Eph 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
I think this verse is really misunderstood. Most commentaries and books will tell you that this verse is talking about the result of being filled with the Spirit. (Yes, there is truth in that — a Spirit-filled believer will naturally be like this with praise in his heart.) However, I think Paul is continuing to tell us what we are to do, as he has been doing in this chapter. I think this is another set of instructions designed to help keep you filled with the Spirit.
Singing to God in your heart is meant to help your mind focused on Scripture, to help your mind stay under the influence of the Spirit.
He begins by saying, “Speaking to yourselves.” What does he mean by that exactly? Does he mean we communicate truths of Scripture when we sing songs together at church or does he mean we remind ourselves of the truths of Scripture by singing in our hearts when we’re away from church?
YES.
One source I read said, “The Greek reflexive pronoun is plural. So it carries the idea of speaking among yourselves as well as speaking in your own hearts.” So Paul is talking about grace music that is sung collectively and it’s music that’s alive in your hearts.
There’s both a corporate and an individual application here. The church teaches itself through music. It reinforces God’s truths. It reinforces sound doctrines of grace. We, also, by listening to and singing these songs are reinforcing truth and grace to ourselves.
For a lot of Christians, worship music is all about emotionalism, and granted, people should feel emotion when they take part in songs of praise. You should feel emotions. But music isn’t strictly about emotional experiences either. Music also serves to strengthen each of us in the truth. To reinforce truths we know. Music that keeps you in a state of gratitude to God, in a state of praise to God, that also reinforces truths of Scripture and the sound doctrines of grace. Music was always meant to be an integral part of a believer’s life. When he says, speaking here, he’s talking about verbalizing truth through music.
I also suspect that because we live in sin-corrupted bodies, a mind that’s left to its own devices, that corrupted human mind naturally drifts toward the dark, toward the negative, toward anxiety, discouragement, worldly thinking, and fleshly impulses. But Paul is telling us that we should intentionally speak God’s truth back to our own hearts and minds through music when we are away from church and away from our Bible studies. Instead of listening to the world’s garbage, we’re more wisely spending our time reminding ourselves who we are in Christ through music. We preach grace to ourselves... Then, Paul tells us the content of that speaking to ourselves: “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.”
Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
Here’s a hot take on psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Paul isn’t talking about musical styles. He’s talking about doctrinal content in music.
Psalms
“Psalms” is certainly talking about the OT book of Psalms. Paul is endorsing those OT Psalms of David because they contain timeless principles still applicable to all of us today. We have to rightly divide a lot of those Psalms, but that doesn’t mean that it has no spiritual value to us just because it’s in the OT. Paul is clearly telling us that the Psalms are valuable to all of us. I have no doubt Paul had David’s Psalms in mind, Bus the word “Psalm” isn’t limited to just an OT book. A psalm is simply a sacred song or hymn, and in David’s case those sacred songs that were usually accompanied by stringed instruments.
I’m sure Paul had in mind the Psalms of David, but I think he also had in mind any new song in that same tradition — songs saturated with objective Biblical truth.
Hymns.
“Hymns” are songs of praise directed toward God Himself. Webster says it’s song or ode in honor of God.
Did you know that the word hymn can be a verb? I didn’t know that. Webster gave an example. “They hymn their maker’s praise.” Who talks that way anymore?
The big point is - a hymn specifically focuses on the character, attributes, and redemptive work of God. When people hear the word hymn, they think of hymnals and a four-part vocal arrangement (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), often accompanied by an organ or piano.
Is that a traditional style of music in Scripture? No. Scripture does not define a hymn by its style but by its content (direct praise focused on the Lord and sound doctrine).
Ancient Hebrew and First-Century Greek music did not use the kind of 4-part harmonies we sing in church with verses and choruses. They did chants, call-and-response type music, and rhythmic repetitions. When Jews had the Passover meal, they sang Psalm 113 & 114. That is just Hebrew poetry set to music – usually stringed instruments.
That poetry would have highs and lows but there were no choruses. No bridges like we have today. Then they’d have their meals. Then they’d sing Psalm 115 & 116. There was no song structure like we have today. Music was Hebrew poetry with in which they incorporated parallelism, repetition, progression, contrast, refrains, acrostics, and responsive lines, rather than rhyme and Western meter.
Consider Psalm 136. Look at the structure:
1. Verse 1. “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good:
a. for his mercy endureth for ever.
2. O give thanks unto the God of gods:
a. for his mercy endureth for ever.
3. O give thanks to the Lord of lords:
a. for his mercy endureth for ever.”
And this keeps going on in the same repetitious style for 26 verses.
We get annoyed by modern Christian music being so dumbed down and repetitious. Yet, repetition is abundant in music in Scripture.
Repetition doesn’t necessarily mean it’s shallow either. Psalm 136 repeats the same line - for his mercy endureth for ever - 26 times. The angels in the vision in Isaiah 6 were singing “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” That was on constant repeat. The angels were doing the same thing in God’s throne room in Rev. 4 – “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” So I imagine that if the angels are singing and the way they’re singing it is so gorgeous nobody cares they’re saying the same thing over and over again. They could be singing the recipe of manna and none of us would care because the music is so overwhelmingly gorgeous.
Spiritual Songs
This is the broadest category. These are songs, often about personal experiences, that teach spiritual truth, express doctrine, encourage believers, and point toward Christ. “Spiritual” being the key word here. Paul is distinguishing the content from worldly music designed to stir fleshly emotions. The issue isn’t really musical style. The issue is whether the lyrics communicates truth - God’s truth – through personal experiences.
I wouldn’t be dogmatic about any of this but generally:
1. Psalms = Bible songs
2. Hymns = praise to God
3. Spiritual songs = personal experiences teaching truth
As far as I’m concerned, they’re all interchangeable. A hymn can be a Psalm and a Psalm can be a spiritual song, which can also be a hymn. There is no Biblical musical style. The emphasis is on lyrics / content. The emphasis is edification. The songs that do exist in Scripture aren’t even remotely similar to what we know as music today. It was Hebrew poetry with stringed instruments.
I also explored AI music and instruments in the Bible here.
Coming back to Eph. 5:19, Paul ends the verse by saying, “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” The word translated “making melody” also means, in the Greek, “to pluck the strings of an instrument.” But here Paul identifies the instrument as your heart. You are playing the strings of your heart through music. The primary instrument of songs of worship and grace isn’t a piano or an organ. It isn’t a guitar. It’s the believer’s heart. A person may sing beautifully and play something flawlessly, but if the heart isn’t engaged, it’s empty worship. It’s not fulfilling God’s purpose in you. The heart is the center of our thinking, our affections, and our will. True worship begins there.