Section 148
156Such as the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), Benedictus (Luke 1:68-79), and Nunc Dimittis (Luke 2:29-32), which have been used in Christian praise from the early centuries. Other canticles or portions of canticles have been recognized in the Christ-hymns of Col. 1:15-20; Phil. 2:6-11; and 1 Tim. 3:16, in the baptismal hymn of Eph. 5:14 (see p. 376, n. 43), and in the lyrics of Revelation (where the heavenly choir sings the hymns which are echoed by the church on earth). See R. P. Martin, Carmen Christi: Philippians ii.5-11 (Cambridge, 1967); “Some Reflections on New Testament Hymns,” in Christ the Lord, ed. H. H. Rowdon (Leicester, 1982), pp. 37-49; R. Deichgräber, Gotteshymnus und Christushymnus in der frühen Christenheit (Göttingen, 1967); J. T. Sanders, The New Testament Christological Hymns (Cambridge, 1971); M. Hengel, “Hymn and Christology,” Studia Biblica 3 = JSNT Sup. 3 (Sheffield, 1980), pp. 173-97, reprinted in Between Jesus and Paul (London, 1983), pp. 78-96.
157“Spirit-inspired,” as in the translation above. Cf. 1 Cor. 14:15, ψαλѽ τῷ πνεύματɩ. Spiritual songs continued to be sung after NT times; cf. the Song of the Star (Ignatius, Eph. 19:2-3) and the Odes of Solomon—not to mention such gnostic compositions as the Hymn of the Pearl (Acts of Thomas 108-13) and Hymn of Christ (Acts of John 94-96).
158In WH the punctuation comes after ἐν [τῇ] ϰάϱɩτɩ, as though the meaning were “teaching and instructing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with grace” (followed by “singing in your hearts to God”). Dibelius (ad loc.) deduces from the article in ἐν [τῇ] ϰάϱɩτɩ that the phrase means something like “in a state of grace” (in his second edition of 1927 he had opted for the meaning “with thanks”). The RSV is probably right in rendering “with thankfulness” (linking εὐϰάϱɩστοɩ in v. 15 and εὐϰαϱɩστοῦντες in v. 17). Cf. Heb. 12:28, where ϰάϱɩς (“thanks”) is necessary for the acceptable worship of God “with reverence and awe.”