This Latin phrase was used by J.S.
Bach in all of His sacred compositions and in some or his secular compositions. (The Cambridge companion to Bach, by John Butt) It was also used by G. F. Handel in his Te Deum. (Händel and the English
Chapel Royal by Donald Burrows) The term soli Deo gloria which was abbreviated
by Bach S.D.G. means glory to God alone or to the only God.
I
am concerned that Christians are moving away philosophically from this
important concept. In the twenty first
century many times God has to share the glory of music with Christian
musicians Isaiah 48:11 states very
clearly, “For mine own sake, even for
mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not
give my glory unto another.” Isaiah 42:8
warns against giving glory and praise to anything bur God when it states “I am
the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my
praise to graven images.”
The
passage of scripture in the forty second chapter of Isaiah very carefully
explains in verses ten through twelve that we are to give God the praise when
we sing sacred music. Isa 42:10 Sing
unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go
down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants
thereof. Let the
wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar
doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top
of the mountains. Let them give glory
unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.”
The
cry of the musician’s heart that is sold out to Christ should be, “Not unto us,
O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy
truth's sake. Ps 115:1 God deserves all the glory and all the praise every time we
bring him a musical offering.
Philosophically it is repugnant to bring the great God who spoke worlds
into existence a musical offering and then bow and smile while an audience
bestows lavish praise on the performer.
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