Music and Affections: Paul seems to think there is a connection.

Music and Affections: Paul seems to think it matters.

Taking a cursory look at Colossians 3, some important details emerge in relation to our standing in Christ and the resulting condition of our affections and our music.

(Yes, I am finally going to tackle the church  music issue.  I need to put these thoughts down for my own growth and personal challenge).  At the end of each article I plan to challenge both those who agree and disagree with what I consider to be Biblical based positions.  Also in a following post I wish to include a multitude of texts (books) that have helped and challenged me in this issue.

Consider Col 3:1 "If ye then be risen with Christ,..."  I take this grammatically to be a first class condition assuming the reality of the condition.  The "if" protasis being the reality in the previous sentence, "If ye then be risen with Christ" and the standard "then" or apodosis is a series of imperatives (appearing both in present and aorist tense).

I list them as follows:

Verse 1, "seek those things which are above"
Verse 2, "set your affection on things above"
Verse 5, "mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth"
Verse 8, "But now ye also put off all these"
Verse 9, "Lie not one to another"
Verse 12, "Put on therefore, as the elect of God,..."
Verse 15, "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts,"
Verse 16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom"

Verses 18-22 address wives, husbands, children and servants.

For our discussion, we will focus on the complete quotation of verse 16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."

Let's go through the verse clauses (grammatical goofs are mine):

First, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." The imperative is "let... dwell."  It is a present imperative displaying a habitual action in progress the Christian should engage.  What is to be dwelling or living in the Christian?  The word of Christ.  Simply put, we'll call this scripture or God's word.  Unless I missed a reference, this genitive phrase appears elsewhere appears only in Rom 10:17, "So faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."  Translations such as the ESV and NASB, include a different English gloss rendering, "the word of Christ."  The prepositional phrase, "in all wisdom" seems to describe either the means or manner of the scriptures dwelling. 

Second, "teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs."  The two terms "teaching" and "admonishing" are both present active participles.  I take the text to be saying the means of both teaching and admonishing is achieved through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.  As to what the last two entail I am not certain.  As for the first it should be obvious to match it with the book located in the Old Testament, which contains 150 chapters (many of which include spiritually associated musical tunes, moods, and even instruments).

Third, "singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."  A third participle clearly identifies the concept of singing with your mouth.  The manner in which we sing is "with grace."  The location of this grace is "in your hearts."  The audience for which we singing corporately or privately is "the Lord."

The following quote comes from "Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it" authored by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer.  It's intent is to discover why youth are leaving the church:

"Our research showed that music is not a fundamental factor in young adults choosing to leave or stay in a church..."

As we shall see through this study, why then the need to use music (including the sound) to draw people in or to sound more relevant and modern  (think contemporary)?

The same research book includes the following also:

"many times the music worship time is more of a stage production and entertainment."

Questions for thought:

1.  What form of teaching and admonish do you experience via singing?
2.  How much of what your church sings actually contains scripture?
3.  Does your church sing the Psalms?  Any of them?  Or is this old fashioned?
4.  Does your church use music to edify those who are already attending or to draw them in?

Next I will address the similarities and differences between this passage and the mirror image found in Ephesians 5:19.  The context is different and will need added attention.

Hope this helps some. Comments encouraged.  Hopefully nothing here is trendy or novel.