Does singing have any independent function? I think in the public meetings of the church, music and singing always have a functional, serving role. Or, as you say, a utilitarian role. That just sounds a little stark to me. We don’t sing simply for the pleasure that lifting our voices brings. We don’t play music just to admire the beauty of rhythm, harmony, and melody. We sing because it stirs up and expresses emotions towards God. But those emotions are grounded in his revealed Word to us, not in the music we’re making. Placing music and singing in their own category tends to result in art worship — valuing the gift apart from the Giver.

So I think Frame’s perspective is right. We sing in order to accomplish other ends - praying, praising, reflecting, teaching, celebrating. But God commands us to sing because it helps us engage differently, at times even more fully, with those particular activities.

Thanks as ever for your measured and helpful comments. This might be a good place to throw in an issue I’ve been thinking about for few weeks on the role of music and singing in our corporate meetings. It was prompted by John Frame’s very helpful book ‘Worship in Spirit and Truth’. In a chapter where he searches the New Testament for the different elements we might include in our corporate services, he says:

‘Song does not have an independent function in worship; rather, it is a way of doing many different things: praying, teaching, blessing, fellowshiping, etc.’ (p57)

There is no doubt there is truth to this - even one of the examples you quoted above concerning the role of singing in helping us interact with the truth of God’s word demonstrates this.

But is there a danger in reducing singing to this utilitarian role? Does it always have to be a means to some other end or can singing to God be an end in itself? In short, does singing have any independent function?

I would love to hear people’s thoughts on this!

Thanks,
Al

Great quote from Jonathan Edwards. I agree wholeheartedly. I think his comments on singing also encourage the use of creative, moving, skillfully played music to accompany our singing.

I appreciate your perspective on this issue. I posted this reponse to Greg’s post quoting you at the 9marks site…I’d like know your thoughts on this (this is a partial quote from my post):

Jonathan Edwards, for me, was the greatest help in reading his “On Religious Affections.” In part 1, Section II, point 9, Edwards has this to say:

“And the duty of singing praises to God, seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections. No other reason can be assigned, why we should express ourselves to God in verse, rather than in prose, and do it with music, but only, that such is our nature and frame, that these things have a tendency to move our affections.”

You asked about the place of choirs. Since God hasn’t given us clear direction in the New Testament, it seems to me that we evaluate them the same way we evaluate other forms of music. Do they help people magnify the glory of God in Christ? Do they contribute to wholehearted singing from the congregation? Are they a means of showcasing human talents or serving the church? I don’t think Scripture specifically speaks against the use of choirs, but neither do I see explicit commands that we should have them. Every church is free to determine what best serves their church each week and over the long haul.

Feel free to follow up.

Thanks for continuing this “against music” and/or “for music” dialogue. It’s a valuable discussion.

Obviously, the New Testament is replete with references about believers praising the Lord by singing. For example, (and I recognize that none of these verses will be new or unfamiliar - perhaps just a reminder of some foundational texts.)

Matthew 26:30Matthew 26:30
[30]And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the
Mount of Olives. (ESV)

“And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives”

Acts 16:25Acts 16:25
[25]About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and
singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to
them, (ESV)

“But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God”

Romans 15:9Romans 15:9
[9]and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for
his mercy. As it is written,
"Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name."

“For this reason I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name”

1 Corinthians 14:151 Corinthians 14:15
[15]What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I
will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my
spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. (ESV)

“I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding”

Ephesians 5:19Ephesians 5:19
[19]addressing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with
your heart, (ESV)

“Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord”

Colossians 3:16Colossians 3:16
[16]Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching
and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your
hearts to God. (ESV)

“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”

Hebrews 2:12Hebrews 2:12
[12]saying,
"I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will sing your
praise."

“In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You”

Hebrews 13:15Hebrews 13:15
[15]Through him then let us continually offer up a
sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that
acknowledge his name. (ESV)

“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name”

James 5:13James 5:13
[13]Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is
anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. (ESV)

“Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing psalms.”

I’ve heard music called “the language of the heart.” The Lord has indeed used the vehicle of music to stir the mind, will and emotions of believers for centuries by means of astonishing lyrics and with dynamic, arousing melodies and harmonies.

The wonderful thing about this “against music” and/or “for music” discussion is that it has brought the following question back to the front-burner of my own heart…

“Is Jesus enough?”

Thanks again, Bob. What you do “matters” in the kingdom!

Have a blessed weekend.

David Guion

Alan Sherban

Greg Gilbert is obviously tapping into a real phenomenon of a generation that can’t imagine time passing without ear buds. Yet, the danger of over-reacting is always with us.

What encourages me in music is the pervasive place it has in the Scriptures, whether it is the song of Moses in Exo 15Exodus 15
[15:1]Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song
to the LORD, saying,
"I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
[2]The LORD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father's God, and I will exalt him.
[3]The LORD is a man of war;
the LORD is his name.
[4]"Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea,
and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
[5]The floods covered them;
they went down into the depths like a stone.
[6]Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power,
your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.
[7]In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your
adversaries;
you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
[8]At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up;
the floods stood up in a heap;
the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
[9]The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill
of them.
I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.'
[10]You blew with your wind; the sea covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
[11]"Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
[12]You stretched out your right hand;
the earth swallowed them.
[13]"You have led in your steadfast love the people whom
you have redeemed;
you have guided them by your strength to your holy
abode.
[14]The peoples have heard; they tremble;
pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
[15]Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed;
trembling seizes the leaders of Moab;
all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
[16]Terror and dread fall upon them;
because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as
a stone,
till your people, O LORD, pass by,
till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
[17]You will bring them in and plant them on your own
mountain,
the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode,
the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have
established.
[18]The LORD will reign forever and ever."
[19]For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and
his horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought back the
waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel
walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. [20]Then
Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a
tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after
her with tambourines and dancing. [21]And Miriam sang to
them:
"Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."
[22]Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and
they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days
in the wilderness and found no water. [23]When they came to
Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it
was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. [24]And the
people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What shall we
drink?" [25]And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed
him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water
became sweet.
There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and
there he tested them, [26]saying, "If you will diligently
listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which
is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and
keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on
you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your
healer."
[27]Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve
springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped
there by the water. (ESV)

, the 150 chapters of Psalms–replete with specific references to a variety of instruments and emotions–, Jesus singing a hymn with his disciples, or the continual songs that are raised in the book of Revelation. That assures us that in every era of redemptive history, music has a place.

While God never reveals the answer to the question we all wonder–why did you create music?–I think one answer is that it completes an emotion in a way a spoken truth cannot. Greg’s point about being affected by simply reading or saying Eph 2:17Ephesians 2:17
[17]And he came and preached peace to you who were far
off and peace to those who were near. (ESV)

is a good one, but misses that music helps us to take this theologically and evangelically charged idea and help it take flight in our souls.

We should surely be able to quietly and extensively meditate on the text and allow it to drip down into the darknesses of our sinful and unconfident hearts; but, neither should we miss that our souls are made to powerfully express what moves them. And few things allow us to powerfully express emotions–emotions rooted in truth!–like music. Why else did so many of us want to write songs for our brides in those early days of courtship? Saying it just wasn’t enough.

Greg is right that music should not be a substitute for actual spiritual life. It is, no doubt, a kind of sacred stewardship that leaders and musicians and worship leaders need to use well, for noble purposes, for the intent of giving voice to the new songs of salvation that God is working in our hearts, all that his name might be magnified above all others.

Having said all of this, if we answer “yes” to any of Greg’s questions then we should indeed take a hard look at our spiritual vitality.

Thanks!
Daniel Baker