THE CHRISTIAN AND HIS MUSIC -- Devotional for May 24, from "Good Seeds"

Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord…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. (Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:16)

These two passages of Scripture are excerpts of two letters from the same writer, the apostle Paul. When we put them together we discover that although they seem to be saying the same thing, each adds nuances of meaning worth examining. The Ephesians were exhorted to be filled with the SPIRIT of God, while the Colossians were implored to let the WORD of God richly dwell within them. Although these are two different disciplines, they have a single result: worship, or, more specifically, singing. The Ephesian Christians are encouraged to sing AND make melody in their hearts to the Lord. Is this just two ways of saying the same thing, or is Paul talking about two different things? One Greek scholar opined that while singing obviously refers to vocalizing words and tones with the human voice, making melody refers to the producing of music by means of man-made musical instruments. (By the way, if this is true, there goes the support for the argument made by various groups down through the ages that says the only worship music seen in the New Testament – and therefore the only kind acceptable today – is vocal music!) And then to the Colossians Paul emphasizes that the main theme for our music should be thankfulness. But at the crux of these passages are two common threads: 1) Our songs can be rich in variety: singing Psalms refers to singing right out of the actual songbook of the Bible, “The Psalms.” This could also refer to putting any words of Scripture to music. It’s just as well we don’t have the ancient melodies, for they would probably not sound very inviting to our ears. How much better to have the words intact, but to put them to the sounds that please our contemporary tastes. What’s wrong with that? Nothing! Hymns are songs with original words reflecting the truths of Scripture, songs about the acts and attributes of our great God. Spiritual songs are less didactic and more personal; they don’t talk ABOUT God, they talk TO Him. They are our loves songs to God. 2) Songs are another means of teaching, preaching, exhorting and encouraging. A song goes through our head, and keeps going, straight to the soul. Sermons teach our minds, but songs spark our hearts into responses of obedience and love.