As you know, for the last several decades, American Christianity has been fighting something that is often called the worship war. This is basically a battle over the kind of music we use in church. 50 years ago churches primarily used hymns during church services. In recent decades many churches have switched to using Contemporary Christian Music. There has been a lot of debate and argument about the pros and cons of that change. In the midst of this worship war there is something that has not been talked about very much, if at all, and that has to do with whether or not we should be singing the Psalms in our church services.
Singing the Psalms used to be very common in church. If you go back through church history you will find that the church produced many Psalters over the centuries. A Psalter is basically the Psalms set to music. A Psalter is designed to enable churches to sing the Psalms. Furthermore, there are a couple verses in the New Testament that appear to command us to sing the Psalms. Those verses are Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. If singing the Psalms used to be common, and if there are a couple verses that appear to command us to sing the Psalms, then perhaps we should ask why we aren’t singing the Psalms in church. More importantly, perhaps we should ask whether we should be singing the Psalms in our church services.
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Transcript:
As you know, for the last several decades, American Christianity has been fighting something that is often called the worship war. This is basically a battle over the kind of music we use in church. 50 years ago churches primarily used hymns during church services. In recent decades many churches have switched to using Contemporary Christian Music. There has been a lot of debate and argument about the pros and cons of that change. In the midst of this worship war there is something that has not been talked about very much, if at all, and that has to do with whether or not we should be singing the Psalms in our church services.
Singing the Psalms used to be very common in church. If you go back through church history you will find that the church produced many Psalters over the centuries. A Psalter is basically the Psalms set to music. A Psalter is designed to enable churches to sing the Psalms. Furthermore, there are a couple verses in the New Testament that appear to command us to sing the Psalms. Those verses are Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. If singing the Psalms used to be common, and if there are a couple verses that appear to command us to sing the Psalms, then perhaps we should ask why we aren’t singing the Psalms in church. More importantly, perhaps we should ask whether we should be singing the Psalms in our church services.
Before I answer those two particular questions, I want to go to the Old Testament and take a look at what we know about the place of singing in Old Testament times. Then I’ll look at the book of Psalms and talk about what the book of Psalms is. Next, I’ll go to the New Testament to see what the New Testament tells us about singing. Finally, I’ll look specifically at these two verses that appear to command us to sing the Psalms in our churches.
Let’s start in Genesis. As you know, the book of Genesis tells us about creation and the flood. Then the majority of the book of Genesis tells us about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Those men lived roughly 2000 BC. When Jacob was a young man, he left home and went to live with his uncle Laban because his brother Esau was threatening to kill him. While with Laban, he married Laban’s two daughters and had many children. After being with Laban about 20 years, Jacob decided to return home. However, he left without telling Laban that he was leaving. When Laban realized Jacob had left, Laban pursued him. Let’s start reading in Genesis chapter 31, verse 25 to see what happened next.
Gen. 31:25 Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen camped in the hill country of Gilead. 26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done by deceiving me and carrying away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27 “Why did you flee secretly and deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with timbrel and with lyre; 28 and did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now you have done foolishly.
This passage tells us that in their culture they celebrated with music. It tells us they had instruments: timbrels and lyres. That should not surprise us because we know that today many cultures use music to celebrate. It makes sense that people did the same thing 4,000 years ago.
About 400 years later, the descendants of Jacob were slaves in Egypt. God called Moses to deliver the Israelites out of slavery and out of Egypt. After the Israelites left Egypt, the Egyptian army pursued the Israelites. They came to the Red Sea. God parted the waters of the Red Sea. The Israelites went through on dry ground, but when the Egyptian army tried to cross through the Red Sea, the waters went back to normal and the Egyptian army was destroyed.
Exodus chapter 15 tells us how Moses and the sons of Israel responded to this event.
Ex. 15:1 Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and said,
“I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted;
The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea.
2 “The LORD is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation;
This is my God, and I will praise Him;
My father’s God, and I will extol Him.
3 “The LORD is a warrior;
The LORD is His name.
4 “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea;
And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea.
The Israelites sang a song to celebrate their passage through the Red Sea and their deliverance from the threat of the Egyptian army.
Shortly after that, the Israelites went to Mount Sinai. They received the Mosaic Law. Then they wandered through the wilderness for 40 years. At the end of the 40 years of wandering, they came to the east side of the Jordan River. They were in position to cross into the promised land.
Before they crossed the river into the promised land, Moses reviewed with the Israelites the Mosaic law that they had received 40 years earlier at Mount Sinai. As part of that review, God gave Moses a song to teach to the Israelites. Let’s start reading Deuteronomy chapter 31 at verse 19. This was God speaking to Moses.
Deut. 31:19 “Now therefore, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel. 20 “For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant. 21 “Then it shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants); for I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.” 22 So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.
Here, we see that a song was used as a teaching tool. This happened around 1500 BC.
The Israelites crossed into the promised land. For the next several centuries they were ruled by judges. Around 1000 BC the Israelites decided they wanted a king. The first king was a man named Saul. During King Saul’s reign a Philistine named Goliath came to fight against the Israelites. Goliath taunted the Israelites. A young lad named David killed Goliath. Let’s read 1 Samuel 18, verse 6.
1Sam. 18:6 It happened as they were coming, when David returned from killing the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments.
This is another example of the Israelites singing to celebrate their victory.
King Saul was not a very good king, so eventually David became king. When David was king, he brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem and Jerusalem became the permanent home of the ark. That’s significant because when the Israelites were at Mount Sinai and received the Mosaic Law, the Levites were set apart as the tribe to take care of the tabernacle.
Within the tribe of Levi, the descendants of Aaron were set apart as the priests. The rest of the Levites, who were not descendants of Aaron, were assigned to transport the tabernacle. They were responsible for setting it up, tearing it down, and moving it from place to place.
However, when David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and established Jerusalem as its permanent home, then many of the Levites no longer had a job. There was no longer a need to transport the tabernacle from place to place.
One of the things David did when he was king was he reassigned the Levites to different roles since they didn’t need to transport the tabernacle anymore. Some of the Levites were assigned to be singers. Let’s look at a couple passages that tell us about this. Let’s start in 1 Chronicles chapter 6, verse 31.
1Chr. 6:31 Now these are those whom David appointed over the service of song in the house of the LORD, after the ark rested there. They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, until Solomon had built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem; and they served in their office according to their order. These are those who served with their sons: From the sons of the Kohathites were Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel,
Let’s go down to verse 39.
1Chr. 6:39 Heman’s brother Asaph stood at his right hand, even Asaph the son of Berechiah, the son of Shimea,
We also read about this in 1 Chronicles chapter 15, starting in verse 16.
1Chr. 15:16 Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their relatives the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. 17 So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel, and from his relatives, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and from the sons of Merari their relatives, Ethan the son of Kushaiah,
We see that the main singers were Heman, Asaph, and Ethan. We will see later that they wrote some of the Psalms.
After David died, David’s son Solomon was king. He was a very powerful king. The Israelite Kingdom grew very large during Solomon’s reign. However, after Solomon died, the kingdom split into two parts: the north and the south. Those kingdoms existed for several hundred years. For the most part, the Israelites were sinful during that time. They worshipped other gods. Eventually, God exiled the Israelites out of the promised land to punish them for their idolatry.
Daniel was one of the Israelites who was exiled. He was taken to Babylon around 600BC. While Daniel was in Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden image and told everybody to worship the golden image. Let’s read Daniel chapter 3 verse 7.
Dan. 3:7 Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Again, we see that in their culture there was music and they had instruments: horns, flutes, lyres, trigons, psalteries, and bagpipes.
What we see in this summary of Old Testament history is that music was part of their culture. It was part of Old Testament history. Since they did a lot of singing, they wrote many songs. Some of their songs are preserved for us in the Book of Psalms. The Book of Psalms is basically a collection of the songs that were produced throughout Israelite history.
The book of Psalms itself tells us this. For example, Psalm 3 tells us it is a Psalm written by David when he fled from Absalom, his son.
Psa. 3:0 A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
Psalm 4 tells us it is a Psalm written for the choir director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments.
Psa. 4:0 For the choir director; on stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
Psalm 46 tells us it is a Psalm written by the sons of Korah, set to Alamoth. Alamoth is the tune it was sung to.
Psa. 46:0 For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah, set to Alamoth. A Song.
If you would go through the book of Psalms and list all the composers, your list would include Asaph, David, Ethan the Ezrahite, Moses, Solomon, the sons of Korah, and Heman the Ezrahite. Heman and Asaph are some of the names we saw in 1 Chronicles as being leaders of the Levites who were reassigned to serve as singers in the temple in Jerusalem.
If you would go through Psalms and list the instruments they used, your list would include flute, stringed instruments, and lyres. 14 of the Psalms list the melody that was used to sing it. 38 of the Psalms tell us the occasion or the purpose that led to the writing of the Psalm.
Again, the book of Psalms is a collection of the songs that were written by the Israelites during the Old Testament time period. They were written between 1500 BC and 400 BC. Now let’s go to the New Testament to see what the New Testament has to say about singing in general, and singing the Psalms in particular.
One of the references we have to singing in the New Testament is from Matthew 26 and Mark 14. Those passages tell us about Jesus and His disciples eating the last supper. Matthew chapter 26, verse 30, tells us the following.
Matt. 26:30 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
When Jesus and his disciples were done eating the last supper, they sang a hymn before they went to the Mount of Olives. It was at the Mount of Olives where Jesus was arrested and taken to be tried, which eventually let to His crucifixion.
There is also a reference to singing in the book of Acts. Paul and Silas were in the city of Philippi. They were arrested and beaten. Then we read the following in Acts 16.
Acts 16:25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;
After Paul and Silas had been beaten, they responded by singing hymns of praise.
There’s a reference to singing in 1 Corinthians 14. Paul was writing about the need for there to be order in church services. Let’s start reading at verse 13.
1Cor. 14:13 Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also.
We see here a reference to singing. A little bit later in chapter 14, we see a reference to the Psalms. Paul gave us a little insight into what their church services looked like. Let’s resume reading at verse 26.
1Cor. 14:26 What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
Psalms were used when they assembled as a church.
Let’s read James chapter 5, verse 13.
James 5:13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.
In this verse we are commanded to sing.
The book of Revelation tells us about future events. There is going to be singing in heaven.
Rev. 5:9 And they *sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Let’s go down to chapter 14, verse 3.
Rev. 14:3 And they *sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth.
Let’s look also at chapter 15, verse 3.
Rev. 15:3 And they *sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and marvelous are Your works,
O Lord God, the Almighty;
Righteous and true are Your ways,
King of the nations!
Now that we have a broad understanding of what the Bible tells us about singing, let’s look at two verses that appear to command us to sing the Psalms in church. Let’s start with Ephesians chapter 5. I’ll start reading at verse 18. This was Paul writing to the church in Ephesus.
Eph. 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
We are commanded to speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. The word speaking does not necessarily mean we should speak instead of sing. The word speaking is more the idea of communicating with one another. We’re supposed to communicate with one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
Hymns and spiritual songs are sung. We know the Israelites originally intended the Psalms to be sung. It’s fairly reasonable to conclude that Paul had in mind here that we are supposed to sing the Psalms.
This passage does not expressly say this is to happen when we gather as a church. However, singing is something that is generally done as part of a group, not one on one. Therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that the picture in Paul’s mind was singing the Psalms when we gather as a church.
Even if we conclude we are not expressly commanded to sing the Psalms, and that this passage is not about what to do in our church services, it is clear we are supposed to use the Psalms. Psalms should be used frequently in the 21st century as we interact with our fellow believers.
We see something similar in Colossians chapter 3. Let’s start reading at verse 16.
Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
There’s a command here to let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. As part of that command, we’re told to teach and admonish one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Since hymns and spiritual songs are sung, and generally singing is done as a group, it is logical to conclude that Paul meant we are to sing the Psalms when we gather as a local body of believers.
Once again, even if you don’t agree we are commanded to actually sing the Psalms and that we don’t need to use the Psalms in church to fulfill this command, it is undeniable that the Psalms need to be an important part of how we teach and admonish one another.
These two passages appear to command us to sing the Psalms when we assemble as a church; however, that command is not explicit. What is explicit is that we need to use the Psalms to speak with, teach, and admonish one another. Perhaps our conclusion should be we should sing the Psalms in church simply because doing so would be an easy way to fulfill this command to teach and admonish one another with Psalms.
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