“The word of Christ” (Revised Standard Version) is the Christian message, the gospel; it is the message about Christ. This is the only occurrence of this phrase in the NT. Some manuscripts have the more usual “the word of God” (as in 1.25) or “the word of the Lord.” Since this message is about Christ and not a message which Christ himself uttered, it would be better even in English to use a phrase “the message about Christ.”
Live translates the Greek “be at home” (enoikeō: of the Holy Spirit, Rom 8.11, 2 Tim 1.14; of faith, 2 Tim 1.5; of sin, Rom 7.17; see also oikeō en, of the Holy Spirit, Rom 8.9, 11; 1 Cor 3.16). The meaning of the command is that the Christian message must be an integral and permanent living force in them, not just an outward performance or routine activities. It may be rather difficult in some languages to speak of “a message living in someone’s heart.” However, a rendering such as “a message finding a place in a person’s heart” may be acceptable or “a message may speak to someone’s heart.”
In all its richness is a metaphor for all the resources and blessings which are to be found in the Christian message. The phrase in all its richness may characterize either the message or the way in which the message must live in the believer. The meaning is essentially the same in either case. In the first instance, one may speak of the “the wonderful message” and in the second instance, “must live in a wonderful way.”
In your hearts represents one meaning of the Greek “in you” (Revised Standard Version) but the phrase could mean “among you,” that is, in the fellowship of the Church. If the second interpretation is accepted, one may translate “must live in you” as “must influence how you live with one another” or “must determine how you behave toward one another.”
What follows in the Greek text may be variously understood: (1) the three participles “teaching … admonishing … singing” may be understood as circumstantial, expressing the circumstances in which the command of the main verb is carried out; or they may be taken as imperatives, as so often occurs in the NT. (2) With all wisdom may go either with the preceding “living” or with the following “teaching and admonishing”; most prefer the latter (for the former, see King James Version Twentieth Century New Testament Goodspeed Moffatt). (3) Psalms, hymns, and sacred songs may go with what precedes, that is, with the verbs “instructing and admonishing,” by means of psalms, etc. (so Lightfoot, King James Version Moffatt Goodspeed Twentieth Century New Testament ver WEYver*); or they may go with the following participle “singing” (Revised Standard Version Good News Translation and most other modern translations).
Instruct: the verb noutheteō means “warn, admonish, instruct”; see “warn” in 1.28; here it could mean “warn.” In view of the usefulness in distinguishing between teach and instruct, it may be best here to translate “teach one another and warn one another.” A more positive rendering of instruct may be expressed figuratively as “show the right road to one another.”
The phrase with all wisdom may be rendered as means, for example, “by using all wisdom” or “by being wise in every way.”
As commentators point out, it is impossible precisely to differentiate between the three terms that follow (all three also in Eph 5.19): psalms are OT psalms, used also by Christians in their corporate worship; hymns could be specifically Christian compositions in honor of Jesus as Lord and Savior; and “spiritual songs” (Revised Standard Version) could be spontaneous outbursts of inspired singing, prompted by the Spirit (compare Barclay).
Psalms may be referred to as “songs of the Scriptures,” and hymns could be designated as “songs about Jesus.” Similarly, “spiritual songs” could be translated as “songs from God’s Spirit” or “songs caused by the Spirit.”
With thanksgiving translates the Greek “in grace.” The understanding of this phrase is made difficult by the textual problem of whether or not the definite article (“in the grace”) belongs to the text. (UBS Greek NT gives hardly any help by including it within brackets.) It could be (1) “with thanksgiving” as Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version take it (compare Abbott, Lohse; see New English Bible Translator’s New Testament Jerusalem Bible New American Bible etc.); or (2) “by the grace (of God)” (Lightfoot); or (3) “with beauty” (Beare).
It may be difficult in some languages to speak of “singing to God with thanksgiving.” “Sing” and “give thanks” are different, though closely related, activities. It may be possible to treat them as coordinate, for example, “sing to God and be thankful,” but it may also be more natural to express the singing as dependent on the thanksgiving, for example, “when you sing to God, be thankful.”
In your hearts may be associated with thanksgiving (as Revised Standard Version Good News Translation and others do; Barclay has “heartfelt”), or with the third participle “singing,” in which case it could be taken to mean “singing with all your hearts,” fervently, enthusiastically (so Bible en français courant Barclay Phillips New American Bible Goodspeed). It is hardly likely that Paul meant that the singing was to be silent, and not vocal. Though it seems quite natural in English to speak of being “thankful in your hearts” or “singing with all your heart,” it may seem quite strange in some languages to associate “heart” with either thanksgiving or singing. For example, one may wish to speak of “being thankful in your thoughts” or “have your mind say thanks to God,” while “singing with all your heart” would be expressed as “singing with strength” or “with great happiness.”
Instead of to God, some later manuscripts, influenced by the parallel in Eph 5.19, have “to the Lord” (King James Version).
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .