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EZRA 3, UNION with CHRIST, and EXCLUSIVE PSALMODY (Concluded)

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EZRA 3, UNION with CHRIST, and EXCLUSIVE PSALMODY (Concluded) EZRA 3, UNION WITH CHRIST, AND EXCLUSIVE PSALMODY (Concluded) VERN S. POYTHRESS N the preceding article1 we argued that Christ is the leader, I the model, and the motivator of New Testament congrega- tional singing. We tried to show also that Christ "sings" the whole of Scripture to the congregation. In the present article we shall examine the function of singing in public worship, and argue thereby that the Bible authorizes us to sing any words that we may legitimately use in teaching. Even a cursory examination of the songs in the Bible shows that singing has many functions. The psalmists pray, confess sin, make petitions, offer praises, teach, admonish, instruct, etc. For simplicity's sake we shall concentrate on one function of singing, namely, the function of teaching. 8. Singing in the Old Testament in general First, the Old Testament in general presents singing as (among other things) a form of teaching. This is shown by the mere fact that 1 Chronicles 25:1 describes the singers as "prophesying with lyres, with harps, and with evitáis." Their singing is a particular variety of prophesying, namely a proph- esying with harps, etc. Moreover, in the very first case where the Lord makes explicit provision for continued congregational singing, namely in Deuteronomy 32, his design is to give to Israel certain words which will witness against them (Deut. 31:19, 21-22, 28, 32:44-47). The whole context speaks of ensuring by various means the continued teaching of the law: writing (31:9), reading (31:10-13), exhortation (32:45), ap- 1 "Ezra 3, Union with Christ, and Exclusive Psalmody, I," Westminster Theological Journal, 37 References to §§ 1-7 refer to this article. 218 UNION WITH CHRIST 219 pointment of a successor (31:1-8), threatening (31:24-29), and singing. Because the Israelites have all these means avail- able to teach them, they will be without excuse when they do not obey. 9. Singing in Ezra 3 Next, the structure of Ezra 3 confirms the teaching function of singing. We have already seen that Ezra 3:10-13 speaks of a third ministry, a prophetic ministry, complementing the priestly (3:1-7) and kingly (3:8-9) ministries of the rest of the chapter. But there is something more that we can glean from Ezra 3, namely, some general features of song in the time of promise, compared to the time of fulfillment (Christ). (A) Song is addressed to the Lord, in order to praise him (Ezra 3:10-11; 1 Chr. 16:4ff.; 23:30; 6:32; Exod. 15:1; Ps. 9:1 ; 13:6; etc.). (B) People sing in the presence of others so that they hear what God has done (Ezra 3:13; 1 Chr. 16:8, 9, 13, 23, 24, 28, 30, 34, 35, 36; Exod. 15:21 ; Ps. 18:49; 57:9; 108:3; etc.). 10. Singing in the time of fulfillment A similar dual function of singing occurs in the time of ful- fillment. Christ sings the new song to the Lord (the aspect of praise), in the presence of other people (the aspect of preaching or teaching) (cf. Ps. 18:49).2 Moreover, Christ's singing among the Gentiles constitutes a gospel call to them (1 Chr. 16:23; Ps. 117:1-2; 96:1; 98:1, 3; cf. Isa. 52:10ff.). This means that his singing is a form of preaching. Of course, we do not intend to deny that his singing may be other things as well (e.g., prayer, Ps. 42:8). We have already pointed out that his singing to God includes praise. But such should be true of all good preaching. If modern preaching is to be modeled after the pattern of the Savior, it should be preaching in praise to 2 One can see that Ps. 18 is Christological by comparing 18:38-39 with the clearly Christological Ps. 45:4-6. Incidentally, the Christological import of Ps. 18 confirms our earlier interpretation of the 'I' of Rom. 15:9 as referring to Christ (§ 62.1). 220 WESTMINSTER THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL God (cf. Isa. 8:11-13; 1 Pet. 3:15) among the Gentiles, preach- ing full of praise and including prayer? Hence there is no obstacle to saying without qualification that Christ's singing is a way of preaching. And now the con- clusion follows: as Christ brings the word of God to the Gen- tiles in song, so we are to bring the word of God to our brothers and Gentiles in song. Hence we may sing anything we may preach. As an added confirmation, 1 Corinthians 14 also connected singing and teaching (14:15, 26). Both singing and prophesy- ing, Paul says, should "be done for edification,, (14:26). Hence, in the congregation, they need to be uttered in a language that the hearers understand (14:15). It is apparent even from this much that Paul puts singing in the same general functional category as prophesying and teaching (cf. apokalupsin, didachên of 14:26). One may claim that the prophesying and singing of 1 Corinthians 14 were inspired, and hence not parallel to the "prophesying" (i.e., teaching) and singing of today. But this does not affect the fact that Paul puts teaching and singing in the same category and applies to them the same principles for verbal utterance in worship. We certainly do want to say that the general principles and arguments of 1 Corinthians 14 would be just as valid for (non-inspired) congregational utterance today. 11. Applying the word of God Teaching by song is an application (not merely a reiteration) of the word of God. The same arguments used to show that preaching may consist both in reading a translation of the Bible (1 Tim. 4:13) and in other words, may be used to show the propriety of singing both a translation of the Bible and other words. In both cases, we are not concerned simply to duplicate Scripture, but to apply Scripture to others and to ourselves, in our concrete situation. These considerations are reinforced by certain facts about Christ's prophetic ministry. Christ's own "singing" has given 8 For further discussion of the relation between preaching and praise, see § 16. UNION WITH CHRIST 221 us Scripture, in the original manuscripts, once and for all (see § 6.3). There is no need for this to be duplicated; indeed, it is impossible to duplicate it. Now, derivative from that once-for- all written Scripture, Christ sings in us to write the law on our hearts (Heb. 8:10). This is part of the application of redemp- tion and the application of Scripture. Technically speaking, a translation of Scripture is already a kind of preliminary appli- cation, rather than simply being identical with Scripture. (It applies Scripture to a particular linguistic environment. And it is authoritative only insofar as it teaches what the original does.) And because our hearts are stubborn and hard, because we do not naturally receive Scripture into our heart, Christ has instituted the teaching of Scripture, using other words besides reading and repetition of a translation. If singing has this teaching function, it is right that gifted men should, in the wisdom of Christ, reword the teaching of Scripture in various songs to help us apply the word to our lives. Finally, Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 confirm the association of teaching, singing, and application. A literal trans- lation of the two passages, one above the other, gives the following: Eph. 5:18-19: And not be-drunk with wine, in which is debauchery, but be-filled with the Spirit, Col. 3:16: The word of Christ let-dwell in you richly, speaking to one another in all wisdom teaching and counseling one another (with) psalms and hymns and songs (spiritual), (with) psalms, hymns, songs spiritual, singing and psalming (with) your heart with grace singing with your hearts to the Lord, to God. If one combined the two passages, he would thus obtain: Do not be drunk with wine, in which is debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit, and let the word of Christ dwell " in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and counseling one an- other with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with grace singing and psalming with your heart(s) to the Lord God. The combination shows (a) that the phrase "psalms (and) hymns (and) songs (spiritual)" probably goes with the pre- ceding, rather than the following, verb in Ephesians as well as 222 WESTMINSTER THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL Colossians;4 (b) that the structure of singing here is a precise reflection of the structure of Christ's singing that we worked out from the Old Testament psalms. Christ sings to the Lord God among the congregation, thus teaching and counseling them with his words. We do the same.5 (c) In Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, one of the functions of singing is teaching and counseling (admonishing). Jay Adams has shown that counseling (nouthetein) includes dealing with specific weak- nesses and sins of the person counseled ; it is pointed application of the Scripture.6 The man who always did nothing more than quote Scripture would not be an adequate biblical counselor- preacher any more than the man who imported his own ideas beyond Scripture or unrelated to Scripture.7 Christ by his Spirit 4 Here we follow Heinrich Schlier, TDNT, I (1964), p. 165; Schlier, Der Brief an die Epheser (Düsseldorf: Patmos-Verlag, 1957), p. 246; and E. K. Simpson and F. F. Bruce, Commentary on the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1957), on Col.
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