Variety of Music for the same Purpose

Colossians 3:16
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God.

This is Apostle Paul’s letter to Colossians. He tells them many varied things in the letter. Our text today is that point of the letter where he tells them about how to sustain a good spiritual life.

Apostle Paul tells the church to ensure that God’s word nourishes them. Study God’s word. Understand God’s word. Internalize God’s word. Let the teachings of God’s word govern your life.

God’s word is a source of teachings that the church people teach each other. The source of teachings in a church cannot be the good advice of a church leader. The source of teachings for a church cannot be its historical traditions. The source of teachings must be, God’s word. Have you ever thought of the source of teachings at your place of worship? If it’s not directly the Bible and the Bible alone (sola scriptura) you are all lost!

God’s word should be the authority and basis of admonishing each other. To admonish is to warn and guide at the same time. To admonish is to point out the wrong and urge towards right living. It is necessary to admonish each other frequently. The Bible is the only point of reference as we admonish each other. The opinions of an individual or group are not good enough to admonish anyone in the church.

Apostle Paul tells them to let the word of God influence their lives richly. To let means we can decide to what extent we study God’s word and to what extent it influences us. Apostle Paul tells them it should influence us richly, in excess, in abundance. Study and internalize God’s word abundantly.

Amplified Bible
Let the [spoken] word of Christ have its home within you [dwelling in your heart and mind—permeating every aspect of your being] as you teach [spiritual things] and admonish and train one another with all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

The next logical question would be, how do we do this? Apostle Paul suggests that it should be done through a variety of music, psalms, hymns, and gospel songs. As we sing to praise God, the content of the music internalizes God’s word in us. All our variety of music must achieve two purposes. The first is that our music must richly internalize God’s word in us. Secondly, our music must praise God.

Psalms are more of poems that are recited as spoken words. The book of Psalms in the Bible is a collection of poems that can be sung or recited musically. This is one variety of music that can be used to praise God and richly internalize God’s word.

Hymns are songs that are specifically designed to be used in any worship. They are devotional songs. Hymns can be translated as songs of praise, however, the usage is more than praise. Hymns can be prayers, affirmation of faith teachings, and praise. Hymns are found in various hymn books.

Spiritual songs are more of the contemporary compositions of music. They are spontaneous sometimes. They may be short-term popular. They are privately developed and presented by individuals and groups. As the word of God impacts the congregation, they may produce music in relation to it.

Whatever type of religious music we consume, it should clearly and directly praise God, then richly implant God’s word in us. If music doesn’t do that it is not appropriate for us. We must gauge all music by this standard.

Our text today ends by telling us the manner of singing. Now that we know what to sing, the Apostle Paul tells us to do it gracefully, cheerfully from the heart. In simple terms, the music ought to be sweet. Music must be designed to be sweet. Bland tasteless music cannot internalize God’s word in us and is bad for praise. Let us develop sweet music. Let us select and consume sweet music. The message in the music is critical but its accompanying music must be sweet. Consume sweet music only!

May God help us to carefully develop, select and consume music that will praise God, internalize God’s word in us, and above all else be sweet to the ear. This is our prayer in Jesus’s name, Amen!

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