Colossians 3:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Or Paul means this: say and do everything in a godly manner. Do not introduce angels. Do you eat? Thank God, with the resolve to do the same afterward. Do you sleep? Thank God, with the resolve to do the same afterward. Do you go to the marketplace? Do the same.

Let there be nothing worldly, nothing merely earthly. Do everything in the name of the Lord, and everything will prosper for you. Whatever you seal with the name of God will turn out well. If it drives out demons and removes diseases, much more does it make the accomplishment of tasks easier.

What does it mean, “Whatever ye do, in word or deed”? By this he indicates either the one who permits, or the one who does something of this kind. Listen to how Abraham sent his servant in the name of God. David slew Goliath in the name of God.

His name is wonderful and great. Then again Jacob, when sending his children, says: “May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man” (Gen 43:14). Whoever does this has God as helper, without Whom he dares to do nothing.

Thus God, honored by invocation, gives honor in return by granting success in works. Invoke the Son, and give thanks to the Father. In invoking the Son, you also invoke the Father. In thanking the Father, you also thank the Son.

Let us learn to fulfill this not in words only, but also in deeds. Nothing is equal to this name. It is always wonderful: “Thy name,” it says, “is as ointment poured forth” (Song 1:3). Whoever has uttered it is at once filled with fragrance.

“No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). See how much is accomplished by this name. If you have pronounced with faith the words, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19), then you have accomplished everything.

See how much you have done: you have recreated a human being and brought about everything else in the mystery of baptism. In the same way this dread name holds dominion over diseases.

Therefore, envying us this honor, the devil introduced what is unfitting toward angels. Such are demonic chants. But whether it be an angel, an archangel, or a cherubim, do not tolerate this. These powers themselves will not receive you, but will reject you when they see the Master dishonored.

“I honored you,” He says, “and said, ‘Call upon Me.’ But you dishonor Him?” If you sang this chant with faith, you would drive away both diseases and demons. And if you did not drive away the disease, this would not be because of weakness, but because the disease is profitable.

“According to Thy greatness,” it says, “so is Thy praise.” By this name the world has been converted, tyranny destroyed, the devil trampled down, and the heavens opened. But why do I say the heavens? By this name we have been regenerated. If we do not abandon it, we shine.

It also begets martyrs and confessors. We must hold it as a great gift, so that we may live in glory, please God, and be counted worthy of the good things promised to those who love Him, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

In him it lies dead and does not live. It lives only when it passes into feeling and life. Still more foolish is the man who grows rich in knowledge of the word of God, but trusts only his own mind when considering its meaning.

He does not test his own reflections by the common faith of all the faithful.”

“In Christian society, mutual instruction proceeds of itself: pastors teach the flock, elders the younger, parents their children, teachers their pupils, and authorities those subject to them” (Bishop Theophan).

The Apostle speaks in the Epistle to the Ephesians (5:18-20) about prayer through psalms, hymns, and songs, or odes. In a similar way Tertullian counseled Christian spouses to be comforted by the singing of psalms and hymns.

Therefore one may think that here he is speaking of singing at home, not in church. Keeping this in view, St. John Chrysostom and other interpreters zealously explain the necessity of prayer of the heart, such as Moses prayed before the crossing of the Red Sea.

“Whether you eat, drink, or set out on a journey, do everything in the name of God, that is, calling on God for help. Undertake the work after first praying to God.

Do everything in the name of the Lord, and everything will prosper for you. God, honored by invocation, repays the honor by granting a successful course to your affairs.”

“Let us thank God in every circumstance. To give thanks in prosperity is easy. There is nothing holier than the tongue that thanks God in misfortunes.

When in distress, let us reflect on greater distresses. We shall find such, and let us be thankful. Let us earnestly thank God for everything.

In this way misfortunes will cease, we shall live to the glory of God, and we shall receive the promised good things” (Chrysostom).

In this renewal the word of God brings great benefit. The Apostle desires that Christians resort to it as often as possible, instructing one another by it in the various circumstances of life.

Likewise, in place of their former pagan idle talk and pagan songs, Christians must sing to the Lord in their household gatherings through new songs of various kinds: hymns, psalms, and odes.

They must do this with special inspiration, έν χάριτι, and from a sincere heart; cf. Eph 5:19.

Because of this reverence for the word of God, everything in Christian life must be sanctified by the name of Christ. Everything must be worthy of Christ’s followers, and thanksgiving must be offered to God for everything.

If only these two means are left in operation, they will not lead to the appointed goal. Man is not only thought and feeling, but above all action. He is an ever-moving and continually active being. Every action attracts attention and feeling. The man who acts is wholly in the action.

Therefore the one who seeks God, because of works without which he cannot exist, inevitably turns away from God in thought, and after thought also in feeling. Works bring him down from heaven to earth. They bring him out of hiddenness in God into visible relations.

For almost all our works are visible. They flow in the created order, amid sensible things. From this it follows that if man’s works are not also directed so that they serve as a means of keeping life hidden in God, then the first two means will remain fruitless.

Indeed, they themselves cannot be performed as they should. Works will continually disturb both the work of studying the Scriptures and the work of prayer. Therefore the Apostle teaches in the proposed words how to turn works also into a means of hiding life in God.

This means: do everything in the name of the Lord. If you are so disposed, you will not depart from the Lord either in thought or in feeling. To do everything in the name of the Lord means to do everything for His glory.

It means acting from the desire to please Him, faithfully fulfilling His known will even in the smallest matter. Then the members of the body will act as instruments and do the work. But thought and feeling will be turned toward the Lord, with concern to do what is being done in a way pleasing to Him.

Thus the work will serve His glory. This means is stronger for the intended goal than the first two, and success in them depends on success in this one. They are of a mental kind. But what is mental enters the sap and blood through action.

Action settles what is thought within human nature. When the action performed is sanctified by directing it toward God, then, in doing it, a certain divine element enters all the powers and organs that take part in its performance.

The more such works there are, the more divine elements enter the nature of man. Then they fill him entirely. In this way his whole nature becomes immersed in the divine, or hidden in God.

As this direction of works is established, prayer, meditation on God, and good thoughts become more firmly established. They influence the establishment of the direction of works toward the glory of God. In return, this direction strengthens and enables them.

The Apostle has embraced everything we do in two terms: word and deed. Words are spoken by the mouth; deeds are performed by the other members. From waking until sleep, both are in continual use.

Speech flows from us almost without ceasing, and the other movements of the body also do not stop. What a rich sacrifice to God this would be, if all of it were directed to the glory of God.

By turning speech to the glory of God, not only evil speech is driven out, but also idle speech. There remains only what serves for the edification of the brethren, or, at the furthest limit, what does not serve to destroy them.

To this one should also add prayerful speech. Likewise, by turning deeds to the glory of God, not only evil deeds done through lust and irritation are removed. Such things should not even be mentioned among Christians.

Rather, the spirit is indicated in which necessary, permissible, and useful deeds should be done. By this every self-pleasing and every service to the world and its evil customs is driven out from the circle of activity.

To do everything in the name of the Lord means to turn everything to His glory. It means striving to do everything so that it may be pleasing to Him, with awareness of His will concerning it.

It also means surrounding every action with prayer to Him: beginning with prayer, performing it prayerfully, and ending with prayer. At the beginning one asks blessing. During the work one seeks help. At the end one offers thanksgiving to Him as the Accomplisher of His work in us and through us.

Saint Chrysostom says: "If we act in this way, then where Christ is invoked, nothing vile and nothing unclean will be found. Whether you eat, drink, marry, or set out on a journey, do everything in the name of God. That is, call upon God for help.

Take up the work only after first praying to God. Do you wish to utter something in word? Place this before it. Do you eat? Thank God, with the resolve to do the same afterward. Do you sleep? Thank God, with the resolve to do the same afterward.

Are you going to the marketplace? Do the same. Let there be nothing worldly, nothing merely secular. Do everything in the name of the Lord, and everything will prosper for you. Whatever you seal with the name of God will come out well.

If it drives out demons and removes diseases, much more will it make the performance of works easy. Hear how Abraham sent his servant in the name of God, and how David slew Goliath in the name of God. Wondrous and great is His name.

Then again Jacob, sending his children to Egypt, says, 'May my God grant you favor before the man,' that is, Joseph; see Gen 43:14. For whoever does this has God as helper. Without Him he does not dare to do anything.

Since God is honored by invocation, He repays honor by granting a prosperous course to works. Call upon the Son and thank the Father. For by calling upon the Son, you also call upon the Father. By thanking the Father, you also thank the Son.

Let us learn to fulfill this not only in words, but also in deeds. Nothing is equal to this name. It is always wondrous. 'Your name,' it says, 'is ointment poured forth' (cf. Song 1:2). Whoever pronounces it is at once filled with fragrance.

'No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit' (1 Cor 12:3). So much is accomplished by this name. By this name the whole world was transformed, tyranny was destroyed, the devil was trampled down, and the heavens were opened.

But why do I speak of the heavens? By this name we were born again. If we do not abandon it, we shine forth. It brings forth martyrs and confessors. We must hold it as a great gift, so that we may live for the glory of God.

Thus we may please God and be counted worthy of the good things promised to those who love Him."

Here the Apostle commands that everything be done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Elsewhere he commands that everything be done 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.

By the Incarnation of God the Son, no change was introduced into the mystery of the tri-hypostatic God, who is one in nature. Our reunion with God through the incarnate divine economy is accomplished by God in a tri-hypostatic manner.

God the Father, by the grace of the Spirit, draws us to the Son. Those drawn to Him come through Him, and only through Him, to the Father. Thus everything in us is in the name of the Lord Jesus, yet inseparably with the Father and the Spirit.

In prayer, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is our Savior. But in thought do not separate Him from the Father and the Spirit. Do all works in the name of the Lord Jesus, for without Him you can do nothing. But do not exclude the Father and the Spirit from thought in doing this.

Likewise, when turning to the Father and the Spirit, do not diminish or remove from consciousness and conviction the exclusive necessity of the mediation of the incarnate divine economy. Saint Paul indicated this inseparability in thought of the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity when he added: giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, but do not let His countenance conceal the countenance of God the Father. On the contrary, through Him offer thanksgiving to God the Father, who was well pleased to establish for us in Him sure and undoubted salvation.

Above, the Apostle gave thanksgiving as a commandment: "And be thankful." Here he mentions it for no other purpose than to guard us against error in our thoughts, namely, concealing the countenance of God the Father by the countenance of the Son, and with Him God the Holy Spirit.

God the Father, through the incarnate Son, stretches out to us the embrace of His fatherly good pleasure. Those who cast themselves into this embrace He receives through the Son. Everything in us comes from the incarnate Son, but so that through Him we may ascend to the Father.

We do not dare to stand before God the Father, either with petition or with thanksgiving, by ourselves alone and apart from the incarnate Son of God. But being in the Son, together with Him we must ascend filially to the Father.

This will mean that we are in the Son: if we have a filial and thankful heart toward the Father.