Soli Deo Gloria

 

Soli Deo Gloria

 

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 whether or not we should music in order to refresh the soul. 

First of all, we should give some explanation of 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) appears in 95 verses in the AV New Testament and is translated life, lives, soul, souls, and minds.  It is not clear 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 musicians 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 wrote SDG (sole Deo gloria) at the end of his compositions. This Latin phrase was used by J.S. Bach in all (or nearly all) of his sacred compositions and in some or his secular compositions.  It was also used by G. F. Handel in his Te Deum.  The term soli Deo gloria which was abbreviated by Bach S.D.G. means glory to God alone or to the only God.