By Ben Rochester

Why do we sing the Psalms? If you have not noticed, after the “assurance of pardon” in the worship service liturgy, we sing from the Psalter. We sing Psalms for two reasons. First, the Bible commands it. Second, the Spirit teaches us by the Psalms.

Singing Psalms was an Old Testament practice. Jesus and the disciples sang a hymn before going to the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:26). What they would have sung was the Passover Hallel(praise), which is Psalms 113-118.

…through them, God teaches us how to approach Him in prayer.

Paul taught that singing the Psalms is also a Christian practice. Two texts that teach this are Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16

“…speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord” Eph. 5:19

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.” Col3:16

The New Testament here commands us to sing the Psalter. Some argue that the Psalms do not carry any relevance to the contemporary Church. Paul’s two passages contradict this argument. This leads to a second point.

The Church ought to sing Psalms because, through them, God teaches us how to approach Him in prayer. The adjective “spiritual” in Colossians 3:16 modifies the nouns “psalms,” “hymns,” and “songs” to describe them as spiritual in their character.

Paul refers here to the concept of Holy Spirit inspired songs and hymns from the Psalter. “Spiritual” is not something that lifts the physical into the spiritual realm. Paul sees the Holy Spirit condescending rather than us ascending. Spiritual means that God has come down to teach and admonish us with all wisdom. Spiritual, in this case, means that the Psalms are from the sourceof the Spirit. It is not something that lifts you to a higher plane. “Spiritual” in this New Testament use means authored by the Holy Spirit.

The Psalms are God’s tutor to teach man how to sing to Him rightly. They show us what we ought to pray. The joy of singing the Psalms is being confronted and transformed by them. Psalm 19:14 shares this same experience, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly by singing the Psalms.

“I have been accustomed to call the book of Psalms an anatomy of all the parts of the Soul; for there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror.” – John Calvin (1509-1564)