Psalm, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
Spring 2025
If you visit Free Presbyterian congregations, you will witness a love for singing the great hymns of the faith. As stated in the FPCNA publication, Separated Unto the Gospel, “we make good use of the oldest hymnbook of the Church—the Psalms—as well as the great old hymns of the faith, which are so rich in doctrine and Christ-honoring music.”
The church benefits from singing both psalms and hymns. Some Reformed churches disallow the singing of hymns along with the use of musical accompaniment. They teach that God intends for His church to sing only psalms in public worship, a position known as “Exclusive Psalmody.”
The Scottish Metrical Psalter has a rich history that dates back to the 17th century. It was first approved by the Westminster Assembly and underwent further careful revision by members of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The final version was adopted and sanctioned in 1649 and was publicly used for the first time in Glasgow on May 15, 1650. This Psalter is known for its plain text with meters that allow for ease of singing, even without music. It is still considered one of the foremost metrical renderings of the Psalter in the Reformed Churches and has maintained a prominent role in church public worship despite many attempts to supersede it.
The popularity of the 1650 Psalter may arise from it being, in the mind of some, exalted to the place of divine inspiration. Naturally that opinion would lead to a key principle of exclusive psalmody, viz. we should sing the words that God has given us. It must be remembered, however, that every Psalter, including the Scottish Psalter, is merely a paraphrase of God’s Holy Word.
The Holy Spirit mandated that the church sing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16. The Greek word for “spiritual songs” is odes. That term only occurs in these two places and five times in Revelation (5:9; 14:3 twice; and 15:3 twice). In each Revelation passage, the noun and the verb from the same Greek root occur together. “They sang a new song” is literally “They ode-ed a new ode.” The odes are distinctly different from the Psalms. They are praises to the redeeming Lamb. The term ode is also used for the “song” of Moses. Nowhere in the Psalms do you find a song of praise to “the Lamb.” In fact, you never find the word “lamb” in the singular nor with the definite article in any Psalm. Surely this observation suggests that it is not sinful to worship God with words that are not included in the Psalter. Churches must sing truth; truth that arises from the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Believers long to worship their Savior, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is revealed in all the Scriptures, so let us worship Him expressing truths written in Holy Scripture.
Regarding music there is an interesting fact to observe: the Old Testament reveals the content of Hebrew vocal praise in seven Hebrew words. It is quite startling that the Holy Spirit did not choose to use any of those words in the New Testament when referring to the Old Testament Psalms. Startling, because the Spirit often set Hebrew names and other Hebrew terms straight into the Greek text like “Emmanuel” in Matthew 1:23 and “Corban” in Mark 7:11 which were transliterated and recorded with their meaning. The Holy Spirit chose rather the Greek term psalmos originating from psallo which means “to pluck the strings of a musical instrument.” Every thorough Greek lexicon defines psalmos as “a song accompanied by a musical instrument.” The New Testament clearly commands the church to sing psalms. Given the word study, complying with this biblical command permits the use of a musical instrument.
Earnest believers are passionately faithful to the heroic past of “the faith once delivered to the saints.” But while desiring to be identified with some of the Reformed heroes and heroines of the past, the believer must not divide Christians whom God has joined together. The unity of Christ’s church has been marred for two millennia by needless division. Separation from heresy, error, and blatant disobedience is imperative, but separation without biblical warrant is sin. We need to beware of any doctrine or practice that enables anyone to presume that, above all the professing Christians in the world, we are the only ones consistently true to Christ.
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1). The Lord observes that “true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23–24). God seeks sinners, joins them to Christ, and to each other. Unity is expressed in united voices praising God in the Spirit and with scriptural truth.