CHRISTIAN LIFE

Singing Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

In two of Paul’s letters in the New Testament he instructs the
church on what we are to sing together in worship. In
Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 he lists three terms related
to music. We are to speak and teach and admonish one another
in “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.”
So what are psalms, hymns and spiritual songs? What comes
into your mind—or into your ear—when you read those
verses? Was Paul just stacking up terms as synonyms
formusic? Was he using terms that were only limited to the 150
psalms in the Psalter? Scholars and theologians have debated
the precise meanings.
We tend to define the terms based on what sounds familiar:
When we see psalm we may think of music like All People
That on Earth Do Dwell, Psalm 100 set to the familiar tune of
the Doxology. Or we might call to mind the beautiful metrical
psalmody of the Reformation.
When we see hymn we may think of older music of the church
that has survived the test of time, cherished hymns
like Amazing Grace (John Newton) or When I Survey the
Wondrous Cross (Isaac Watts).
And when we see spiritual songs we may think of some of the
newer, uplifting worship songs of our day that wouldn’t fit the
more traditional labels of hymn or psalm, songs like Let
Creation Sing (Hillsong) or All I Have Is Christ (Jordan
Kauflin).
These are all legitimate forms of music for worship. But there
is a problem with thinking only in terms of what sounds
familiar to us—and imposing these definitions on the words of
Paul. All of these musical forms were still in the future when
Paul was writing his letters. Paul could not have imagined the
metrical psalmody of the Reformation, as beautiful as it was.
He could not have envisioned the wonderful hymns of Watts
and Newton from the 18th century or the worship songs of
today. They were all future expressions, future forms of music
that God purposed for the church that would one day fill out
the paradigm that Paul provides.
So what would Paul have heard?
Paul was writing his letters to instruct and encourage the
church. He spoke using familiar terms that his readers would
understand. He wasn’t simply stacking up synonyms for music
or using technical vocabulary that only musicians could
decipher.
Literally a psalm is a poem written to be sung to the
accompaniment of stringed instruments. It was a term that
would have been especially familiar to the Jews. Psalms were
the established music of God’s people, sung since the days of
the Old Testament in the tabernacle and Temple. By the time
of the New Testament the word psalm referred especially,
though not exclusively, to the 150 psalms of the Psalter. Paul
points us to psalms first, exhorting us to sing the words of
Scripture and take them as our pattern. The psalms anticipated
the coming of Christ and set a precedent for praising God
through music. Jesus said that the psalms spoke of Him (Luke
24:44). We must value the psalms and not neglect this
wellspring of praise in our day.
Hymn was a term that would have been especially familiar to
the Gentiles. In the Greek and Roman empires leading up to
the time of the New Testament, hymns were sung in praise of
heroes and gods. People would celebrate the military victories
of great generals and exalt the false gods of mythology in
hymns. But as the gospel swept across the known world, the
church transformed the hymn into a song in praise to the one
true God. Its transformation astounded the Romans. In 112
when Pliny, a governor in Bythinia, wrote to Emperor Trajan,
asking for advise on how to handle the rising number of
Christians in the realm, he commented that the Christians were
observed singing “a hymn to Christ as to a god.” In his mind
hymns were songs for heroes and champions, not for one
shamefully crucified on a cross!
When Paul spoke of singing hymns, he wasn’t thinking
“traditional” or reminding the church to include or revive some
of the old songs from the past. He had something more radical
in mind. Paul encouraged the church to claim the music of the
culture and sing it to God’s glory. The hymn is the first
example in church history of a secular form of music being
captured and claimed for the sake of the gospel—its
transformation so complete that today a hymn is most
commonly recognized as belonging to the church.
Paul concludes his list with spiritual songs. The term song is a
generic term in Greek meaning all kinds of songs. Paul added
the descriptive adjective spiritual to narrow its meaning. Not
all music is composed for worship or should be used for
worship. We are to sing music that is the result of the Spirit
God working in hearts and cultures and peoples—music that is
sanctified for (set apart for and intended for) God’s glory in
corporate praise—music that helps us speak truth to one
another, teaching, exhorting and encouraging one another.
What we typically envision and hear when we think of psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs is likely not what Paul
envisioned and heard. We don’t know exactly what the music
of Paul’s day sounded like, but his paradigm in Scripture laid
the foundation for a rich tapestry of praise. Down through
history and around the world church music has included many
musical forms composed, conquered and claimed to God’s
glory. And by God’s grace, as the gospel continues to go out in
the power of Spirit, and more nations and new generations add
their new songs, we have not seen the last.

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