Emotion and Meaning in the Musical Experience-part 7

             Emotion and Meaning in the Musical Experience-part 7

             This verse is without doubt teaching that the performer i.e. the worshiper should perform the music part of music in such a way that it will impart understanding to all who experience it.  It stands to reason that the inspired writer would have used ado (103) rather than psallo (5567) if instrumental music was to be excluded.  Also, the author of this letter to the Christian church at Corinth would not have commanded the musician to music with understanding if the music part of the instrumental music was so benign and so ineffectual that it was incapable of imparting any understandable meaning to those who would hear it. A definition of the Greek word nous (3563) translated understanding in the AV means, at least by implication, that this form of musicing signifies, not only with the intellect but also with meaning and understanding.  So, the mention of the word psallo which was used in conjunction with nous leaves us with the strong implication that instrumental music coupled with singing imparts understandable meaning to the auditor.

            It is easy for writers and Bible commentators to ignore the musical meaning of what St. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:15.  First, we should all remember that the words that St. Paul used in this Scripture passage all have meaning. Second, a great scholar of the Greek language would not, as was mentioned in an earlier post in this series, have used the words that he did, under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, if they did not have musical meaning in the way he used them.  I never want to be guilty of eisegesis when God’s Word mentions music and musicing, but I also get somewhat weary of writers trying to explain away the actual musical meaning of the words used in Scripture.  There was no reason for St. Paul to mention musicing unto God if he did not mean for these words to have musical meaning.