Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord;

“For the apostle adds again, "Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to God." And again, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and His Father." This is our thankful revelry. And even if you wish to sing and play to the harp or lyre, there is no blame. Thou shalt imitate the righteous Hebrew king in his thanksgiving to God. "Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; praise is comely to the upright," says the prophecy. "Confess to the Lord on the harp; play to Him on the psaltery of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song." And does not the ten-stringed psaltery indicate the Word Jesus, who is manifested by the element of the decad? And as it is befitting, before partaking of food, that we should bless the Creator of all; so also in drinking it is suitable to praise Him on partaking of His creatures. For the psalm is a melodious and sober blessing. The apostle calls the psalm "a spiritual song."”

“Dost thou wish, he says, to be cheerful, dost thou wish to employ the day? I give thee spiritual drink; for drunkenness even cuts off the articulate sound of our tongue; it makes us lisp and stammer, and distorts the eyes, and the whole frame together. Learn to sing psalms, and thou shall see the delightfulness of the employment. For they who sing psalms are filled with the Holy Spirit, as they who sing satanic songs are filled with an unclean spirit.”

“Above he led them to newness against the oldness of deceit; here he does this same thing against the oldness of carnal vices. Or let us say that before he reproved carnal sins as regards lust, but here as regards gluttony. He does two things. For first he forbids the oldness; second he leads the state to newness, at "but be filled," etc. He says therefore: I said that fornication and all uncleanness should not be named among you; but in order to guard against this you ought to abstain from excessive wine, because excessive food and drink is a cause of lust, and especially wine, which heats and stirs. Proverbs 20:1: Wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness is riotous. Esther 1:10: When the king was more cheerful, and after excessive drinking had grown hot with wine, etc. Hosea 4:11: Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness take away the heart. Whence Jerome: him whom Sodom did not conquer, wine conquered — Lot. Be not therefore, etc. But be filled with the Holy Spirit. Among all the things that generate many spirits is wine, whence it generates boldness and makes men speak by talents, as is said in 3 Esdras 3:21. And therefore he fittingly teaches them, against this, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, who generates the fervor of devotion. Romans 12:11: fervent in spirit. Likewise, it also generates spiritual joy and gladness. Romans 14:17: justice, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Likewise, it makes one speak boldly. Acts 2:4: they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak, etc., and therefore those who heard them speaking believed them to be drunk. But do we have the Holy Spirit in our own power? I answer and say that to have the Holy Spirit is twofold: either receptively, and thus it is not in our power to receive him, but we receive him from the gift of God. Romans 5:5: The charity of God is poured out in our hearts, etc. Or dispositively, and thus still we are not sufficient to receive him, that is, to dispose ourselves, without the grace of God. 2 Corinthians 3:5: We are not sufficient to think anything of ourselves as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. Or someone is said to receive the Holy Spirit, yet not to be full of the Holy Spirit, namely when he has the grace of the Holy Spirit with respect to some operation and not with respect to every operation of man. But then he is said to be full of the Holy Spirit, when he uses it generally. But the manner of being filled is in the love of God and of neighbor. And therefore when he says "speaking," etc., first he touches the manner of the filling on the part of God; second on the part of the neighbor, at "subject to one another," etc. Concerning the first he does three things. First spiritual meditation is set down; second spiritual exultation, at "singing," etc.; third the giving of thanks, at "giving thanks," etc. The first is divided into two, because first he sets down the manner of the meditation, second its matter, at "in psalms," etc. He says therefore "speaking to yourselves," etc. Now there is a twofold speech: one exterior, of man to men; the other interior, of man to himself. But such speech ought to be compunctive. Job 10:1: I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. Likewise, it ought to be done in secret. Matthew 6:6: But when you pray, enter into your chamber, and having shut the door, pray to your Father. And Wisdom 8:16: Entering into my house, I shall rest with her. But he touches the matter of the meditation when he says "in psalms," etc. To sing psalms is to make use of the psaltery. And thus "in psalms," that is, in good works. Psalm 80:3: Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant psaltery, etc. And "hymns," that is, divine praises. Psalm 148:14: a hymn to all his saints, etc. And "spiritual canticles," namely concerning the hope of eternal things. Romans 12:12: rejoicing in hope. Psalm 91:4: upon the ten-stringed psaltery, with a canticle upon the harp. Psalm 97:1: Sing to the Lord a new canticle, etc. Let us therefore meditate: on right action, what is to be done; on divine praise, what is to be imitated; on heavenly gladness, what and how we are to serve. Thus therefore the first effect of the Holy Spirit is sacred meditation, the second is spiritual exultation, because from frequent meditation the fire of charity is kindled in the heart. Psalm 38:4: My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation a fire shall flame out, etc. And from this spiritual gladness is generated in the heart. And therefore he says "singing and making melody," that is, so that our affections may be affected with spiritual joy for the doing of good works. 1 Corinthians 14:15: I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the mind. Colossians 3:16: in all wisdom teaching and admonishing yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord in grace. From this the error of the heretics is confounded, who say that it is vain to sing vocal canticles to the Lord, and that only spiritual ones should be sung. For in the praises of the Church there is something to be considered per se, and this is what the apostle says, "in your hearts." But something is done on account of two things: namely, on account of ourselves, that our mind may be roused to interior devotion — but if from this someone is moved to dissoluteness, or to vain glory, this is against the intention of the Church; likewise, on account of others, because through this the unlearned are made more devout. 4 Kings 3:15: And when the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon him. The third effect is the giving of thanks: because from this, that someone is so affected toward God, he recognizes that he has all things from God. For the more someone is affected toward God, and knows him, the more he sees him as greater and himself as lesser — indeed, as nearly nothing, in comparison to God. Job 42:5: My eye sees you, therefore I reprove myself, etc. And therefore he says "giving thanks always for all things," namely for gifts, whether prosperous or adverse. Psalm 33:1: I will bless the Lord at all times, etc. For these too are for us gifts on the way. James 1:2: Count it all joy, etc. Acts 5:41: the apostles went rejoicing, etc. 1 Thessalonians 5:18: In all things give thanks. But this "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," because all good things come about through him. Romans 5:1: we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have access, etc. But he adds "to God," insofar as he is our author through creation, and "the Father," insofar as he sent us Christ, through whom he regenerated us. And thus thanks to God, as regards the goods of nature; to the Father, as regards the goods of grace. But as regards the neighbor, he sets down the manner of the filling, saying "subject to one another in the fear of Christ," that is, not on account of human fear, but of Christ.”

“Submitting yourselves one to another,.... Which may be understood either in a political sense, of giving honour, obedience, and tribute, to civil magistrates, since they are set up by God for the good of men, and it is for the credit of religion for the saints to submit to them; or in an economical sense; thus the wife should be subject to the husband, children to their parents, and servants to their masters, which several things are afterwards insisted on, as explanative of this rule; or in an ecclesiastic sense, so the Ethiopic version renders it, "subject yourselves to your brethren": thus members of churches should be subject to their pastors, not in the same sense as they are to Christ, the head, nor are they obliged to believe or do everything they say, right or wrong; yet honour and esteem are due to them, and submission and obedience should be yielded to their doctrines, precepts, and exhortations, when they are agreeably to the word of God; since God has set them in the highest place in the church, called them to the highest service, and most honourable work, and bestowed on them the greatest gifts; the younger members should also submit to the elder, and the minority to the majority; one member should submit to another, to the superior judgment of another, and to the weakness of another, and to the admonitions of others, and so as to perform all offices of love: and the manner in which this duty is to be performed, is in the fear of God; which may be considered as the moving cause of submission, or, as the rule of it; submission should be on account of the fear of God, and so far as is consistent with it; and indeed, the fear of God is that which should influence and engage to every duty; and which should be before our eyes, and in exercise in our hearts, in all concerns, civil and religious: the Alexandrian copy and some others, the Complutensian edition, and the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read, "in the fear of Christ"; who is the head of the church, and King of saints, and as such to be feared and reverenced; and for his sake there should be a submission to one another; the Syriac version reads, in the love of Christ, which should constrain the saints to this duty.”

“Speaking to yourselves in psalms - We can scarcely say what is the exact difference between these three expressions. Psalms, ψαλμοι, may probably mean those of David. Hymns - Ὑμνοις· Extemporaneous effusions in praise of God, uttered under the influence of the Divine Spirit, or a sense of his especial goodness. See Act 16:25. Songs - Ωιδαις· Odes; premeditated and regular poetic compositions; but, in whatever form they were composed, we learn that they were all πνευματικα, spiritual - tending to magnify God and edify men. Singing and making melody in your heart - The heart always going with the lips. It is a shocking profanation of Divine worship to draw nigh to God with the lips, while the heart is far from him. It is too often the case that, in public worship, men are carried off from the sense of the words by the sounds that are put to them. And how few choirs of singers are there in the universe whose hearts ever accompany them in what they call singing the praises of God!”

“(Col 3:16). to yourselves--"to one another." Hence soon arose the antiphonal or responsive chanting of which PLINY writes to Trajan: "They are wont on a fixed day to meet before daylight [to avoid persecution] and to recite a hymn among themselves by turns, to Christ, as if being God." The Spirit gives true eloquence; wine, a spurious eloquence. psalms--generally accompanied by an instrument. hymns--in direct praise to God (compare Act 16:25; Co1 14:26; Jam 5:13). songs--the general term for lyric pieces; "spiritual" is added to mark their being here restricted to sacred subjects, though not merely to direct praises of God, but also containing exhortations, prophecies, &c. Contrast the drunken "songs," Amo 8:10. making melody--Greek, "playing and singing with an instrument." in your heart--not merely with the tongue; but the serious feeling of the heart accompanying the singing of the lips (compare Co1 14:15; Psa 47:7). The contrast is between the heathen and the Christian practice, "Let your songs be not the drinking songs of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and their accompaniment, not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart" [CONYBEARE and HOWSON]. to the Lord--See PLINY'S letter quoted above: "To Christ as God."”