The Word of Christ

The Holy Spirit has instructed all Christians by the apostle Paul: “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). In order to obey this command from God, we need to understand:

1. What is this “word of Christ”?
2. How do we “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom”?
3. What are these “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs”?

We will answer the first of these three questions in this article.

So, what is this “word of Christ” that the apostle Paul is speaking about? If word of Christ is narrowly defined, then it means the teachings about Christ (the Messiah) wherever they are found in the Scriptures. Broadly defined, “word of Christ” means the Bible.

In their commentaries on Colossians 3:16:

• Matthew Poole takes “word of Christ” to mean, the “doctrine of the Bible, more especially of the gospel”.
• Matthew Henry says, “The gospel is the word of Christ, which has come to us”. He expands and applies this in the following way: “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”.
• John Brown of Haddington says, “Let the holy Scriptures, of which Christ is the Author, Matter, and End, be applied to, and fixedly reside in, your hearts” (Self-Interpreting Bible).
• Archibald Hall says, “The word of Christ should dwell richly in every Christian, Colossians 3:16 … Now, can we hope to obtain this valuable ends, without an attentive, serious, frequent, personal reading of God’s word?” (Gospel Worship, Volume 1).

If we would have the word, or doctrine, of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom, then we must begin where the word of Christ begins: in the Old Testament Scriptures. We will find Christ in Genesis and all the way through Malachi if we have eyes to see. As Jesus himself told the Pharisees, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). Those scriptures possessed by the Pharisees (and all the Jews)—all these scriptures, not just a portion of them—testified of Christ. Paul affirms that the gospel of Christ is in full accordance with the Old Testament Scriptures: “I declare unto you the gospel…Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

What we call the Old Testament Scriptures was simply known as “the scriptures” (the writings), or “the holy scriptures” (see e.g. 2 Timothy 3:15), before the New Testament Scriptures were written.¹ Of course, the New Testament Scriptures are also now included as the “word of Christ”. The Holy Scriptures as Christians have them today, both Old and New Testaments, are together the word of God; and it is ultimately by the Word of God (our Lord Jesus Christ himself; John 1:1-3, 14), and by the Holy Spirit, that God always makes himself known.

God the Father “at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1). And when he spoke to the prophets, the Father was speaking by the agency of the Son of God himself. As the apostle Peter affirms: “Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow” (1 Peter 1:10-11). The prophets committed to writing these prophecies from the Spirit of Christ; and we have those writings. The fact that the Lord Jesus Christ later came to earth and spoke more directly to his people (Hebrews 1:1-2) does not contradict the fact that he has also spoken to them (and to us) through the Old Testament prophets.

It was the Holy Spirit, whom Peter here calls the “Spirit of Christ” because he was sent by Christ and revealed Christ, who prophesied to the prophets about the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.² This glory that has followed the sufferings of Christ is all summed up in one word by the apostle: salvation. As he had written in the previous verse: “Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you” (1 Peter 1:9). The prophets enquired of God, and they searched diligently for his answer to their prayers. And God answered those prayers: the prophecy, fore-revelation, advance news of Christ was indeed given to them. Their prophecies are the gospel of Christ to come, who has now come.

Our Lord Jesus Christ confirmed that “…all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44). By his saying “all things” in these scriptures, Christ indicates that very many things were written concerning him. There are so many prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures, and there are the ceremonial law’s high priests, sacrifices, altar, and the tabernacle, and the temple—all these and more are prophetic types and figures of Christ. Rather than give you a shortlist, here I will simply say that many of these prophecies and types are referred to in the Epistle to the Hebrews, in the New Testament Scriptures. This epistle proves who the Lord Jesus Christ is, and it explains the gospel of “eternal salvation” (2:1-3; 5:9) in the New Covenant (New Testament) that Christ has accomplished as our high priest, who ministers in the “true tabernacle” (8:1-2), which is “heaven itself” (9:24), and who has redeemed his people by the sacrifice of himself (ch.9). All this and more concerning the Messiah who has now come, Hebrews proves from the Old Testament Scriptures.

But as this is a series of articles about the Psalms, I will here list examples of several of these prophecies that are found in the Psalms:

• The sufferings of Christ: Psalms 22:1-21; 34:20; 40:4-8; 41:9; 55:12-13; 69:4, 9, 21.
• The glory that follows because his sufferings, both in the Church on earth and in Heaven: Psalms 16:8-11; 22:22-31; 23; 34:22; 46; 68:28-35; 72; 80:18-19; 84; 93; 96; 100; 103:17-22; 117; 145; 148-150.

Peter has more to say concerning the Old Testament Scriptures in his Second Epistle. For some background information: Peter’s main work of ministry as an apostle was to the Jews (Acts 2; Galatians 2:8); although he also brought the gospel of Christ to the Samaritans and to the Gentiles (Acts ch.8; 9:31-32; ch.10). Christians who were Jews by birth were the intended primary readership in his First Epistle (see 1 Peter 1:1); but what Peter wrote was not for them exclusively but for all Christians. In his second epistle, however, Peter writes “to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1). This opening may indicate that Peter wrote his second epistle intentionally “to them” Gentiles who have obtained like precious faith “with us” of Israel who believe in Christ. If this is the correct interpretation of this verse, then Peter is here embracing Gentiles as having “like precious faith”, regarding them as no less than his equals—full brothers and sisters in the people of God (as Christ taught him, in Acts 10:9-16; 34-48). And certainly, everything Peter teaches in this second epistle is also for all Christians in general.

One reason why Peter wrote his second epistle was to uphold the truth of the gospel against the accusation that the apostles taught something out of man’s imagination, that did not come from God. No, says Peter, “we have not followed cunningly devised fables”. In this “we” he includes both himself and those that were with him accompanying Jesus on the mount of transfiguration: James and John. We have not been led astray from our God or from his Scriptures by elaborate myths invented by men; and neither did we preach myths to you “when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16). These doctrines were not invented to draw Jews away from God; and neither were they invented to give Gentiles a cult in which elements of Jewish and pagan teachings are combined.

No, but we ourselves were eyewitnesses of that honour and glory which our Lord Jesus Christ “received from God the Father” in the glory-cloud coming down upon him, and in his being transfigured before us, so that we saw his countenance altered and his raiment white and glistering (Luke 9:29) while he, the Son of God, prayed to God his Father. And, more importantly than what we saw with our own eyes—we have God’s own explanation of what these things signified, in the unmistakable voice of God himself speaking from heaven, that made us understand this honour and glory and majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ, when the Father proclaimed: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (2 Peter 1:17).

Peter had professed his own understanding of who Jesus is when he said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16) before Christ took them up the high mountain (Matthew 17:1-9). And this audible voice of God that Peter, James and John heard was a further confirmation to them of who Christ is. “And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount” (2 Peter 1:18).

Peter here referred back to this wonderful event in his life to lay a foundation for what he will say next in his epistle, in order to emphasise it with the greatest force. From this high vantagepoint of having seen Christ transfigured, and having heard God the Father own his Son directly from heaven, Peter now directs us to the Holy Scriptures—the Old Testament Scriptures, as the revelation from God that is even more compelling to us all than the voice of God speaking directly from heaven to those few men who were there, for proving to us all that Jesus is the Christ.

Peter confesses that the ever-present (Old Testament) Scriptures make himself, James, John, and all the apostles more sure—more convinced that the gospel of Christ is true than what they themselves experienced so many years before. More important than the transfiguration of Christ that we saw with our eyes, and more important that the voice of God that we heard with our own ears, is what we have now in the Scriptures of God that we all possess in our hands, hearts and minds. These Scriptures are God’s “word of prophecy” committed to writing; here and now, we have every “prophecy of the scripture”—we have all those many predictive prophecies, ceremonial laws, and types of the Christ who was to come (2 Peter 1:19-20).

This is who Jesus is. The Fulfiller of all the Scriptures! He himself is the Christ of the Scriptures, who has now come. This is the Christ whose power and coming we have made known to you, says Peter; to you who were the first readers of my epistle and the hearers of the aposotlic teachings. Peter commends them as believers of this gospel. To these Holy Scriptures, “you” my intended readers, who have received like precious faith with us—“you do well that you take heed”. The word of prophecy is to you, and you have evidently taken heed of it, “as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (v.19).

That day, the day of the Messiah, has dawned. Your spiritual eyes have been opened so that you see the Lord Jesus Christ himself in the Old Testament Scriptures. You have properly taken heed of his prophecies and types—you see them in him and him in them! You believe the gospel that this Jesus whom we know and whom we preach to you is that Christ who has now come. The “day star” only seems to introduce the new light at dawn, but Christ really has brought into our hearts the bright new day of salvation. This Jesus is the Christ of the Scriptures, and he saves his people from their sins (e.g. see Isaiah 53; Matthew 1:21; 1 Peter 1:10-11; 2:24-25).

In calling the Old Testament Scriptures the “word of prophecy”, Peter emphasises their primary subject, Christ himself—the same as Paul did when he called them the “word of Christ”. The primary purpose of the Old Testament Scriptures is this: they are all one great prophetic word pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus the apostle affirms, the word of Christ that we preach is essentially the same word of Christ that the old prophets received and committed to writing—with this difference: the fulfulment that they looked forward to, we have seen and heard and handled with our own hands (see 1 John 1:1-3)!

Now we also have this word of prophecy today, these very same oracles³ of God. The Jews already revered and loved their Scriptures that they possessed; and the new Gentile Christians in the First Century AD had come to likewise revere and love them. And as Peter says, today we also would do well to take heed of what is written in the Old Testament Scriptures, as of a light that shines brightly in the darkness of this world and that leads us to the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

The first thing we should know about the Holy Scriptures is that these words are God’s words, which he has given through human authors. As Peter affirms concerning the Old Testament Scriptures: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). By “private interpretation” Peter means that these writers did not simply let loose a flow of words from their own speculation, reasoning, imagination, or will. As he explains in the next verse: “For the prophecy came not in old time” (the time of the Old Testament, that was before Peter) “by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (v.21). This mighty river of words did not originate from the prophets themselves but from God; and they were “moved” (translating a Greek word meaning “carried along”) by God the Holy Spirit to speak what they spoke and write what they wrote. This is true even though their parental upbringing, education, culture, history, experiences, and personalities are included in their writings, because God used them and their words to bring his words to be committed to writing. And God has preserved their words—his words—down through the centuries to Peter’s day, and ever since then down to our day.⁴

“Let the word of Christ” throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, and the New, “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).