The Message of Ephesians 5:18-20 and Colossians 3:16

Monday, November 19 2007 14:39 | Written by Ronald E. Higginbotham |

All too often I see authors attempt to support our position on a cappella music in our gatherings to worship God using Ephesians 5:18-20 and Colossians 3:16. The two passages are often cited for “authorizing” only singing “without the accompaniment of musical instruments.” However, neither of these passages are commands to sing but inform us of the results of being “filled with the Spirit” and how to “let the word of Christ richly dwell within” us.It seems that these authors cannot accept the fact that we do not use instrumental music in our worship assemblies simply because the music of early Christians was entirely vocal and we replicate their practice as nearly as we can. However, the use of music in early Christianity can be reconstructed only tentatively from materials in the New Testament. But in general, it seems that the music of early Christians consisted of psalms ( øáëì’í, 1 Cor 14:26).[1]

History

According to Chronicles and Psalms it seems that after the rebuilding of the temple, music became an important feature of worship at the temple. Vocal and instrumental music were performed by guilds of professional musicians who associated themselves by descent with Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthan, and thus ultimately with Levi, and claimed that David had commissioned them himself (1 Chr 6:16-32; 25:1-31). They apparently collected psalms (e.g., Pss 73-83, attributed to Asaph) and added musical and liturgical notations. Some psalms were to be sung with the accompaniment of stringed instruments (Ps 74).The destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. set the stage for new forms of musical expression among the Jews. The Levitical guilds were now gone and instrumental music was forbidden in the synagogue, leaving vocal music to evolve in a new way. Thus the early Christians very likely adopted what they knew of synagogue music to their own worship. This practice of entirely vocal music continued until the fifth century when some mechanical music began to be introduced in Christian worship assemblies.

The Controversy

The use of an instrument in worship became an issue in the American Restoration Movement at a comparatively early period in that movement but did not receive much attention until the latter half of the nineteenth century. In reading the literature produced by this controversy one finds it difficult to escape the conclusion that much of the discussion and debate has been concerned with maintaining a position rather than searching for the truth.Those favoring the use of the instrument offered the following justification for this practice. It is expedient. There is no prohibition of its use in the New Testament. It has “scriptural sanction” through its use in the worship of God before the Christian era and in the worship of God in heaven. It violates no teaching or command of Christ or his apostles. It does not void the command to sing, but is merely an aid to singing.Those who opposed the use of the instrument offered the following arguments against the practice. It is an “innovation.” There is no evidence of its use in apostolic times. The Scriptures enjoin singing, but give no command to play and sing. Without “express command” or “approved precedent” it can have no place in the worship of Christians.On the one hand, there were those who believed that “scriptural silence” involved “divine liberty.” On the other hand, there were those who believed the silence of the New Testament to be understood as a “lack of authority.” Exegesis of Ephesians 5:18-20 and Colossians 3:16

Ephesians 5:18-20

Ephesians 5:15-20 is organized around three main exhortations—vv 15-16; v 17; vv 18-20—each of which contains a contrast between negative and positive behavior. In the last, the positive element is predominant and is spelled out by means of three (or four, if the transitional v 21 is included) participial clauses. The three participial clauses incorporate several aspects of worship, highlighting the importance of song, indicating the role this can play in corporate edification (“speaking to one another”), stressing the need for worship to come from the individual’s heart, telling of praise addressed to Christ and thanksgiving directed to God; and above all making clear the indispensable function of the Spirit.Paul instructs believers to “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph 5:18), literally, “be filled in spirit,” ðëçñï™óèå dí ðíåýìáôé, establishing Christian maturity or the Spirit-filled life as the objective for every believer. Much can be learned about the meaning of a Greek word by looking at its form. The verb “be filled, ” ðëçñï™óèå, is in the present, passive, imperative form. Each of those aspects enriches the meaning.It is in the imperative mood with present tense. The imperative mood is the mood of intention. The imperative is most commonly used for commands. As a command, it frequently occurs with the aorist and present tenses (only rarely with the perfect tense). With the aorist, the force generally is to command the action as a whole, describing a single action. With the present, the force generally is to command the action as an ongoing process. When Jesus said during the wedding reception at Cana, “Fill the jars with water” (Jn 2:7), the imperative is aorist, since the jars were to be filled only once. When Paul writes, “be filled with the Spirit,” he uses a present imperative, indicating that believers’ experience of the Spirit’s fullness is to be a continuing one. Being “filled with the Spirit” is not a once-for-all experience, but a privilege to be renewed continuously by continuous believing and obedient appropriation. We need to be filled with the Spirit and go on being filled every day and every moment of the day.It is in the passive voice. This command is given in a passive voice, which means it is not something you can do, but something that must be done to you or for you. Paul did not write, “Fill yourself,” which is an active imperative. Instead he wrote, “Allow yourself to be filled,” which is a passive imperative. One rendering of “Be filled with the Spirit” is this: “Allow yourself to be continuously filled with the Spirit.” It is not something you should, or even can do. It is something you should and can allow to be done to you. To allow oneself to be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit is a resolute way of thinking: “those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” (Rom 8:5, NRSV). The following expression in Rom 8:6 as rendered by the NIV is “the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace” (italics added). A Spirit-filled life is a life “directed by the Spirit” (Gal 5:18), that is, a Spirit-controlled life. The NLT renders Eph 5:18 as: “Let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.”When God fills us with his Spirit, the result sends ripples through every relationship we have: “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father” (Eph 5:19-20, NASB). The reference to “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” ( øáëìïsò êár œìíïéò êár ³äásò ðíåõìáôéêásò) is similar to Col 3:16: “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (NASB).What is noteworthy in Eph 5:19-20 is that “speaking to one another,” “singing and making melody,” and “giving thanks,” are participial clauses in which the participles are participles of result. These participles are not imperatives. To view any of these participles as imperatival is to view the passage from the English point of view, ignoring the Greek. The participle of result is used to indicate the actual outcome or result of the action of the main verb (in this case, “be filled,” in 5:18). Result participles emphasize what the action of the main verb actually accomplishes.[2] Thus, “speaking to one another,” “singing and making melody,” and “giving thanks” are the result of being filled with the Spirit.The first participial clause of Eph 5:19-20, “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,” presupposes believers addressing one another whenever they assemble,[3] serving as a means of edification, instruction, and encouragement (cf. also Col 3:16, “teach and counsel each other”). The designations “psalms,” “hymns,” and “spiritual songs” could well refer to different types of composition or merely this writer’s fondness for piling up synonyms. It is difficult to differentiate the three terms with any precision.[4] They are the three most common terms in the Septuagint for religious songs and occur there interchangeably in the titles of the psalms.The second participial clause of Eph 5:19-20, “singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord,” builds up the sentence in the writer’s characteristic style by employing the verbal forms of two of the previous nouns—³äx, “song,” and øáëì’ò, “psalm.” Although its original meaning involved plucking a stringed instrument,[5] øáëëù here means to make music by singing. There is no reference in this verse to instrumental accompaniment.[6] If the singing involved in the first participial clause has a horizontal and corporate dimension that of the second clause has a more vertical and individual focus. The singing is now directed to the Lord. Believers who are filled with the Spirit delight to sing to the Lord.[7] Such praise comes not just from the lips but also from the individual’s innermost being, from the heart, where the Spirit himself resides (cf. Eph 3:16, 17, where the Spirit in the inner person is equivalent to Christ in the heart).In the third participial clause of Eph 5:19-20, “always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father,” the author writes that believers who are filled with the Spirit will give thanks. The writer still has in view primarily thanksgiving in public worship (cf. also 1 Cor 14:15-17). But the attitude of thanksgiving that is expressed in their worship will also be one that permeates believers’ whole lives. They will give thanks not just sometimes for some things but always for everything (cf. also 1 Thess 5:18).

Colossians 3:16

The construction of the clauses in Col 3:16 is different, but the general tenor is the same. The three present participles (“teaching,” admonishing,” “singing”) are dependent on the finite verb “dwell” and are participles of means.[8] Some exegetes consider that these dependent participles may have imperatival force.[9] However, imperatival participles function as though they were finite verbs and are not dependent on any verb in the context for their mood.[10] In the case of Colossians 3:16 the participles depend on the finite verb “dwell” and indicate the means by which the action of a finite verb is accomplished. These participles give the anticipated answer to the question how? Thus, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you.” How?: “by means of teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

This mutual “teaching and admonishing” is to take place “with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” The ASV (1901), NASB, and NKJV punctuate the sentence along these lines, although the NRSV renders the Greek “and with gratitude in your heart sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God” (cf. NIV, ESV), so linking these three nouns with the following participle _äïíôåò (“singing”). It is not patently clear as to which is the correct interpretation and commentators are as divided on the point as the versions. This author’s preference for joining “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” with “teaching and admonishing” is that the parallel passage in Eph 5:19 (“Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord”) gives the same general sense.

Conclusion

This has not been an argument for or against singing with instrumental accompaniment. It is only an attempt to clarify what the writer of Ephesians and Colossians was trying to tell us without the bias of maintaining a position. Spiritual integrity essentially means being true to God’s standards. Spiritual integrity should move one to study and determine God’s standards from the Scripture and not from what some religious group infers from the Scripture in an attempt to support their position. One’s beliefs must be derived not from loyalty to a certain religious group but from personal inquiry into the Word of God. If my views derive from the former rather than the latter, I would be sectarian and heretical.The reminder in Col 3:17 of the importance of thankfulness underlines how fundamental is a spirit of gratefulness to God in the life of worship and discipleship. As Rom 14:6 shows, a conscious concern to be thankful to God can be a valuable test of the acceptability of conduct even when other Christians disapprove of that conduct.

[1] øáëì’í is rendered “hymn” rather than “psalm” in the ESV, NRSV, NIV; it is correctly rendered “psalm” in the NASB and NKJV.

[2] Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 637-639.

[3] There in no indication in the text that this is limited to “public worship” on the first day of the week as assumed by some scholars. Presumably believers can edify and encourage one another in both formal as well as informal contexts.

[4] Heinrich Schlier, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Volume I (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 164-165; Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians, Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 42 (Dallas: Word Books, 1990), pp. 345-346.

[5] Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, translation by William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, second edition, revised and augmented by Frederick W. Danker (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1979), s. v. “øáëëù,” 891.

[6] Cf. F. F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984), 158-159, n. 155. Pace Markus Barth, Ephesians: Translation and Commentary on Chapters 4-6, The Anchor Bible (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974), 584.

[7] “We should … note that in Eph. 5:18-19 such singing is understood to be the result of being filled with the Spirit” [James D. G. Dunn, The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon, The New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 239].

[8] Wallace, 628-630.

[9] F. F. Bruce, 158, n. 152.

[10] Wallace, 650.

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