A devastating ecclesiastical crisis has been unfolding ...



MUSIC THEOLOGY

LECTURE 20

PSALMS, HYMNS, & SPIRITUAL SONGS

One person loves the "old-style hymns" and has no time for what we can call the New Style of Worship songs, which involve rock and pop music and slushy, sentimental choruses. Another believes that the rock and pop music style of songs are the greatest thing ever to hit the Church, but regards the old-style hymns as being stuffy and irrelevant to today's world. Is this just a matter of personal taste? "One man's meat is another man's poison — beauty is in the eye of the beholder"?

Hymnody is falling out of popularity fast in this age of CCM, Mega-churchism, and liberalism! Do churches even have hymnals anymore?!

In our conservative Baptist churches today, the more contemporary styled worship songs are being carefully introduced on a small scale to placate the demands of a CCM-loving faction in the church, and very soon there will be many more demands for increasing liberalisation of worship, with numerous new and pernicious influences which bring a legion of pastoral problems in their wake…until the hymnals are being packed away in boxes and there is a drumset on the ‘stage’ with a music stand replacing the pulpit!

Remember that “Christian” (or secular) song by Larry Norman, "Why Should the Devil

Have All the Good Music"? “I ain't knocking the hymns, Just give me a song that has a beat.

I ain't knocking the hymns, Just give me a song that moves my feet !”

Our churches today are fine with ‘hymns’, as long as they’ve got the ‘beat’!

There are a lot of popular songs out there today in CCM-land! Here’s one that seems to be

the antithesis of ancient hymnody!:

"Everybody used to do the twist, The mashed potato and it goes like this, The funky chicken, monkey too, There wasn't nothing' they would not do, But there's a new dance no one can stop, A leap for joy we call the Holy Ghost Hop. "Now get ready, hold steady, Don't deny it, just try it, Be bold now, let it go now, Give the Holy Ghost control now. "Hey all you brothers and you sisters too, Don't let tradition tell you what to do, Release your worries and your fears, 'Cause we've been hopping in the church for years, If King David was here I know that he Would do, the Holy Ghost Hop with me and you." (The Holy Ghost Hop by Carman)

Playing hymn music in nightclubs, bars, taverns, etc., would be laughable; they don’t complement the intended purposes; they set the wrong mood. But why, praytell, do we have the Jazz, Disco, Hip Hop, and Hard Rock music being played in place of the hymns at a church building??!!! They set the wrong mood! The don’t complement the intended purposes! It is laughable!! Let’s keep the hymns out of the bars and in the church buildings; and keep the world’s music out of our churches and back in the world where it belongs!

CCM, and all its worldliness, is dominating Christian music today. It also is dominating how churches style their music. What church doesn’t have a contemporary styled service with a Praise & Worship band and leader?! How many churches use hymnals?!

Those that haven’t totally bought into the CCM style yet are playing around with it for sure: they will use what has become known as ‘blended worship’; a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, and not much of anything, really!” The standard plan for churches that want to grow is to go to 2 services: a Traditional service which incorporates half hymns and half more contemporary songs; and a Contemporary service which is blatantly styled after CCM and the world!The ‘old-foggies’ that go to the old-fashioned Traditional service eventually will ‘die out’, and so will that service…and the hymnals, and, thus, the hymns!

Fanny Crosby is the greatest hymn writer that ever lived, writing over 9,000 songs! Before Fanny got saved, at 45 years old, she wrote many secular songs. But after she got saved — things were different. . . Here's what Fanny said about mixing Christian and worldly music: "Sometimes I need to reject the music proposed for my songs because the musicians mis- understand that the Fanny Crosby who once wrote for the people in the saloons has merely chang ed the lyrics. Oh my no. The church must never sing it's songs to the melodies of the world." Fanny used over 200 different pen names because she wanted to make sure God got the glory and not her.

There are new hymnals coming out that have a mixture of old favorite type hymns and newer praise and worship styled songs. Is this bad? Maybe, maybe not. But I smell a rat. “Mission Praise” is the most popular of all the contemporary songbooks. Because of its inclusion of older hymns, it is often found in otherwise conservative evangelical churches. It has thereby become the ideal "Trojan Horse", softening up congregations for a range of further neo-evangelical developments.

There are some dangers with the newer praise and worship styled songs/hymns; and it’s not just the wordly beat pattern.

Many of these have repetitious choruses that seem to be never-ending; it seems to have been designed to put a congregation into a state of blissful ecstasy; kind of a Christianized TM. This chorus repetition induces a pre-hypnotic 'Alpha-wave' brain-state condition, in which people are more easily susceptible to the expectations and the powerful suggestions of influential leaders, and, even worse, influential devils!

In Scripture, we see in many places the divine approval of hymnody — singing praises to the glory of God. Even during the creation of the world, the angels were singing:

Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

What did they sing? The latest CCM songs? Hymns/Psalms!

If God ever wrote a song, what would it be? Well, He did do this…

Deut 31:19 Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.

Was this put to the music of the latest CCM? Surely, it was conservative hymnody…

The early church sang an hymn right after the Lord’s Supper service: "when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives" (Matt.26:30). What hymn did they sing? Was it the latest hit song by M.W. Smith?!

Eph 5:18-21 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

We are suppose to, within a local church context, ‘speak to’ each other in music: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. We are to be singing them to each other and to God. This music is to be from the heart and accompanied with thanksgiving and humility!

It may very well be that the only music that the Holy Spirit of God uses, blesses, is involved with, are psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs!

The ‘psalms’ involve the words of the Book of Psalms put to music. One might expand that definition to include not just the words of the Book of Psalms, but also any words from any book of the Bible. The psalms have lyrics that are totally Bible; there are no other words in them but the Words of God.

The ‘hymns’ are long-tested accepted sacred songs that are full of the truths of God’s word. They are doctrinally charged songs. They attest to the holiness and power of God and the sinfulness and great neediness of man. They are deep, not shallow.

The ‘spiritual songs’ are ‘contemporary’ songs that are spiritual in nature, set apart from the world unto God; they minister to one’s spirit; they involve a devotional act of worship and praise directly from man to the Lord. They are not necessarily deep in doctrine like hymns; they are not necessarily full of the Word of God like psalms; but, they are necessarily very spiritual…that is their main quality. They don’t have to be ‘time-tested’ or have verses of the Bible for lyrics. CCM is basically a worldly offshoot of ‘spiritual songs’.

Col 3:16 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.

This music, godly music, Biblical music, is to be used to teach and admonish the church folk. It is to be filled with the word of Christ, the Bible!

Plainly, therefore, Christian music today should be of some depth, able to teach believers the truths of the faith which we have in Christ Jesus. There is no place here for superficial ditties.

It is interesting that superficial, weak hymnody is not just a trend with today’s Christian music; it was a problem centuries prior! John Calvin states: "Paul would have the songs of Christians...to be spiritual, not made up of frivolities and worthless trifles".

HYMNODY

The earliest hymn whose complete text has been preserved is Phos Hilaron (Cheerful Light). It was described by St. Basil, about 370 AD as 'well known' . We don't know how old it was. In English we have a modern translation that preserves the stresses and rhythm of the Greek original:

“Christ, gladding light of holy glory, glory of God, heavenly Father immortal, The holy blessed One, our Lord Jesus Christ: we are now come to the peaceful hour of sunset; we see the star of evening shine; we sing to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God. You are worth at all times to be praise, and honoured with pure and pious songs, God's only Son, our only life-giver, wherefore all the world gives glory to you, its Master.”

The Reformation coincided with the world-shaking introduction of printing and this gave

church-goers access to many vernacular hymns. Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) played a great

role in the development of hymnody – not only was he a radical theologian, he was also a fine

musician with a deep knowledge of German folksong, an influence which can still be heard in

his famous hymn Ein' feste Burg.

It was the great Isaac Watts (1674 – 1748) who began the reform of congregational singing in England. He wrote many fine hymns - Joy to the World and O God our help in ages past are examples - and started from the principle that texts should express the religious feelings of the people. This was a total turnaround from the previously-held view that they should be scripturally based! Isaac Watts' principle holds today.

It was the Wesley brothers, John and Charles, who - early in the 18th Century and almost contemporary with Watts - set out to change worshippers' views of hymnody. They were not only the founders of Methodism, but they insisted that hymns, both words and music, should be written to stir the congregation, re-inforce its religious emotions and play on the "feel good" factor.

The Wesleys made hymns the central feature of Methodist worship, and before long many people began to admire the Methodists for their hearty and fervent singing. So powerful was this surge that many were attracted away from the established church into Methodism.

Because movements are rarely brand new and have their roots in traditions, if we step back from the current scene, we are likely to see that contemporary Christian music is just a new stage in the evolution of what is called ‘Revivalist’ hymnody. Revivalist hymnody, which became more and more prevalent as the nineteenth century wore on into the twentieth century, was music that was more lively, more enthusiastic, and correspondingly, often had a declining level of theological content in the texts of the hymns. A modern nineteenth century Revivalist hymn, “He Leadeth Me,” is extraordinarily repetitious, and that is one of the main complaints about CCM. In comparing the text of this hymn with those of some CCM songs, it is found to have a certain piety, some sentimentality, and a certain devotional quality - all similar to CCM.

In the 1920’s, Pentecostalism rode on the Revivalist hymnody popularity and took it to new heighths (or lows). This was the birth of the philosophy that is in CCM: take the world’s music and put Christian lyrics to it and watch how popular it becomes!

Today, standard ‘hymnody’ is looked as part of ‘Dead Orthodoxy’; or some ancient Latin liturgy that is basically not understandable by people of the modern era. What CCM has done is ‘dumb down’ hymnody to a level that a lost, uneducated drunk could understand. Is that what we want for the holy songs of God that His children sing to Him every Sunday morning in the church’s worship service?.... songs fit for a dumb drunk?!!!

A professor Craft from Fuller Seminary stated: “We sing hymns so chock full of rational content and information that they are unmemorizable. Let’s stop being enslaved to the present rationalistic, intellect-centered approach to church that characterizes much of Evangelicalism.” These are the philosophies that are being taught today’s future pastors and music leaders; “Make it simple; make it easy; dumb it down; don’t make us have to think…”

The ancient Hymns were used to proclaim key true doctrine in an atmosphere of challenges to that doctrine by the liberals!

Today’s music has compromised to liberals because of intimidation and desire to ‘love everybody’ in perfect ecumenicism!

Hymns are known by their power, their ornamentalism, their humbling effect, their ability to stand the test of time. Consider the following: Amazing Grace; How Firm a Foundation; It is Well With My Soul; Be Thou My Vision; O God our Help in Ages Past; All Creatures of our God and King; How Great Thou Art; All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name; The Old Rugged Cross; Holy, Holy, Holy; Rock of Ages…

Singing makes up sometimes 30-40% of a church’s worship service. For this reason, it is important that our hymnody should promote wholesome doctrine and the right frame of mind for genuine biblical worship which is God-honouring and glorifying.

Good hymns are God-centered, not man-centered—-looking upwards, not inwards.

Good hymns are doctrinal in content and theologically sound, rooted solidly in the Word of God.

Good hymns have words of beauty, dignity, and reverence.

Good hymns are adult in word and tone.

Good hymns display precision and finesse of poetic technique and expression.

True hymnwriters have not sought primarily to write hymns, but to know God: knowing him, they could not help but sing. Theirs are the hymns that have lived through the ages and will live far into the future. It is this kind of hymnwriting we need today if our generation is to contribute anything of real worth to the church's treasury of worship and praise.

Hymnody problems:

The oft-repeated legend of hymns often being popular bar room tunes results from some poor, misinformed person who confused the medieval literary bar form, also sometimes known as bar tune, with tavern song. The ‘bar’ is a segment of music; it separates measures. Once spoken out of ignorance, the confused version took on a life of its own and seemingly grows with each repetition.The legend is now repeated by those who advocate this very practice in the church's worship and music today. They use the "fact" that the Wesleys did it as justification for their argument that we should also do it.

A congregation's disposition towards right belief or away from it is subtly influenced by the habitual use of hymns… The singing congregation is uncritical; but it matters very much what it sings, for it comes to believe its hymns. Wrong doctrine in preaching would be noticed; in hymns, it may come to be believed

Most books in support of Contemporary Christian Music justify the use of rock music because of Martin Luther's alleged use of secular tavern songs. There were some ‘secular tunes’ that he used in putting together some hymns and chorales, but he ‘de-rhythmed’ the tune so that it did not have the ‘flavor’ of the secular tunes of his day. However, he never was found to use any tavern or dance tune.

There are many hymns that are of at least questionable doctrinal correctness; for example:

The popular song "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is in many hymnbooks and is sung in Bible-believing churches, but few know what it is all about. The song was written by Julia Ward Howe in 1861 in a Union army camp and expressed her theological heresy and dispensational con- fusion. Howe,a Unitarian universalist, confused the coming of Christ with the armies of the North and the defeat of the South. She misidentified God's altar with "the watch-fires of a hundred circ- ling camps" and falsely claimed that His gospel was "writ in burnish`d rows of steel." (This was how the original hymn read, though it has been modified in many modern hymnals.) Howe delivered a pantheistic, universalistic message at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religion entitled "What Is Religion?"

Other concerning popular hymns would be: Onward Christian Soldiers, Oh Zion Haste, Marching to Zion, etc..

PSALMNODY

The Psalter has to be the standard and the measure of our singing praise. If God has given us 150 songs, they must surely give us some indication of what sort of song pleases Him.

The function of the Psalter is not as much to teach theology as it is to show the relationship between God and His people.

From the outset of those first beginning true churches of our Lord’s, church worship was a "Word-of-God service". The truths of the Bible were at the heart of worship. And this was also true insofar as the singing of songs was concerned. It is the view of many biblical scholars that there are a number of texts in the New Testament which were actually sung as hymns (e.g. Lk.1:46-55; 1:68-79; 2:29-32).

We learn from the writings of several in the first ages of Christianity (particularly from a letter of Pliny's, and some passages in Justin Martyr and Tertullian) that the Christians were accustomed to sing hymns, either taken out of scripture, or of more private composure, in their worship of God.

The ancient Pliny the Younger, Governor of Bithynia, wrote in AD.112 to the Emperor Trajan about the Christians in his province: "On the appointed day the Christians had been accustomed to meet before daybreak and to recite a hymn to Christ, as to a god". In other words, even the pagan Pliny recognised that it was Deity which was being asserted in the hymn of worship — "as to a god". That is what formed the essence of those early Christian hymns: the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Some have found it easy to handle the diffi- culty of picking one's way around the modern

hymn/chorus minefield by taking refuge in the exclusive singing of the Old Testament psalms; that’s right…no music but psalms!

Ps 29:1 "Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." The promotion of God's attributes, such as His strength, His glory and His holiness, can only promote wholesome worship, so that reverence and awe become central.

Ps 78:2-4 “I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.”

At the heart of the psalms of Scripture is the vital influence of didacticism, which means 'systematic instruction'. God teaches us about Himself and His truth through the songs that we sing. Hymns therefore function as 'teachers of faith'. This is why it is vital that our songs of praise have a didactic heart to them.

The first in the Book of Psalms is a classic example, graphically teaching the difference between the godly and the ungodly. In psalm fifty-one, we are systematically taught about the vital doctrine of repentance:

Incidentally, this is not some emotional mantra that says "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a right spirit in me" over and over again, outside of any real context (as does one modern chorus). This O.T. psalm is an example of substance — a cry for deliverance from sin, born out of the heartfelt avowal that God is a great and mighty Judge who causes His Spirit to indwell a person.

Can you imagine today's neo-evangelical churches singing: Ps 119:67,71 “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”?! It may not be the modern way, but it is the Bible way of singing praises to God. We should be crying out to Him for deliverance from affliction because it is a sign of our dependence on Him and thus magnifies Him in our worship.

There are some differences in lyric content of psalms vs. hymns. The Psalms more prominently address the theme of the wicked; in every song (psalm) except two, there is some explicit reference to the wicked as those who stand against God. The Psalter is full of an antithesis between the righteous and the wicked, between those who are in covenant with God and those who reject Him. It is a constant reminder to the people of God that you are either with God or against Him. We see also in the Psalms explicit references to God’s covenant and His faithfulness to His people, another relatively neglected topic in hymnody.

The Psalms are specific about God’s mercies as well, making reference to the oppressed and hungry and God’s setting prisoners free and giving sight to the blind. These are themes that are not often explicitly addressed in our hymnody.

The balance and depth found here is unmatched in modern worship songs and even in traditional hymnody.

The Psalms are deep, complicated, and even a bit strange, forms of music. Why is that? Strange to who? We sinful mortals. But, these are what God has clearly given us as solid examples of HIS music style…His standard for all music even!

The Psalms were obviously very carefully constructed by our Creator; they definitely have the appearance of requiring a mere mortal great lengths of time and energy to craft such masterpieces; though God could do it in a second. This carefully-crafted character of the Psalms stands in marked contrast to the “ dashed off” character of so much of CCM. If God inspired His song-writers to give such careful attention to the crafting of these Psalms, how is it that we think it is acceptable to just string any old sentiments together and offer them for worship?

Are our traditional hymns too complex? When the Lord compiled a hymnbook for an agricultural people who were probably 95% illiterate, He gave them not a book of choruses, but the book of Psalms.  

From the Psalter all the way down to the Reformation, and through subsequent centuries, hymns have been clearly understood by the Lord's people. They have lifted up the people of God spiritually and intellectually. They have expressed worship, and taught the great truths of the Word. The Bible first, and godly hymns second, have liberated generations from ignorance and naivety, teaching and articulating intelligent praise.

A pastor told of the funeral of an elderly congregation member where her granddaughters recollected

how their grandmother had committed all the Psalms to memory, having sung them throughout her

childhood. The granddaughters could never stump their grandmother in challenging her to name the

Psalm from which they quoted verses, even when they mixed them up to try to trick her. “Now, beloved,”

Dr. Godfrey asked, “Here’s a woman who sang Psalms predominantly throughout her life and hid the

Psalter in her heart. Was that a blessing? Was that a good thing? Or would she have been better off just

singing ‘Alleluia’ eleven times? It’s not a close call, Beloved.” We are impoverishing our souls by not

using one of the best ways of learning the Word of God, namely by singing it. For Reformed people not

to love the Psalms and learn them and sing them is a major tragedy for us spiritually. Our best strategy is

not for us to spend a great deal of time criticizing contemporary Christian music but to spend it learning the Psalter and singing the Psalms and rejoicing in the Word that God has given us.

SPIRITUAL SONGS

What is a ‘spiritual song’? It is either a very complicated definition, or a very simple one (in my view).

Here are some thoughts by ‘divines’ on the subject:

Spiritual songs: Alleluia and other chants of a jubilant or ecstatic character, richly ornamented.

Spiritual songs may refer to snatches of spontaneous praise prompted by the Holy Spirit.

According to Hustad, a well known musicologist, the information about "spiritual songs" is not as clear.

“"Spiritual songs" are a bit more difficult to identify, and help comes from musicologists who have found similar forms in other cultures of the Middle East and in Christian churches of the pastristic period. The koiné Greek phrase for "spiritual songs" is odaes pneumaticaes—"pneumatic odes," possible "odes upon the breath" since the word pneuma was used for both "breath" and "spirit." Some have conjectured that these were wordless songs of spiritual jubilation like a vocalise or possibly that they consisted of one word such as "alleluia." Still others, including modern pentecostals and charismatics, insist that this was spontaneous, ecstatic, glossalalic song which is still experienced today.”

St. Augustine said this of the type of “spiritual songs”:

“It is certain sound of joy without words . . . it is the expression of a mind poured forth in joy . . . A person rejoicing in exultation, after certain words which cannon be . . . understood, bursts forth into sounds of exultation without words so that it seem he [sic] –filled with excessive joy cannot express in words the subject of that joy.”

To me, the explanation of what a spiritual song is quite simple: a spiritual song is a ‘song’ that is of a ‘spiritual’ nature. Further explained – a ‘song’ is “In general, that which is sung or uttered with musical modulations of the voice, whether of the human voice or that of a bird.” (Webster’s 1828) ‘Spiritual’ is “Consisting of spirit; not material; incorporeal; as a spiritual substance or being.” (Webster’s 1828) Thus, a spiritual song is that which is sung with the voice that is consisting of spirit, namely, that of the Holy Spirit. Another way to define this would be singing a song that is of a spiritual nature, vice worldly.

It appears that a spiritual song is not the same as a hymn or a psalm. It may be a more simple arrangement than a hymn and not necessarily have all of its lyrics be verses of Scripture, as does the psalm. It may be that it is focused on ministering to one’s spirit more than the teaching of God’s truths. But, I don’t feel that they are on the same level with today’s simple ditties of CCM; spiritual songs are put together by the Holy Spirit Himself, and thus will have no worldly qualities to them at all!

Conclusion

There has recently been the move from participative congregational worship to spectator entertainment performance styled worship. Increasingly today congregations are seen not so much as participating worshippers but as audiences who need to be entertained with dramatic presentations, musical revues and other varieties of lavish spectacle. The ‘audience’ usually gets to sing along with the Praise & Worship team a few times, but more and more, as a church grows and grows, the audience does not come wanting to sing, but to be sung to. A weird sort of worship by proxy; or a surrogate worshipping!

In many churches, this idea of 'performance' is enhanced by the fact that the congregation/audience is encouraged to applaud -- something which one cannot imagine happening in the Early Church era under apostolic authority. We seem to have forgotten that extreme simplicity in worship was the order of the day in the Early Church. The gaudy spectacles we see today, with their vast choirs and orchestras, complex musical arrangements, multi-media happenings, multiple participation, and varying degrees of hype are very far removed from what was practised in the first couple of centuries of the New Testament Church, and are at odds with the spirit of worship portrayed in the New Testament.

If today's new evangelicals were suddenly to find themselves transported back to, say, AD.150, they would be bored beyond measure, believing that they had come to a dead church because their only yardstick for the worship of God is their own exciting and stimulating sensual experience!

Today’s churches employ loud drums, electric guitars, and electric keyboards that seem to be in competition with the vocals throughout the performance. The only justifiable place for a musical instrument in worship is merely to assist in holding the tune and therefore to operate in the background as a subtle handmaiden to the voices raised in worship. Worship in such churches has become utterly overblown, with the necessity for professional "worship-leaders", complex orchestral arrangements, $20k mixing boards, 500 watt speakers, and endless days of rehearsals!

Where did the notion ever originate that everyone has the right to exercise their personal abilities in the corporate worship of God? By all means, personal gifts and abilities from the Holy Spirit should be used and developed in churches, but that does not mean that everyone has to have a go at showing off their musical and instrumental talents every Sunday.

This rush to display one's gifts has especially developed in the establishment churches. We bring ourselves as a living sacrifice, not as a ribbon-wrapped gift parcel to God. We must decrease; He must increase! Is that not the essence of biblical worship? But much of what takes place in worship services today is little more than exhibitionism hiding behind the excuse that "God wants me to use my gifts".

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