Christ Sings in the Congregation

Since I last wrote, back in February, I've been gradually coming to a more convinced position that the gathered church, most wonderfully, is to sing only God's word. This conviction has been formed by Scripture. I've also been helped by church history, and the teachings of  many Reformers like Calvin, and by so many of the Puritans, especially, who had to deal with controversies over the singing of the church.

In the two main parallel texts looked to for the doctrine of New Testament singing (Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3), Paul says that our singing is to be in accord with being filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18, 19) and being richly indwelt by the word of Christ (Colossians 3:16). They are one and the same thing—to have hearts richly indwelt by the word of Christ is to be filled with the Spirit of Christ. We are to sing the word of Christ back to God and to each other.

Then consider these words from the author of Hebrews 2:10-12, 13b (quoting Psalm 22:22 and Isaiah 8:18):

For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation [Christ] perfect through suffering. For He who sanctifies [God] and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why He [Christ] is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, "I will tell of Your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise...behold, I and the children God has given Me.

Christ from of old decreed that he would tell in the assembly of his brothers of the Father's great name.Christ will do this praising of the Father's name in song, as he leads in singing the praise of the Father, in Christ's own words, not man's—from the great songbook of the church through the ages, the inspired psalter. This was the Trinitarian plan of Father, Son, and Spirit.

The Greek word for "sing" in Hebrews 2:12 is "hymnneō," which has no other meaning than "to sing". It's the same word used in Matthew 26:30 which basically reads, "And when they had hymned (hymnneō), they went out..."   It's well-accepted that the "hymn" sung by Christ and his disciples on this occasion was one of the Hallel psalms, which consisted of Psalms 113-118 and Psalm 136, sometimes referred to as "The Great Hallel."

If the singing of Hebrews 2:12 is the singing of Christ then the song consists of his words; if they are his words, then they are now the written Scripture. How could it be otherwise—how could we "put words in his mouth," so to speak, even if they are the very best songs man can produce?

There are many more things to say about this, but being limited by time and talent, I'll stop here, and finish with the thought that this is so wonderful to me. Many arguments against limiting our songs in the church to the Scripture, and specifically to the Psalms, may come to mind.

But these protests pale compared to the evidence from the Bible as well as church history that these are indeed the songs we're to sing. If singing the Psalms together is God's will for the church, then nothing but blessing can come from our obedience to do it. However, every local church must come to its own conviction of the rightness of this. Everyone who cares about the singing together of the church should seek to come to a conviction of conscience about it.

Here's a good place to begin reading, if you're interested and willing.This essay on the Ephesians and Colossians passages might help jump-start your thinking (and lead to some good questions) to help you in searching the Scriptures for yourself:

"Of Psalms, Hymns, And Spiritual Songs And The Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW)".  Be sure and click on the link provided to the PDF of the full article.

Also, read through the comments on the Heidelblog post as Dr. Clark responds there to some common questions.

The Church Only and Ever Sang the Word of God

I've been floored to realize that for both Israel and for the apostolic church, the songs they sang—all the songs they sang—were inspired songs. These songs were each and every one written by God's appointed spokesmen, his prophets. These were the songs given to God's people to sing.

No one was free in Old Testament Israel to innovate in penning new songs for the people to sing. The songs of the Old Testament were all written inerrantly because they were written prophetically. Moses (Deuteronomy 31:19-32:44), Deborah and Barak (Judges 5:1-31), and of course King David, the anointed "psalmist of Israel" (2 Samuel 23:1) come immediately to mind. Korah and others who wrote some of the Psalms were also prophets. We know they were because in the Old Testament, "prophet" is the very definition of the one who inerrantly spoke God's words, words which became written Scripture ("in former times God spoke to us through his prophets, but in these last days he has spoken by his Son"—Hebrews 1:1).

Again, these were the songs, the only songs, that Israel was to sing. The Psalms were the songbook of the nation of Israel., and no command of God ever abrogated that. Where is the New Testament command that changes the command to sing only the words of God given through his prophets?

To our modern ears, Paul's command in Ephesians 5:18-19 and Colossians 3:16 to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs sounds like a mandate to songwriters. We might get the idea from it that fresh new songs for the church to sing were being written. But it wasn't so. "Hymns" and "spiritual songs" were descriptions used in the headings of the Septuagint Psalms—the Greek Scripture that Christ and the apostles used, and from which they quoted. Paul's readers would have understood Paul, in speaking of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, to be talking about singing what God's people would have always sung: the word of God.

Where does that leave us today with our song lists for Sunday morning filled with songs written by 20-year-old recording artists? I think it leaves us a good ways away from God's command, to say the least.

More later. I was simply struck, a while ago, by the stark fact that God commanded one thing—that his people sing his word—and that he never rescinded that command.

The Singing Together of the Church

The title of this post is the phrase and topic that has been percolating around in my mind for the past six years. I care a lot about it—have an interest in it that won't let up. I guess I am convinced that the church must keep reforming, and that we actually need to reform back to a previous time in our history and then go forward again from there. I do believe the evangelical church in the West, at least, is fast losing aspects of the Reformation that made us evangelical, made us Protestant.

The greatest realizations I've had concern what the New Testament Scriptures have to say about the use of musical instruments when we gather as the church and about the use of Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs when we gather as the church. There's a lot in the New Testament to inform our doctrine of singing, actually—much more than people seem to realize.

It's what the Scriptures say that counts, so in this blog I want to explore that. I'm looking forward to having somewhere to deposit and park some thoughts. Lord willing, I hope to begin that soon.