On Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs

I have posted a link to this before but will do so again today because it's just that helpful. R. Scott Clark discusses what Paul means by telling the church to sing "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs." What did those terms mean to Paul's readers: did they mean the same to them as they do to us today? Very necessary information in framing the conversation about what we are to sing in public worship.

Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs in the Septuagint

I Don't Want To Sing Psalms, I Want To Sing About Christ!

"Martin Luther used to call the Book of Psalms "a little Bible." Bishop Horne describes it as "an epitome of the Bible." These terms are fully justified in the fact that in the Psalter we find concentrated all the truths which are elsewhere elaborated and enforced in all the divine Word. It thus possesses an internal completeness not found in any other single book in the inspired volume. Having, evidently, this thought in mind, Thomas Scott, the eminent commentator, says, "There is nothing in true religion -- doctrinal, experimental, and practical -- but will present itself to our attention whilst we meditate upon the Psalms. The Christian's use of them in the closet, and the minister's in the pulpit, will generally increase with the growing experience of the power of true religion in their own hearts."

"One essential reason for this internal completeness of the Psalter is that Christ is the central figure in it, as He is in the entire Word of God. Every book, indeed, of the Old Testament is intended to lead directly or indirectly to Jesus Christ. But in this respect the Book of Psalms stands preeminent among the entire thirty-nine." 

Read the entire article here. 

Making Melody in the New Testament

“Either Way, We Must Sing and Sing Only”

David B. Smith

"Psallo is one of five plural participles in Ephesians 5:19-21, used to explain how a person is to be “filled with the Spirit” [or as it is paralleled in Col. 3:16, to “let the word dwell in one richly”]. The five participles are speaking, singing, making melody, giving thanks and submitting. In Ephesians 5:19, psallo is translated “making melody.” Unfortunately, some people abuse the term in an effort to justify the use of instrumental music in worship. In fact some corrupted versions of the Bible completely disregard the meaning of the term, like the Amplified Bible which reads “offering praise with voices [and instruments]...” Such abuses go far in showing the lack of regard many translators have for the inspiration of the Bible. 

"Psallo (Greek) is the New Testament equivalent to the Old Testament zamar (Hebrew). But even in the Old Testament, the word zamar did not inherently mean “to use the instrument.” The context determined whether the instrument was included. It is only used figuratively in the New Testament. And all credible translators know that it is only correct to translate the term into something like “making melody.” Lexicographers agree on this point. The object of the verb would decide whether the instrument was intended. And in Ephesians 5:19, there are only two options – neither of which authorizes natural or mechanical instruments of music: 

"1. If the phrase is taken locatively, it means that making melody occurs “in the heart.” In such a case, melody is restricted to this one location, since 'specific action commands' exclude all other actions.

"2. If the phrase is taken in the instrumental case, it means that making melody occurs “with the heart.” In such a case, the heart is the only tool God allows for the making of the melody.

"Herein is the beauty of the phrase, as it appears in the Bible: the meaning is the same regardless. Either way, the songs must be sung and the melody must be made in the heart of man and with the heart of man. To use a play on words, the heart is the only authorized instrument. There can be no other conclusion but this.

"So when saints come together and blend their voices in song, they can be confident that they are accomplishing exactly what God requires for this act of worship without addition or subtraction. And this is the key to true worship (John 4:23-24), which goes before God as a sweet smelling savor."

https://www.thelordsway.com/SODDYDAISYTN/doclib/psallo.pdf

The Keliy of the Old Testament, The Hoplon of the New

It's interesting to consider the use of the term "musical instrument" in Scripture. Our present usage of the phrase could possibly skew our understanding of the place and sanction of musical instruments in worship, particularly in the Levitical sacrificial system as compared to now.

In the Bible, the Hebrew word keliy is often translated by the word "instrument."  But it's also variously translated "furniture," "articles," "weapons," "clothing," "baggage," armor," "yoke," "tool," "implement," "jar," "vessel," and "equipment." Strong's defines keliy as "an article, a vessel, an implement, a utensil, a tool." The various keliy were often those things which had a common use; but sometimes keliy is used to describe things set apart to a holy use. For instance, in Exodus 25:9, keliy describes the various furnishings of the Tabernacle. God tells Moses, "According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments (keliy) thereof, even so shall ye make it." These instruments included the ark, the mercy seat, the cherubim, the table, and the candlestick. Keliy in the Old Testament was something useful, something that furnished out, equipped. When used in worship, these articles and implements were strictly regulated by God, to be made and used according to God's exact pattern.

In due course of time, God gave an expanded pattern of worship to David, along with the prophets Nathan and Gad, with exact instructions for additional keliy for use in the Temple in the worship of God. These were also strictly regulated by God, and would be implements for the sounding of music. 1 Chronicles 15:16: "And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren [to be] the singers with instruments (keliy) of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy." 

So, in the Old Testament, there were keliy for the Tabernacle, keliy for warfare, keliy for farming, keliy for food and eating, keliy for clothing the body, and then, beginning in 1 Chronicles 15:16 with David's appointment of the Levites, keliy for music. All keliy for worship were strictly appointed and regulated by God, whether the candlesticks for the tabernacle or later for the loud-sounding cymbals for the temple. 2 Chronicles 29:25: "And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the LORD by his prophets."

In the New Testament, the only Greek word that conveys the same sense as keliy is hoplon, which appears once, in Romans 6:13: "Do not present your members to sin as instruments (hoplon). Strong's defines hoplon as "any tool or implement...arms used in warfare, weapons." So hoplon in the New Testament also conveys the idea of a utensil, a tool, something used; even for warfare, as does keliy in some places in the Old.

Now a little about the use of the English word "instrument" to translate keliy. It was surely chosen carefully by the early translators of the English Bible, because at that time, it still conveyed the sense of its roots, which were in the Old French estrument and the Latin instrumentem; its definition was "a tool, apparatus, furniture, dress, document." Instrumentem is from instruere (to instruct, to arrange, to inform, to teach).  We still retain a vestige of this earlier meaning when we speak of surgical instruments, and also, in keeping with the idea of instruction, of legal instruments.

Mostly, we now associate the word instrument with music. But the earlier translators chose the word instrument to translate various instances of the Hebrew keliy because, for them, it still had connotations of being something useful, a tool or an implement; and because of its associations with the ideas of furnishing out and instructing, as the musical instruments were to do for that age of the church.

Hopefully all this helps to show that the musical keliy of  David and the Temple were divinely appointed implements that furnished out the public worship of God for that time, just as the earlier keliy had furnished out public worship in the Tabernacle. Most know and agree that the keliy of the Tabernacle served as mere copies of the heavenly realities they represented. When the heavenly reality came, and was fulfilled in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, so did the need for, and usefulness of, these copies. They were ceremonial, and vanished away. And this is just as true for all the later keliy of the Temple, including its musical keliy. They were commanded for use by the Levites for raising sounds of joy (1 Chronicles 15:16-28) and for giving thanks (2 Chronicles 7:6). The musical keliy were themselves the sound of praise. They served as types and shadows of what was to come at the inauguration of the new and better covenant—  sacrifices of praise and thanks to God from hearts "richly indwelt by the word of Christ;" praises voiced without elaborate ceremony by "singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:18-20, Colossians 3:16).

The lifeless keliy are obsolete in the new covenant, done away with by the accomplishment of Christ. The instruments (hoplon) we now present to God for his service are our living bodies. How privileged we are! Every member of the body of Christ may now serve in this priestly function, once reserved for the Levitical tribe of Israel. Gone are the burdensome mechanical furnishings and helps needed under the old dispensation. It is in spirit and truth, with our bodily members, that we now serve and worship God.

To return to the use of the old covenant keliy is to go backward to a more difficult dispensation. How the Levites who labored under the awful realities of the sacrificial system (which included the playing of the musical keliy) would have rejoiced to see our freedom from the external demands of the ceremonial law, a benefit won by Christ, bestowed upon his New Testament church, and enjoyed by her when she worships God in spirit and in truth!

Psalters

The beauty of having and using the songbook given to us by God to use (i.e., the Psalms), is the simplicity and safety and efficacy of it. No more worship wars! No more indecision about whether a song is sound or appropriate—all of the Psalms are profitable for teaching, for reproof and correction and training in righteousness. We will be edified, and we will be sanctified by singing the Psalms!

How we have complicated our worship and activities in the church. It turns out that we don't have to pull off a lot of complicated activities in order to please our Lord and edify his saints. In fact, all the complication and effort and busyness is contraindicated by the simplicity of what the church is to be about.

We will never be sanctified by singing the words of men, no matter how well-written the song. Sanctification is promised from one source alone, and that is the word of God (John 17:17). We have a huge solution to much of what ails the church right in our hands—the book of Psalms. Here you can find helpful reviews of the various psalters available. (That's a great website to bookmark and return to again and again for helpful articles, links and resources.)

Links to Helpful Articles

A roundup of helpful links:

Christ in the Psalms:

"Every book, indeed, of the Old Testament is intended to lead directly or indirectly to Jesus Christ. But in this respect the Book of Psalms stands preeminent among the entire thirty-nine."



Calvin on the Psalms:

"Now what Saint Augustine says is true, that no one is able to sing things worthy of God unless he has received them from him. Wherefore, when we have looked thoroughly everywhere and searched high and low, we shall find no better songs nor more appropriate for the purpose than the Psalms of David, which the Holy Spirit made and spoke through him. And furthermore, when we sing them, we are certain that God puts the words in our mouths, as if he himself were singing in us to exalt his glory."

On whether the Psalms are really appropriate for New Testament worship:

"The quality of congregational praise when we sang from the Psalter, in my opinion, exceeded that of singing from the Hymnal. In fact, I began to studiously narrow down the particular hymns that I considered to be of equal quality with the Psalter selections. Through the weeks, that list of hymns became smaller and smaller. The day arrived when I had to confess that no hymn... measured up to the quality, inspiration, usefulness of a Psalm from the Psalter."

On the purity of our worship (really small print! but worth enlarging.): 

"No part of Christian worship is more plainly warranted by the Oracles of God, than the ordinance of the singing of psalms."

And one could go on about how the Psalms are necessary for the unity, comfort and joy of the church. More links to come, hopefuly.

Two Great Sermons

Two great sermons from G.I. Williamson on the Psalms and singing them:

"Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs"

"The Mind of Christ"

Very helpful.