“Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.”Ephesians 5:19 NKJV
THE TRUTHS of God’s Word have been passed down from generation to generation through preaching, teaching, and publishing. But they have also been passed down through hymns of worship we sing in church. When you sing them, you’re proclaiming the truth of God’s Word and simultaneously ingesting it. You grow spiritually through the Word you hear, the Word you study, the Word you speak, and yes, the Word you sing. Paul writes, “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (vv. 18-19 NKJV). Jesus didn’t just preach the Word, He sang it too: “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives” (Matthew 26:30). Why does the Bible place such emphasis on speaking God’s Word? Because when you read God’s Word aloud you ingest it in two ways—through the eye-gate and the ear-gate. And the same thing happens when you sing God’s Word. The readers of God’s Word shouldn’t look down on the singers of God’s Word, and the singers shouldn’t feel spiritually inferior to the readers. The important thing is to get into God’s Word and get God’s Word into you. Some of us do that best through a sermon, others through personal Bible study, and others through songs that proclaim the life-changing truths of His Word. So, when you worship, you’re taking in God’s Word.
