Do We Merely Wallow in Sound When We Sing in Church?

 Do We Merely Wallow in Sound When We Sing in Church?

The reason many people cannot sing with their whole heart and make melody in their heart is that they are not singing with the Spirit and with understanding (I Corinthians 14:15).  The reason they cannot sing in the Spirit with understanding is that they are not singing with grace in their hearts (Colossians 3:16).  The grace of God must be applied to the singer’s heart before he or she can sing with the whole heart unto God.  Without divine love in the heart, singing becomes as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal before God (I Corinthians 13:1).  (See echoe chalkos in Chapter 11.)

            The word understanding appears with the mention of singing in 1 Corinthians 14:15, “What is it then?  I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding (nous 3563) also.”  In this verse, Christians are commanded to sing with understanding i.e., the intellect.  Spiritual singing is not only a cerebral exercise.  However, utilizing one’s mind, as one expresses the good news of the gospel and the high praises of God who alone is worthy of praise, is necessary if a Christian’s singing is going to be efficacious. 

Musicing can become an escape exercise or an experience of wallowing in one’s emotions.  When this happens, the musician’s musicing can become an inward emotional exercise that fails to be “unto God” and “unto one another.”  Psalm 47:7 gives us further knowledge about how we should sing unto God.  “For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding (sakal 7919).”  Some exegetes believe that sakal would have been more correctly translated “everyone that hath understanding” in verse 7.  That being the case, Psalm 47:7 teaches that a musician is incapable of properly musicing unto God unless he or she is illuminated by the divine to express the high praises of God.