Iv. Worship And The Trinity
IV. WORSHIP AND THE TRINITY
That leads me finally to take a closer look at the twin passages in Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:18-20. My interest in doing so is twofold: (a) to note the role of singing in the worship of the Pauline churches; and (b) to note that truly Christian worship is ultimately Trinitarian.
Colossians 3:16 appears toward the conclusion of a series of exhortations (w. 12-17) that indicate what it means for the believers in Colosse to live as those “raised with Christ” (v. 1), while Ephesians 5:18-20 occurs as the transitional word between the long list of general exhortations that began in 4:17 and the more specific ones that deal with relationships within the Christian household.
Here are passages full of intriguing information about worship in the Pauline churches. I begin by noting what we learn from the opening exhortations (“let the word of Christ dwell in your midst richly” and “but be filled with the Spirit”).
1. Everything about the contexts, and the language of both sentences in particular, indicate that Paul is here reflecting on the Christian community. These are not words for the individual believer, but for believers as the people of God in relationship with one another. In Colossians that is especially clear. Beginning with v. 12, everything has the community in sight, since everything is for, or in light of, “one another.” Thus in the immediately preceding exhortation (v. 15), which sets the pattern for the present one, they are to let the peace of Christ rule in their hearts, since it is to this that they have been called together as one body.
Verse 16 views these relationships within the context of the gathered people of God at worship, where they are to teach and admonish one another as one way that the word of Christ will dwell “in them” richly. This means that the prepositional phrase “in/among you,” even though it modifies the verb “indwell” and would ordinarily mean “within you,” here means “in your midst.” The indwelling “word of Christ,” therefore, in its two forms of “teaching and admonishing one another” and of “singing to God,” has to do with the church at worship.
If the community context in Ephesians is less immediately certain, it is clearly in view, since the whole passage from 4:1 through chapter 6 takes up community life, how they are to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (4:3).
2. In the same vein, it is significant to note that the compound participles, “teaching and admonishing,” are the same two that Paul used in Colossians 1:28 to describe his own ministry. Here, then, is clear evidence that Paul did not consider “ministry” to be the special province of either apostles or office-holders. As in the earliest of his letters (1 Thess 5:14), these kinds of activities in the Christian assembly are the responsibility of all believers.
This is quite in keeping with the picture that emerges in 1 Corinthians 14:26 as well, where he admonishes in a presuppositional way, that “when you come together, each one has a hymn, etc.... for the strengthening of the church.”
3. The primary concern of the exhortation in the Colossians passage is with the “word of Christ.” In Paul this invariably means “the message of the gospel with its central focus on Christ.” This, after all, is what the letter is all about: Christ the embodiment of God, Christ the All-sufficient one, Christ, creator and redeemer. Paul now urges that this “word of Christ,” which in part he has already articulated in 1:15-23, “dwell in their midst” in an abundant way.
In so doing, they will reflect precisely what we learned about worship from 1 Corinthians 11:4-5. Part of their activity will be directed toward one another (“teaching and admonishing one another”), and part toward God (“singing to God with your hearts”). Thus the “riches” of the gospel are to be present among them with great “richness.” The structure of the sentence as a whole indicates that songs of all kinds are to play a significant role in that richness.
4. The parallel passage in Ephesians makes explicit what we would have guessed in any case, that Paul considers all of this activity to be the result of their being filled with the Spirit. Thus, however we are to understand the adjective “Spiritual” in relation to the various expressions of song, Spirit songs are at least one expression of the Spirit’s presence, whose “fullness” will guide and inspire all of the worship in its several expressions.
When we turn from these opening clauses to the rest of the two sentences, we learn still more about Paul’s understanding of Spirit-inspired worship.
1. It needs to be noted, first of all, that where the Spirit of God is, there is also singing. The early church was characterized by its singing; so also in every generation where there is renewal by the Spirit a new hymnody breaks forth. If most such songs do not have staying power, some of them do, and become the treasure trove of our ongoing teaching and admonishing of one another, as well as of our constantly turning to God the Father and God the Son and offering praise by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
2. But having said that, it is doubtful whether we are finally able to draw fine lines between the three words used to describe the singing. The “psalm,” for example, may well include the Old Testament Psalter, now taken over into the worship of the Christian communities; but one would be bold indeed to limit it to such. This, after all, is the word used for the (apparently) more spontaneous singing of 1 Corinthians 14:26, and its corresponding verb is likewise used in 1 Corinthians 14:15 to refer to Spirit-inspired “praise to God” in tongues, as well as with the mind. Thus, even though New Testament usage is undoubtedly conditioned by the fact that the hymns of Israel were called “psalms,” there is no good reason to understand it as limited to those hymns. What is suggested by this word, of course, is a song that is in praise of God.
So also the word “hymn.” In the Greek world, this word was used exclusively of songs sung to deities or heroes, and thus would never be used, for example, of the bawdy songs of the bistro. Therefore, “hymns” also refer to singing praise to/about God, or in the case of the New Testament to/about Christ as well, as the evidence from the Revelation makes especially clear.
The third word, “songs,” covers the whole range of singing, so Paul qualifies it here with reference to the Spirit. As already noted, the adjective pneumatikos (“spiritual”) in Paul ordinarily refers to the Spirit, either directly or indirectly. Here in particular the ordinary meaning prevails. We are dealing with songs that are inspired by the Spirit. This is most likely an indication of a kind of “charismatic hymnody,” similar to that alluded to in 1 Corinthians 14:15-16 and 26, in which Spirit-inspired, and therefore often spontaneous, songs were offered in the context of congregational worship.
Therefore, even though “Spiritual” could well modify all three nouns — the psalms and hymns would also be “of the Spirit” — it is more likely that it is intended to modify “songs” only, referring especially to this one kind of Spirit-inspired singing. The word “songs,” after all, is the one which the recipients of the letter would least likely associate with worship, since it covers the whole range of “songs” in the Greek world, whereas the other two are usually sung to a deity.
3. Very likely we have fragments of such psalms, hymns, and Spirit songs embedded in our New Testament documents. The Revelation, for example, is full of “new songs” sung to God and to the Lamb. That is almost certainly the case with Ephesians 5:14 and 1 Timothy 3:16 as well. But more significantly for this letter, the considered opinion of most New Testament scholars is that Colossians 1:15-18 also reflects such a hymn about Christ. If this is so, and there are no good reasons to doubt it, then that would also explain why Paul thinks of these various kinds of hymns and Spirit songs as a means of their “teaching and admonishing one another.” Such songs are at the same time creedal, full of theological grist, and give evidence of what the early Christians most truly believed about God and his Christ.
4. The background to such two-dimensional worship, hymns that are at once directed toward God and a means of teaching and admonishing one another, is to be found in the Old Testament Psalter. There we find dozens of examples of hymns addressed to God in the second person, which also have sections in the third person, extolling the greatness or faithfulness of God for the sake of those singing to him.53
The use of hymns in the New Testament documents indicates how clearly they also function in this two-dimensional way for the early church. Most of them are about Christ, and as such are both in worship of him and for the continuing instruction of God’s people. The clear implication of 1 Corinthians 14:15-16 and 26 is that “Spirit songs” in the Pauline communities are also to be understood in this way. Singing “with the mind” (= singing intelligible words by the Spirit) is understood as praise to God, and something to which the rest respond with the Amen; and the “psalm” in 14:26 is precisely for the “building up” of the others. Unfortunately, many contemporary Christians do not think of their singing in these terms, and thus miss out on one of the significant dimensions of our reason for singing.
5. Let me conclude, finally, by noting that in its own non-reflective way, Colossians 3:16 is a crucial “Trinitarian” text. There are more than a score of such texts in Paul. But in contrast to the others, where the Father initiates salvation, which the Son effects and the Spirit applies, here the order is reversed. Christ still plays the central role, hence they must let the “word of Christ” dwell lavishly in their midst. But the same Spirit who applied salvation now helps to initiate response through Spirit-inspired songs reflecting the message about Christ, and all to the praise of God.
The God who created and redeemed is worthy of all praise. The Spirit who was present at creation and became present to bring us to life in redemption, now leads us in the worship and praise of our Redeemer and Creator. In Paul, therefore, our worship is as Trinitarian as our experience of God and our theology. Obviously, it is the presence of the Spirit among us as we gather in Christ’s name that makes it so.