The Means of Progress: Let the Word of Christ Dwell in You (Colossians 3:16–17)

The means are set forth as: aa) enrichment of the mind with knowledge of divine truths (Col. 3:16); bb) prayer (Col. 3:16); and cc) doing all things to the glory of God (Col. 3:17). These are spiritual works of an ascetical character, embracing the whole realm of our inner life, giving it the proper direction and cultivating it.

Col. 3:16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing in your hearts to the Lord in grace.

“The word of Christ” is either the word proceeding from Christ the Lord, spoken by Him Himself and spread through the Apostles, or the word about Christ the Lord, our Saviour. In the first sense it embraces all the New Testament writings—the Gospel and the Epistles; in the second it indicates the content of these writings; for all of them are the word about Christ the Lord and about salvation in Him. Dwelling in the first sense is its intelligent study—knowledge, understanding, and remembrance; and in the second sense it is the actual reception of salvation in the Lord Saviour and making it one’s own. In the first it makes us wise to salvation; in the second it awakens, sustains, and kindles zeal for working out salvation with certain hope of receiving it. In both it is the mightiest means to advancement in Christian life.

However, both of these workings of the word dwelling, insofar as they converge in the same person, are inseparable when the working out of salvation proceeds in the proper way. Working out salvation is the active making one’s own of the word about Christ the Saviour. It is briefly: I am perishing, and I have no salvation except in Christ the Saviour, who came to save the lost. To Him do I cling by faith, hope, and love, in the confidence of being saved through Him. There comes a moment in life when such a decision is formed in consciousness. But as soon as it is formed, there immediately springs up a hunger for knowledge of the word of Christ and about Christ the Saviour; there begins eager reading of the Gospel and the writings of the Apostles, and all the words about the Saviour and salvation are laid up in the heart. The heart is then like parched earth, and the word of Christ is like dew and rain. Parched earth does not leave out a single drop of dew; it drinks all into itself; so too the heart thirsting for salvation drinks into itself all the word about salvation. And it dwells in it richly. But precisely because it dwells as a result of spiritual need and satisfies it, it nourishes spiritual life in Christ the Lord, bringing consciousness into lofty contemplations and capturing the heart with them. The heart is then no longer on earth but on high, where our life is hidden with Christ in God; and consequently, in us that is accomplished which the Apostle, at the beginning of the chapter, placed as the essence of Christian life.

“Let … dwell,” ενοικειτω—let it abide, let it live in you. How is this to be done? Memorize the words of the Lord Saviour and His holy Apostles and frequently review them in your mind, so that the enemy may not come stealthily and steal it, leaving forgetfulness in its place. If you do this, you will show that the word of Christ dwells in you. But the word about the Saviour and salvation will live in you if you constantly deepen in yourself the feeling of your own ruin and salvation through Christ the Lord. Make it so that this does not depart from your consciousness and feeling and forms their foundation. Then a contrite and humble spirit will not depart from you, and you will be in a saving frame of mind.

“Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom.” The words “teaching and admonishing” indicate the way of the word of Christ dwelling, while “in all wisdom” determines how this should be done.

“One another.” Each teach and admonish yourselves with the word of Christ, or teach and admonish each other—one another. “To teach” means to explain, to make understandable and apprehensible a truth—intellectual or practical; to admonish means “to impress inwardly,” to implant, to persuade, to bring to the level of feeling and to call forth the corresponding good dispositions. Thus, let each teach himself and impress upon himself the truths of the word of Christ, and it will dwell in you. For this reason read, reflect, memorize, sympathize, love, and further carry it into life. This last is the limit of self-teaching. Until this exists, one cannot say of anyone that he has taught himself, even if he knows the word of Christ by heart and reasons well. In such a deficiency the holy Paul blamed the Jews in the Epistle to the Romans: “Then you, who teach others, will you not teach yourself?” (Rom. 2:21). In the one lacking this, the word of Christ has not dwelt and does not live. Or teach one another the truths of the word of Christ and impress them mutually upon yourselves, and it will dwell in you and will live in your whole community, directing all your works and undertakings. This mutual teaching in Christian society proceeds of itself: pastors teach the flock, elders the younger, parents their children, teachers their students, authorities their subjects. Deliberately to this end brotherly conferences with reading are established. There, without directly teaching each other, they learn and are admonished mutually, each receiving from what is being considered and read what suits him. But it is clear that all forms of mutual teaching bear fruit only when at the same time each one teaches and admonishes himself—that is, having heard or read something, persuades himself not merely to think so, but also to feel and act accordingly. Wherefore it seems the holy Paul had in mind this self-persuasion in the present place. For the word of Christ dwells in one only when he succeeds in persuading himself to believe and to live by it.

“In all wisdom”—with all wisdom, or wisely. By these words is indicated not the subject of teaching—that is already indicated—but the manner of it (the method). Wisely one should enrich oneself with the word of Christ, wisely teach oneself by it and admonish oneself with it. He does not act wisely who diligently reads the word of God but does not consider it, does not bring it to the level of feeling, and does not carry it into life. It flows through him like water through a channel, passes through him without settling in him and dwelling in him. One can know the entire Gospel and the whole Epistle by heart and yet not have the word of Christ dwelling in him, because of its unwise study. He also acts unwisely who only enriches his mind with the word of Christ while neglecting to harmonize his heart and life with it. It remains with him like sand poured into his head and memory and lies there dead, not living. It lives only when it passes into feelings and life; but this is lacking there. And it cannot be said that it dwells in such a one. He is especially unwise in enriching himself with knowledge of the word of God who, in understanding its meaning, trusts only his own mind and does not verify his thoughts by the common belief of all believers. Hence we have among us the Khlysti, the Khlysty [heretical sects], the Molokans and the Dukhobors, and everywhere—all heresies. Understanding the word of Christ with trust only in one’s own mind, though it may not lead one to heresy, will certainly not always build up and edify, but rather puffs up and teaches arrogance. Such a state is such that it is better to know nothing than to fall into it.

Here are the words of holy Chrysostom on this subject: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,’ that is, let the teachings, the dogmas, the convictions dwell—by the power of which, he says, the present life and its goods are nothing. If we saw this, no difficulties would seem insurmountable to us. ‘Let it dwell,’ he says, ‘in you,’ not simply, but ‘richly,’ with great abundance. Listen all of you, worldly people concerned about wife and children, how the Apostle even urges you to read Scripture more—and not simply as it happens, but with great diligence! And do not wait for another teacher; you have the word of God—no one will teach you as it will. Listen, I beg you, all attached to this life, acquire books—the medicine of the soul. If you want nothing else, acquire at least the New Testament, the Acts of the Apostles, the Gospel—our constant teachers. Should sorrow strike you, cling to them as to a vessel filled with healing substance. Should you experience loss, death, the loss of loved ones—draw comfort from them in your misfortune. Or better yet, do not just cling to them, but take them inside and keep them in your mind. From ignorance of Scripture comes all evil. We go out to war without weapons—how can we be saved? It is easy to be saved with the Scriptures, but without them it is impossible. ‘Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom.’ By wisdom he means virtue. And rightly so; for humility, almsgiving, and all similar things are wisdom. Consequently, the opposite will be foolishness. Hence every sin is often called foolishness in Scripture. ‘The fool says in his heart” (Ps. 13:1). “And again: ‘My wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness’” (Ps. 37:6). “For tell me, what is more foolish than a man who puts on expensive clothes while despising his brothers who lack clothing, feeds dogs while looking with contempt at the image of God in a hungry neighbor, is completely convinced of the worthlessness of earthly things yet is attached to them as though they were eternal? But as there is nothing more foolish than such a man, so there is nothing wiser than the ascetic of virtue. Look how wise he is! He gives from his possessions, shows mercy and kindness. So he has understood the common nature, has understood the significance of money—that it is worth nothing, that he should care more for his body and his brothers than for money. Likewise wise is he who despises honors; for he clearly knows human affairs, and in knowledge of God’s affairs and human affairs lies wisdom. So, knowing what are God’s works and what are men’s, he refrains from the one and performs the other. He knows this and gives thanks to God for all; he counts this present life as nothing and therefore neither rejoices in prosperity nor grieves in misfortune.”

The second means to advancement in life according to God in Christ Jesus is prayer. The Apostle speaks of it in the same verse 16 and it makes up the second half of it: “with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with gratitude in your hearts to God.” The words “with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” seem to relate to “teaching and admonishing one another”—teach and admonish yourselves with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. But in essence psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are attributes of prayer. It is true that both psalms and spiritual songs teach and edify, but this is their incidental action, not direct. Their direct work is the production of prayer. And study of the word of God leads to prayer and is often accompanied by it; but directly the word of God teaches and admonishes, while prayer is the connection, fruit, and result of its study. So here too psalms and hymns directly are the production of prayer, while teaching and admonishment are its good consequence and fruit. What the Apostle says here, he sets forth in the Epistle to the Ephesians thus: “Be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts” (Eph. 5:18, 19). Here one cannot relate the words “with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” to anything other than the production of prayer. Following this example, the present passage must be understood in relation to prayer. The words “with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” determine verbal prayer, prayer-speech; while the words “singing with gratitude in your hearts to God” mean prayer internal, mental and heartfelt.

Psalms, hymns, songs—psalms, hymns, odes—are different names for spiritual songs. It is very difficult to point out the differences among them, because both in content and in form they are very similar. All of them are expressions of the spirit of prayer. When the spirit is moved to prayer, it glorifies God, gives thanks, and raises its petitions to Him. All these manifestations of the spirit of prayer in spirit are inseparable and do not occur without one another. Prayer, when set in motion, passes from one to another, and often more than once. Express this in words and you have verbal prayer; call it psalm, hymn, or ode—all are one. Therefore we shall not strain to define the difference of these names. The Apostle wished with them to embrace every kind of prayer expressed in words. Under them will come all the prayers now in use among us. In use among us, besides the Psalter, are church songs—stichera, troparia, canons, akathists, and prayers contained in prayer books. You will not be wrong if, reading the Apostle’s words about verbal prayer, you understand these prayers now in use among us. The power is not in this or that verbal prayer, but in how you perform them.

How to perform verbal prayers, the Apostle indicates by the word “spiritual.” The word “spiritual” though grammatically connected with songs only, in the force of the discourse relates to all other designations of expressions of prayer. Whichever of them you use, it should be spiritual for you. Prayers are spiritual because they are first born and ripen in the spirit and flow forth from the spirit. And more so spiritual because they are born and ripen by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Both the Psalter and all other verbal prayers were not verbal from the beginning. But the coming of the word did not eliminate their spirituality. They are even now verbal only in appearance; in power they are spiritual.

In the words of the Apostle one can also see such a thought: sing from your hearts to the Lord prayers inspired by the Spirit. In the early Church it happened thus: when one in whom a prayer moved by the grace of God’s Spirit had been born and matured in the heart, he would ask permission to pour forth this prayer before all, and, obtaining it, would verbally raise to the Lord the prayer moving in his heart. This heartfelt prayer might sometimes be occasioned by someone in the gathering of believers in the Church; but more often it was formed at home during solitary home prayer and contemplation. Once formed, it filled the whole soul of the believer and sought expression. Pregnant with it, coming into the gathering, he could not contain himself and asked permission to speak what filled his soul. Obtaining permission, he would speak. And there you have a verbal prayer, or a Spirit-inspired psalm, flowing from the heart! The Apostle meant precisely such persons when he wrote to the Corinthians: “When you come together, each one has a psalm, a lesson, a revelation… Let all things be done for building up” (1 Cor. 14:26). By saying that the one coming to the gathering has a psalm, he gives to understand that this psalm has matured in him and seeks to come forth.

But this one, in whom the song to God had matured, pronounced the prayer; all the others listened to him. For him the song was properly Spirit-inspired. For all the others it was verbal—external. But, receiving it through hearing, they too entered into its spirit, came into a similar disposition, were moved in spirit to the same contemplations and feelings—and the prayer became general. The song, born of the Spirit and matured in the heart of one, having gone forth from his lips in words and having entered through hearing into the hearts of all, there generated in all a similar song—and all sang in a Spirit-inspired manner.

Let us apply this to us. All the prayers and hymns used in the Church are of Spirit-inspired origin. When we gather in temples, priests pronounce them, or deacons, or readers, or chanters. We receive them through hearing. If we do not stop at merely receiving the church hymns through hearing, but carry them to the heart, strive to enter into a similar disposition with them both in mind and feeling so that, having reproduced them in our hearts, from there, as if from an original source, they ascend to God, then in our gathering will be fulfilled what the Apostle commanded the Colossians—and we will sing to the Lord from the heart Spirit-inspired prayers and hymns. If moreover in home prayer we do the same, that is, enter into the spirit of the prayers being recited and, having reproduced them in our hearts, raise them to God from there, as though they were born and matured there alone, then in all respects we will become blameless singers to God—spiritual singers, singing in a Spirit-inspired manner.

From such explanations it follows that if we wish to turn the Apostle’s words about verbal prayer into a lesson for ourselves, we will gain the following: enter into the spirit of the prayers you hear and read, and, having reproduced them in your heart, raise them from there to God as though they were the product of your heart under the action of the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is the law determining the essence of prayer pleasing to God. How to reach this? Study, feel, even memorize the prayers you are to read in your prayer book. Then, standing in prayer, you will not pronounce something foreign, but what lies in your own heart, as felt by you.

The words “with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,” as noted, directly relate to the production of prayer; but all these forms of prayer-speech, while moving the spirit of prayer, can also edify. Therefore these words can be joined with the preceding: “teaching and admonishing one another.” Holy Chrysostom does this: “‘Teaching,’ he says, ‘and admonishing one another, with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.’ See how considerate Paul is. Since reading is wearisome and may become tedious, he leads not to narratives but to psalms, so that along with teaching you might also gladden the soul with song and not notice the labor. ‘With hymns,’ he says, ‘and spiritual songs.’ But now your children love demonic songs and dances, imitating cooks, bakers, and dancers; no one knows even a single psalm. Now such knowledge seems improper, base, and ridiculous. This is the whole evil; for the fruit depends on what soil the plant stands in: sandy and rocky soil produces one kind, good and fertile soil another. And such teaching is like a beneficial fountain. Teach your son to sing psalms full of wisdom—first, for instance, about temperance, or before all about not keeping company with the wicked, that is, the psalm at the very beginning of the book; for the Prophet began with this for this very purpose, saying: ‘Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked’ (Ps. 1:1), and again: ‘I have not sat with the men of falsehood’ (Ps. 25:4), and further: ‘the wicked are loathsome to him, but those who fear the Lord he honors’ (Ps. 15:4). There you will find also about companionship with the good and much else; you will find rules on temperance of the belly, restraint of the hands, not possessing things, and that money, glory, and all such are nothing. If you teach him this from childhood, you will gradually lead him higher as well. The psalms contain everything; and hymns again are not something human. When he is skilled in the psalms, he will then understand the hymns as well; for hymns are a more holy work, since the heavenly powers sing hymns, not psalms. ‘Praise is not becoming in the mouth of a sinner’ (Sir. 15:9); and again: ‘My eyes are on the faithful of the land’ (Ps. 101:6); and again: ‘No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house’ (Ps. 101:7); and again: ‘whoever walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me’ (Ps. 101:6). So let us be concerned about this above all else—keeping children from the wicked. ‘I love those who love your law’ (Ps. 119:163, 165); so let us, imitating Him, love them too. And that children be temperate, let them hear what the Prophet says: ‘My loins are filled with a loathsome disease’ (Ps. 38:8); and again: ‘you have destroyed all those who are false to you’ (Ps. 73:27). Likewise, that they not be lovers of pleasure, let them again hear: ‘he struck down the stiffnecked… while the food was still in their mouths’ (Ps. 78:30, 31). Similarly, that they not be overcome by gifts, let them learn from the following: ‘If riches increase, do not set your heart on them’ (Ps. 62:10); they will find that one must stand above glory: ‘Their glory does not go down with them’ (Ps. 49:17); that one should not envy the wicked: ‘Do not fret because of the wicked’ (Ps. 37:1); that dominion should be counted as nothing: ‘I saw the wicked, powerful, and rising like a cedar of Lebanon. Again I passed by, and lo, they were no more’ (Ps. 37:35, 36); that the present should be counted as nothing: ‘Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall; happy are the people whose God is the Lord!’ (Ps. 144:15); that we do not sin without punishment, but there will be requital: ‘You repay to all according to their work’ (Ps. 62:12); why then does He not repay daily? Because, he says, ‘God is a righteous judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day’ (Ps. 7:11); that humility is good: ‘O Lord, my heart is not lifted up’ (Ps. 131:1); and pride is evil: ‘Therefore pride is their necklace’ (Ps. 73:6); and again: ‘God opposes the proud’ (Jas. 4:6); and again: ‘Their iniquity comes out like fat’ (Ps. 73:7); that almsgiving is good: ‘He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever’ (Ps. 112:9); that mercy is praiseworthy: ‘It is well with those who deal generously and lend’ (Ps. 112:5); that one should not slander: ‘Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him I will destroy’ (Ps. 101:5). The faithful know what hymn the heavenly powers sing, what the Cherubim declare, what the Angels sang on earth: ‘Glory to God in the highest.’ Therefore, after psalm-singing, hymns are a more perfect work.”

The second kind of prayer is mental and heartfelt prayer. And the first should be of this kind too. But that one is born under the action of verbal—ready prayer; this one is born directly in the heart and from there ascends to God. Such was the prayer of Moses before the Red Sea. The Apostle teaches about it in the words: “singing with gratitude in your hearts to God.” “Sing from the grace of the Spirit,” he says, “not simply with your lips, but with attention” (standing mentally before God in your heart). For this means to sing to God, while the other is to sing to the wind; since the voice disperses into the air. Not to show yourself off, he says. You can even be in a marketplace and turn inward to God and sing, being heard by no one. So Moses prayed, and was heard. “Why do you cry to Me?” God says to him. But he spoke nothing in words, yet he cried out mentally, with a contrite heart. Therefore God alone heard him. It does no harm even while traveling to pray in your heart and be on high (holy Chrysostom). Such prayer is alone true prayer. And verbal prayer is prayer only inasmuch as mind and heart pray with it.

It is built in the heart by the grace of the Holy Spirit. One who turns to the Lord and is sanctified by the mysteries immediately receives in himself a feeling toward God, which from that moment begins to place in his heart ascents on high. Whoever does not stifle this feeling with something improper—with time, perseverance, and labor—turns it into a flame. But whoever stifles it with the improper does not find the path of approach to God and reconciliation with Him closed; yet that feeling is not given again freely and suddenly. There lies ahead sweat and labor in seeking and imploring it. To this end are appointed the ascetical labors of repentance after a sinner’s conversion to God. Their work is to rouse the dormant feeling. Whoever places at the foundation of this labor contrition and humility and without self-indulgence begins to bear the appropriate labors without interruption—to him God soon restores the lost feeling toward Him. Whoever has fallen away from God more than once finds this more difficult and does not get it so quickly. But no one is denied it. For all have grace; it suffices to give free rein to its action. Grace gains free rein in proportion to the wearing away of selfness and the rooting out of passions. The measure of the purification of the heart is the measure of the quickening of the feeling toward God. When the heart becomes pure, then the feeling toward God becomes burning. The feeling toward God awakens in these ones far before complete purification from passions, but it is still like a seed or a spark. Once born, it grows and ignites; but it is not constant—it awakens and fades; and when awakened, it is not always of the same strength. But in whatever measure it awakens, it always ascends to the Lord and sings to Him a song. Grace arranges all; for grace is always present in the believers. Those who have given themselves to it irreversibly are guided by it; and it, as it knows itself, builds them up. And this is what the Apostle’s word concerns. He wants believers, remaining under the action of grace, to come alive in feeling toward the Lord and, ascending to Him mentally, to sing to Him from the heart prayers and hymns. According to his word, this should be the constant state of Christians; but as experience shows that not all are such, even among those who have abandoned the ways of sin and passions, in this word of the Apostle one should see an indication of the norm of the prayerful state of Christians, as an obligatory object of their seeking. It should be an object of seeking both because it is high and because it is an indispensable condition of advancement in spiritual life and of drawing near to God—and it is its measure and true indicator.

Col. 3:17. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and Father through Him.

The third method that ought to be used to show one’s life hidden in God is to do all things in the name of the Lord. The first two—reading Scripture and assimilating revealed truths—drive out vain and unclean thoughts and fill the mind with wholesome thoughts about the Divine; prayer establishes the habit of always remembering God or walking in the presence of God. Both keep attention and feeling hidden in God. It seems this should suffice. It seems so, but it is not. If we leave only these two methods in practice, they will not bring us to the goal proposed. Man is not merely thought and feeling, but rather deed. He is a being always in motion, constantly acting. But every deed draws attention and feeling. One engaged wholly in a deed becomes wholly in that deed. Therefore, the one seeking God, because of deeds which he cannot avoid, inevitably turns from God in thought, and thought leads feeling along with it. Deeds draw him from heaven to earth, or lead him out of hiddenness in God into visible relations: for nearly all our deeds are visible, they proceed in the order of creation, amid sensible things. From this it follows that if man’s deeds are not directed so that they too serve as a means to preserve life hidden in God, then the first two methods will remain fruitless, or they themselves cannot be performed as they ought. Deeds will constantly disturb both the work of studying Scripture and the work of prayer. Therefore, the Apostle teaches in the proposed words how to turn deeds also into a means of keeping life hidden in God—namely, do all things in the name of the Lord. If you set yourself to this, you will not depart from the Lord neither in thought nor in feeling. For to do all things in the name of the Lord means to do all things to His glory, in the desire to please Him, faithfully fulfilling His known will even in small things. And in this the members of the body, as instruments, will perform the deed, while thought and feeling are turned toward the Lord with care, so that what is done may be done in a way pleasing to the Lord and serve to His glory.

This method is more powerful for the proposed goal than the first two, and success in those depends on success in this. For they are of a mental character. But the mental enters into the very substance and blood through deed. Deed settles and fixes the imagined into the nature of man. When the deed being done is sanctified by directing it to God, then a certain Divine element enters into all the powers and organs participating in its performance. The more such deeds, the more Divine elements enter into man’s nature. And eventually they fill all of it; and thus all of his nature becomes immersed in the Divine, or hidden in God. As such a directing of deeds is established more firmly, so prayer and God-thinking and wholesome thoughts are established more firmly. They influence the establishing of the directing of deeds to God’s glory, and this directing, in return, strengthens them and makes them more capable.

The Apostle has embraced all that we do with two terms: “word” and “deed.” Words are spoken with the mouth; deeds are performed by the other members. From waking to sleep, both are in constant use. Our speech flows almost without ceasing; and the other movements of the body do not stop either. What a rich sacrifice to God, if all this were directed to God’s glory! By turning word to God’s glory, not only evil speech is driven out, but also idle speech, and only what serves to build up the brethren remains, or at least does not serve to destroy them. To this we must add prayer. Likewise, by turning deeds to God’s glory, not only evil deeds done from lust and irritation are removed—these ought to have no mention among Christians—but the spirit is indicated in which all proper, permitted, and beneficial deeds ought to be done. In this way all self-seeking and serving the world and its evil customs are driven out from the sphere of activity.

To do all things in the name of the Lord means to direct all things to His glory, to try to do all things so that they please Him, with awareness of His will for this, and moreover to surround every deed with prayer to Him, to begin with prayer, to perform it in a prayerful manner, and to end with prayer, asking for blessing at the beginning, seeking help in the course of it, and at the end offering thanksgiving as to the Fulfiller in us and through us of His own work. Saint Chrysostom says: “If we conduct ourselves thus, then where Christ is invoked, nothing abominable or unclean will be found. Whether you eat or drink, marry or travel, do all things in God’s name, that is, calling upon God for help. Undertake the deed, first of all having prayed to God. Do you wish to say something? Put this first. Eat? Give thanks to God with the resolve to do the same afterward. Sleep? Give thanks to God with the resolve to do the same afterward. Go to the marketplace? Do the same. Let nothing be worldly, nothing of this life: accomplish all things in the name of the Lord, and all will go well with you. Whatever you seal with God’s name will turn out happily. If it drives out demons and removes diseases, how much more will it ease the performance of deeds. Listen to how Abraham sent his servant in God’s name, David slew Goliath in God’s name. Great and wonderful is His name! Then again, Jacob, sending his children (to Egypt), says: ‘May God grant you mercy before the man’ (before Joseph, that is [see Gen. 43:14]); for whoever does this has God as his helper, without whom he dare not do anything, for the God honored by invocation repays honor by granting prosperous success to deeds. Call upon the Son, give thanks to the Father; for in calling upon the Son you call upon the Father as well, and in giving thanks to the Father you give thanks to the Son. Let us learn to fulfill this not in words alone but in deeds. To this name there is nothing equal: it is always wonderful. ‘Ointment poured out’ is,” he says, “Your name” (Song 1:2). And whoever uttered it was suddenly filled with fragrance. “No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). So much is accomplished by this name! By this name the universe has been transformed, tyranny destroyed, the devil trampled, the heavens opened. But why do I speak of the heavens? By this name we have been born again, and if we do not abandon it, we shall shine. It begets both martyrs and confessors. We ought to hold it as a great gift, so as to live to God’s glory, to please God, and to be deemed worthy of the good things promised to those who love Him.

Here the Apostle commands us to do all things “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” while in another place he commands us to do all things “to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). This is one and the same: for the Lord Jesus Christ is God. God is one. The incarnation of God the Son introduced no change in the mystery of the Triune God, one in essence. And our union with God through the incarnate economy is accomplished by the Triune God. God the Father, by the grace of the Spirit, draws us to the Son; and those drawn to Him through Him—and only through Him—come to the Father. Thus all in us is in the name of the Lord Jesus, but inseparably with the Father and the Spirit. In prayer turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is our Saviour, but in thought do not separate Him from the Father and the Spirit. And do all your deeds in the name of the Lord Jesus, for without Him you can do nothing; but do not exclude from this the thought of the Father and the Spirit. Likewise, turning to the Father and the Spirit, do not diminish or set aside from your awareness and conviction the exclusive necessity of the mediation of the incarnate economy.

To such inseparability in the thought of the Persons of the Holy Trinity the holy Paul pointed when he added: “giving thanks to God and the Father through Him.” Do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, but do not let His countenance hide the countenance of God the Father; rather, through Him raise thanksgiving to God the Father, who has deigned to accomplish for us in Him sure and certain salvation. Earlier the Apostle placed thanksgiving as a commandment: “and be thankful;” here his mention of it is made for no other purpose than to guard us from the error of letting the Son’s countenance hide the Father’s countenance in our thinking (and likewise the countenance of the Holy Spirit). God the Father through the incarnate Son stretches forth to us the arms of His paternal benevolence, and those who throw themselves into these arms He receives through the Son. All in us comes from the incarnate Son, but so that through Him we may ascend to the Father. We dare not come to God the Father, neither with petition nor with thanksgiving, by ourselves alone, apart from the incarnate Son of God; but being in the Son, together with Him as sons we must be raised up to the Father. That is what it means for us to be in the Son—if we have a grateful heart toward the Father.