Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
And whatever you do
This phrase sets the stage for a comprehensive approach to Christian living. The Greek word for "whatever" (ὅ τι) implies an all-encompassing scope, suggesting that no aspect of life is excluded from the call to live for Christ. Historically, this reflects the early Christian understanding that faith was not confined to religious rituals but permeated every action and decision. The use of "do" (ποιεῖτε) emphasizes active engagement, indicating that Christianity is a faith of action, not just belief.

in word or deed
The phrase "in word or deed" covers both speech and actions, indicating that our entire being should reflect our faith. The Greek word for "word" (λόγος) can mean spoken word, but it also carries the connotation of reason or principle, suggesting that our communication should be grounded in truth and love. "Deed" (ἔργον) refers to work or action, emphasizing that our daily activities should align with Christian values. This dual focus on speech and action underscores the holistic nature of Christian ethics.

do it all
The repetition of "do" (ποιεῖτε) with "all" (πάντα) reinforces the totality of the call to live for Christ. The Greek word "πάντα" means all things, without exception, highlighting the comprehensive nature of this command. This reflects the early Christian belief that every aspect of life is an opportunity to serve God, a radical departure from the compartmentalized religious practices of the time.

in the name of the Lord Jesus
To act "in the name of the Lord Jesus" means to act with His authority and in a manner that reflects His character. The name "Jesus" (Ἰησοῦς) is significant, as it means "Yahweh saves," reminding believers of the salvation and authority of Christ. Acting in His name implies a deep relationship with Him, where our actions are guided by His teachings and empowered by His presence. Historically, this was a bold declaration in a polytheistic society, affirming the supremacy of Christ.

giving thanks to God the Father
The act of "giving thanks" (εὐχαριστοῦντες) is central to Christian worship and life. The Greek root of this word is related to grace (χάρις), suggesting that thanksgiving is a response to God's grace. "God the Father" (Θεῷ πατρί) emphasizes the relational aspect of God as a loving parent, a revolutionary concept in the ancient world where gods were often seen as distant or capricious. This phrase calls believers to a life of gratitude, recognizing God's provision and sovereignty.

through Him
The phrase "through Him" (δι’ αὐτοῦ) underscores the mediating role of Christ in our relationship with God. It is through Jesus that we have access to the Father, a theme consistent throughout the New Testament. This highlights the centrality of Christ in all aspects of Christian life, affirming that our ability to live out this verse is dependent on His work and presence in our lives. Historically, this was a profound assertion of the unique role of Christ in salvation and daily living.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Paul the Apostle
The author of the letter to the Colossians, Paul wrote to address issues in the church and to encourage believers in their faith.

2. Colossae
An ancient city in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) where the church to whom Paul was writing was located.

3. The Colossian Church
The recipients of the letter, a group of early Christians facing challenges from false teachings and cultural pressures.

4. Jesus Christ
Central to the verse, Jesus is the one in whose name believers are instructed to act and speak.

5. God the Father
The one to whom thanks is given through Jesus, highlighting the relationship between the Father and the Son.
Teaching Points
Living in the Name of Jesus
Every action and word should reflect the character and authority of Jesus. This means aligning our daily lives with His teachings and example.

The Power of Gratitude
Giving thanks is not just an act of obedience but a transformative practice that shifts our focus from ourselves to God, fostering a heart of worship and humility.

Holistic Worship
Worship is not confined to church services but is a lifestyle. Our work, conversations, and interactions should all be acts of worship.

Unity in Purpose
Acting in the name of Jesus unites believers in a common purpose, transcending personal agendas and fostering community.

Dependence on God
Acknowledging that all we do is through Jesus reminds us of our dependence on God’s strength and guidance.
Bible Study Questions
1. How can you ensure that your daily actions and words are done in the name of the Lord Jesus?

2. In what ways can you incorporate more gratitude into your daily routine, and how might this change your perspective?

3. Reflect on a recent decision or action. How might it have been different if you consciously did it in the name of Jesus?

4. How does the concept of doing everything in Jesus' name challenge or encourage you in your current life circumstances?

5. Consider the connection between Colossians 3:17 and 1 Corinthians 10:31. How do these verses together shape your understanding of living a life that glorifies God?
Connections to Other Scriptures
1 Corinthians 10:31
This verse similarly instructs believers to do everything for the glory of God, reinforcing the idea of living a life that honors God in all aspects.

Ephesians 5:20
Encourages giving thanks to God the Father for everything, which aligns with the call in Colossians 3:17 to give thanks through Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7
Emphasizes prayer and thanksgiving, connecting to the theme of gratitude in Colossians 3:17.

John 14:13-14
Jesus speaks about asking in His name, which relates to doing everything in His name as mentioned in Colossians 3:17.

Romans 12:1-2
Calls believers to offer their bodies as living sacrifices, which complements the idea of dedicating all actions and words to the Lord.
Christian Ends Lend Grandeur to Human LifeT. Guthrie, D. D.Colossians 3:17
Colossians Iii. 17Thomas ArnoldColossians 3:17
Common Work in the Name of JesusH. J. W. Buxton, M. A.Colossians 3:17
Consistency and GratitudeJ. Daille.Colossians 3:17
Doing All in the Name of ChristColossians 3:17
Doing All to the Lord JesusE B. Pusey, D. D.Colossians 3:17
Every-Day ReligionT. De Witt Talmage, D. D.Colossians 3:17
Godly LivingPreacher's AnalystColossians 3:17
Method and Music, or the Art of Holy and Happy LivingC. H. Spurgeon.Colossians 3:17
Suggestive Summary of Christian DutyG. Barlow.Colossians 3:17
The Acceptable PrayerH. J. W. Buxton, M. A.Colossians 3:17
The All-Pervasiveness of ReligionW. Mallock.Colossians 3:17
The Essence of FieryD. Stewart.Colossians 3:17
The Motive Power of a Holy LifeJ. Macgregor, D. D.Colossians 3:17
The Name of Jesus Set in WorkDr. Neale.Colossians 3:17
The Principle of a Godly LifeT. Croskery Colossians 3:17
The Reality of ReligionDean Alford.Colossians 3:17
Things Sacred and Things SecularJ. A. Jacob, D. D.Colossians 3:17
The Marks, Method, and Motive of the Christian LifeU.R. Thomas Colossians 3:12-17
The New Life of LoveR.M. Edgar Colossians 3:12-17
What Particularly We are to Put On. How We are AddressedR. Finlayson Colossians 3:12-17
The Power of the Word and the Name of ChristE.S. Prout Colossians 3:16, 17
People
Christians, Colossians, Paul, Timothy
Places
Colossae
Topics
Act, Deed, Giving, Praise, Thanks, Whatever, Whatsoever, Whether
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Colossians 3:17

     1512   Trinity, equality of
     2224   Christ, the Lord
     5629   work, ordained by God
     5636   work, and rest
     5909   motives, importance
     8223   dedication
     8409   decision-making, and providence
     8676   thanksgiving
     8809   riches

Colossians 3:1-17

     3254   Holy Spirit, fruit of

Colossians 3:12-17

     7125   elect, the

Colossians 3:15-17

     6746   sanctification, means and results
     8352   thankfulness

Colossians 3:16-17

     3218   Holy Spirit, and praise
     5549   speech, positive
     8666   praise, manner and methods

Library
The Peace of God
Baltimore, U.S., 1874. Westminster Abbey. November 8, 1874. Colossians. iii 15. "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts." The peace of God. That is what the priest will invoke for you all, when you leave this abbey. Do you know what it is? Whether you do or not, let me tell you in a few words, what I seem to myself to have learned concerning that peace. What it is? how we can obtain it? and why so many do not obtain it, and are, therefore, not at peace? It is worth while to do so. For
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

May 5. "If Ye Then be Risen" (Col. Iii. 1).
"If ye then be risen" (Col. iii. 1). God is waiting this morning to mark the opening hours for every ready and willing heart with a touch of life and power that will lift our lives to higher pleasures and offer to our vision grander horizons of hope and holy service. We shall not need to seek far to discover our risen Lord. He was in advance even of the earliest seeker that Easter morning, and He will be waiting for us before the break of day with His glad "All Hail," if we have only eyes to see
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

February 17. "Your Life is Hid" (Col. Iii. 3).
"Your life is hid" (Col. iii. 3). Some Christians loom up in larger proportion than is becoming. They can tell, and others can tell, how many souls they bring to Christ. Their labor seems to crystallize and become its own memorial. Others again seem to blend so wholly with other workers that their own individuality can scarcely be traced. And yet, after all, this is the most Christ-like ministry of all, for the Master Himself does not even appear in the work of the church except as her hidden Life
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May 18. "For Ye are Dead" (Col. Iii. 3).
"For ye are dead" (Col. iii. 3). Now, this definite, absolute and final putting off of ourselves in an act of death, is something we cannot do ourselves. It is not self-mortifying, but it is dying with Christ. There is nothing can do it but the Cross of Christ and the Spirit of God. The church is full of half dead people who have been trying, like poor Nero, to slay themselves for years, and have not had the courage to strike the fatal blow. Oh, if they would just put themselves at Jesus' feet, and
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Colossians 3, 12-17. 12 Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering; 13 forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye: 14 and above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the which also ye were called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the Word
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Easter Wednesday Also Suited to Easter Tuesday.
Text: Colossians 3, 1-7. 1 If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. 3 For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory. 5 Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion,
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Risen with Christ
'If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. 5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Christian Training of Children.
TEXT: COL. iii. 21. MY devout hearers! Christian families, founded on the holy bond of marriage, are appointed, in the divine order of things, to be the nurseries of the future generation. It is there that the young souls who are to be our successors in cultivating the vineyard of God are to be trained and developed; it is there the process is to begin of restraining and cleansing away the corruption inherent in them as the children of sinful men; there that their earliest longings after fellowship
Friedrich Schleiermacher—Selected Sermons of Schleiermacher

Unity and Peace.
Preached February 9, 1851. UNITY AND PEACE. "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful."--Colossians iii. 15. There is something in these words that might surprise us. It might surprise us to find that peace is urged on us as a duty. There can be no duty except where there is a matter of obedience; and it might seem to us that peace is a something over which we have no power. It is a privilege to have peace, but it would appear
Frederick W. Robertson—Sermons Preached at Brighton

Christ is All
Observe in this chapter that he begins by reminding the saints of their having risen with Christ. If they indeed have risen with him, he argues that they should leave the grave of iniquity and the graveclothes of their sins behind, and act as those who are endowed with that superior life, which accounts sin to be death and corruption. He then goes on to declare that the believer's life is in Christ, "for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." He infers holiness from this also. Shall
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Christ is All
MY text is so very short that you cannot forget it; and, I am quite certain, if you are Christians at all, you will be sure to agree with it. What a multitude of religions there is in this poor wicked world of ours! Men have taken it into their heads to invent various systems of religion and if you look round the world, you will see scores of different sects; but it is a great fact that, while there is a multitude of false religions, there is but one that is true. While there are many falsehoods,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 61: 1915

Some General Uses.
Before we come to speak of some particular cases of deadness, wherein believers are to make use of Christ as the Life, we shall first propose some useful consequences and deductions from what hath been spoken of this life; and, I. The faith of those things, which have been mentioned, would be of great use and advantage to believers; and therefore they should study to have the faith of this truth fixed on their hearts, and a deep impression thereof on their spirits, to the end, that, 1. Be their case
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Cups Running Over
Brokenness, however, is but the beginning of Revival. Revival itself is being absolutely filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit, and that is victorious living. If we were asked this moment if we were filled with the Holy Spirit, how many of us would dare to answer "yes"? Revival is when we can say "yes" at any moment of the day. It is not egoistic to say so, for filling to overflowing is utterly and completely God's work--it is all of grace. All we have to do is to present our empty, broken self
Roy Hession and Revel Hession—The Calvary Road

What have I to do with Idols?
MUCH is said in reproof of Ephraim by the prophet Hosea. All the wicked dealings and defilement of Ephraim is uncovered--and the Lord said: "I will be unto Ephraim as a lion." Again Jehovah said: "Ephraim is like a cake not turned." "Ephraim is like a silly dove without heart." "Ephraim hath made many altars to sin." "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone." But all reproof and chastisement did not bring Ephraim back. Nothing seemed to be able to draw Ephraim's heart away from the idols. At the
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

Christ Our Life.
Colossians 3:4.--Christ who is our life. One question that rises in every mind is this: "How can I live that life of perfect trust in God?" Many do not know the right answer, or the full answer. It is this: "Christ must live it in me." That is what He became man for; as a man to live a life of trust in God, and so to show to us how we ought to live. When He had done that upon earth, He went to heaven, that He might do more than show us, might give us, and live in us that life of trust. It is as we
Andrew Murray—The Master's Indwelling

Meditations of the Misery of a Man not Reconciled to God in Christ.
O wretched Man! where shall I begin to describe thine endless misery, who art condemned as soon as conceived; and adjudged to eternal death, before thou wast born to a temporal life? A beginning indeed, I find, but no end of thy miseries. For when Adam and Eve, being created after God's own image, and placed in Paradise, that they and their posterity might live in a blessed state of life immortal, having dominion over all earthly creatures, and only restrained from the fruit of one tree, as a sign
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Christ all and in All.
(Colossians iii. 11.) Christ is all to us that we make Him to be. I want to emphasize that word "all." Some men make Him to be "a root out of a dry ground," "without form or comeliness." He is nothing to them; they do not want Him. Some Christians have a very small Saviour, for they are not willing to receive Him fully, and let Him do great and mighty things for them. Others have a mighty Saviour, because they make Him to be great and mighty. If we would know what Christ wants to be to us, we
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It

But, after that He had Made Mention of These Evils...
30. But, after that he had made mention of these evils, he added and said, "On account of which cometh the wrath of God on the sons of unbelief." [1923] Surely it was a wholesome alarm that believers might not think that they could be saved on account of their faith alone, even although they should live in these evils: the Apostle James with most clear speech crying out against that notion, and saying, "If any say that he have faith, and have not works, shall his faith be able to save him?" [1924]
St. Augustine—On Continence

"But Now do Ye Also," Saith He, "Put Down All...
31. "But now do ye also," saith he, "put down all;" [1927] and he makes mention of several more evils of that sort. But what is it, that it is not enough for him to say, "Do ye put down all," but that he added the conjunction and said, "ye also?" save that lest they should not think that they did those evils and lived in them with impunity on this account, because their faith set them free from wrath, which cometh upon the sons of unbelief, doing these things, and living in them without faith. Do
St. Augustine—On Continence

Epistle xxxiii. To Dominicus.
To Dominicus. Gregory to Dominicus, Bishop of Carthage. The letter of your Holiness, which we received at the hands of the bearer of these presents, so expressed priestly moderation as to soothe us, in a manner, with the bodily presence of its author. Nor indeed does infrequency of communication cause any harm where the affection of love remains uninterrupted in one's mind. Great, moreover, is the power of charity, beloved brother, which binds hearts one to another in mutual affection with the
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

How Servants and Masters are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 6). Differently to be admonished are servants and masters. Servants, to wit, that they ever keep in view the humility of their condition; but masters, that they lose not recollection of their nature, in which they are constituted on an equality with servants. Servants are to be admonished that they despise not their masters, lest they offend God, if by behaving themselves proudly they gainsay His ordinance: masters, too, are to be admonished, that they are proud against God with respect
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

How Subjects and Prelates are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 5.) Differently to be admonished are subjects and prelates: the former that subjection crush them not, the latter that superior place elate them not: the former that they fail not to fulfil what is commanded them, the latter that they command not more to be fulfilled than is just: the former that they submit humbly, the latter that they preside temperately. For this, which may be understood also figuratively, is said to the former, Children, obey your parents in the Lord: but to
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Third Sunday after Trinity Humility, Trust, Watchfulness, Suffering
Text: 1 Peter 5, 5-11. 5 Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; 7 casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you. 8 Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 whom withstand stedfast
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

What the Scriptures Principally Teach: the Ruin and Recovery of Man. Faith and Love Towards Christ.
2 Tim. i. 13.--"Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." Here is the sum of religion. Here you have a compend of the doctrine of the Scriptures. All divine truths may be reduced to these two heads,--faith and love; what we ought to believe, and what we ought to do. This is all the Scriptures teach, and this is all we have to learn. What have we to know, but what God hath revealed of himself to us? And what have we to do, but what
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

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