Colossians 3:17

Col_3:17

Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Method and music, or the art of holy and happy living

It is always an advantage to have the laws of a kingdom as concise as possible. The amount of litigation caused by the English code is immense. In Gods government the matter is plain enough--included in ten commandments, and further reduced by Christ to, two. Our text is an instance of the terseness of Divine precepts. It contains a law applicable to every action, word, thought, place, circumstance in a few brief words. It is a great advantage to a mechanic to be able to carry with him a pocket rule or square. And so we have here a compendious rule in life which car, never fail.

I. Holy walking described. Whatsoever, etc. This rule applies to those who are in Christ. The unconverted require a radical change before they can carry it out. You cannot walk as a believer if you have not believed. But having begun at the beginning, and taken the step of salvation by faith, the walk has to be carried on by following this injunction, which means--

1. To do all through the office and name of Christ as Mediator.

(1) You are bound to offer daily praise: it must be in the name of the Lord Jesus.

(2) You are to abound in prayer. His name gives power to prayer; it is not so much your earnestness and sincerity, but His blood that speaks to God.

(3) You are to give Him your time and services in teaching the ignorant, etc.; they can only be acceptable in Him.

(4) You are to-give of your substance; if you give all your wealth, the offering presented without Christ is nothing.

2. Do all under the authority of Jesus Christ. He is your King. The business of a Christian upon earth is not an independent one; he is a steward for Christ.

3. Do all under the sanction of Christ as our example. It is an admirable course to ask, What would Christ have done in these circumstances?

4. Do all as to the glory of Christ. The Christian must not seek self.

5. Do all in the strength of Christ. With Him is the residue of the Spirit, and the Spirit is the believers power. These words are a rebuke--

(1) to those who do nothing in Christs name;

(2) to those who glory in the name of men, as of churches or of saints;

(3) to those professors who dishonour the name under which they profess to live. We-have--

II. Holy music prescribed--Giving thanks, etc. Soldiers march to battle to trumpet and drum, etc., and it is an excellent thing when Christian men know how to sing as well as work. The best music consists in thankfulness to God. We ought to praise Him in all things, but more particularly in the exercise of religion. Some people are so afraid of joy, that they seem to labour under the delusion that all who are devout must be unhappy. The text tells us under what aspect we should regard God when thus thanking Him. It is as a Father.

III. Holy motives inculcated. Inscribed on our hearts are reasons which must secure obedience. These are--

1. Gratitude. All we have has been received from the Father through Christ.

2. The worthiness of Christ. Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour.

3. Love. He claims our love, and He gives us His. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Suggestive summary of Christian duty

I. The guiding law of christian duty. Do all in the name, etc. In Christ is--

1. The purest motive to duty. Motive originates and governs action, and makes it good or bad. It is only in Christ we find the holiest and purest motive; in Him love takes the place of selfishness (2Co_5:14-15).

2. The noblest pattern of duty.

3. The highest end of duty. He is the goal towards which all actions tend. There is no higher name for it--is above every name.

4. The final authority of duty.

II. Its universal obligation--Whatsoever ye do, etc. There must be--

1. A recognition of Christ in everything.

2. Absolute dependence on Christ at all times.

3. Supreme devotion to Christ.

III. Its unvarying spirit--Giving thanks to God and-the Father by Him. Lessons:

1. The name of Christ is the greatest power in the universe.

2. All duty gathers its significance and blessedness from its relation to Christ.

3. A thankful spirit is happy in enterprise, brave in difficulties, and patient in reverses. (G. Barlow.)

Godly living

This was applied to the elect of God This is the title given by the apostle to Christians. A course of action is appointed for them to carry out.

I. What is to be done? Do all. The all refers to every act of religious life. There is to be--

(1) Humbleness of mind;

(2) longsuffering;

(3) meekness; above all

(4) charity.

The word of Christ must dwell richly in the heart (see previous verse).

II. How it is to be carried out--In the name of the Lord Jesus. This implies three things.

1. By the authority of Christ (Act_3:6).

2. For the sake of Christ (Mar_9:41).

3. For the glory of Christ (Act_15:26). (Preachers Analyst.)

The motive power of a holy life

This is one of the bold sweeping statements of Scripture. However extraordinary and extravagant, it is in keeping with the whole spirit of Christianity. Unlike other religions, that of Christ admits of no compromises. It will have all or nothing, the first place or none. The author of nature and the author of Christianity give tokens of being one and the same, in that their principles are alike simple, universal, imperious, inexorable. In both is the same quiet exertion of power, the same calm majesty of law, and the laws of each can never be trifled with with impunity. The law of gravity does not admit of dispute, neither does the law that eternal life is to be found through the Son of God. Observe--

I. The extreme breadth and lofty spirit of Christian duty. Whatsoever, etc. These words cover the whole sphere of Christian activity. Our words, thoughts, desires, labours, etc., are to be under the habitual influence of a sacred and sanctifying power which lies lurking in the name of the Lord Jesus. There are one or two simple explanations which show that there is no real extravagance in this large demand.

1. If the Christian law is just another name for the law of truth, love, and holiness, it is quite clear that we shall never get out of the range of that law, neither in this world nor the next. Not more cer tainly does the law of gravity reach from world to world than does this law prevail wherever intelligence exists.

2. If religion consists in entering the service of a God who looks not on the outward appearance but on the heart, that religion will be the only true one which produces right dispositions towards Him of faithfulness in all things, the smallest as well as the biggest. The spirit we are of determines the character of our actions whether they are holy or unholy. The life of the saint and of the sinner are made up very much of the same commonplace duties, and in all that is patent to the world there may be little difference between them: but the spirit by which they are actuated constitutes a gulf between them as wide as that which divides light and darkness, heaven and hell.

3. It were well for the Church and the world if we recognized more clearly this breadth of Christian duty. There is no act, however little, which Christ does not see and touch, and which may not tend as much to His honour as the songs of the Seraphim; there is no affection, talent, energy on which He does not put His hand and say, That is mine, and which may not be transformed into a worship as sincere as that of the communion; no step we can take in life over which He does not watch, and which may not be made a step on the road that brings us nearer Him; no time here or hereafter when it will not be a delightful duty to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. This round world may therefore become to us a temple, and this little life a song of praise.

II. The motive power of a holy life. The stress lies on the name of the Lord Jesus.

1. All the apparent extravagance of the injunction vanishes when we lay our hands on the secret of the Divine life. In the realm of spirit as of matter when we see a great result we know that behind it is a great cause; and we may search the world and we shall not find a power over human hearts comparable with that which lies in this name. What combination of forces has cut so deep a groove across the world? One or two of the worlds heroes and sages have won wide admiration and respect, but who has laid his hand on so many hearts and touched for good so many lives? Bad as the world is, what is good in it is due to Christ. Even now the good is gaining the victory, and the King is Christ. Blot out that name and you blot out the best part of history, all that is purest in morals, elevating in literature, gentle in manners, merciful in laws. Time weakens other forces, but it adds vigour to this.

2. There is no need to enter into the various component elements which go to make up this moral force. What He was and did for us, and above all what He now is and does, explains it. One phrase holds it all--He died for me. In Jesus we have not a man dead long ago, but a living Saviour and King ever near us, bearing the one name by which we may be saved. It is His presence by His Spirit in the hearts of His people which is the motive power of their holy life. The love of Christ constraineth us.

III. The sacredness of common life and labour. The key-note of this chapter is that religion is a life in Christ, so all-pervading and all-permeating this life that it hallows everything.

1. One of the leading peculiarities of the religion of Jesus is that it virtually annihilated the distinction between the secular and the sacred. As it overstepped all barriers of climate, colour, and race to call men brethren, so it passed over all barriers of priestly function to make all men holy, and so all men are now made priests unto God.

2. What God hath joined together let no man put asunder; and He has wedded religion and life. That is no religion which we cannot carry with us wherever we go; into our pleasures and sorrows, our business and closets. (J. Macgregor, D. D.)

Things sacred and things secular

It is one of the most precious effects of Christianity that it gives interest and dignity to commonplace life. Think how it would bear on the obscure toilers of Ephesus, Corinth, or Rome. Artizan, labourer, soldier, slave, would learn the truth that God cared for him, and designed him for a glorious destiny. It is through Christ that life is worthy of the name of life. The distinction between things secular and things sacred has wrought unspeakable mischief. Involves one rule of life for the person in holy orders, and another for the man who has not received a religious vocation. The monk or the nun is a religious; if any be not a priest, or monk, or nun, that person need not be so religious. It is a detestable, an irreligious distinction.

I. It is a distinction which would have been utterly foreign to the mind of an early Christian, and is quite opposed to the spirit of the new testament. Christ, therein revealed, has laid hold upon the whole of life. He has consecrated what we call secular employments by Himself engaging in them. Possible to eat and drink to the glory of God.

II. This distinction is bad, because it vanishes on nearer observation. We find it perfectly impossible to draw a sharp line. Art, science, politics, business, everyday duty, instead of being detached from religion, have such intimate relations with it that they are, or may be, and ought to be, themselves essentially religious. A bad sermon on the text, Behold I stand at the door and knock, is (it would seem) sacred; but to paint the well-known picture illustrating same text was secular. To write hymns sacred. Then was it a sacred or a secular work to write Paradise Lost, Wordsworths Excursion, or Cowpers Task? Surely, too, all great music is most truly religious. Again, is it a sacred or a secular work when a young girl, under a deep sense of duty, consecrates her life to attendance upon a suffering mother? Contrariwise, consider what are generally classed as sacred works--praying, preaching, administering sacraments, visiting the sick. How intensely secular they may become I How mean and perfunctory the spirit in which they may be performed! How easily may their motive come to be that so well expressed in Bible words--Put me into one of the priests offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.

III. This distinction is radically irreligious, Implies that all things are not of God. Churches are, but not houses we live in. Clergymen, but not men of other professions and employments. Sunday, but not other six days. But Christ claimed the world for Himself and His Father, in the sense that He claimed everything in the world. Factories and railways, camps and courts of law, mansions, museums, and picture-galleries, to say nothing of the world of trees, and rivers, and birds, and flowers, form part of the world which belongs to Him, the Heir of all things. This is the only religious view of life.

IV. Seek, then, to make your whole life religious. Pure religion is when the sense of Gods love, of the vastness of His claims, of the breadth of His commandments, so works through the life as to make it one organic whole, and when the poor unworthy distinction of secular and sacred is forgotten; when what is most religious is most human, and what is commonest is ennobled and justified by the grace which flows from Christ our Life. (J. A. Jacob, D. D.)

Doing all in the name of Christ

I. What this is.

1. To go to God through Him (Joh_15:3; Joh_15:16; Joh_16:23-26).

2. To do all by His authority (Mat_18:18-20; Mat_28:18-20; 1Ti_6:15).

3. To do all by His strength (Act_4:6-7; Act_4:10; 1Sa_17:45; Php_4:13; 2Co_12:9). Without Him we can do nothing, with Him every thing (1Co_15:10).

4. For His glory (1Co_10:31; Joh_5:23; Rev_5:12-13).

5. To live a life of faith for a supply of all things for life and godliness (2Pe_1:1-21; 2Pe_2:1-22; 2Pe_3:1-18; Joh_16:23).

6. To walk in the religion of the Lord Jesus (Mic_4:5; 2Ti_2:19; Mat_10:22; Luk_21:17; Rev_2:3; Rev_2:13).

7. To follow His example (Mat_16:24; 1Jn_2:6; 1Pe_2:21-23).

II. Why we are to do it.

1. Be cause all we are, have, or can do, is of Christ (1Co_3:22-23).

(1) All grace and strength (1Co_1:30).

(2) Adoption (Eph_1:5).

(3) Reconciliation with God (2Co_5:18).

(4) All our actual supplies (Php_4:19).

2. Because the Father has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name (Php_2:8-10). Therefore we must all honour the Son as the Father (Joh_5:23).

3. Because we cannot be accepted but by Him (Eph_1:6; Heb_13:15; Heb_5:1).

4. Because all that comes from God to us must be by His hand.

III. How we may do it.

1. We must be supposed to be in Christ first (Joh_15:4-5).

2. Supposing this we must exercise faith upon Him, and have constant recourse to Him, in all that we do for the supplies of His grace and Spirit (1Pe_2:20; 1Pe_5:7; Joh_16:16; Joh_16:23; Joh_16:26).

3. We must live in close communion with Jesus in the use of all His ordinances (Zec_4:12).

4. We must exercise our thoughts much upon Him, and be much taken up with Him in the course of our lives (Psa_73:23).

IV. some uses.

1. It is not in our power to act as we please, or for our own ends (Rom_14:7-8).

2. The impiety of those who invoke Christs name on their wicked courses.

3. We cannot expect Gods blessing on anything not done in Christs name. (H. Wilkinson, D. D.)

Doing all to the Lord Jesus

All have felt at times a painful void after absorption in active duty. There has been nothing sinful, on the contrary the work, it may be, has been sacred, undertaken with prayer, and been for the good of man and the glory of God, and yet there is no satisfaction.

I. Where is the evil in this? It is that we are slow to learn in act what we know in our souls, that we can do nothing good without God. We take it for granted and so forget it.

1. As to ordinary matters men, e.g., think it unlikely they will die to-day because they have lived safely through so many dangers, and take it for granted that their food will nourish them because it has always done so. Where, then, is there any room for dependence on God even with prayer for protection and blessing, since the feeling assumes that they will be granted without any prayer at all.

2. As to deeds of grace. It is well, as peoples devotions now are, if Christians really prayed to God to carry them through the trials of the day, as really believing that for this they needed the special help of God. How many, if they pray at all, hope to do right and escape flagrant wrong almost through the intention of doing or not doing, and think that if they call upon God in some general way things will not be much amiss with them.

3. As to daily life. Many Christians seem to think that in the daily deeds and words of life they either cannot or else must sin, and that these two are much the same. What people hate is being in earnest at all, and so they do not wish to pray for the grace of God lest they should have to be at the pains of using it. So they are ready to think that they cannot help themselves, that they must fall into sins of infirmity, and thus they cast their faults on God, or they look upon them as no great faults at all, and so they act as though they could not sin. And apart from these who learns, in the midst of his conscious and acknowledged besetting sin, to ask for the grace of God? The angry, sinful word again and again escapes, and the thought of God at best but follows it.

II. Thy remedy. Whatsoever ye do, etc., as one bearing His name, in the might of His name, and to its glory. Refer all things to Him. Let Him be the beginning from whom all flows, the end in whom all are gathered, our aim, our reward. Have Him before thee as the pattern whom thou art to copy; the Redeemer in whom is thy strength, the Master and Friend whom thou art to serve and please, thy Creator and thy heaven.

1. But can, one will say, all the little acts of life be done to Him? Were it not almost an indignity to bring them in reference to His great Majesty? On the contrary, great love shows itself most in little acts. Nothing is too small to be done for one deeply loved, and nothing but deep love will do unweariedly all little things to please whom it loves. Little things are the very instances of acceptable service in Scripture. It says not, Give your bodies to be burned for the glory of God, but, Whether ye eat or drink, etc.

2. How, then, can they be done? Do them as thou wouldest if thou sawest God by thee, with prayer that they may be done aright. He eats and drinks to the glory of God, who does so not for pleasure, but for strength for Gods service; He sleeps to Gods glory, who rests in Christ, hoping to rise to do Him honour; he does his daily task to the glory of God who plies it under the eye of God, and does it or not as and how he thinks God would have it done or not.

3. How can we do both at once without distraction--study, speak, or do and think of Christ at the same time? Will not work be done carelessly? Be thine own judge? Hast thou ever deeply loved parent, bride, husband, or child? Didst thou find that thou toiledst for them less diligently because thou thoughtest of and toiledst for them? Or hast thou done anything for mans praise, feeling that the eye whose praise thou prizedst was upon thee? Was this a hindrance? Nay, a good and a spur which quickened every nerve. And who looks down upon us? Our Father, our Friend and Brother, who came down from heaven and suffered for us, is ready to help and reward us. And shall not such love quicken us to do all things better. Does it not give strength to self-denial to take up our cross after Jesus? gladness to alms-giving to give to Jesus? cast a holy reverence round a sick room when we minister to Jesus? impart sweetness to teaching children that in them we receive Jesus? When thou hast learned to do all things to Jesus, it will shed pleasure over all dull things, softness over hard things, peace over trial. It will make contradiction sweet, to bear it meekly with Jesus; poverty, honourable to be poor with Jesus; toil, gladsome to labour for Jesus. (E B. Pusey, D. D.)

Common work in the name of Jesus

Wherever we are called to work we must dedicate the labours of our hands or our brain to God, doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Solomon was called to build the temple of the Lord, but every man who is an honest worker, who does his best in the place where heaven has put him, is building up a temple, holy, acceptable to God. The Minister of State in his cabinet, labouring to do right and caring nothing for popularity; and the little servant-maid in the kitchen, who scorns to tell a lie, or neglect her daily duties, are both in their respective stations working for God, doing their duty. None but pure gold may receive the special goldsmiths mark, none but true, honest work can bear the mark of the Lord Jesus. (H. J. W. Buxton, M. A.)

Every-day religion

Plato had a fable which I have now nearly forgotten, but it ran something like this: He said spirits of the other world came back to this world to find, body and find a sphere of work. One spirit came and took the body of a king and did his work. Another spirit came and took the body of a poet and did his work. After a while Ulysses came, and he said, Why, all the fine bodies are taken, and all the grand work is taken. There is nothing left for me And some one replied, Ah! the best one has been left for you. Ulysses said, Whats that? And the reply was, The body of a common man, doing a common work, and for a common reward. A good fable for the world, and just as good a fable for the Church. Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do it to the glory of God. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)

The essence of fiery

I begin to see that religion consists not so much in joyous feelings as in a constant exercise of devotedness to God, and in laying ourselves out for the good of others. (D. Stewart.)

The all-pervasiveness of religion

Religion is one of the colours of life which mingles most intimately with all the other colours of the palette. It is that which lends them their appearance of depth, and the best of their brilliance. If by a subtle process it is taken away, all become tarnished and discoloured. (W. Mallock.)

The acceptable prayer

As a petition to the Queen can only reach her through the hands of a minister, so we can only approach God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ. All our prayer and praises must be offered in the name of the Lord Jesus. Very many of those prayers are like letters with no name and address upon them, which never reach their destination. What is it that makes our public services in church so frequently cold and spiritless? Why is it that some of us look on church-going as an irksome task, and the hours spent in Gods house as the most wearisome of our lives? The reason is simply this, that their services are being offered in the wrong name. One offers it in his own name, he is sacrificing to selfishness; another offers it in the name of fashion, another in the name of respectability, but there can be no reality in our services unless offered in the name of Christ. (H. J. W. Buxton, M. A.)

Consistency and gratitude

I. whatsoever ye do in word or deed, etc.

1. Paul here clearly gives to Christ the whole of life. The conceptions, affections, and resolutions of the soul refer to words and works as being the principles and motives of them. For it is impossible that they should be in the name of Christ except our understandings and will so address them. The Spirit moves all, and upon this the difference between mans actions depends. It is this that gives them the right and title they have in Christian morality. Works that are the same as to external action are good in one and bad in another. The aims of an ambitious man and of a true believer have no external difference, yet if you examine the inward springs of both, you will find one a piece of vanity, the other a fruit of charity.

2. The rule is short and easy, but of almost infinite use. As a little square serves an artificer to design and mark out a multitude of lines, and to correct those that are amiss, so by this little rule there is no human action respecting which we cannot ascertain whether it is right or wrong; nor is there any part of our lives which this rule is not capable of guiding and forming to perfection.

3. Specifically the name of Christ is the rule.

(1) As the name of God signifies the Hebrew word by which the Lord distinguishes Himself, so Jesus is sometimes taken for the name which was given by express Divine command. But it is not thus taken here as if Paul simply intended that in our actions and discourses we should always intermix the word Jesus, or at least preface it.

(2) The name of God is taken for the power, authority, and will of God (Deu_18:19; 2Ki_2:24; Psa_20:7; Psa_39:16; Psa_39:24; 1Sa_17:45; 2Ch_14:11). So in like manner the name of Jesus (Act_4:7; Mat_7:22; Mat_24:5; Mat_18:20). So the apostle means--

(a) That we refer all to His glory.

(b) That we act according to His will.

(c) That we live in entire confidence in and dependence upon Him.

4. By this

(1) Paul banishes, from our mind all unfruitful works of darkness, it being evident that we can do nothing that is opposed to His will.

(2) He perfects and enlivens those of our works which of themselves are commanded of God, engrafting on them the true motive and directing them to the true end.

(3) He sacrifices those which are in their nature indifferent; e.g., if this rule is observed in eating and drinking, acts indifferent in their nature,

(a) the sacred name will purge them of the excess of intemperance on the one hand, and the foolish scruples of superstition on the other.

(b) Being referred to the glory of God, from indifferent they become holy and acceptable to God.

3. We must not so take the precept as if we were obliged in every act and word to raise our thoughts directly to Christ. It is sufficient that we frequently and ordinarily make this application of mind. But it is necessary that we have this deposition so formed in our hearts, that when circumstances allow us to think of Christ our souls may lean that way as being habituated to it.

II. Giving thanks into God and the Father by Him. These words may be taken as an independent precept (Eph_5:20) or a reason for the preceding rule, a title under which we ought to do all things in the name of Christ, so that our whole life may be an act of gratitude through Christ, which is to be preferred.

1. Thanksgiving is one of the most necessary and universal offices of a Christian. Remember what we are to God through creation, providence, and grace.

2. God the Father is the proper object of gratitude as the first principle of action, though not to the exclusion of the Son and Spirit.

3. By Jesus this gratitude is to be rendered.

(1) He is the channel by which all Gods goodness is poured upon us.

(2) Our thanks cannot be grateful to the Father except addressed and presented by Christ. Application:

1. For the confirmation of faith.

(1) We have a proof of the divinity of Christ. The faithful neither rejoice, nor speak, nor act, but in the name of God--but here it is required that our whole life be referred to the name of Christ. It must therefore be concluded that He is not a creature, but very God.

(2) Is it not an outrage to require that saints should share this honour with Christ as Rome does? (Act_4:12; 1Co_1:12).

2. For the instruction of our faith.

(1) If we would be truly Christians, we must have Christ continually before us as the pole star, the rule of our whole life.

(2) How many of us fall short of this. (J. Daille.)

The reality of religion

I. Christianity is a reality, and deals with realities.

1. If it could be shown that its requirements were unreal, its statements exaggerated, its views of attainment unreasonable, it would lose immensely in its character for truth and its power for good.

2. Here we may fall into opposite mistakes.

(1) We may take the sayings of Scripture strictly to the letter, set them clown as exaggerated, and above our capacities. This is the way with worldly people. They admire the gospel, but never think of realizing it. It is to them a mere night of stars to wonder and gaze at, not a sun to light them to their daily work, and warm their hearts with love.

(2) Some religious people, like the former, strain the Bible to its literal meaning, and then require that meaning in full, and thus lead to the same point, and encourage indolence and unbelief.

(3) Owing to a mixture of these we find Christian precept and practice widely sundered. And so men satisfy themselves with being Christian hearers and heathen livers, without the least suspicion of inconsistency.

3. Owing to this enormous abuses have sprung up under the shadow of the Church. A large proportion of the infidelity of the working classes is due to this unreal teaching. A strained and exaggerated view of religion has been put before them, alien from their habits of thought, and by no means supported by the example of its professors.

II. The text is a remedy for unreality in religion.

1. Observe the extent of this saying. It is plain that it must propose some motive and rule which shall touch daily life at every point.

(1) Nothing is more common than a man with a powerful motive which rules his whole life--gain, ambition, love of family, science, art, victory, the exercise of an energetic nature. But whatever it be, reality is its necessary condition. There are of course many visionaries, men pursuing objects which have no real existence, but to them they are not unreal.

(2) Observe how such motives act.

(a) As to their inward influence on the man himself. Are they evermore in his view and present to his thoughts? Or is not their influence for the most part rather a constraining power of which he is unconscious, rather than a stimulus carried on by conscious effort? Take a man whose motives is the advancement of himself or his family. Such an object is consciously present when he chooses to reflect on it, but day by day in the toil and struggle he is not ever thinking of it, but he is pursuing it. The labourer working under the useful light and genial warmth does not lose his time and dazzle his sight in gazing on the sun, but plies his arm with his eye fixed on his work, and so uses for its intended purpose the light God has bestowed.

(b) They are seldom loudly professed, so seldom that a man professing loudly a given motive arouses suspicion that he is acting on some other, and only using this as a blind. Here, as in nature, the deepest is the stillest; but by this very stillness all who are observant know its depth. Whatever mystery a man makes of his object in life, spectators generally arrive at correct conclusions.

2. Recur to the motive of the text.

(1) There is a wide difference between persons who pursue objects which only appear real to them, and those whose objects are absolutely real. In the case of the former pursuit will lead away from, in the case of the latter it will lead to, the truth. It is not necessary that a motive should be based on reality to be all-constraining, but it is in order that it may be a worthy motive for an intelligent being.

(2) The facts implied in the name, The Lord Jesus, rest upon evidence as strong as can possibly be alleged for anything. The belief in Christ is not only the unavoidable conclusion of a sound mind from evidence, but the only satisfactory way to account for the state of the world in which we find ourselves.

(3) But based on reality it must also be real to me, or it cannot be my motive. It must have points of contact with every part of my life. Has it these points? Not if our Lord be a mere teacher. Mere precepts cannot touch us at all points, or constrain us to do all things in a teachers name. But our Lord, being God, became man, bore our sins and carried our sorrows, grew up through our life, and tasted death for every man. Take any life, in any condition or time, and there is help and hope for it in Jesus.

(4) Now suppose a man embrace Jesus as his Saviour--let Christs love become the acknowledged fact of His life, then it will become a constraining motive, and will not be contented with influencing some of his faculties, employing some of his time; from the nature of things it must have all--Christ is mine, and I am His, and whatever I do, spiritual or secular, business or recreation, I must do all in His name.

(5) There are certain solemn times when this great motive is and must be expressly recognized; but when the whole man is possessed with the love of Christ, the whole ordinary being follows the direction of the central impulse. The Christian at his daily task is not ever pondering spiritual truths. He would be a bad workman and a bad Christian if he were.

(6) Such deep constraining motive is not usually displayed before men; but its existence is not easily concealed. If a man be a Christian, men will take knowledge of him that he has been with Jesus. (Dean Alford.)

Christian ends lend grandeur to human life

He who lives for the glory of God has an end in view which lends dignity to the man and to his life. Bring common iron into proper contact with the magnet, it will borrow the strange attractive virtue, and itself become magnetic. The merest crystal fragment, that has been flung out into the field and trampled on the ground, shines like a diamond when sunbeams stoop to kiss it. And who has not seen the dullest rain-cloud, when it turned its weeping face to the sun, change into glory, and, in the bow that spans it, present to the eyes of age and infancy, alike of the philosopher who studies, and of the simple joyous child who runs to catch it, the most brilliant and beautiful phenomenon in nature? Thus, from what they look at and come in contact with, common things acquire uncommon glory. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

The name of Jesus set in work

Those old saints of the Middle Ages, how dearly they loved to set the name of Jesus forth everywhere, by all means, in every curious work of art--not merely of Church art, mind you, but of household and domestic furniture. Go, for example, into many of the farms round here, and notice the fire-dogs that stand in the yawning chimney: how they are wrought at the sides into those most blessed of all letters, the I.H.C., by which our dear Lord is set forth. Nothing so mean that it was thought unworthy of this monogram; nothing so glorious that it was considered unfit to have that excelling glory added thereto. There they taught us the great lesson--Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Yes, silver and gold and gems conspired together to mark out this name on the paten, or the chalice, or the shrine; the manufacturer of Limoges worked it out in his enamel; in the monastery potteries they burnt it in on their tiles; in convents they embroidered it on chasuble and cope; in the glorious windows of churches the light came in, sanctified, as it were, and hallowed by the name of the True Light; the poor peasant was encouraged, with his clasp knife, to consecrate his house by carving the same name on the hutch of his door or the barge-boards of his roof; the name of salvation could not be out of place among the dwellings of those who looked to be saved; the name which to adore will be the work of eternity, could never be out of place for the meditation and the worship of earth. (Dr. Neale.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Col_3:17

Suggestive Summary of the Law of Christian Duty.

Labour, which was originally imposed on man as a curse, may minister very largely to the increase of human happiness. The effort necessary to contend with and subdue the hostile forces of nature, and wrest from the earth the food essential to existence, strengthens and elevates the best powers of man. All men are prompted to labour by some distinct principle or ruling passion: the savage by the cravings of physical hunger, the patriot by the love of his country, the philosopher by an inextinguishable thirst for knowledge and delight in intellectual exercises. The ruling principle of action in the believer is that of supreme devotion to the Lord; he is to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. This exhortation embraces everything previously mentioned in the epistle, and every possible duty of the Christian life.

I. The guiding law of Christian duty.—“Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” The name of Christ suggests the predominating principle by which the whole course of life is to be regulated, the watchword in every enterprise, the battle-cry in every conflict, the rallying centre in every disaster. In warfare, as in other things, a name is often a powerful spell to conjure with, and vast armies have been animated with the enthusiasm of action by simply mentioning the name of a Wellington, a Napoleon, a Garibaldi, a Von Moltke. But oh! how glorious and all-potent is the name Lord Jesus! It suggests the sublime dignity and redemptive achievements of Christ, and that He is the great exemplar after which all who believe in Him are to be morally fashioned.

1. In Christ is the purest motive to duty.—Motive originates and governs action, and makes it good or bad. The believer does everything for Christ’s sake, out of love for Him and respect to His authority. The tendency in all men is to live in themselves, to act in their own name and strength, and to carry out their own selfish purposes. Selfishness is one of the mightiest and most general motives to action. It is only in Christ we find the holiest and purest motive; in Him love takes the place of selfishness. The love of Christ constraineth us (2Co_5:14-15).

2. In Christ is the noblest pattern of duty.—Not only do we see in His character the most perfect representation of moral excellence, but His whole career is an instructive example of devotion to duty. He fulfilled the will of His Father: He was obedient unto death. He has taught us how to live and how to die. One of the grandest pictures of moral heroism is seen in the maintenance of an intelligent and faithful obedience in the midst of danger and threatened death.

3. In Christ is the highest end of duty.—All things in the material universe exist for Him, and in the moral realm He is the goal towards which all actions tend. Everything should be done with reference to Christ. We can have no worthier ambition than to seek in all things His glory. Cf. Mar_9:41; Mat_18:5; Joh_14:14; and note how Christ lays it down as a universal principle that everything is to be done in His name. There is no higher name, for it “is above every name”; there is no loftier end, for “He is before all things.”

4. In Christ is the final authority of Christian duty.—Many things have been done in the name of Christ that never had His sanction and were contrary to His authority. The most disastrous persecutions and cruellest tortures have been perpetrated in the name of Christ. These blasphemous outrages have been committed to strengthen the authority and hide the bloodthirsty rapacity of a corrupt and domineering Church. No ecclesiastical hierarchy has a right to compel the blind, unreasoning submission of a free, intelligent agent. Above all Jesuitical maxims and Papal decrees is the authority of Christ. His will is supreme in all spheres, and that will is the guiding law of duty in the Christian life.

II. The universal obligation of Christian duty.—“Whatsoever ye do in word or deed.”

1. There must be a recognition of Christ in everything.—In all our employments, conversation, public acts of worship, in social and private prayer, in secular and domestic concerns, in all matters relating to the place of our abode, in changing residences, in the connections we form for ourselves and our children. There is a comprehensiveness in this obligation which is all-embracing. Not that we are to parade our piety, to obtrude our religious notions upon everybody we meet, or to be ever unctuously repeating the name of Christ, irrespective of time or place. The merchant is not to provoke unseemly discussions on sacred subjects when he ought to be attending to the business of the counting-house; the clerk should not be reading his Bible when he ought to be posting his ledger; the servant-maid should not be praying when she ought to be cleaning her kitchen; nor ought the mother to be gadding about, or running to endless revival meetings, while her house is dirty and husband and children neglected. It is not so much that everything is to be done after one special outward form as that every duty is to be done in a religious spirit. Religion is not a series of formal acts, or a string of set phrases; but it is a life, pervading all our activities, and making every part of our career sublime. Recognise Christ in everything, and a new meaning will be thrown on passing events; the commonplaces of life will be exalted into dignity, and the future assume irresistible attractions.

2. There must be absolute dependence on Christ at all times.—We cannot say and do everything in the name of Christ unless we fully surrender ourselves to Him. We are helpless and full of spiritual infirmities, but the more conscious we are of our complete dependence on Him the stronger are we in labour and in hope. In our successes, lest we be puffed up with vanity—in our perplexities, lest we be discouraged—in our grief, lest we sink despairing into the abyss—and in our transports of joy, lest we be exalted above measure—there must ever be a full, voluntary, and conscious reliance on Jesus. Thus resting on Him and realising His life-giving power, we can say with Paul, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

3. There must be supreme devotion to Christ.—All we have we owe to Him. He gave His all for us, and it is but a righteous return that we consecrate to Him all that is highest and best in ourselves. We must love Christ supremely, and then every faculty and power of our being will render homage and service to Him. We shall be obedient to His commands, we shall magnify His grace, we shall strive to walk worthy of His great name, and in all things seek to promote His glory. We pledge ourselves to Him for ever, and no consideration should tempt us to relax our devotion. George III. was a man of firm mind, with whom one had pleasure in acting. He was very slow in forming his opinion, very diligent in procuring every information on the subject; but once convinced, he would act with unflinching firmness. His beautiful speech about the Roman Catholic question shows his character: “I can give up my crown and retire from power, I can quit my palace and live in a cottage, I can lay my head on a block and lose my life, but I can not break my oath.”

III. The unvarying spirit in which Christian duty is to be done.—“Giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.” They who do all things in Christ’s name will never want matter of thanksgiving to God. The apostle has frequently referred to this duty of gratitude, and he evidently regarded it as a very important element of the Christian character. It was Christianity that first taught the duty of being thankful even in trial and suffering. We are to thank God for the privilege of acting so that we may honour Him. A thankful spirit has a blessedness and a power of blessing which those only realise who cherish it. All thanksgiving is to be offered to God the Father by Jesus Christ, as He is our only mediator, and it is through Him we obtain whatever good the Father bestows upon us. The giving of thanks to God is one of the highest duties of religious worship; and if this be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, then all subordinate duties must be done in the same manner.

Lessons.—

1. The name of Christ is the greatest power in the universe.

2. All duty gathers its significance and blessedness from its relation to Christ.

3. A thankful spirit is happy in enterprise, brave in difficulties, and patient in reverses.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE

Col_3:17 (compared with 1Co_11:24). The Lord’s Supper the Sample of the Christian Life.

I. All the objects around us are to be regarded by us as being symbols and memorials of our Lord.

II. Every act of our life is to be done from the same motive as that holy communion.

III. All life, like the communion of the Lord’s Supper, may be and ought to be a showing forth of Christ’s death.

IV. This communion is in itself one of the mightiest means for making the whole of life like itself.—A. Maclaren.

Doing all in the Name of Christ.

I. Doing it as His agent.

II. We are not our own, but His.

III. Whatever it is right to do is His work.—T. G. Crippen.

Christ in the Practical Life.

I. Here we find a rule of life.

II. Here we find a motive.

III. Here we find our life redeemed.—Preacher’s Magazine.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:17 as a representative of the Lord Jesus (literally in the name of the Lord Jesus): In the Bible, a person’s name represents that person. To do something in the name of the Lord Jesus is therefore to act in a way that is in harmony with his identity and under his authority.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Col 3:17. Ποιῆτε, ye do) The word is used in a wide sense, so as also to include the act of speaking.—πάντα, all things) viz. do ye.—ἐν ὀνόματι, in the name) so that it may be just the same as if Christ were doing it, Col 3:11; or at least that you may be able to prove all things to Christ [to do all things so as to gain His approval]. The man who can say, O Jesus Christ, I have done this in Thy name, certainly proves his conduct to Christ. In the name of Christ, i.e. for the sake of Christ: comp. the following verses.—διʼ αὐτοῦ, by Him) not by angels.—Theodoritus.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Col_3:17. The apostle having announced in Col_3:16 the first way in which the abundant indwelling of the word of Christ must manifest itself by ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ διδάσκοντες … πνευματικοῖς, and having set forth as the second the ἐν τῇ χάριτι ᾄδοντες κ.τ.λ., now adds the third, and that, indeed, as one embracing the entire conduct of life; the καί, and, attaches it to the two participial clauses in Col_3:16, not, however, introducing another participial mode of expression conformed to the foregoing, but leading over, through the verb to be supplied, into the direct form of discourse: And whatsoever ye do by word or by work, do all in the name of Jesus. The πᾶν ὅ, τι ἂν ποιῆτε … ἔργῳ is the absolute nominative, placed at the beginning with rhetorical emphasis, and syntactically independent. See Kühner, II. 1, p. 42; Winer, p. 534 [E. T. 7I8].

ἐν λόγῳ ἢ ἐν ἔργῳ] Comp. Aesch. Prom. 659: τί χρὴ δρῶντʼ ἢ λέγοντα δαίμοσιν πράσσειν φίλα. See Pflugk, ad Eur. Hec. 373: Dictis factisque omnis continetur actio. For instances of λόγος and ἔργον associated in that order and conversely, see Bornemann, ad Xen. Mem. ii. 3. 6; Lobeck, Paral, p. 64 f.

πάντα] again emphatically prefixed, not, however, taking up again the previous πᾶν, but rather: in the case of everything which is done by word or deed, all is to take place in the name of Jesus;[163] no element of the doing is to be out of this sphere! The imperative ποιεῖτε is to be supplied from the context. Comp. on Eph_5:21.

ἐν ὀνόμ.] Not: with invocation of (Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Melanchthon, and others), but: so that the name is the holy moral element, in which the action proceeds, inasmuch, namely, as this name, as the sum of the faith which moulds the new life, fills the consciousness, and gives to the action its specific Christian quality and consecration. Ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ would not be substantially different. Comp. on Eph_5:20; Php_2:10; Joh_14:13. Illum sapiat, illum sonet, illum spiret omnis vestra vita, Erasmus. The ideal character of the requirement is misapprehended, when, with Cornelius a Lapide, it is lowered to a mere consilium. See, on the contrary, Calovius.

εὐχαρ. τῷ Θεῷ κ. τ. λ.] accompanying definition: whilst ye at the same time give thanks, etc. Comp. ἐν εὐχαριστίᾳ in Col_2:7, Col_4:2, Col_1:12; Php_4:6. In the apostles view, there belongs essentially to the devoutness of Christian life the self-expressing piety of thankfulness for all Christian bliss, in the consciousness, assurance, and experience of which one does everything in the name of Jesus. Since εὐχαρ. denotes thanksgiving, Grotius ought not to have taken the participle in a declaratory sense (quid sit in nomine Christi omnia facere et loqui); a misinterpretation, which Hofmann rightly rejects, but substitutes another explanation which neglects the verbal import of εὐχαριστεῖν: namely, that Paul declares the doing here required to be a thanksgiving, etc., doing, which is practical thanks. Εὐχαριστεῖν is never in the N. T. equivalent to χάριν ἀποδοῦναι, gratias referre.

πατρί] Father of Jesus.

διʼ αὐτοῦ] For Jesus, as the personal historical mediator of Messianic bliss through the work of atonement, is therewith for the Christian consciousness the mediator of thanksgiving; He it is, through whose benefit the Christian can and does give thanks. Comp. Rom_1:8; Rom_7:25, al. Hence in Eph_5:20 : ἐν ὀνόματι κ.τ.λ. Both the thought and expression were so habitually in use and belonged so essentially to the circumstances of the case, that the hypothesis of a contrast to the mediation of angels (Theodoret, Bengel, and many others, including Bähr) is unfounded, more especially seeing that the entire context has no polemical reference.

[163] Paul, as is well known, is fond of placing close beside each other different forms of πᾶς with different references. See Wilke, Rhetor, p. 381; comp. also on Php_4:12.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Col 3:17 . πᾶν … ἐργῷ : a nominative absolute. πάντα is governed by ποιεῖτε (not ποιοῦντες , as Sod.), supplied from ποιῆτε . εὐχαριστοῦντες . This is not something additional to actions done in the name of Christ; but these actions are themselves expressions of thankfulness.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Call upon the name of Christ, when you do it, or, do it to Christ’s praise and glory.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Literally, "And everything whatsoever ye do . . . do all," &c.; this includes words as well as deeds.

in the name of the Lord Jesus--as disciples called by His name as His, seeking His guidance and help, and desiring to act so as to gain His approval (Rom 14:8; Co1 10:31; Co2 5:15; Pe1 4:11). Compare "in the Lord," Col 3:18, and "Christ is all," Col 3:11.

God and the Father--The oldest manuscripts omit "and," which seems to have crept in from Eph 5:20.

by him--Greek, "through Him" as the channel of His grace to us, and of our thanksgiving to Him (Joh 14:6, end).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 17. Whatsoever ye do in word or deed] Let your words be right, and your actions upright.

Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus] Begin with him, and end with him; invoke his name, and pray for his direction and support, in all that ye do; and thus every work will be crowned with all requisite success. Doing every thing in the name of God, and referring every thing to his glory, is as rational as it is pious. Could it be ever supposed that any person would begin a bad work in God's name? However, it is so. No people in the universe more strictly adhere to the letter of this advice than the Mohammedans; for they never undertake a work, eat meat, nor write a book, without prefacing all with:-

[Arabic]

Bismillahi, Arrahmani, Arraheemi;

"In the name of the most merciful and compassionate God."

Not only books of devotion, but books on all arts and sciences, books of tales and romances, books of poetry, and those on the elements of reading, c., begin thus nay, it is prefixed to the [Arabic] Lizit un Nissa, one of the most abominable productions that ever came from the pen of man, and is precisely the same among the Mohammedans, as the infamous work of Nicholas Chorier, called Elegantiae Latini Sermonis, falsely attributed to John Meursius, has been among some called Christians. Of both, with a trifling hyberbole, it may be said: "Surely these books were written in hell, and the author of them must certainly be the devil."

Giving thanks to God] Even praises, as well as prayers, must ascend to God through this Mediator. We have no authority to say that God will accept even our thanksgiving, unless it ascend to him through Christ Jesus.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. And whatsoever ye do. We have already explained these things, and what goes before, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, where the same things are said almost word for word. As he had already begun to discourse in reference to different parts of the Christian life, and had simply touched upon a few precepts, it would have been too tedious a thing to follow out the rest one by one, he therefore concludes in a summary way, that life must be regulated in such a manner, that whatever we say or do may be wholly governed by the authority of Christ, and may have an eye to his glory as the mark. For we shall fitly comprehend under this term the two following things — that all our aims may set out with invocation of Christ, and may be subservient to his glory. From invocation follows the act of blessing God, which supplies us with matter of thanksgiving. It is also to be observed, that he teaches that we must give thanks to the Father through Christ, as we obtain through him every good thing that God confers upon us.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(17) All in the name of the Lord Jesus.—Comp. here the more general exhortation of 1Co_10:31, “Whether ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” This is the first principle of all godly life. The main object of all life, speculative or practical, is declared to be, not our own happiness or perfection, not the good of our fellow-men, but the “glory of God”—the carrying out of His will, and so manifesting His moral attributes. We are taught that if we “seek this first, all the other things shall be added unto us.” But here we have the principle, not only of godly life, but of Christian life. It does all “in the name of Christ,” that is, as conformed to His image, and so being His representative; it looks up thankfully to God our Father, but it is through Him, “having our sonship by adoption” through His all-sufficient mediation. Its desire is, not only that God may be glorified, but that “He may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1Pe_4:11). Once more we trace here the special and emphatic purpose of the Epistle.

Col_3:18 to Col_4:1 deals with the three great relations of life—between wives and husbands, children and parents, servants and masters. In this section we have the closest parallelism with the Epistle to the Ephesians (Eph_5:22 to Eph_6:9). But the treatment of the first relation is far briefer, having nothing to correspond to the grand and characteristic comparison of marriage to the union between Christ and the Church. Even in the second there is somewhat greater brevity and simplicity. The third is dwelt upon with marked coincidence of language, and at least equal emphasis. We can hardly doubt that the presence of Onesimus, the runaway slave, suggested this peculiar emphasis on the right relation between the slave and his master.

[It will only be necessary to note the few points in which this section differs notably from the parallel passage.]

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. whatsoever ye do] See below Col_3:23 for the same phrase; and for similar precepts of holy absoluteness cp. Pro_3:6; 1Co_10:31. The Christian life is nothing less than the whole life of the Christian, lived “unto the Lord” (Rom_14:6-8); everything in it is related to Him.

in the name of the Lord Jesus] As it were quoting Him (to yourselves, and if need be to other men) as the Master (“Lord”) who sets the task and owns and uses the servant. On another reference of the same phrase see our note on Eph_5:20.

giving thanks] “always for all things,” adds Eph_5:20. The two parallels complement each other; the one Epistle more specially bids the Christian do God’s will, the other more specially bids Him love God’s will, and give thanks for it, in everything.

and the Father] “And” should probably be omitted.

by Him] The Mediator of our thanks, as of the Father’s gifts. Cp. Rom_1:8; Rom_16:27; Heb_13:15; 1Pe_2:5; 1Pe_4:11.

“O God,” says Quesnel on this verse, “who is a Christian, if all our words and actions are to be a sacrifice of praise, offered to God through Jesus Christ as our Priest, Pontiff, Mediator; with Him as God’s true Victim; in Him as God’s Temple; on Him as God’s Altar; after Him as our Law and Model; under Him as our Master and King; in His spirit, purposes, motives, disposition, aim, as He is our Head?”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed,.... Whether in preaching the word of Christ, in hearing the Gospel, in singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and in conference and conversation with each other; or in whatsoever action, civil or religious throughout the whole life and conversation, in the performance of things natural, moral, and evangelical, relating to God or man, or one another, in the world or church:

do all in the name of the Lord Jesus; both in the strength of Christ, without whom nothing can be well said or done; and according to the mind and will of Christ declared in the Gospel, which is his name; and calling upon his name for assistance in the ministration of his word, administration of his ordinances, and in the performance of every duty, directing all to, and having solely in view his honour and glory:

giving thanks to God, and the Father by him; this shows, that singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, is a distinct thing from giving of thanks, mentioned in the preceding verse. The things for which thanks are to be given, are "all things"; and the time when, always, as in See Gill on Eph 5:20. The person to whom they are to be given is God the Father, the Father of our spirits, and of our mercies, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of us in him; and the person by whom they are to be given, is Christ, which is just and proper, since all mercies come from, and through him; nor is there any other way of bringing and offering the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to God; nor are they, nor can they be acceptable to God by, and through any other, but by him alone.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Ver. 17. Do all in the name] By the warrant of his word, and with an aim to his glory. For his sake and service; and to God’s acceptance, through Christ’s assistance.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed - Whatever ye say or do - whether relating to temporal affairs or to religion. The command here extends to all that we do.

Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus - Do it all because he requires and commands it, and with a desire to honor him. His authority should be the warrant; his glory the aim of all our actions and words. See the general sentiment here expressed, fully illustrated in the notes at 1Co 10:31.

Giving thanks to God and the Father by him - Through him; or in his name. All our actions are to be accompanied with thanksgiving; Notes, Phi 4:6. We are to engage in every duty, not only in the name of Christ, but with thankfulness for strength and reason; for the privilege of acting so that we may honor him; and with a grateful remembrance of the mercy of God that gave us such a Saviour to be an example and guide. He is most likely to do his duty well who goes to it with a heart overflowing with gratitude to God for his mercies, and he who is likely to perform his duties with the most cheerful fidelity, is he who has the deepest sense of the divine goodness in providing a Saviour for his lost and ruined soul; see the notes at 2Co 5:14-15.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let all be done for his honour and glory. See 1 Corinthians x. 31. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

And whatsoever ye do: here the apostle give a universal direction how in every capacity, both personal and relative, in every motion, a Christian may do all so as to find acceptance with God.

In word or deed; and that is in his expressions and actings, viz. comprehending his internal as well as external operations; his reasonings and resolutions within, as well as his motions without; the thoughts of his heart, as well as the words of his tongue and the works of his hand; to take (care as much as possible that all be

in the name of the Lord Jesus: elsewhere writing the same thing, the apostle adds Christ, Eph 5:20. Plato could say: Not only every word, but every thought, should take its beginning from God; but he understood nothing of the Mediator, of the love of him and the Father: but Christians know, as there is salvation in no other name, Act 4:12, so there is no acceptance of their persons and performances in any other name than in his in whom they believe, Phi 2:10; Heb 10:19,20; 1Jo 5:13; and therefore in all their desires they are to respect him, Joh 14:13,14; 15:3,16; 16:23,26; looking for his authority and warrant, Mat 18:18-20; Mar 11:9; 1Jo 5:14; following his example, Mat 11:29; 16:24; Joh 13:15; 1Pe 2:21-24; 1Jo 2:6; in all they set about, desiring strength from him, Psa 71:17; Act 4:7,10; 1Co 15:10; Phi 4:13; 2Ti 2:1; living by faith upon him, Gal 2:20; Heb 10:38; 2Pe 1:2,3; waiting upon him, worshipping and serving of him, according to his prescription, Mic 4:5; Mat 28:19,20; Ac 2:42,43; 2Ti 2:19; for his sake, Mat 19:29; 24:9; Act 9:16; Rev 2:3,13; 3:8; to his honour and glory, Psa 31:3; 1Co 10:31; Rev 4:9,11; 5:12,13; 11:13. Endeavouring to render hearty thanks unto God and the Father, i.e. to God the Father: the Syriac and Arabic do omit the conjunction copulative; however, it is to be understood expositively of God the Father of Christ, and our Father, who doth embrace us as his children.

By him; by or through Christ, Eph 5:20; Heb 13:15, the only Mediator.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Whatsoever—In the relations mentioned, though the rule may properly enough cover our entire conduct.

In the name—As Christians, bearing his name, having his Spirit, moving in his presence.

Giving thanks—Making the whole life abound in thanksgiving.

To God… the Father—Omitting and with the oldest MSS.; and always through Christ, as our only way of approach to him.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And everything, whatever ye he doing in word or deed, (do) all in the name of (the) Lord Jesus (1Co_10:31 1Co_5:4; Eph_5:20; 2Th_2:17) Ver. 16 speaks of "word" only; to it is added the "deed," which stands for all the practical activities of life. Both meet in the following "all." "The name of the Lord Jesus" is the expression of his authority as "Lord" (Col_1:13, Col_1:15, 18 2:6; Php_2:9-11; Eph_1:21-23; 1Co_12:3; Rom_14:9; Act_10:36) and of his personal character and relation to us as "Jesus" (Mat_1:21; Act_4:12 Act_16:31, Revised Text) (On the prominence of the title "Lord" in this Epistle, see note on Col_2:6) (For the emphatic, absolute nominative pan at the head of the sentence, comp. Joh_6:39 Joh_15:2 Joh_17:2; Mat_10:32; Luk_12:10) Giving thanks to God (the) Father through him. (ver. 15; Col_1:12-14 Col_2:7 Col_4:2) Again thanksgiving is urged on the Colossians. It is to be the accompaniment of daily talk and work to be offered to God in his character as "Father", (see notes on Col_1:2, Col_1:3, Col_1:12) and "through the Lord Jesus", (Rom_1:8 Rom_7:25) by whom we have access to the Father (Eph_2:18 Eph_3:12; Rom_5:1, Rom_5:2; Heb_10:19-22) and receive from him all the benefits of redemption (Col_1:14; Eph_2:5-10; Rom_3:24-26; Tit_3:4-7)

The principle of a godly life.

This is the practical lesson that flows from the theology of the Epistle. "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

I THE WHOLE EXTENT OF CHRISTIAN LIFE IS CONSECRATED TO THE LORD. Everything falls under the two heads of words and deeds.

1. Words.

(1) We must avoid words that would dishonour Christ vain words, (Eph_5:6) bitter words, (Job_6:3) deceitful words (Psa_36:3) idle words. (Mat_12:36) James tells us the sins of the tongue. (Jam_3:2)

(2) We must use words of wisdom (Book of Proverbs), words of truth and soberness, (Act_23:25) words of righteousness, (Job_6:25) wholesome words, (2Ti_1:13) words of eternal life. (Joh_6:68)

1. Deeds. These must be done

1. in faith, for "whatsoever is not of faith is sin;

2. in prayer; (Psa_9:1)

3. with warrant from God"s Word; (Isa_8:20)

4. with perseverance. (Gal_6:9)

5. All, both words and deeds, must be done in the Name of the Lord. They must have supreme reference to him; (1Co_10:31) they must be done under his warrant or authority, in the strength of his grace, after his own glorious example, and with ultimate regard to his glory.

1. Christian obedience must all the while be mingled with thanksgiving to God the Father. We thank him

1. for the ability to do all our works in the Lord"s Name;

2. for our liberty in Christ;

3. for our victory over sin;

4. for our manifold blessings in Christ.

II REASONS FOR THE CONSECRATION OF OUR WHOLE LIFE TO THE LORD. We ought to be more circumspect than others in our words and deeds:

1. Because "we live and die to the Lord. (Rom_14:8) We are "the Lord"s.

2. Because we are entrusted with such blessings. "Because God hath bestowed upon them more blessings, and therefore as he gives more wages, requires more work.

3. Because we are more observed than others. Therefore we must "walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise". (Eph_5:15)

4. Because we have the prospect of an abundant reward according to our works. T. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the name - In the power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus. Giving thanks unto God - The Holy Ghost. And the Father through him - Christ.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Here our apostle lays down a general rule for the right of management of all our words and actions, in the whole course of life; Whatsoever ye do, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God for all the mercies you receive by Jesus Christ.

Learn hence, 1. That all our thoughts, words and actions, must and ought to be done in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; that is, to do all by the authority and command of Christ, to do all in the power and strength of Christ, to do all for the honour and glory of Christ, to do all after the pattern and example of Christ.

Learn, 2. That all prayers and thanksgivings, as they are only due to God, so they must be performed by us through Jesus Christ, that so they may find acceptance with God; Giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. Whatsoever ye do. Whether it be singing, whether it be word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Neither in worship, nor in his business and pleasures, must be the Christian engage in anything that cannot be done in Christ's name; i. e., by his authority and in prayer to him. This covers the whole life. It applies to conduct, to places of resort, to secular calling. If doubtful, see if you can on your knees ask Christ to go with you and bless you in what you are about to undertake. Giving thanks. The Christian should always be thankful, because if he “does all in the name of Jesus,” the Lord will always be with him, and work out all for good.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

17. καὶ πᾶν, “and everything.” As he thinks of the song going up in the heart to God he passes on to the spirit that should animate the whole life. No detail is to be excluded as common, but each and all to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus. Parts of this thought are expressed in Col 3:23 (τῷ κυρίῳ), and 1Co 10:31 (εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ).

The construction of τᾶν κ.τ.λ. is probably, to quote Meyer, “the absolute nominative, placed at the beginning with rhetorical emphasis, and syntactically independent.”

ὅτι ἐὰν ποιῆτε. Wider than ὁ͂ ἐὰν ποιῆτε, Col 3:23. Cf. 1Co 16:2.

On ἐάν for ἄν see Blass, Gram. § 65. 7, and in particular Moulton, Gram. Proleg. 1906, pp. 42 sq.

πάντα. (1) This takes up the preceding πᾶν ὅτι ἐάν, and regarding the sense rather than the form is naturally plural.

(2) It is accusative governed by ποιεῖτε understood from ποιῆτε. Cf. 2Co 5:13; Mar 14:29. See Blass, Gram. § 81. 1.

ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου Ἰησοῦ. The exact phrase appears to occur here only. (1) It probably means “as representing” Christ. Deissmann, Bible Studies, pp. 197 sq., quotes a papyrus of 37 A.D. in which an oath of fealty to the Emperor Caligula taken by the inhabitants of Assos in Troas is signed by five πρεσβευταί, after which group of names occur the concluding words: οἵτινες καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς Γαίου Καίσαρος Σεβαστοῦ Γερμανικοῦ σωτηρίας εὐξάμενοι Διὶ Καπιτωλίῳ (sic) ἔθυσαν τῷ τῆς πόλεως ὀνόματι, i.e. as representing the city. (2) Chrysostom explains it as in every act calling on Christ for help (αὐτὸν καλῶν βοηθόν).

Observe ἐν ὀνομ. κυρίου Ἰησοῦ. For ἐν ὀνομ. χριστοῦ would not equally have suggested the personal life of Jesus of Nazareth as our pattern (cf. St Paul’s use of “Jesus” in 2Co 4:10-14; 1Th 4:14), and ἐν ὀνόμ. Ἰησοῦ would not have suggested His unique character and His present claim and power (cf. 2Co 4:14).

εὐχαριστοῦντες, Col 1:3; Col 1:12; cf. Col 3:15.

τῷ θεῷ πατρὶ. Cf. Col 1:3,note.

Here probably the Fatherhood has no primary reference to Christ, but to the Colossians. They are to thank Him who is both God and Father, the object of all reverence and the source of all love.

διʼ αὐτοῦ. Thus this clause means that St Paul will have the joyful tone of the Colossians’ lives (Col 3:16), and their performance of every act in Jesus’ name, united to conscious reference to God who gives all, this thanksgiving itself being only acceptable by means of the Lord Jesus. Cf. Heb 13:15.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17.] general exhortation, comprehending all the preceding spiritual ones. And every thing whatsoever ye do in word or work (so far is a ‘nominativus pendens’) all things (do) in the name of the lord Jesus (not as Chrys., Œc., Thl., &c., τουτέστιν αὐτὸν καλῶν βοηθόν, nor as Thdrt., who treats it as a dehortation from the worship of angels, which they were to exclude by their always τὰ ἔργα κοσμῆσαι τῇ μνήμῃ τοῦ δεσπότου χριστοῦ:—but much as the common ἐν χριστῷ—so that the name of Christ is the element in which all is done—which furnishes a motive and gives a character to the whole) giving thanks to God the Father (where ἡμῶν is not expressed, the words θεὸς πατήρ must be taken as approximating in sense to that more technical meaning which they now bear, without exclusive reference to either our Lord or ourselves,—and should be rendered ‘God the Father’) through Him (as the one channel of all communication between God and ourselves, whether of grace coming to us, or of thanks coming from us. Cf. His own saying, οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ διʼ ἐμοῦ).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. καὶ πᾶν ὅ τι ἐὰν ποιῆτε ἐν λόγῳ ἢ ἐν ἔργῳ. A nominative absolute. Comp. Mat 10:32, πᾶς οὖν ὅστις ὁμόλογήσει … ὁμο λογήσω κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ Luk 12:10. As πᾶν would become the object in the following clause, it is replaced by πάντα.

πάντα. We might supply to this ποιοῦντες, parallel to the other participles; but it is much better to supply ποιεῖτε, especially as εὐχαριστοῦντες is subordinate.

ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ. Comp. Eph 5:20. “In the name of” here means, not “calling on for aid,” as Chrys. etc., nor “in honorem,” as Jerome, but in the spirit which regards Christ as all and in all, the spirit which belongs to those who bear His name. “Utperinde sit, ac si Christus faciat, ver. 11 (this is too strong) vel certe, ut Christo omnia pobetis. Qui potest dicere; Hoi in tuo, Jesu Christe, nomine feci, is certe actionem suam Christo probat,” Bengel.

There is here another difference of reading.

Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ is the reading of B Dc K 17 37 most MSS., f. Amiat., Tol, Goth., Syr-Pesh, Arm., Chrys.

Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ A C D* G g.

Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριτοῦ א d e Vulg. (Clem.), Field, al. Syr. (Harcl), Sah., Boh., Eth.

Before πατρί,καί is added in D G K L and nearly all MSS., d e f g Vulg., Syr-Pesh, Arm., Chrys. (cf. Eph 5:20). It is absent from א A B C, Sah., Boh., Syr., (Harcl), Eth., Goth.

18-4:1. Special precepts for the several relations of life, the motive being in each, that what is done is done “in the Lord.”

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the name. See on Mt 28:19.

Giving thanks. Notice the emphasis on the duty of thanksgiving placed at the close of the exhortations. See ch. Col 1:12; Col 2:7; Col 3:15; Col 4:2.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

ἄδοντες κ.τ.λ.] This external manifestation must be accompanied by the inward emotion. There must be the thanksgiving of the heart, as well as of the lips; comp. Ephes. v. 19 ἄδοντες καὶ ψάλλοντες τῇ καρδίᾳ (probably the correct reading), where τῇ καρδίᾳ ‘with the heart’ brings out the sense more distinctly.

17. πᾶν ὅ τι κ.τ.λ.] This is probably a nominative absolute, as Matt. x. 32 πᾶς οὖν ὅστις ὁμολογήσει ... ὁμολογήσω κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ (comp. Luke xii. 8), Luke xii. 10 πᾶς ὃς ἐρεῖ λόγον ... ἀφεθήσεται αὐτῷ, John xvii. 2 πᾶν ὃ δέδωκας αὐτῷ, δώσῃ αὐτοῖς κ.τ.λ.; comp. Matt. vii. 24 (v.l.).

πάντα] sc. ποιεῖτε, as the following εὐχαριστοῦντες suggests; comp. ver. 23.

ἐν ὀνόματι κ.τ.λ.] This is the great practical lesson which flows from the theological teaching of the epistle. Hence the reiteration of Κυρίῳ, ἐν Κυρίῳ, etc., vv. 18, 20, 22, 23, 24. See above p. 104.

εὐχαριστοῦντες] On this refrain see the notes on i. 12, ii. 7.

τῷ Θεῷ πατρὶ] This, which is quite the best authenticated reading, gives a very unusual, if not unique, collocation of words, the usual form being either ὁ Θεὸς καὶ πατήρ or Θεὸς πατήρ. The καί before πατρί in the received text is an obvious emendation. See the note on i. 3, and the appendix on various readings.

J. B. Lightfoot, St Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon: a revised text with introductions, notes and dissertations (London: Macmillan, 1875) — public domain. Electronic text from Project Gutenberg (ebook #50857). Covers Colossians and Philemon only (the verse-by-verse notes; introductions and dissertations are omitted); Lightfoot's companion Galatians and Philippians volumes are not included, as the available public-domain scans carry garbled Greek that cannot be faithfully reproduced.