“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16 NET).
The reference to “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” in the passage quoted above brings us to the potentially controversial subject of music. This topic merits our attention because the music we listen to may have a greater influence upon us than we realize.
We can illustrate this idea with a simple question: how often have you gone through a day with a popular song or lyric repeating itself over and over in your mind? If you are like most people, you’ve probably had a similar experience and are already familiar with music’s ability to embed itself within us.
This explains why advertisers often use catchy songs to promote their merchandise. You see, advertising professionals know that a song with a memorable riff or clever lyrics will help us remember their product. It also explains why students sometimes turn important facts into musical lyrics to serve as a memory aid.
In this respect, a good song is much like an attractive motor vehicle that catches our attention. Once we get into that vehicle, the lyrics are like a driver who takes us on a journey to a particular destination. Depending on the lyricist, that journey might be a virtuous trip to a God-honoring destination or it may be something else.
Here in Colossians 3:16, Paul the Apostle recommended three different “drivers” to his audience: “…psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” One source provides us with a good definition of these musical forms…
“‘Psalms’ clearly refers specifically to the psalms in the Old Testament, which were commonly sung both by the pre-Christian Jews and by the early church, as well as in many churches ever since. Note also Ephesians 5:19…
‘Hymns’ is descriptive of songs similar in content and motivation to the psalms, but not taken from the divinely inspired psalms of the Old Testament…
‘Spiritual songs’ refers to songs with a Biblical theme but with a more popular style tune than the others. The Greek for ‘song’ is ode, which is a generic term for any kind of song. The adjective ‘spiritual,’ however, delimits it to songs with Christian content.” (1)
A song that fits into one of these categories should feature good theology that helps the word of Christ dwell in us richly. But how does this passage apply to music that falls outside those parameters? The answer to that question will occupy the focus of our next few studies.
(1) Institute for Creation Research, New Defender’s Study Bible Notes [Colossians 3:16] https://www.icr.org/bible/Col/3/16