PT-1 "The Word of God" (Col. 3:16)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/11/2017 8:48 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  The Word of Christ

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Colossians 3:16

            Message of the verses:  “16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

            This is a very special verse, and we can compare it with a verse from the letter to the Ephesians, which were written by Paul during the same time period.  “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord (Eph. 5:19).

            “In John, denotes the essential Word of God, Jesus Christ, the personal wisdom and power in union with God, his minister in creation and government of the universe, the cause of all the world’s life both physical and ethical, which for the procurement of man’s salvation put on human nature in the person of Jesus the Messiah, the second person in the Godhead, and shone forth conspicuously from His words and deeds.

            “This term was familiar to the Jews and in their writings long before a Greek philosopher named Heraclitus used the term Logos around 600 B.C. to designate the divine reason or plan which coordinates a changing universe. This word was well suited to John’s purpose in John 1,” (Greek/English Dictionary).

            Let’s look at “dwell,” where John MacArthur writes “Dwell is from enoikeo and means ‘to live in,’ or ‘to be at home.’  Paul calls upon believers to let the Word take up residence and be at home in their lives.”

            Richly “plousios” means and could be translated abundantly or even extravagantly rich.  This, of course is speaking of the Word of God, the Bible, and Scripture should permeate every aspect of the believer’s life, and it should also govern every thought, word, and also deed.  I understand that this is very difficult to do, and without the Holy Spirit living in believers it is impossible. 

            MacArthur writes “To let the word of Christ richly dwell’ is identical to being filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18).”  Now remember I wrote that Ephesians 5:19 is very similar with Colossians 3:16, and if you add Ephesians 5:18 before 19 and then compare it with Ephesians 3:16 you have an even better match.  MacArthur goes on to write that “The Word in the heart and mind is the handle by which the Spirit turns the will.  It is clear that these two concepts are identical because the passages that follow each are so similar.”  As mentioned both letters were written near the same time by Paul when he was in prison, and MacArthur goes on to write that  “Colossians 3:18-4:1 IS A MORE BRIEF PARALLEL TO Ephesians 5:19-6:9.  The result of being filled with the Holy Spirit is the same as the result of letting the Word dwell in one’s life richly.  Therefore, the two are the same spiritual reality viewed from two sides.  To be filled with the Spirit is to be controlled by His Word.  To have the Word dwelling richly is to be controlled by His Spirit.  Since the Holy Spirit is the author and the power of the Word, the expressions are interchangeable.”

We will look at the rest of verse 16 in our next SD.

5/11/2017 9:09 PM