The Music of Ephesians 5:19
by Kerry Duke
Paul wrote, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Eph. 5:18-19). The context of these words is a contrast between shameful works of darkness and fruits of righteousness. Ancient cities like Ephesus had night spots known for drinking, wild music, and vile singing. In contrast, Paul tells the Ephesian Christians to be filled with the Spirit (not with wine), to sing with their voices (not play on instruments), and to sing religious songs (not filthy lyrics). Even denominational writers have called attention to this contrast:
The fundamental difference between early Christian fulness of the Spirit and the orgiastic enthusiasm of Hellenism is indicated in Eph. 5:18. The life and liturgy of Christians are not marked by sensual ecstasy or Bacchantic frenzy. . . but by infilling with the Spirit. . . The distinction could hardly be more succinctly expressed: orgiastic enthusiasm on the one side, and on the other the fulness of the Spirit which finds liturgical expression in praise and thanksgiving (5:18-20) and practical expression in agape (5:21-6:9).
Throughout the whole passage there is a contrast implied between the Heathen and the Christian practice. When you meet, let your enjoyment consist not in fulness of wine, but fulness of the Spirit; let your songs be, not the drinking-songs of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and their accompaniment, not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart; while you sing them to the praise, not of Bacchus or Venus, but of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Times have not changed. Bars in the ancient world were like bars today: loud music, lewd dancing, and drunkenness. They appeal solely to carnal desires and have nothing in common with the spiritual atmosphere of worship assemblies. People who indulge in such revelry become hardened. Hosea said, "Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart" (Hos. 4:11). Such people have no interest in spiritual things. Today college campuses are full of promiscuity and drunkenness. Our culture is obsessed with these sins. We should not be surprised, therefore, when people have no taste for spiritual food.
The songs of bars are played to fit the occasion. Their purpose is to stir base passions, and their lyrics celebrate unclean living. Country or pop, rap or rock, the music of carousing always serves this end. But Paul said to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. The songs of Christian worship are different in what is sung and how it is sung. Our songs of praise should not mimic the melody of songs which glorify immorality or even songs which are too frivolous, because in so doing we tend to have the same unfit frame of mind for worshiping God.
The comments made by denominational writers on the use of instrumental music in worship are interesting. Of course, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, and others held that instrumental music in worship to God is wrong. Adam Clarke said, "I further believe that the use of such instruments of music, in the Christian church, is without the sanction and against the will of God; that they are subversive of the spirit of true devotion, and that they are sinful." Though they did not accept biblical truth on several other vital matters, these men saw that there is absolutely no authority in the New Testament for instrumental music in worship.
The worship of the New Testament church is unique. Its mood, its acts, and its manner are sanctified and reverent. This is especially true concerning the only music God authorizes in worship today: singing.