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Colossians 3:16-18
New Catholic Bible
Colossians 3:16-18
New Catholic Bible
16 Let the word of Christ[a] with all its richness dwell in you. Teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
18 The Christian Family.[b]Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
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- Colossians 3:16 Word of Christ: principally Christ’s teaching, which was transmitted orally at that time but which also includes the Old Testament and the New. Hymns: these set forth some of the most important doctrines and have been preserved for us only in Paul’s Letters (e.g., Col 1:15-20; Eph 5:14; Phil 2:6-11; 1 Tim 3:16).
- Colossians 3:18 Husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and slaves were accustomed in ancient society to live in accord with links of superiority and submission. Paul does not reverse this social structure. However, neither is he content simply to enumerate the rights of husbands, parents, and masters so as to oppose them with the duties of wives, children, and slaves. He stresses a reciprocity of duties and preaches a Christian attachment—“in the Lord”—an appeal to conscience. He does not call upon slaves to revolt but gives them another way to look upon themselves—the fact that they belong to the Lord takes precedence over their dependence on their human masters. And in a near contradiction of terms, slaves are regarded as heirs of the Lord.
This short list of precepts of family morality was developed at length in the Letter to the Ephesians (5:21—6:9).
