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.

The History of Psalm Singing in the Christian Church

Informative: "The History of Psalm Singing in the Christian Church" by Terry Johnson (online article).

The Return To Rome

In Spirit and Truth: Worship as God Requires (Understanding and Applying the Regulative Principle of Worship) by James R. Hughes:

"Within a generation after the Puritans, the Protestant Church began drifting back toward the worship practices of the Roman Catholic Church of the late Middle Ages. Today, that return is almost complete. We once again see Protestants following liturgies and ecclesiastical calendars that are similar, if not identical to, those followed by the Roman Catholic Church. In many respects, there is no essential difference."

A very informative online book.

The Inner Life of Christ In The Psalms

A quote from the Preface of "The True Psalmody," published in 1861:

...I believe there is one view of Christ—and that not the least important to the tired and troubled believer—that can only be discovered in the Book of Psalms. I mean His inward life. No eye-witness of the outward man, even though an inspired evangelist (i.e., one of Jesus' apostles), could penetrate the heart. But the Spirit who "searches the deep things of God" has, in the Psalms, laid open the innermost thoughts, sorrows, and conflicts of our Lord.The [writers of the gospels] faithfully and intelligently depict the sinless Man; the Psalms alone lay open the heart of "the Man of sorrows".

Understanding this view has been most meaningful in my enjoyment of the Psalms, and most enlarging of their edification to me. It has shown me Christ more in the Psalms and increased my love for him and my appreciation of all that he bore for his people, in life and in death. I've realized that in the Psalms, as the pre-incarnate Christ speaks of his sufferings to come, and speaks to the Father about them, and calls on Yahweh to save and rescue him, he is training us to do the same. What a tremendous Author of our salvation!

"The True Psalmody" is an old book that as far as I know, can only be accessed online, but it's a valuable addition to those looking to figure out this psalmody/worship question. Here's a link to it: "The True Psalmody". The quote above is from the first Preface of the book by Rev. Henry Cooke, and outlines his story of coming to see the worth of singing only the Psalms in the church.

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.