γίνεσθε. ^{16}Ὁ λόγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐνοικέιτω ἐν ὑμῖν πλουσίως ἐν πάσῃ
σοφίᾳ· διδάσκοντες καὶ νουθετοῦντες
16, 17. ‘Let the inspiring word of Christ dwell in your hearts,
enriching you with its boundless wealth and endowing you with all
wisdom. Teach and admonish one another with psalms, with hymns of
praise, with spiritual songs of all kinds. Only let them be pervaded
with grace from heaven. Sing to God in your hearts and not with your
lips only. And generally; whatever ye do, whether in word or in deed,
let everything be done in the name of Jesus Christ. And (again I repeat
it) pour out your thanksgiving to God the Father through Him’.
16. Ὁ λόγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ] ‘_the word of Christ_’, τοῦ Χριστοῦ being the
subjective genitive, so that Christ is the speaker. Though ὁ λόγος τοῦ
Θεοῦ and ὁ λόγος τοῦ Κυρίου occur frequently, ὁ λόγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ is
found here only. There seems to be no direct reference in this
expression to any definite body of truths either written or oral, but ὁ
λόγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ denotes the presence of Christ in the heart, as an
inward monitor: comp. 1 Joh. ii. 14 ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ὑμῖν μένει, with
_ib._ i. 10 ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἡμῖν, and so perhaps Acts xviii.
5 συνέιχετο τῷ λόγῳ (the correct reading).
ἐν ὑμῖν] ‘_in your hearts_’, not ‘_among you_’; comp. Rom. viii. 9, 11
τὸ ἐνοικοῦν αὐτοῦ πνεῦμα ἐν ὑμῖν, 2 Tim. i. 5, 14, and Lev. xxvi. 12, as
quoted in 2 Cor. vi. 16, ἐνοικήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς.
πλουσίως] See above p. 43 sq., and the note on i. 27.
ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ] ‘_in every kind of wisdom_’. It seems best to take these
words with the preceding clause, though Clem. Alex. _Pæd._ ii. 4 (p.
194) attaches them to what follows. For this position of ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ,
at the end of the sentence to which it refers, comp. i. 9, Ephes. i. 8.
The connexion here adopted is also favoured by the parallel passage
Ephes. v. 18, 19 (see the note below). Another passage i. 28
νουθετοῦντες πάντα ἄνθρωπον καὶ διδάσκοντες πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ
has a double bearing: while the _connexion_ favours our taking ἐν πάσῃ
σοφίᾳ here with the following words, the _order_ suggests their being
attached to the preceding clause.
διδάσκοντες κ.τ.λ.] The participles are here used for imperatives, as
frequently in hortatory passages, e.g. Rom. xii. 9 sq., 16 sq., Ephes.
iv. 2, 3, Hebr. xiii. 5, 1 Pet. ii. 12[?], iii. 1, 7, 9, 15, 16. It is
not, as some insist, that the participle itself has any imperatival
force; nor, as maintained by others, that the construction should be
explained by the hypothesis of a preceding parenthesis or of a verb
substantive understood or by any other expedient to obtain a regular
grammatical structure (see Winer, § xlv. p. 441 sq., § lxii. p. 707, §
lxiii. p. 716, § lxiv. p. 732). But the absolute participle, being (so
far as regards mood) neutral in itself, takes its colour from the
general complexion of the sentence. Thus it is sometimes indicative
(e.g. 2 Cor. vii. 5, and frequently), sometimes imperative (as in the
passages quoted), sometimes optative (as above, ii. 2, 2 Cor. ix. 11,
comp. Ephes. iii. 17). On the distinction of διδάσκειν and νουθετεῖν see
the note on i. 28; they describe respectively the positive and the
negative side of instruction. On the reciprocal ἑαυτούς see the note on
iii. 13.
------------------------------------------------------------------------