SINGING, IN THE BODY AND IN THE SPIRIT

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Dec 2003 by Guthrie, Steven R

Finally, it is worth noting that this is not simply a condemnation of moral and rational darkness. It is a warning, and it is a sober warning. The very darkness Paul describes is the darkness in which these Christians once lived and which once lived in these Christians. Paul urges them to put away "your former way of life" (4:22). "You must no longer live as the Gentiles do"21 (4:17), he insists-indicating that his readers once shared the same lifestyle he is denouncing, and suggesting that perhaps they are still living as the Gentiles do.

Finally, it is at the climax of these warnings and exhortations that Paul writes: "Be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord" (5:18-19). In other words, to a Christian community surrounded by ignorance and immorality; to a people who were themselves prone to the blindness and indulgence of their former way of life; at the conclusion of a passage warning against irrationality and sins of the flesh-Paul urges singing and music making.

The contrast with the first passages we considered could not be more stark. Paul shares the same broad concerns as Augustine and Calvin, but the recommendation emerging from those concerns is entirely different. To put it very crudely, Augustine says: "Irrationality is bad. Sensuality is bad. Therefore, be careful about music." Paul on the other hand says, "Foolishness is bad. Sensuality is bad. Therefore, you had better sing."

IV. THE SPIRIT AND SONG

The context of this exhortation to sing suggests that Paul did not share Augustine's concerns about music. But the passage demands that we say far more than this. Paul's view of music is not simply benign. Rather, he sees music as having a role to play in sanctification. One scholar of church music observes that the NT has relatively little to say about music, aside from "a stray remark in two of the Epistles about the singing of hymns and spiritual songs."22 But this is certainly not a stray remark.

Most of Ephesians 4 and all of Ephesians 5 address what it means to live as children of light, or more conventionally, what it means to live holy lives. Paul gives many commands and instructions, but ultimately men and women are made holy by the Spirit who is called Holy. Therefore Paul's command in Eph 5:18-"Be filled with the Holy Spirit"-is the culmination of these chapters, both rhetorically and theologically. The passive imperative-"be filled"-is followed by four subordinate participial clauses: (1) speaking to one another in songs, hymns, and spiritual songs; (2) singing and making music in your hearts; (3) giving thanks to the Lord; (4) submitting to one another.2'' These participles are grammatically dependent upon the verb, and they give substance and content to the command to be filled with the Spirit.24 And remarkably, two of the four clauses-three of the five participles-have to do with making music. Many commentators simply absorb the exhortations to sing into a general exhortation to worship.25 Certainly, Paul is encouraging his readers to worship. But if he had wanted only to indicate a relation between the filling of the Spirit and worship in general, he could have done so. Instead, he twice over indicates a link between the Spirit and this particular means of worship. Whatever explanations for it we might offer, Paul binds together singing and the sanctifying work of the Spirit.