Free Bible Commentary
“Colossians 3:15-17”
Categories: Colossians“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 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. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
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There are three things that we must do as individuals if we want to be united in Christ with our brethren and pleasing to God in heaven: We must let the peace of Christ rule within us (verse 15), the word of Christ dwell within us (verse 16), and the name (authority) of Christ govern all our words and actions (verse 17). Of course, the word of God is the linchpin of this trio that provides God’s peace and reveals Christ’s sovereign authority.
We often like to think about Philippians 4:7 which says, “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” And we rightly love the imagery of that indescribable, invaluable inner peace “guarding” or protecting our hearts. But we must be careful to let Christ’s peace “rule” in our hearts as well. To “rule” means to “umpire”. We need to learn to “let” or “allow” God’s peace to “settle” those inner conflicts that we struggle with, as well as the disputes we sometimes have with other Christians.
Since it is in the Bible that we learn God’s plan for sending His Son to die for our sins so that we can be reconciled to Him and have “peace through the blood of His cross” (1:20), we really need to fill ourselves up with “the word of Christ.” The less time we spend in God’s word, the less internal and external peace we will experience in our lives. Singing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…with thankfulness” in our hearts helps fill the heart with peace as well. Singing along with A/C D/C or Motley Crew might not provide an adequate release for stress, and may likely increase it! But singing God’s praises from hearts filled with thankfulness will help the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts.
But we must be careful to not settle for false peace. We can salve our consciences and pacify our relationships by just “going along to get along.” Whatever we do in word or deed must all be done “in the name of the Lord Jesus” if we truly want to have peace with God. This means that we have to appeal to the revelation of Christ and obey His authority in everything that we believe, say and do in order to be in a right relationship with God. Inner peace and peaceful relationships are secondary at best. Our first priority must be to please God in all respects (Colossians1:10) if we want to go to heaven when we leave this world and all its turmoil behind.
Please read Colossians 3:18-21 for tomorrow.
Please come worship God with us this Lord’s Day at the Taylorsville Road church of Christ. We are located at 3741 Taylorsville Road in Louisville Kentucky.
We offer Bible classes for all ages at 9:30 AM and we assemble for worship at 10:30 AM and 5:00 PM.
Have a blessed Lord’s Day!
- Louie Taylor
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