Ancient Musical Accuracy-part
2
It is
important to note that St. Paul, who was an educated linguist, used a technical
reference to the production of musical sound in the aforementioned discussion
of spiritual gifts. I believe the reason
that he used this reference to the music part of music was because he knew that
there was a broad understanding of the musical importance of musical
production. This reference should put to
rest the silly notion that some Christian musicians have that the music part of
music has never mattered much. Let me
emphasize that when we read Bible references to music through 21st
century “Western eyes” with contemporary Christian music views in mind, we will
doubtlessly come up with erroneous notions about what the Bible teaches about
music.
So, what do
we derive from St. Paul’s reference to music?
One thing we learn is that the need for musical accuracy is not a
Western invention. We also learn that
Paul chose to use a reference to accurate sound production because this ephemeron
was well understood by the common man at the time this passage of Scripture was
written. We also can rightly deduce that
if musical accuracy was important in St Paul’s lifetime, it is still important
in the 21st century. Church
musicians do not have license to merely produce noise when they music before a
congregation when one is musicing unto God.
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