Questions & Answers with Dr. Bob Burrelli

Should we sing the psalms in our worship services today?

Yes and Amen! Let’s understand that the Psalter is a collection not only of prayers that were uttered by saints of old in real-life situations and later recorded, but also especially composed for certain occasions in the life of the nation (coronation of kings, processionals to the temple, worship services) that were put to music and sung, sometimes antiphonally. The whole collection of psalms eventually became the “hymnbook” of the Jewish Temple.

The psalms continued to be used in the worship of God’s people certainly during Jesus’ day but also during Paul’s. It was he who wrote to the church at Corinth, “When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification” (1 Corinthians 14:26). Like David’s Israel, the Corinthians were to sing the psalms when they assembled. Similarly, Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, “be filled with the Holy Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart” (Ephesians 5:19; cf. Colossians 3:16). According to the standard Greek dictionaries, these three terms for songs are technical in the Old Testament Greek Bible for psalms in the Psalter that were put to music and sung by Old Testament believers. Each one constitutes a general category into which all the psalms may fit, one of them necessarily includes musical instruments. Obviously singing songs out of a heart-felt attitude of thankfulness (cf. James 5:13, “ . . . is anyone cheerful, let him sing praises”) and in obedience to the Holy Spirit was part of Paul’s concept of worship. In fact, the idea of “addressing one another” in song was clearly practiced during worship and could be accommodated nicely by antiphonal singing.

In conclusion, we need to understand that it is extremely important to sing Old Testament psalms in the worship service for at least three reasons. The first is that in hearing the prayers of the champions of the faith, we learn better how to pray. The second is that such prayers instill confidence leading us to believe that if God truly worked in the lives of His people then, we have every reason to believe that He will work in ours as well. The third is that we learn how to praise rightly. The fourth and last reason is that the psalms constitute Scripture, which should always be heard in the assembly.

It is equally important to understand that songs in the worship service should not be limited to the Psalter. Even though the three terms in Ephesians 5:19 are technical terms referring to the psalms, at least one of them may also refer to songs that are not psalms. This verse recognizes established praise songs outside the Psalter that were later composed by the Christian community. We have vestiges of them throughout the New Testament (see 1 Timothy 3:16 as one example). This verse, then, gives us license to sing “new songs” in worship, but it doesn’t give us the rationale for doing so. What is it? Remember that God gave progressive revelation over time. That means that the Old Testament is not the final word from God; the New Testament is. Only when both are taken together do we have God’s complete revelation, never to be added to or edited! Therefore, there is much in the Psalter that was fulfilled or completed in the New Testament, which offers necessary and final revelation. Believers of the New Covenant, therefore, can have a much better prayer life than that of believers of the Old Covenant. Even better than those who wrote the Psalter? Yes, because the New Covenant is a better covenant with better promises. Much of what the Old Testament believers longed for, and prayed about in the psalms, has been realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you are convinced that your worship service should have the psalms as part of its repertoire of Christian music, then you can find helps to get your church started. The Book of Psalms for Singing (The Board of Education and Publication: Pittsburgh. 1973) is a good resource that puts the psalms to familiar hymn tunes.