The Aim of Sacred Musicing

The Aim of  Sacred Musicing

            Johann Sabastian Bach once said, “The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.”  There is much said in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament and also in the New Testament, about our responsibility to music unto God for His Glory and honor and praise.  It is less understood as to whether or not we should music in order to refresh the soul. 

            First of all, we should give some explanation as to what J. S. Bach could have meant by making the statement that one of the final ends of our musicing should be for “the refreshment of the soul”.  A general definition of soul is “the spiritual part of a human being” or the “the seat of affections of mankind”.  The Greek word psuche (5590) is translated life, lives, soul, souls, minds, appears in 95 verses in the AV New Testament.  We are not sure what Bach meant but it is safe to conjecture that he meant that one of music’s purposes was the refreshment of the “inner man”.

            Bach was correct in believing that music was created by God for His Glory and for the refreshment and edification of man.  Christian musician have the awesome responsibility and privilege to use this wonderful art form to honor God and to edify and refresh the psyche of mankind.  We also know that Bach put God first in much of his compositional efforts because he often SDG (sole Deo gloria) at the end of his compositions.    

Thought for the Day

Christian composers, arrangers, performers and directors would do well to follow J.S. Bach’s example by getting rid of the sense of self and self-actualization and concentrate on God and His glory in their musical efforts.