Albert Barnes Commentary Ephesians 5:19

"speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;" — Ephesians 5:19 (ASV)

Speaking to yourselves. Speaking among yourselves, that is, endeavoring to edify one another and to promote purity of heart by songs of praise. This has the force of a command, and it is an obligation for Christians. From the beginning, praise was an important part of public worship and is designed to continue to the end of the world. (See Barnes on 1 Corinthians 14:16).

Nothing is clearer than that it was practiced by the Savior Himself and the apostles (Matthew 26:30), and by the primitive church, as well as by the great body of Christians in all ages.

In psalms. The Psalms of David were sung by the Jews at the temple and by the early Christians (see Barnes on Matthew 26:30), and the singing of those Psalms has constituted a delightful part of public worship in all ages. They speak the language of devotion at all times, and a large part of them are as well suited to the services of the sanctuary now as they were when first composed.

And hymns. It is not easy to determine precisely the difference in the meaning of the words used here, or to designate the kind of compositions that were used in the early churches. A hymn is properly a song or ode in honor of God. Among the heathen, it was a song in honor of some deity.

With us now, it denotes a short poem composed for religious service and sung in praise to God. Such brief poems were common among the heathen, and it was natural that Christians should early introduce and adopt them. Whether any of them were composed by the apostles is impossible now to determine, though the presumption is very strong that if they had been, they would have been preserved with as much care as their epistles or the Psalms.

One thing is clearly proven by this passage: that other compositions were used in the praise of God than the Psalms of David. If it was right then to make use of such compositions, it is right now. They were not merely "psalms" that were sung, but there were hymns and odes.

Spiritual songs. Spiritual odes—wdaiv. These are odes or songs relating to spiritual things, in contrast to those sung in places of festivity and revelry. An ode is properly a short poem or song adapted to be set to music or to be sung; a lyric poem. In what way these were sung, it is now futile to conjecture.

Whether they were sung with or without instrumental accompaniment, by a choir or by the assembly, by an individual only, or by responses, it is not possible to decide from anything in the New Testament. It is probable that it would have been done in the simplest manner possible.

Yet, as music constituted such an important part of temple worship, it is evident that the early Christians would by no means be indifferent to the nature of the music in their churches. And as music was so important a part of the worship of heathen gods, and contributed so much to maintain the influence of heathenism, it is not unlikely that the early Christians would feel the importance of making their music attractive and making it contribute to the support of religion. If there is attractive music at banquets and in the theater, contributing to the maintenance of amusements where God is forgotten, assuredly the music of the sanctuary should not be such as to disgust those of pure and refined taste.

Singing. adontev. The prevailing character of music in the worship of God should be vocal. If instruments are employed, they should be so subordinate that the service may be characterized as singing.

And making melody. Melody is an agreeable succession of sounds, a succession so regulated and modulated as to please the ear. It differs from harmony, inasmuch as melody is an agreeable succession of sounds by a single voice, while harmony consists in the accordance of different sounds. It is not certain, however, that the apostle here referred to what is properly called melody.

The word he uses—qallw—means to touch, twitch, or pluck, as the hair or the beard; and then to twitch a string—to twang it—as the string of a bow, and then the string of a musical instrument. It is most frequently used in the sense of touching or playing a lyre or a harp. Then it denotes making music in general, or singing—perhaps usually with the idea of being accompanied by a lyre or harp.

It is used in the New Testament only in Romans 15:9 and 1 Corinthians 14:15, where it is translated sing; in James 5:13, where it is rendered sing psalms; and in the present passage. The idea here is that of singing in the heart, or praising God from the heart. The psalms, hymns, and songs were to be sung so that the heart would be engaged, and not so as to be mere music or a mere external performance. (On the phrase "in the heart," see Barnes on 1 Corinthians 14:15).

To the Lord. This means in praise of the Lord, or addressed to Him. Singing, as meant here, is a direct and solemn act of worship and should be considered as much an act of worship as prayer. In singing, we should regard ourselves as speaking directly to God, and the words, therefore, should be spoken with a solemnity and awe becoming such a direct address to the great JEHOVAH. So Pliny says of the early Christians, carmenque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem—"and they sang among themselves hymns to Christ as God." If this is the true nature and design of public psalmody, then it follows:

1. That all should regard it as an act of solemn worship in which they should engage—in heart at least, if they cannot themselves sing.
2. Public psalmody should not be entrusted wholly to the light and gay—to the trifling and careless members of a congregation.
3. Those who conduct this part of public worship ought to be pious. The leader ought to be a Christian, and those who join in it ought also to give their hearts to the Redeemer. Perhaps it would not be proper to say absolutely that no one who is not a professor of religion should take part in the exercises of a choir in a church; but there can be no error in saying that such persons ought to give themselves to Christ and sing from the heart. Their voices would be no less sweet, their music no less pure and beautiful, nor could their own pleasure in the service be lessened. A choir of sweet singers in a church—united in the same praises here—ought to be prepared to join in the same praises around the throne of God.