Colossians 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… I. THE EXTENT OF THE POETIC ENDOWMENT IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCHES. That it was extensively bestowed we may conceive — 1. From the frequent reference made to it (1 Corinthians 14:26). In Corinth it was valued as a charismata (see also Ephesians 5:19; James 5:13). 2. From the universality of the preternatural endowment. The gift of the Spirit was generally bestowed, and this would rouse the poetic faculty in all who had it, and consecrate it to sacred uses. 3. From the universality of excited feelings in the apostolic Churches. Most of those who embraced religion were subject to extraordinary excitement, and poetry is the language of excited feelings. To the unconverted this inspiration was madness or intoxication. II. ITS CHARACTER. Poetical productions have a character. They are fruitful or barren, corrupt or chaste. There is much in our great poets repugnant to our sense of propriety and which we would fain suppress; but the mere fact that these early Christian poets were under the power of the Spirit would show that their poetry must have been high and pure. There are three things which determine the value of poetry. 1. Intellectual merit. This was high with the primitive Christians. "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly." Christian truth is calculated to incite the highest feelings of the soul, and these lofty emotions would find utterance in "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." The profoundest feelings of our nature can only be expressed in poetry. The highest strains of the orator are poetical. 2. Moral purity. "Admonishing one another." This implies a deep concern for each other's moral welfare. The basis of this concern is personal morality, and issued in strains that were morally improving. 3. Poetic conception. The ideas of the primitive Christians were imaginative and creative. III. ITS UTILITY. Every Divine gift is bestowed for a useful purpose. What is the use of this? 1. For personal enjoyment. The true poet lives in a creation of his own, and in the deepest solitude he communes with the infinite source of light, life, love, and beauty. "Poetry," said Coleridge, "has been to me its own exceeding great reward. It has soothed my affliction, it has endeared solitude, and it has given me the habit of wishing to discover the good and beautiful in all that surrounds me." 2. As an element in public worship. Nothing adorns, enlivens, and augments the interest of public worship more than music. It secures the harmony of hearts as well as of voices. 3. It is of social utility. Poetry has exercised a powerful influence on society in all ages, for consolation, inspiration, etc. (P. L. Davies, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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 with grace in your hearts to the Lord. |
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