tament to govern the use of music: (a) speaking, (b) teaching and (c) edifying. If God has desig nated these as functions, then it is obligatory that our musical standards be measured by them. Speaking “ Speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;” (Eph. 5:19). The famil iar words poignantly note that music is the ex pression of one who is on intimate terms with Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit of God. This is the contextual setting. The Greek word for speaking used here is lalountes, a present partici ple. Being a participle, it further explains what the content of the verb in verse 18 is all about. The present tense emphasizes the continual aspect of speaking. But as important as continually speaking might be, the use o f the verbal form from laleo is also noteworthy. This word is closely connected with another Greek word, lego, to say. With the latter word, the thing of import is that of the sub stance of what is said, that is a general presenta tion or report. But with laleo, the importance is found in the choice of words which actually convey the utterance. (The reader would find an excellent note on this distinction in W. E. Vine, An Exposi tory Dictionary of New Testament Words, Vol. Ill, p. 323). Thus the Bible notes that the words are important and consequently should take precedence over the tune or the many variations in the “beat” which can detract from them. How often this writer has heard of a particular piece of music to be used in the church, “ The beat is nice.” What has this to do with church music? Just this: we are victims o f our times; and we have thought that we should offer music which is enjoy able in order to attract people to Christianity. If the same viewpoint were tolerated in the ministry from the pulpit (and it has been), or in missionary enterprise, or in the many facets o f evangelical witness, that witness would disappear overnight. How then can we expect to “ speak” correctly if the words we are trying to convey are distorted in favor of rhythmic patterns, “beat” or some of the cacophony which obliterates the message. Teaching The desire of Charles Wesley in the presenta tion o f the first hymnal of the Methodist movement was to teach Christian doctrine through the me dium o f the hymn. This is thoroughly consistent with the Scriptures. Most fine hymnals have fol lowed this pattern in the editions which have fol lowed the Wesleyan lead of 1780. However, in teaching through a hymn, it is im portant that we teach God’s truth. If a certain hymn is not doctrinally correct, one should note it
accounts for the use o f the word in the Greek Old Testament as the author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 22 :22 in Hebrews 2:12, “ In the midst o f the assem bly, I will sing praises (hymn) to thee.” Early in the liturgy of the church, hymns began to appear. Taking the poetic sections of the early chapters of Luke as a basis, most musicians are familiar with the number o f settings given to The Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), the Benedictus (Luke 1:68-79), the Gloria (Luke 2:14), and the Nunc Dimittis (Luke 2:29-32). And to these, many others were added. The Spiritual Sony Under this term much of the present-day music is offered to the church. One musician designated this as a “ catch-all” for the many choruses, pop tunes, gospel music which is sung in the church today. Everything which mentions Christ, salva tion, the Bible, the Christian joy, the revelation of God in nature, indeed anything with the flavor of Christian “ jargon” is allowed the posture o f being a “ spiritual song.” Songs which seemingly have been composed more to obtain a rhyme than to con vey a truth o f the Word o f God are given this status. However, a better rendering of this term “ spir itual song” would be “An ode of a spiritual charac ter.” It is not the desire to find a category for Christian music that is in mind but rather the thought of the character of the music. It is to be spiritual! John Calvin caught this as he wrote, “ The appellation spiritual, given to these songs, is strikingly inappropriate; for the songs most fre quently used are almost always on trifling subjects, and very far from being chaste.” The spiritual song is far from the trite, unscriptural ditties which overflow many o f our songbooks today. Rather, this should be the expression o f the believer who has been filled, led, and taught by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit-filled Christian has a keener appreciation of God’s holiness and salvation than what he finds in much of “ Christian” music. The Functions of Music To some readers, what has been said thus far may border on “ nit-picking,” or to others such a discussion may seem to be irrelevant. But contrary to these views, this writer is of the opinion that we should be aware o f what the Bible has to say about any subject and then be bound to obey it. It is not enough to maintain a Christian viewpoint toward matters that appeal to us, and then offer opinions, express ignorance, or show indifference to those which do not. The authority of the Scriptures should govern every facet of the Christian life: social, devotional, spiritual, and personal. Only three statements are given in the New Tes
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NOVEMBER, 1969
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