Rev. Angus Stewart
(an edited, written version of Rev. Stewart’s opening presentation in the debate on “Exclusive Psalmody“)
The Uniqueness of the Psalms
The book of Psalms occupies a special, even unique, role in all the Scriptures. First, only the book of Psalms was penned over a period stretching some thousand years, at least all the way from the Psalm of Moses in the wilderness (Ps. 90) to Judah’s captivity by the rivers of Babylon (Ps. 137). This covers almost all of the period in which the Old Testament was written.
Second, this canonical book stands out in that many human penmen—Moses, David, Solomon, Asaph, Ethan, Heman, the sons of Korah, etc.—wrote it.
Third, it is the longest book in all the Bible, Old and New Testaments, by a long way, consisting of 150 chapters. As is evident in the King James or Authorized Version, the 150 Psalms are arranged in five books (Ps. 1-41; 42-72; 73-89; 90-106; 107-150).
Fourth, this book excels in its comprehensiveness, as the great fathers of the church have observed. Athanasius called it “the epitome of the whole Scripture;” Basil the Great reckoned it “a compend of all divinity;” for Martin Luther, it was “a little Bible;” John Calvin saw in it “an anatomy of the soul.” Franz Delitzsch declared, “There is no essential New Testament truth not contained in the Psalms.”
The Only Canonical Book for Singing
The four previous qualities in various ways serve the fifth: The book of Psalms or the Psalter is unique in that it alone of the 66 biblical books is written with the express divine purpose of its being sung by God’s people. All the books of Scripture, including the Psalms, are to be read and preached, and are of service in rightly framing prayer, but only the Psalms have the canonical function of a songbook.
First, it is evident that they are songs because the Psalms (except their titles, of course, which are not to be sung) consist exclusively of lyrical poetry with parallelism. Some Psalms even contain refrains, especially Psalm 136.
Second, and even more obviously, in the Psalm headings there are references to “the chief Musician,” to singers (“the sons of Korah”), to musical instruments (Neginoth, Sheminith, Gittith and Alamoth) and various melodies or tunes (Muthlaben, Aijeleth Shahar, Shoshannim, Jonathelemrechokim, Altaschith and Mahaloth Leanoth).
Third, the book is arranged in the form of 150 separate songs from as long as 176 verses (Ps. 119) to the shortest, just 2 verses (Ps. 117).
Fourth, in the Psalter, there are literally scores of commands to sing God’s praise (e.g., Ps. 47; 95-96).
Fifth, King David, the principle penman of the Psalms, is called “the sweet psalmist [or singer] of Israel” (II Sam. 23:1).
Sixth, the very title of the book in Hebrew is Sephir Tehellim, the book of praises. In the Greek Septuagint translation, used by the apostles and the early church, this canonical book is called the Psalms or the Psalter.
Seventh, these Psalms are called in Scripture “the songs of the Lord” in at least three different places (I Chron. 25:7; II Chron. 29:27; Ps. 137:4). The Lord gave these songs and they are to be sung to His glory. They are also called “the songs of Zion” (Ps. 137:3) and “Zion” is God’s church. These Psalms are the Lord’s songs for Zion to be sung by the people of God in His praise.
David has a key role in all of this in that he penned the majority of the Lord’s songs for His church, as II Samuel 23:1 explains. First, he is called “the man who was raised up on high,” that is, given this exalted position as the psalmist for God’s church. That is an office in Jehovah’s service and no man can take that position or role to himself (cf. Heb. 5:4). Second, He is called “the anointed of the God of Jacob.” He was raised up on high by being anointed, that is, authorized and equipped by God’s Spirit to write these Psalms for us. Thus, third, he is called “the sweet psalmist of Israel.”
Their Use According to the Old Testament
What does the Old Testament tell us about the historical use of the Psalms? Psalm 30, as indicated by its title, was sung “at the dedication of the house of David,” his royal palace. Psalms were sung when the ark of the covenant was brought up to Jerusalem (I Chron. 15:16-22, 27-28). David instituted Psalm singing at the tabernacle for the ark in Jerusalem in I Chronicles 16, which quotes, in order, various parts of Psalms 105, 96 and 106. Levitical Psalm singing was also appointed at Solomon’s temple (I Chron. 6:31-47).
David appointed 4,000 Levites as musicians (I Chron. 23:5), including 288 worship leaders (I Chron. 25:7-31), to praise God with singing (I Chron. 16:37-42). These men sang the Psalms at the daily morning and evening sacrifices on Jehovah’s altar (I Chron. 23:30), at the weekly sabbath (cf. Ps. 92), at the monthly new moons and the yearly feasts, such as Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles (cf. Ps. 81:1-5). I Chronicles 9:33 says that the Levites sang the Psalms “day and night” at God’s sanctuary in Jerusalem (cf. Ps. 134:1).
When the Old Testament church was reformed under kings Joash (with Jehoiada, the high priest), Hezekiah and Josiah, the church sang the Psalms appointed by David and Asaph (II Chron. 23:13, 18; 29:25-30; 35:15-16). We read of Psalms being sung on other occasions: at the dedication of Solomon’s temple (II Chron. 5:12-13); as the battle songs of Jehoshaphat’s army when they marched out to fight the Ammonites, the Moabites and the Edomites (II Chron. 20:21); at the laying of the foundation of Zerubabbel’s temple (Ezra 3:10-11); and at the dedication of Jerusalem’s rebuilt walls (Neh. 12:24, 27-29, 45-47).
More generally, Psalms were sung when God’s people went up to Jerusalem to keep the three great pilgrimage feasts. Each of fourteen special Psalms were called “A Song of degrees” or ascent or going up, namely, to the temple in the holy city (Ps. 120-134). Certain Psalms were especially sung when the saints were afflicted (Ps. 102) or in “the depths” (Ps. 130). Psalm 137 was first sung “by the rivers of Babylon.”
The Psalms themselves tell us that they are to be sung by us, the “Gentiles,” in the New Testament age. Psalm 117:1 commands, “O praise the Lord, all ye nations [i.e., not just ethnic Jews]: praise him, all ye people [literally, peoples in the plural].” This is quoted by the apostle Paul in support of his missionary work among the heathen: “Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people [literally, peoples in the plural]” (Rom. 15:11). Psalm 100:1 declares, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands,” including the lands of Singapore, N. Ireland, Brazil and Malawi.
The Lord of hosts would have us sing His praise with the canonical Psalter in this New Testament age—an age about which the Psalms themselves speak (e.g., Ps. 22:22-31; 45; 67; 110; etc.). Moreover, God wills us to sing them until the end of the world, which the Psalms describe (e.g., Ps. 50; 98; 102; etc.). All of this is in accordance with David’s being raised up on high as “the sweet psalmist of Israel,” God’s church (II Sam. 23:1).
Their Use by Christ in His Earthly Ministry
It is practically universally acknowledged that the Jews of Christ’s day sang the Psalms. The canonical Psalms were sung at the temple, on the way up to Jerusalem for the pilgrim feasts, in the home and elsewhere.
Moreover, just about everybody agrees that the Jews sang the Hallel (Hallelujah or “Praise the Lord”) Psalms at the Passover (Ps. 113-118). After His last Passover and the first Lord’s Supper, we read of Jesus and the eleven disciples singing these inspired songs: “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives” (Matt. 26:30; Mark 14:26).
The Holy Spirit is here telling us something very significant at this critical juncture in Christ’s life. He is soon to be betrayed and crucified for all the sins of all God’s elect. He has just instituted the Lord’s Supper, a New Testament sacrament, in place of the Old Testament Passover. This was the scene at which He uttered these great words: “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; I Cor. 11:25). Then, Christ, the head of the church, and the eleven disciples, the leaders of the New Testament church, sang the Hallel Psalms.
Thus the Passover passes away as merely an Old Testament observance (cf. I Cor. 5:7) but Psalm singing passes over into the new dispensation. Canonical Psalm singing is here united with the Lord’s Supper, which is to continue until Jesus Christ comes again in great glory on the clouds of heaven with His holy angels (I Cor. 11:26).
The Septuagint
Some time after the completion of the book of Psalms and the inspiration of all the other books of the Old Testament canon, the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek. Why was that? The answer is that many Jews were scattered outside their ancient homeland, especially throughout the eastern Mediterranean. At that time, many people in the Roman Empire spoke Greek, including the Jews. Over the years, the Jews or, at least, many of them had lost the facility of reading and listening to Hebrew. So a Greek translation of the Old Testament, as we now call it, was produced about 200 BC. This version, the Septuagint, was used in the synagogues of the Jews. Most Jews and proselytes who possessed copies of the Bible had this Greek translation. It was used for memorization and teaching. In short, the Greek Septuagint was the Bible of the church of that day.
So what about the Septuagint translation of the Psalms? The Sepher Tehillim (book of praises) in Hebrew became the Psalmoi in Greek, which is known in English as the Psalms or the Psalter. The Greek Psalm titles themselves contain three words—and only three words—to refer to these Psalms as material to be sung: psalmos (psalm), hymnous (hymn) and oodee (song).
What happened when the gospel spread from Jerusalem to Judah, Samaria and beyond? The apostles, as we read in the book of Acts, went first to the synagogue. God called His elect people from their midst. These believing Jews and proselytes became the nucleus of the New Testament church, with others joining them. The Bible of these fledgling churches was the Septuagint.
The Three Key Nouns in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16
Let us now look at two key texts in this debate: Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16.
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord (Eph. 5:19).
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 (Col. 3:16).
The question is, What is meant by the three nouns: “psalms,” “hymns” and “songs”? Even more basic is this query, How are we going to determine what is meant by “psalms,” “hymns” and “songs”? Do we come with our own preconceived view of what these words mean in the twenty-first-century evangelical scene or do we let the historical and scriptural context determine what the apostle Paul meant, and what the Ephesians and the Colossians would have understood these terms to mean?
First, let us look at the word psalmos or psalm. Almost everybody, including singers of uninspired hymns, admits that the biblical Psalms are meant. Psalmoi or Psalms is the title of the longest canonical book in the Greek Septuagint and our English Bibles. Psalmos is also found in 67 of the Psalm titles and 11 times in the Psalms themselves in the Septuagint, as well as appearing frequently in the book of Psalms in our English Bibles. This is clear and simple.
Second, to what do the hymnoi or “hymns” refer in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16? We have looked at the Hallel Psalms which Christ and his eleven disciples sang after the Lord’s Supper, and we saw that the inspired Psalms 113-118 were called “hymns” (Matt. 26:30; Mark 14:26). In Hebrews 2:12, Jesus Christ says, “I will declare thy [i.e., God’s] name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee” or “will I hymn unto thee,” with the verb in this last clause being a form of hymnos. This “hymn” is a quotation from Psalm 22:22!
In the Septuagint translation, the word hymnos (hymn) is found in 6 Psalm titles and 7 times in the Psalms themselves. In II Samuel, I and II Chronicles, and Nehemiah in this Greek version, there are some 16 places in which a Psalm is called hymnos (hymn) or oodee (song) and its singing is a “hymning” (from hymnos). A Jew called Philo (d.c. AD 40-50) in Egypt frequently designates a psalm as hymnos. It is, in fact, his usual word to refer to the canonical Psalms. You and I in our age and culture would call them Psalms, but Philo in his world and in his day typically called them hymns. Likewise, Josephus, a Jew who lived in the last two-thirds of the first century AD, repeatedly called a psalm a hymnos or hymn.
Third, we conclude with oodee or song used, for example, in the title of Psalm 45: “A Song of loves.” The word oodee or song is found in 36 of the Psalm titles in the Septuagint and 9 times in the Psalms themselves.
Spiritual Songs
After showing that the “psalms,” “hymns” and “songs” of Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 are different words for what we refer to as the canonical Psalms, we continue our consideration of these two key verses:
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord (Eph. 5:19).
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 (Col. 3:16).
Qualifying the word “songs” in both texts is the adjective “spiritual.” “Spiritual” in the Bible means a lot more than religious; “spiritual” in Scripture means of, belonging to or determined by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 speak of songs that are of the Spirit and the 150 Psalms are most definitely songs of the Holy Spirit. They are inspired or breathed forth by the Holy Spirit as His Word (II Tim. 3:16; II Pet. 1:21). Quoting Psalm 95:7, Hebrews 3:7-8 states, “As the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts.”
B. B. Warfield explains the word “spiritual” in Scripture:
Of the twenty-five instances in which the word occurs in the New Testament, in no single case does it sink even as low in its reference as the human spirit; and in twenty-four of them is derived from [pneuma], the Holy Spirit. In this sense of belonging to, or determined by, the Holy Spirit, the New Testament usage [of “spiritual”] is uniform with the one single exception of Eph. 6:12, where it seems to refer to the higher though superhuman intelligences [i.e., {evil} angels, who are “spirits” {cf. Ps. 104:4; Heb. 1:7, 14}]. The appropriate translation for it [i.e., “spiritual”] in each case is spirit-given, or spirit-led, or spirit-determined.1
All would agree that the adjective “spiritual” (“of the Spirit”) certainly qualifies the word “songs.” It may well also qualify “psalms” and “hymns,” as well as “songs.” This would fit with Greek grammar and the scriptural meaning of all three nouns.
At this point someone might say, “So the verse then means sing psalms, psalms and psalms.” To that we respond, “Yes! Have you never noticed that the Bible contains many such triplets?” The apostle Peter preached on the day of Pentecost that the Lord Jesus Christ was divinely approved by “miracles and wonders and signs” (Acts 2:22)—different ways of speaking of one thing: miracles! According to Exodus 34:7, God forgives “iniquity and transgression and sin”—again, different ways of saying essentially the same thing. The three nouns “psalms,” “hymns” and “songs” are used in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 because these are the three terms—the only three words—used in the Bible for the “spiritual” or Spirit-breathed Psalms, which God gave for His church to sing.
Other Points From Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16
There are various combinations used in the Psalter titles of the Greek Septuagint, the Old Testament of most of the early church. Twelve times we are we told that one of the inspired odes is a “psalm” and a “song,” the first and third terms used in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. Twice a canonical Psalm is called a “psalm” and a “hymn,” the first two of the three terms used in these key texts. In the heading of Psalm 75, numbered Psalm 76 in the Septuagint, the words “psalm,” “hymn” and “song” are used—the precise three terms found in Ephesians and Colossians. This combination of “singing and making melody” in “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” in Ephesians 5:19 is found in other places and in different forms in the Septuagint Psalter (e.g., Ps. 26:6; 56:8; 104:2; 107:2).2
With these inspired odes, Christians are well-equipped to fulfil the calling of “teaching and admonishing one another” (Col. 3:16). This is what we do in singing according to the Bible. This is part of the purpose of our sung praise—teaching and admonishing one another—as well as glorifying God and strengthening ourselves in our Rock.3 One of the words used in the Hebrew Psalm titles is “Maschil” which refers to teaching or instruction. All will agree that the rich content of the 150 Psalms gives us a lot of teaching. The more you sing the Psalms with the saints, the more you will realize that you are all “teaching and admonishing one another” by God’s holy Word.
Let us take Psalm 37 as an example: “Trust in the Lord, and do good,” “Delight thyself also in the Lord,” “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him,” “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself,” “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil” (vv. 3, 4, 5, 7, 8). In the church’s corporate singing, we are “teaching and admonishing one another” with the infallible Psalms. Do we wish to teach and admonish in the church with fallible man-made hymns which can err and, in many instances, have erred?4
Colossians 3:16 speaks of “the word of Christ.” The Psalms are undoubtedly the Word of Christ since He authored them, for “the Spirit of Christ” spoke in the Old Testament (particularly the Psalms) of His “sufferings … and the glory that should follow” (I Pet. 1:12). The Psalms speak of the Lord Jesus directly (e.g., Ps. 2) and by type, especially through David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, who is a great type of Christ, as the persecuted and glorious king (e.g., Ps. 16; 18; 22; 24; 41; 55; 68; 69; 110). God put David through his experiences to teach us about Jesus Christ’s sufferings and victory.5 Also the many references to the bloody sacrifices of the ceremonial law typify the oblation of the crucified Son of God (e.g., Ps. 22; 40; 51; cf. Heb. 10:1-14).6
By teaching and admonishing one another with God’s own Psalms, “the word of Christ” dwells in us “richly” (Col. 3:16), so that we enjoy covenant fellowship with the Holy Trinity. Are man-made songs “the word of Christ”? Will the church be able to stand before God on the judgment day with their uninspired hymnals and say, “We sang the Word of Christ”?
Furthermore, Colossians 3:16 says that we are to teach and admonish one another with these spiritual songs “in all wisdom.” Regarding the Psalter, God’s songbook, we can say with certainty that we teach and admonish “in all wisdom,” since it is authored by Christ who is the very wisdom of God (Prov. 8; I Cor. 1:24) and it reveals God’s wisdom. Is there any human hymn book that contains “all wisdom”?
Moreover, Ephesians 5 states that singing God’s Psalms (v. 19) is a way of being “filled with the Holy Spirit” (v. 18). This is the connection between verse 18 and verse 19 in Ephesians 5! Singing “the Lord’s song[s]” (Ps. 137:4) is a divinely-given means to be filled with the Holy Ghost and so under His blessed influence. This divine infilling has nothing to do with the “second blessing” experience touted by Pentecostalism but everything to do with singing the inspired Psalms!
In Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, it must also be noted that we are not called to write the worship songs. There are all sorts of spiritual gifts mentioned in the New Testament (e.g., Rom. 12:6-8; I Cor. 12:8-10). There are six church offices in the New Testament: some extraordinary and temporary (apostles, prophets and evangelists) and some ordinary and permanent (pastors, elders and deacons). Yet there is no New Testament office for anyone to write the church’s songs, nor does the New Testament mention any gift of the Spirit for this.
But we do have this beautiful gift from God: the 150 inspired Psalms! Many of these spiritual songs were penned by David, who was gifted with the requisite grace as the one “anointed” by the “Spirit of the Lord” in his office as “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (II Sam. 23:1-2). So we do not write a song; we sing a song and we sing “the songs of Zion” (Ps. 137:3).
APPENDIX
The Regulative Principle of Public Worship
The second commandment teaches us how the holy God is to be worshipped, with this fearful warning being added: “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” (Ex. 20:5). The “jealous God” tells us from heaven that He is jealous about His worship. Therefore, every Christian must be careful to worship Him aright and be jealous for the right worship of the Almighty.
Jehovah declares, “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it” (Deut. 12:32). These are our Saviour’s words for His New Testament church in the Great Commission: “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you [and nothing else]” (Matt. 28:20)! The apostle Paul speaks of the grievous sin of “will worship” (Col. 2:23). “Will worship” is worshipping the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to our wills and not His; it is any way or form of worship that is not commanded in His inspired and infallible Word.
This biblical teaching is known as the regulative principle in solid, creedal Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Sadly, in our degenerate day, many have never even heard of the regulative principle, never mind hearing it faithfully preached, explained, developed, applied and upheld. Many churches are failing their members by not teaching this crucial aspect of “the whole council of God” (Acts 20:27). If this scriptural truth is not being taught in your congregation and if this is not a reigning principle in your heart, then you and your church are wide open to unbiblical elements and activities in worship, and may very well already be engaging in them.
The Heidelberg Catechism, a continental Reformed confession, teaches the regulative principle:
Q. 96. What doth God require in the second commandment?
A. That we in no wise represent God by images, nor worship Him in any other way than He has commanded in His Word.
Likewise, the Westminster Shorter Catechism declares that the second commandment forbids worshipping the Triune God by images “or any other way not appointed in his word” (A. 51).
The Westminster Standards, the creeds of Presbyterian churches, state that the elements of God’s public worship must be “instituted,” “limited,” “prescribed” or “appointed” by God speaking in Scripture (Westminster Confession 21:1; Westminster Larger Catechism, Q. & A. 108-109; Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. & A. 50-51). Westminster Confession 21:3-5 and Westminster Larger Catechism, Q. & A. 108 list what are called the “parts of the ordinary religious worship of God”: “prayer,” “the reading of the Scriptures,” the preaching of the Word, the “singing of psalms,” “the sacraments,” church discipline, etc.
The question is, Does such and such an element in church worship have a warrant in God’s Word? If there is no warrant, then it is forbidden. You must not do it and the living God will judge you if you do it, since He is jealous for His worship.
The doctrine of church worship held and practised by the Church of Rome, Lutheranism, Anglicanism and much of modern Evangelicalism, as it departs from God’s Word, is, Whatever is not forbidden is allowed. The Reformed and Presbyterian position is, If something is not commanded, it is forbidden. So the burden of proof is upon those who wish to introduce or defend an element of worship: Can they prove that they have a definite and clear warrant from the Word of God for it? Remember that Scripture proclaims, “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23).
Westminster Confession 21:5 specifies not merely the elements of worship but also important details concerning these parts of divine service. Not just “the reading of the Scriptures” is required but “the reading of the Scriptures with godly fear.”7 Preaching must be “sound” preaching—not weak or compromised or heretical preaching, or mere fluff—and it is to be received with the “conscionable hearing of the word” by the congregation. The singing must be the “singing of psalms with grace in the heart.” All these things are part of the biblical regulative principle of worship, according to Presbyterianism’s Westminster Confession 21:5.
In short, we must not worship the Triune God in any way “not prescribed in the holy Scripture.”
… the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture (Westminster Confession 21:1).
This is a far-reaching principle, including not only the material for sung praise but also excluding such things as words of testimony, drama, soloists, special numbers, etc., in church worship services. All such elements or activities in the church’s official worship are not Presbyterian and not Reformed—and not biblical.
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