psalm 73, verse 6, in the Greek Old Testament); and again, “The Lord resists the proud” (Proverbs 3, verse 34); and again, “Their injustice will come out as from fatness” (Psalm 73, verse 7, in the Greek Old Testament). That almsgiving is good: “He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever” (Psalm 112, verse 9). And that showing pity is praiseworthy: “Good is the man who shows pity and lends” (Psalm 112, verse 5). And you will find many more teachings there than these, full of true philosophy — for instance, that one ought not to speak evil: “The one who secretly slandered his neighbor, him I drove away from me” (Psalm 101, verse 5, in the Greek Old Testament).

What is the hymn of those above? The faithful know. What do the cherubim above say? What do the angels say? “Glory to God in the highest.” That is why the hymns come after the psalm-singing, as something more perfect. “With psalms,” he says, “with hymns, with spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.” He means either this: that God has given us these things by grace; or, songs sung in grace; or, admonishing and teaching one another in grace; or, that they had these gifts by grace; or else the phrase is added to explain, and he means, from the grace of the Spirit. [j]

“Singing in your hearts to God.” Not simply with the mouth, he means, but with close attention. This is singing “to God”; the other is singing to the air, for the voice scatters and comes to nothing. Not for display, he means. Even if you are in the marketplace, you can gather yourself together and sing to God, with no one hearing you. Moses too prayed in this way and was heard, for God says, “Why are you crying out to me?” (Exodus 14, verse 15) — although Moses said nothing. He cried out in his thoughts, which is why God alone heard him, with a crushed heart. For no one is forbidden, even while walking, to pray in his heart and to dwell on high.

Verse 17: “And whatever you do,” he says, “in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” [m]

If we do this, nothing will be polluted, nothing unclean, wherever Christ is called on. If you eat, if you drink, if you marry, if you travel, do everything in the Name of God — that is, calling on him to help you. In everything, pray to him first, and then take hold of your business. Do you want to say something? Put this first. That is why we too put the Name of the Lord at the head of our letters. Wherever the Name of God is, everything bodes well. If the names of the consuls make documents secure, how much more does the Name of Christ! Or he means this: say and do everything after God, and do not bring in the angels besides.

Are you eating? Give thanks to God both before and after. Are you going to sleep? Give thanks to God both before and after. Are you heading out into the marketplace? Do the same — nothing worldly, nothing of this life. Do everything in the Name of the Lord, and everything will prosper for you. Whatever the Name is placed on, all things bode well. If it drives out demons, if it drives away diseases, much more does it make business easy.

And what does it mean to act “in word or in deed”? Either asking for something or doing anything whatever. Listen to how Abraham sent his servant in the Name of God, and how David killed Goliath in the Name of God. His Name is marvelous and great. Again, Jacob, sending off his sons, says, “May my God give you favor in the sight of the man” (Genesis 43, verse 14). For whoever does this has God for his ally, and without him he would not dare to do anything. Since God is honored by being called on, he will honor them in turn by making their business easy. Call on the Son, give thanks to the Father. For when the Son is called on, the Father is called on; and when the Father is thanked, the Son has been thanked. [n]

Let us learn these things, not only as far as words go, but so as to carry them out in deeds as well. Nothing is equal to this Name; it is marvelous everywhere. “Your Name,” he says, “is ointment poured out” (Song of Songs 1, verse 3). Whoever has spoken it is at once filled with fragrance. “No one,” it says, “can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (First Corinthians 12, verse 3). Such great things this Name does. If you have said, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” with faith, you have accomplished everything. See what great things you have done! You have created a man, and done all the rest that comes from baptism.

So too, when it is used to command diseases, the Name is terrible. That is why the devil brought in the names of the angels, envying us the honor. Such incantations belong to the demons. Even if it is an angel, even an archangel, even the cherubim, do not allow it. These powers will not accept such appeals either; they will fling them away from themselves when they see their Master dishonored. “I have honored you,” he says, “and have said, Call on me” — and do you dishonor him? If you chant this incantation with faith, you will drive away both diseases and demons. And even if you fail to drive away the disease, that is not from lack of power; it is because it is better that it should be so. “According to your greatness,” he says, “so also is your praise” (Psalm 48, verse 10).

By this Name the world has been converted, the tyranny broken, the devil trampled underfoot, the heavens opened. By this Name we have received new birth. If we have this, we shine. This makes both martyrs and confessors. Let us hold it fast as a great gift, so that we may live in glory and be well-pleasing to God, and be counted worthy of the good things promised to those who love him, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, forever and ever. Amen.