Sitting in my room in college, Bible and coffee in hand, I read, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col. 3:16). I journaled, “I’m so bad at this. I re-commit to these morningly personal devotions in my alone time.”
Later, whilst a seminary student, however, I learned that the Greek word “you” in Colossians 3:16 is plural, not singular. Then, in my family’s near decade living overseas in more communal countries, I learned better what living and growing in a community of faith can be like. “Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you all.”
How exactly should we understand the plural “you” in the NT letters? It’s complicated.
Some Plurals Must Be Performed Individually
Paul mainly wrote to local churches, so a singular “you” would be weird (unless there is a specific rhetorical method being used, such as in Romans 2:1ff or 9:20ff). But notice how Paul’s following uses of the plural “you,” which I will translate “you all,” nevertheless involve actions that must be performed as individuals (in italics):
Colossians 3:5—“You all must put to death [plural], therefore, the parts that are on the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”
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