One In Jesus

We continue to consider Ferguson’s arguments in chapter 22 of his The Early Church and Today, vol. 1 and vol. 2, edited by Leonard Allen and Robyn Burwell. This chapter is titled “Church Music in Ephesians and Colossians.”

Psalm 108

At this point, it should be abundantly obvious that Paul is not concerned with the order of worship or use of the instrument in this passage. But there’s more evidence of the obvious.

Compare —

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

— with —

Ps 108:1b-2a I will sing and make melody with all my being! 2 Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!

In Eph 5:19, it certainly appears that Paul is paraphrasing “sing and make melody” from Psalm 108. Continue reading →

We continue to consider Ferguson’s arguments in chapter 22 of his The Early Church and Today, vol. 1 and vol. 2, edited by Leonard Allen and Robyn Burwell. This chapter is titled “Church Music in Ephesians and Colossians.”

It astonishes me (it really does) how rarely the anti-instrumental music advocates bother to exegete Eph 5:18. I mean, the supposed “command” to sing found in Eph 5:19 is in fact a participle hanging off the clause “be filled with the Spirit.”

That is, you have no idea what the point of “singing” is until you’ve figured out the meaning of “be filled with the Spirit” because “singing” is subordinate to “be filled.”

Of course, the utter failure of the conservative Churches to exegete Eph 5:18 is partly explained by the “word only” advocates who shudder at any thought of a present, active, moving God. And so doctrine gets built and millions of believers are damned on the exegesis of a participle treated as an independent command, with no regard at all for why that participle is attached to the verb “be filled.” Continue reading →

We continue to consider Ferguson’s arguments in chapter 22 of his The Early Church and Today, vol. 1 and vol. 2, edited by Leonard Allen and Robyn Burwell. This chapter is titled “Church Music in Ephesians and Colossians.”

“Be filled with the Spirit” in the scriptures

Eph 5:18 urges readers to “be filled with the Spirit.” What on earth does this mean? The phrase appears several other places in the scriptures.

(Exo 31:2-3 ESV) ² “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, ³ and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship,

(Exo 35:30-31 ESV) ³⁰ Then Moses said to the people of Israel, “See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; ³¹ and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, Continue reading →

We continue to consider Ferguson’s arguments in chapter 22 of his The Early Church and Today, vol. 1 and vol. 2, edited by Leonard Allen and Robyn Burwell. This chapter is titled “Church Music in Ephesians and Colossians.”

Let’s take another look at Col 3:16 to see what Paul’s point really is.

Paul had never been to the church at Colossae, but it came to his attention that the congregation was caught up in a distressing heresy. The exact nature of the heresy is unknown to us, but it clearly involved the worship of angels and a kind of asceticism.

Paul combats this error by writing an epistle focused on the all-sufficiency of Jesus. As a result, Colossians has a high Christology, that is, it focuses powerfully on the supremacy of Jesus and the sufficiency of the gospel. Continue reading →

I know that many readers have enjoyed reading the Restoration Movement texts collected by Hans Rollman.

Beginning many years ago, Rollman, with the help of many volunteers, digitized countless Restoration Movement texts and posted them at his website. I learned a great deal about the origins and evolution of Restoration Movement from their work.

A couple of years ago, the site went down, but Abilene Christian College is now hosting the site, thanks to the hard work of Dr. Carisse Mickey Berryhill, professor of library science at ACU.

Here are the links:

Main Page

Index of Restoration Movement Texts

Enjoy!

So now I need to update the links on my Restoration Voices page. I’ll get to it, but it may be a few months before I can.

We continue to consider Ferguson’s arguments in chapter 22 of his The Early Church and Today, vol. 1 and vol. 2, edited by Leonard Allen and Robyn Burwell. This chapter is titled “Church Music in Ephesians and Colossians.”

Ferguson begins with an exegesis of Colossians 3:15-17.

(Col 3:15-17 ESV)  ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.  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.  ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Word and Spirit

Ferguson writes,

Being filled with the Spirit, therefore, is the equivalent of the indwelling word of Christ in Colossians 3: 16. The two ideas belong together, and it is not necessary to interpret one as really being the other. Continue reading →

We continue to consider Ferguson’s arguments in chapter 21 of his The Early Church and Today, vol. 1 and vol. 2, edited by Leonard Allen and Robyn Burwell. This chapter is titled “The Case for A Cappella Music in the Christian Assembly.”

Ferguson next presents “The Argument from the Nature of Human’s Service to God.”

God is a spirit, and a person is linked to God by his or her spiritual nature. Therefore, the New Testament emphasizes that the Christian’s service to God proceeds from the highest part of his nature—his spiritual , intellectual, rational nature. “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4: 24). “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12: 1). “Like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2: 5). These verses draw on terminology and concepts used in early Christian times to express a worship that was non-sacrificial, non-material.

(Kindle Locations 5006-5011). Continue reading →

We continue to consider Ferguson’s arguments in chapter 21 of his The Early Church and Today, vol. 1 and vol. 2, edited by Leonard Allen and Robyn Burwell. This chapter is titled “The Case for A Cappella Music in the Christian Assembly.”

A principal purpose of the Christian assembly is edification. Vocal music serves this purpose. Instrumental music can contribute nothing to it and may interfere with it. …

Paul gives his most extensive instructions on the Christian assembly in 1 Corinthians 14. He argues against speaking in tongues in the assembly unless there is an interpreter. Throughout the chapter he sets edification as the standard for what is done (note verses 4, 5, 12, 17, and 26). Edification requires that the speech be intelligible (verses 9, 16, and 19). On this basis prophecy is superior to speaking in tongues (verses 3, 6, 24, and 31).

(Kindle Locations 4994-5000). Continue reading →

We next consider Ferguson’s arguments in chapter 21 of his The Early Church and Today, vol. 1 and vol. 2, edited by Leonard Allen and Robyn Burwell. This chapter is titled “The Case for A Cappella Music in the Christian Assembly.”

We begin by agreeing with Ferguson that the Christian assembly has always included congregational singing.

We don’t know a lot about the ancient song services, but we know that harmony, as practiced by the modern church, wasn’t invented for about 1,000 years. In fact, congregational four-part harmony was introduced by Martin Luther about 1,500 years after the time of Jesus.

Rather, as Ferguson argues, it appears that during apostolic times, the Christian assemblies sang in unison. Some of this singing was likely responsive in nature. A leader would sing a line and the church would repeat that line in unison. After all, there were no hymn books or PowerPoint. Continue reading →