SINGING TO THE LORD
BY
SHELBY G. FLOYD
“…but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:18-19.)
In our
worship to God we must do only that which God has authorized in his word.
(Matthew 15:9.) Singing is authorized in worship to God, but instrumental music
is not. God has commanded us to sing in our worship which not only glorifies
him but it edifies man.
“Speaking
to one Another”
In singing psalms, hymns and
spiritual songs, the worshipers are actually speaking to each other. The term “speaking”
indicates that one is to use words in order to declare one’s mind and disclose
one’s thoughts. Therefore, in singing, the worshiper is conversing with other
worshipers through the avenue of song.
“Teaching
and admonishing one Another”
The parallel reading in the book
of Colossians goes one step further and indicates that in our singing of
psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, we not only speak one to another, but we
teach and admonish one another. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly
in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians
3:16.)
Performance
Worship
Today, there is a dangerous trend in some of the churches in having special quartets, etc., to perform during the worship services. Therefore, it centers on performance worship instead of God worship. When Paul said to the Ephesians that they were to be “speaking to yourselves,” he commanded each Christian to sing and take part in the speaking, teaching and admonishing of each other. “Yourselves” is a reflexive pronoun used in this case as a reciprocal pronoun. Therefore, the Ephesian Christians were to sing to each other. This excludes the type of singing which entertains while others sit and listen.
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs
Paul not only specified the kind of music the church is to have in its worship, which is singing, but he also specified the nature of the songs. The church is to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, which therefore excludes every other kind of song. A “psalm” is a pious song such as the psalms of David set to music. (cf. Thayer, page 675.) A “hymn” is a sacred song sung in praise of God. (cf. Thayer, page 637.) “Spiritual songs,” is a general reference to any religious ode or song of a spiritual nature. In congregational worship to God, the only kind of music which is authorized is “singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord.” When Paul said to sing and make melody, he excluded every other kind of music.
Making Melody
While
everyone will admit that singing is certainly pleasing in the worship to God;
some have tried to make it appear that the phrase “making melody,” which
is conjoined to singing, authorizes the use of instrumental music in the
worship of God. Therefore, let us make a close examination of this phrase “making
melody.” It translates the word “psallo” which it is true in classical
Greek meant: “To touch or strike a chord; to twang the strings of musical
instruments so that they gently vibrate; to play on a stringed instrument, to
play the harp, etc.; to sing to the music of the harp.” But Thayer defines
its usage in the New Testament to mean, “To sing a hymn, to celebrate the
praises of God in song.” (Thayer, page 675.)
The
Spiritual Instrument is the Heart
The child of God then is to sing and make melody. Fortunately, the apostle Paul told us what instrument the Christian is to use in singing and making his melody. It is not to be a melody played upon a harp, stringed instrument or an organ, but it is a melody which is to be played in the heart.
The phrase “in
your heart” is dative of instrument. Therefore the heart is the instrument
in which one is to make melody. The heart as it is used here denotes the center
and seat of spiritual life. Therefore, when Paul said “make melody in your
heart” he meant that one is to make melody in, “the soul or mind as it
is the fountain, and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites,
affections, purposes, endeavors.” (Thayer, page 325.)
If “making melody” means that one is to play on a mechanical instrument of music, then everyone would be commanded to do that, but very few people have the ability to play a musical instrument. But, it doesn’t mean that. It means that we are to make melody in the inward man, the heart, which everyone has the ability to do. Everyone can sing and make melody in their hearts to the Lord. This is what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Corinthians and said, “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.” (1 Corinthians 14:15.)
The New Testament is Silent About
Instrumental Music in Worship
Some have tried to uphold instrumental music in worship on the basis of the silence of the scriptures. Silence, however, does not authorize anything. Concerning the silence of the scriptures, N. B. Hardeman, a faithful preacher, said, “For about three dozen times in the Old Testament instruments of music are mentioned in connection with the worship of God; but when you turn to the New Testament, not three dozen times, not even one time, is it thus mentioned, showing beyond the possibility of a reasonable doubt that while it prevailed throughout the days of David and subsequent thereto under Judaism, at the very institution and inauguration of the Christian dispensation and of the church of the living God it was purposely left out. Therefore the silence of the scriptures regarding it certainly ought to have some moment and some weight upon those who rely upon the New Testament.” (N. B. Hardeman, Hardeman’s Tabernacle Sermons, Vol. 2, pages 268-269.)
Therefore,
let us be content to worship God according to what pleases him and not us.
Remember that Jesus said that “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24.) “Singing and making melody
in the heart” is spiritual worship and according to the truth. Copyright ©
2008