Does the Scripture contain hymns that we should sing or are we commanded in Scripture to sing hymns? We would all readily argue that it contains psalms. In the book of Psalms there are 150 songs of prayer divided into 5 different books (Bk.1: 1-41; Bk.2:42 – 72; Bk.3: 73-89; Bk.4: 90 – 106; Bk.5: 107 – 150). These psalms are categorized and are the churches primary source of praise, prayer and lament for God’s worshiping community. However in Paul’s letters to the Ephesians and Colossians he commands them to sing “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph.5:19; Col.3:16). Some have argued that these three words are used to define the canonical psalms. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, uses these three words in psalm subtitles and therefore they would be familiar to the New Testament writers. But there are others who argue that the use of these words suggest that the church encouraged a variety of music and poetry in its song expressions in corporate worship. In studying these verses there are those who hold to the exclusive singing of psalms in worship and there are those who hold to the inclusive singing of psalms in worship. I would argue for the later that we must sing God’s inspired song book, the Psalms, but not to the exclusion of singing biblical and historical hymns. Hughs Oliphant Old comments, “The doxology of the earliest Christians kept psalmody and hymnody in a dynamic balance.” The psalms are a complete song book but not fully realized until they are seen in light of the complete work of salvation for God’s people on Calvary. Therefore in the Scripture we have both Psalms and hymns.
One of the earliest hymns we find in Scripture is the Song of Moses from Exodus 15. This is a hymn of praise expressed in strength and joy (Ex.15:2) by Moses and the Israelites as they were delivered by God from their enemies. In this hymn Moses recounts the attributes and work of God that are revealed in his delivering his people from Egypt that they may worship him. It is a hymn that gives glory to God sung in a spirit of joy. These hymns were written down by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and passed down to the peoples of God for generations. This and other hymns like them would be sung by the people of God who had experienced God’s salvation in a response of joy. We are given other biblical hymns in Judges 5, 2 Samuel 22, Luke 1 and 2. These biblical hymns are called Canticles. This is the plural of the Latin word canticulum meaning a little song. There are other works of hymnody or portions of hymns in the New Testament that we would call “Hymns of Christ.” These passages (John 1:1-5, 9-11; Romans 10:9-13; 1Corinthians 12:3; Ephesians 5:14; Philippians 2:6-11; Colossians 1:15-20; 1Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; 2Timothy 2:11-13; Hebrews 1:3; 1Peter 3:18c-19, 22) are christo-centric poetry that are sometimes portions or whole hymns directly about Christ. Where the Psalms and Canticles point the way to Christ these biblical hymns are directly about Christ. These hymns would be the singing of what the church preaches; God’s salvation or deliverance by sovereign grace through Christ alone. The church must sing the bible. This does not mean that we only sing psalms or only hymns from the scriptures but our singing ought to be biblical, “shot through with the language, categories, and theology of the Bible” with Christ and his redemption at the center.
The church sang the psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. We also must value and practice the same in our day. Paul Jones says, “We find evangelicals slipping away from biblical worship and justifying their practices on the basis of the Zeitgeist. A hedonistic, narcissistic, relativistic, “me focused” age, though, is hardly one that should inform and define our approach to God. And yet it does. We measure our success by numbers, our relevance by how technologically integrated and up to date we are, and our worship by how good it makes us feel. In the minds of contemporary saints, hymns clash with spontaneity, simplicity, and style that have come to rule in the modern evangelical church.” Psalm and hymn singing must be the churches practice as she studies, prays, teaches, preaches and lives the Scripture. They are avenues of our prayer, praise and proclamation in personal and corporate worship. They speak what we need to hear and believe, they are expressions of what we need to think and feel, and they are a trumpet to a church and a world of the glory of God in Christ. They may be the direct words of the Scripture or a paraphrase, they may unfold a particular doctrine or attribute of God, or they may trace his creative, sustaining or redemptive acts. But they are the truth about God and about his image bearers taken from his Word. Therefore, they make demands on the whole of our being to sing them. They must be engaged with the mind and the heart not only in the words that are sung but in the music or tune that fits the words. They must be drawn out and dusted off from antiquity and they need to be written and sung in the present. Whether we sing the song of Moses or of the Lamb (Rev.15:2-3) the church of the living God will sing to the Lord.
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