Richly in All Wisdom

The context of both Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 is the apostle Paul’s instruction on personal and congregational godly living.¹ Growth in holiness happens in all Christians while we remain in this world. Our all-embracing “chief end” is to glorify God on earth before we enjoy him forever in heaven.²

Where do we learn what the Christian life involves? As the apostle says, we learn this in the word of Christ, that is, in the Holy Scriptures.³ And how well do we need to learn the word of Christ? We must learn it all so deeply, that it transforms us by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2) and actually changes our lives as we seek to glorify God by obeying his word, through the enabling of the Holy Spirit within us. As Paul says: we must “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16a).

So, what do we need to do to let the word of Christ, all the Holy Scriptures, dwell in us richly in all wisdom? According to the apostle, we need to be “teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in [our] hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16b).

Let the Bible Be the Master of Your Heart

Before we move on to determine what these psalms and hymns and spiritual songs are, let us here have a serious look at the enourmous task that God himself, through the apostle Paul, has given us to do. Let the word of Christ dwell in you. Dwell in you richly. Richly in all wisdom.

The following quotes from Reformed Christian authors explain what the Scripture-filled, word-of-Christ inhabited life looks like.

From Matthew Henry’s Commentary at Colossians 3:16:

The gospel is the word of Christ, which has come to us; but that is not enough, it must dwell in us, or keep house—enoikeito, not as a servant in a family, who is under another’s control, but as a master, who has a right to prescribe to and direct all under his roof. We must take our instructions and directions from it, and our portion of meat and strength, of grace and comfort, in due season, as from the master of the household. It must dwell in us; that is, be always ready and at hand to us in every thing, and have its due influence and use. We must be familiarly acquainted with it, and know it for our good (Job 5:27). It must dwell in us richly: not only keep house in our hearts, but keep a good house. Many have the word of Christ dwelling in them, but it dwells in them but poorly; it has no mighty force and influence upon them. Then the soul prospers when the word of God dwells in us richly, when we have abundance of it in us, and are full of the scriptures and of the grace of Christ. And this in all wisdom. The proper office of wisdom is to apply what we know to ourselves, for our own direction. The word of Christ must dwell in us, not in all notion and speculation, to make us doctors, but in all wisdom, to make us good Christians, and enable us to conduct ourselves in every thing as becomes Wisdom’s children.

On Colossians 3:16, John Brown of Haddington says in his Self-Interpreting Bible:

“Let the holy Scriptures, of which Christ is the Author, Matter, and End, be applied to, and fixedly reside in, your hearts, as constant means of renewed influences from him, and of directing your whole conversation [i.e. the conduct of your life]; and be mutually helpful in instructing and exciting one another to bless and praise God in every proper form; not only with grateful harmonious voices, but with spiritual and gracious affections toward Jesus Christ, and God in him”.

In Gospel Worship (Volume 1), Archibald Hall says:

“The word of Christ should dwell richly in every Christian, Colossians 3:16, to fill his understanding with the most useful and exalted truths; with the most sublime sentiments, just reasonings, and solid judgment about them: to fill his will with the most excellent and substantial goodness, to command his hearty consent, and entirely to subdue him to the obedience of Christ: to fill his affections with pure and spiritual pleasure, and thoroughly to possess all their powers and motions, to the exclusion of every disorderly passion and appetite: to fill his conscience with tenderness, light, faithfulness, and peace, and to purify it from all stupidity, rash judgment, and deceit: and to fill his memory with a large flock of its most important doctrines, precepts, and promises, under whatever form they are delivered to us; that he may readily call them to mind for suitable reflections and improvements [i.e. improving himself], as occasions require. Thus it should take complete possession of his whole soul, till all his capacities of receiving this precious treasure are stored with it, that it may daily issue out of his lips, and shed its glorious virtues through his life. Now, can we hope to obtain this valuable ends, without an attentive, serious, frequent, personal reading of God’s word?”

The Word of God Is the Source of All Wisdom

Paul had twice used the phrase “all wisdom” earlier in his Epistle to the Colossians. In all three times including here at Colossians 3:16—this wisdom comes from God; it is taught in the Holy Scriptures; it is learned by the people of God; it is God’s instruction to us in the way we should live; and, to the extent that we obey it, we live to the glory of God by this wisdom. The imparting and receiving, the instruction and application of “all wisdom” from God results in all godly living. Therefore, “get wisdom” (see Proverbs 4). “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever” (Psalm 111:10).

In the first instance, Paul prays that the Gentile Christians at Colosse will learn God’s wisdom, and that they will live their lives according to it: “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it [i.e. heard of the Colossians’ love in the Spirit to all the saints; an evidence of their saved, new heart], do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:9-10).

Paul described gospel-believers (“us”) as those people whom God has delivered out of the kingdom of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of his dear Son, and transformed them, making them meet (suitable, appropriate, worthy) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (1:12-13). See here again: all wisdom properly learned is manifested in all godliness.

All those people who will partake of the inheritance of the saints in light (all Christ-redeemed, God-forgiven citizens of the kingdom of the Son of God) have the new-heart desire to be filled with all the wisdom of God, and the Spirit-enabled ability to be fruitful in every good work. This is what God himself has “made us meet” for. Christians are changed people! Believe what the apostle says. And give thanks to God the Father for his work in you, as Paul did for the Colossians.

The Mystery of the Messiah, Promised and Fulfilled

In the second instance, the apostle Paul confidently declares that his own gospel teaching is in full accordance with God’s “all wisdom”. By the revealed mystery from God that Paul preaches, on the last day he (and “we”, those with him who preached the same gospel) might have the honour of presenting all who recieve and continue in these teachings of the faith as holy, unblameable, unreprovable, and “perfect in Christ Jesus” in the presence of God in glory:

“And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he [Christ] reconciled [to God] in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven whereof I Paul am made a minister; who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily” (Colossians 1:21-28).

All through the progressive revelation of the Old Testament Scriptures, this mystery was promised in the ceremonial laws, in the predictive Messianic prophecies, and in the types and figures, but it “hath been hid” (or as Paul says elsewhere, “kept secret”, Romans 16:25) until Christ himself came. And now the good news is: this mystery is now revealed. The Messiah has come, as promised, to “fulfil the word of God”. This good news, this gospel, is to be preached to “every man”—both Jews and Gentiles. And all who believe that the revelation of this mystery is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Fulfiller the word of God—they have “the faith” and they are saved by him: they are reconciled to God and made holy and unblamable and unreprovable in God’s sight. And these holy people, these saints, now have the same Christ in them, the hope of glory. As the apostle Peter says elsewhere: the Day-Star himself has arisen in their hearts (2 Peter 1:19).

The truth is as the Lord Jesus Christ himself affirmed to his first disciples, who became his apostles: “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:44-48). The “all wisdom” of the Old Testament Scriptures was now understood by them: no longer unclear because unfulfilled, and no longer were they kept from seeing him in these scriptures by a veil over their understandings (see 2 Corinthians 3:14-18; 4:3-4; Acts 16:24).

The Revelation of the Mystery Made Known to All Nations

In the doxology that culminates his Epistle to the Romans, Paul said to the Christians there: “Now to him [to God] that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen” (Romans 16:25-27).

Thus Paul preached Christ from the Old Testament Scriptures to Jews and Gentiles, as did the other apostles who were eye-witnesses of the fulfilment of these things.⁴ He made known Christ “by the scriptures of the prophets…for the obedience of faith”. And the Jesus Christ whom Paul made known was, and still is, “according to the revelation of the mystery”. In Paul’s missionary, evangelistic, and pastoral labours, he went about the lands of “every creature which is under heaven” as far as he was able, to bring them the revelation of this mystery—that the Saviour, Jesus Christ has come—out of the wisdom of God that he carried in his hand, mind, and heart. This was Paul’s gospel that he spread abroad in his own obedience to Christ’s great commission (see Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19-20).

Paul did not merely bring people to the door of the Christian life and leave them there once they had entered. Building upon the sure beginning of the revelation of the mystery to Jews and Gentiles, he continues preaching about the new life of faith and obedience as Christ’s disciples. He established churches and set pastors over them, and wrote Epistles that became part of the New Testament Scriptures, and instructed them to continue in the Old Testament Scriptures too for what is still Christian doctrine, for Christian reproof, for Christian correction, for Christian instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

How to Continue in the Faith

So, dear fellow believer of this same gospel, receiver of this same inheritance of the saints in light: we can never be content with a one-sentence or four-point summary of the gospel! It is not a tiny point of light, but it illuminates all the Holy Scriptures, and all the inheritance of the saints that is revealed throughout it. We must let the word of Christ, the whole word of God, dwell in us richly in all wisdom. Always be much in the word of God. No part of the Bible must be unknown or unloved by you.

How do we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom? How does the wisdom of God get off the page and into our souls? How do we actively take the word of Christ into our minds, and into our hearts, so that it takes up residence in us so richly that we are filled with all wisdom and all godliness ourselves? How does it get outworked by us, with the Holy Spirit’s enabling, in godly living? Surely this should be our ongoing aim, our heart’s desire, to spend the rest of our earthly lives and all eternity doing.

How do we do it? Surely, by studying the whole word of Christ, and by learning from those who study it, especially from Scripture-trained, Scripture-filled preachers who are enabled and ordained by God. Yes, that’s all true, but what the apostle commands us to do is: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).

Paul will go on in his epistle to mention a few applications of this “all wisdom” that he would see particularly addressed in the church of Colosse. But obviously, this is not the extent of all wisdom’s application. So, Paul will lift our eyes again to view the whole Christian life-scape where he says: “And whatsoever ye do” in bringing all wisdom to bear fruit in your life, “do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (v.23).

But let us stop here awhile and make sure we get the significance of this: Paul has not become confused, and nor has he switched out the whole “word of Christ” for a collection of songs, placing those in our hands instead. No. But what Paul does here is give us, as it were, a key to unlock all wisdom. Or, a map of the whole word of Christ.

A Campaign Map for Taking in the Whole Bible

According to Paul, the Book of Psalms is both:

1. A summary overview of the whole word of Christ (both Old and New Testament Scriptures; for the New is concealed in the Old, and the Old is revealed in the New) that we can memorise as we sing them to into our souls; and
2. A framework for application God’s wisdom in the life of every man, woman, and child of God.

The apostle would have us learn all Scripture that we may learn all wisdom; and he here gives us a campaign map for taking in the whole of it—taking the word of Christ in, so that it dwells in us richly, so that it takes up residence in us and makes us rich in Scripture and wise in all wisdom, and so that we may be holy and perfect in the sight of God. That we might be Christ’s disciples indeed. Bearing much fruit in Christ, of the Spirit, unto God (John 15:1-8; Romans 6:22; 7:4; Galatians 5:2-23; Ephesians 5:9; Colossians 1:6;). For we must deeply and thoroughly apply the word of Christ to our souls, that the Holy Spirit might change us and sanctify us.

The Psalms are God’s instrument to deeply implant his word into our hearts. They are like God’s team of surgeons, or the farmer’s seed drill. They are like a map that coordinates the word of God into the heart of the saint.

As we study the Book of Psalms, we find that it contains a God-given summary of the whole of the inscripturated Divine revelation—both Old and New Testaments, both Law and Gospel—provided by the Logos, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. For back of David, Solomon, Moses, Asaph, Korah, Heman, Ethan, and others⁵ who received these inspired Psalms, these “fathers” of the people of God (Hebrews 1:1), it was the Spirit of Christ (1 Peter 1:10-12) who gave us the Psalms. Christ is the Prophet who prophesied to the prophets, including those who composed the Psalms. And that is why, as Paul said of the whole Old Testament Scriptures, the Psalms are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus, and why they are the instrument that Paul prescribes for letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.

This is also how me must be “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). To be filled with the Holy Spirit we must be filled with Holy Scripture, the “word of Christ”, the word full of the words of Christ that was committed to writing by “holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:19-21). It is by speaking to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs that we grow as Christians, provided we do so with “singing and making melody in our hearts (and communal, unified church heart)⁶ to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5:19-21). All of this happens—or, all of this should happen—in the mutual edification and accountability of the Psalm-singing church.

If you desire to have the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, and if you desire to be filled with the Spirit—then join a church where the fellowship of the Lord’s people, in their public worship of God, teach and admonish one another by these psalms and hymns and spiritual songs of which Paul writes, through singing them together with grace in their heart as one to the Lord. (Such a church, of course, also needs the preaching and pastoring likewise to be full of the word of Christ.)

But if you find a church where they merely sing the Psalms out of tradition or habit, with their hearts no longer in it—they are not doing it right! They may pretend to honour God with their lips, and to be seen of men, but not to mutually edify one another; but God looks on the heart and he sees that their hearts are far from him (1 Samuel 16:7; Isaiah 29:13).

Make the Psalms the songs of your life and, in everything you do—including worshipping God by the Psalms—“whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Colssians 3:23).

A Little Bible, and an Anatomy of All the Parts of the Soul

Martin Luther had a high appreciation for the Book of Psalms. He understood them to be “a little Bible” containing, in concentrated form, “blessed doctrines and instructions in godliness” to be dearly and highly prized for teaching us both Christ himself and Christian living:⁷

“I would say what I think of the Psalms in a few words thus: I believe, for my part, that there is no book under heaven, either of histories or examples, to be compared to the Book of Psalms. Wherefore, if it were right to ask of God, and, if such were our soul’s desire, that all the greatest excellences and most choice experiences of all the true saints should be gathered and collected from the whole church since it has existed, and should be most briefly and appropriately condensed into the focus of one book; if God, I say, should permit any most spiritual and most gifted man to form and concentrate such a book from all the excellences of the saints, and from the flower of the facts recorded in the whole scripture (which might be done); such a book would be what the Book of Psalms is, or like unto it. For in the Book of Psalms we have not the life of one of the saints only, but we have the experience of Christ himself, the head of all the saints, for he is set forth in those Psalms: we have, moreover, the feelings and experiences of all the faithful, both under their sorrows and under their joys, both in their adversity and their prosperity: how they conducted themselves towards God, towards their friends, and towards their enemies: how they acted in various perils and afflictions, in the midst of temptations, and under the greatest necessities.

And moreover, in addition to the great and blessed doctrines and instructions in godliness which it embraces, the Book of Psalms ought to be most dearly and highly prized by us on this account; because it contains such clear prophecies concerning the death and resurrection of Christ, and holds forth such great and gracious promises concerning the kingdom of Christ, the spread of the Gospel, and the state of the whole church. So that you may truly call the Book of Psalms, a little Bible; for in it all things that are contained in the whole Bible are given to us in the most wonderfully brief and sweet manner, and condensed into a most beautiful manual.”

John Calvin famously called the Book of Psalms “An Anatomy of all the Parts of the Soul”. I will here quote Calvin at length, that he may explain what he means by this, from his Preface to the Book of Psalms in his Commentaries⁸ (but I have split his long paragraph into shorter portions, and added some explainers in [square brackets]):

But as it is better to give to my readers some taste, however small, of the wonderful advantages they will derive from the study of this book [of Psalms], than to be entirely silent on the point, I may be permitted briefly to advert to a matter, the greatness of which does not admit of being fully unfolded [here in a Preface].

I have been accustomed to call this book [of Psalms], I think not inappropriately, “An Anatomy of all the Parts of the Soul;” for there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror. Or rather, the Holy Spirit has here drawn to the life [a drawing of life-like accuracy and detail] all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities, in short, all the distracting emotions with which the minds of men are wont to be agitated.

The other parts of Scripture contain the commandments which God enjoined his servants to announce to us. But here the prophets themselves, seeing they are exhibited to us as speaking to God [in prayer and praise], and laying open all their inmost thoughts and affections, call, or rather draw, each of us to the examination of himself in particulars in order that none of the many infirmities to which we are subject, and of the many vices with which we abound, may remain concealed. It is certainly a rare and singular advantage, when all lurking places are discovered [i.e. uncovered or exposed within us], and the heart is brought into the light, purged from that most baneful infection, hypocrisy.

In short, as calling upon God is one of the principal means of securing our safety, and as a better and more unerring rule for guiding us in this exercise cannot be found elsewhere than in The Psalms, it follows, that in proportion to the proficiency which a man shall have attained in understanding them, will be his knowledge of the most important part of celestial doctrine.

Genuine and earnest prayer proceeds first from a sense of our need, and next, from faith in the promises of God. It is by perusing these inspired compositions, that men will be most effectually awakened to a sense of their maladies, and, at the same time, instructed in seeking remedies for their cure. In a word, whatever may serve to encourage us when we are about to pray to God, is taught us in this book.

And not only are the promises of God presented to us in it, but oftentimes there is exhibited to us one [self; such as you or I] standing, as it were, amidst the invitations of God on the one hand, and the impediments of the flesh on the other, girding and preparing himself for prayer: thus teaching us, if at any time we are agitated with a variety of doubts, to resist and fight against them, until the soul, freed and disentangled from all these impediments, rise up to God; and not only so, but even when in the midst of doubts, fears, and apprehensions, let us put forth our efforts in prayer, until we experience some consolation which may calm and bring contentment to our minds.

Although distrust [our lack of trust in God] may shut the gate against our prayers, yet we must not allow ourselves to give way, whenever our hearts waver or are agitated with inquietude, but must persevere until faith finally come forth victorious from these conflicts. In many places [in the Psalms] we may perceive the exercise of the servants of God in prayer so fluctuating, that they are almost overwhelmed by the alternate hope of success and apprehension of failure, and gain the prize only by strenuous exertions. We see on the one hand, the flesh manifesting its infirmity; and on the other, faith putting forth its power; and if it is not so valiant and courageous as might be desired, it is at least prepared to fight until by degrees it acquire perfect strength.

But as those things which serve to teach us the true method of praying aright will be found scattered through the whole of this Commentary [on the Psalms], I will not now stop to treat of topics which it will be necessary afterwards to repeat, nor detain my readers from proceeding to the work itself. Only it appeared to me to be requisite to show in passing, that this book [of Psalms] makes known to us this privilege, which is desirable above all others—that not only is there opened up to us familiar access to God, but also that we have permission and freedom granted us to lay open before him our infirmities which we would be ashamed to confess before men.

Besides there is also here prescribed to us an infallible rule for directing us with respect to the right manner of offering to God the sacrifice of praise, which he declares to be most precious in his sight, and of the sweetest odour. There is no other book [of Scripture] in which there is to be found more express and magnificent commendations, both of the unparalleled liberality of God towards his Church, and of all his works; there is no other book in which there is recorded so many deliverances nor one in which the evidences and experiences of the fatherly providence and solicitude which God exercises towards us are celebrated with such splendor of diction, and yet with the strictest adherence to truth, in short, there is no other book in which we are more perfectly taught the right manner of praising God, or in which we are more powerfully stirred up to the performance of this religious exercise.

Moreover although The Psalms are replete with all the precepts which serve to frame our life to every part of holiness, piety, and righteousness, yet they will principally teach and train us to bear the cross; and the bearing of the cross is a genuine proof of our obedience, since by doing this, we renounce the guidance of our own affections and submit ourselves entirely to God, leaving him to govern us, and to dispose of our life according to his will, so that the afflictions which are the bitterest and most severe to our nature, become sweet to us, because they proceed from him.

In one word, not only will we here find general commendations of the goodness of God, which may teach men to repose [rest and trust] themselves in him alone, and to seek all their happiness solely in him; and which are intended to teach true believers with their whole hearts confidently to look to him for help in all their necessities; but we will also find that the free remission of sins, which alone reconciles God towards us and procures for us settled peace with him, is so set forth and magnified, as that here there is nothing wanting which relates to the knowledge of eternal salvation.

This is how we too ought to understand the Psalms. This is why we should learn them for ourselves, and why we should teach and admonish one another while we sing them together with grace in our hearts to the Lord. If we have never known the Psalms in this way, let us learn them afresh. If we have sinfully neglected them even while singing them (giving God false honour with only our lips), then let us repent and be forgiven by God, and let us be transformed, renewed, and revivified by the Book of Psalms.

What Luther and Calvin say above is echoed and expanded upon throughout the writings of the Reformers and Puritans. They understood that the personal experiences of the Psalmists were of men who had a real relationship with God from a regenerate heart. The Psalms are not the songs of the unconverted. This is why they loved the Book of Psalms so much—for, being part of the “all scripture” that is given by inspiration of God, and here given in concentrated form and very personally applied, the Psalms are full of doctrine, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.