In case you hadn’t noticed, we are psalm-singing churches. You’ve probably also noticed that we do not sing all the psalms; at least, there are a large number of psalms that we don’t sing very often, if at all. Recently, a set of statistics on this point was compiled by somebody from our churches in Ontario and circulated around the Internet. These statistics provided empirical proof that there are significant numbers of psalms that are rarely or never sung in our churches.

Two reasons are often given for this phenomenon. First, it is argued that a number of our psalms are set to difficult tunes. I’m not a musical expert so I’m not going to discuss that point. Second, it is argued that certain psalms are simply not suitable for use in public worship. There are imprecatory psalms (cursing psalms), for instance. Most of the psalms are laments – do we really want to regularly incorporate lamenting into our worship services? Sometimes the argument is heard that our singing is to be characterized as praise to God – anything that doesn’t fit that character doesn’t belong on the lips of God’s people as they’re singing in public worship. That automatically excludes many of the psalms. It’s this second point that I want to focus on in this article. Particularly, I want to advance the counter-point that we can and should sing all the psalms and also indicate the best manner in which to do so.

Singing All the Psalms⤒🔗

There is little question that the Old Testament book of Psalms was the song book of God’s people before the coming of Christ. After Christ’s earthly ministry, the Christian church continued this usage and this is reflected in the New Testament. In Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, Paul encouraged believers to sing psalms. We find the same in James 5:13. The book of Psalms is the most quoted book in the New Testament, reflecting the familiarity that comes with widespread usage. Furthermore, the quotes from the Psalter are not restricted to those psalms which are oriented to praise to God. This evidence suggests that, under inspired apostolic direction, the early New Testament church continued the practice of the Old Testament church in using the entire Psalter in its worship.

This is supported by what we know from church history. While psalms were not used exclusively, the entire Psalter has been the bulk of the song book of the historic Christian church. Even in the medieval Roman Catholic church, psalms (in Latin) were the primary material for singing or chanting and this included the entire Psalter. However, this began to slip in the early fourteenth century with the introduction of many Latin hymns.

During the sixteenth century, the Reformation introduced changes in three areas pertaining to singing in public worship. First, the psalms were translated into the vernacular languages (such as French) and set to metrical tunes. Second, they were to be sung by the entire congregation. Finally, there was a movement back towards the ancient church’s primary emphasis on the psalms. However, in all this, there is no indication that John Calvin and the other reformers felt that certain psalms were inappropriate for Christian worship. If they had this sentiment, it would have been a waste of resources to translate those particular psalms and set them to music. As it is, the Genevan Reformation produced a complete metrical Psalter and for good reason – it was intended for usage, as it has been in the church from even before the time of Christ and the apostles.

We should also remember the well-known passage from 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (keeping in mind that this was originally written about the Old Testament), “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” This includes every single one of the psalms. What makes the psalms special among all the other writings of the Bible is the fact that they were written to be sung and we all know the powerful effect of poetry set to music. Poetry expresses emotions and makes descriptions in a way to which simple prose can’t compare. Poetry speaks to our hearts. Furthermore, music was the drug that sedated King Saul. Music can still have that sort of effect and others. God has given us music and He has also given us parts of His Word which He explicitly meant to be set to music. By the means of this inspired poetry set to music, we are led to praise, teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.

Now it’s true that some occasions are more suitable than others for certain psalms. It would be odd, for instance, to sing a lament on Easter Sunday morning. Nevertheless, the church does well to become familiar with the entire collection and not merely forty or fifty favourites. By doing this, when the moment is appropriate for a lament (for instance), the church doesn’t struggle to find its bearings – she knows where to look and how to sing. The entire Psalter is part of God’s Word and is designed to be sung by God’s people.

How to Sing the Psalms←⤒🔗

So let’s grant the point that the Christian church can and should sing all the psalms. That brings us to the question of how. The first thing we have to do is reflect on the nature of the Psalter and of our singing in public worship.

As mentioned, some people have the idea that our singing is supposed to be about one thing and one thing only: praise for God. So, they say, if it’s not a praise song, we shouldn’t be singing it. What does God Himself say about this? In Colossians 3:16 we read,

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

This passage speaks about teaching and admonishing each other with the singing of psalms. To be sure, it’s also directed towards God, but yet there is an element in the singing of psalms where God is giving us his Word so that we can sing it to one another. Therefore, our singing is not just about praise, but also about teaching and reminding each other of what God says in his Word. When we make the singing of psalms to be exclusively doxological (praise-oriented) we actually restrict the purpose of the psalms more narrowly than God does Himself.

The psalms are given by God also for a didactic or teaching purpose. When you flip through the psalms, you’ll find this over and over again. The very first psalm, for instance, is not even directed to God. It’s a wisdom psalm. When we sing it, we’re singing to one another and reminding each other of the wisdom of God’s Word. To take one more example, consider Psalm 134. This psalm too is more about believers speaking and singing to one another than it is about believers singing praise to God. To be sure, it is not merely believers speaking and singing to one another, but ultimately God speaking his Word through them.

So, first of all, we have to recognize the God-given diversity of the Psalter and embrace it. Second, we need to recognize the connection between Christ and the psalms. The Christian church has always acknowledged that these songs do not merely tell us about the religious life of Israel in the centuries leading up to the New Testament. Rather, the catholic church has recognized that these are songs of and about Christ. This recognition has been derived from what the Bible itself says in a number of places.

For instance, we have Luke 24:44. There Christ plainly says that the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms were written about Him. Earlier in that same chapter, as he was walking along the road to Emmaus, the Lord revealed to the two disciples all that was in the Scriptures (the Old Testament) concerning Himself (Luke 24:27). Likewise, in John 5:39-40, Christ was speaking to the Jews and he said, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.” When He said “Scriptures,” He was referring to the Old Testament and that includes the book of Psalms. The psalms testify about Christ. Throughout the New Testament writings, we see that the apostles understood this very plainly. They show time and time again how the psalms speak of Christ and thus provide us a framework for also understanding the psalms today as we read and sing them.

In connection with that, there are two important qualifications to make. First of all, when we say this we don’t mean to say that each and every word or verse of the psalms directly points us to Christ. Many times we have to take the psalm as a whole to understand how it speaks of our Saviour. At other times, such as with Psalm 119, we can work with stanzas or strophes of the psalm and can see and hear Christ also in these smaller passages.

The second qualification is there are different ways that different psalms point to the Lord Jesus. For instance, the words of Psalm 22, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” are taken directly upon the lips of Christ himself when He was on the cross. However, the author of Hebrews puts the words of Psalm 40 (and others) in the mouth of Christ. In other psalms, David is acting and speaking as a type of Christ. In yet other psalms, like Psalm 88, we encounter a broken world in need of Christ. And so we could go on. The important thing to remember is that whenever we read and sing the psalms, we must learn to do so with our eyes fixed on Christ. Learning requires work and thought and so the psalms will challenge us. But doesn’t God’s Word do that more often? And is it a bad thing to be challenged by the Word of God? Or isn’t it rather something that God gives us to help us to grow in grace and knowledge? I think we know the answer.

As an aside, one of the ways that our Book of Praise could be improved would be to add a little paragraph at the beginning of each psalm indicating the basic character of the psalm and suggesting the manner in which the psalm can be sung in a Christ-centred way. English psalters of previous generations have done that very thing. For example, I have a metrical Psalter from an eighteenth century Puritan named John Brown of Haddington. With each psalm, Brown wrote a little paragraph indicating the general drift of the psalm and, with many of them, how it pointed to Christ. Even if our Book of Praise were not to go in such a direction, our ministers can and should still from time to time make comments from the pulpit that will assist the congregation in singing these songs in a meaningful way, particularly if it might not be immediately obvious. But above all, it is our personal responsibility to give careful thought to what we are singing in public worship and to sing from our hearts.

Psalm singing is an essential aspect of our churches’ Reformed character. The sixteenth-century Reformers looked back at the early church for direction on how to worship God in Spirit and in truth. Taking their cue from the fathers, they had to teach a new generation to sing God’s songs. Today, our challenge is to lead the next generation to appropriate God’s covenant songbook for themselves. The church without psalm-singing is impoverished because it misses out on the regular use of a powerful, Christ-focussed part of God’s Word given to us for praise, instruction, and admonition. Let’s not take our psalm singing for granted, but embrace it and cherish it as a means by which God further reveals his Son to us.