The Regulative Principle and Psalter-Only Worship

Although historically it has never been the overwhelming Reformed concensus, there have always been a few Reformed groups and churches that use the regulative principle of worship to restrict the number of legitimate songs that may be sung in worship to the one-hundred and fifty found in the Hebrew Psalter. Is this application of the regulative principle legitimate? I would contend that it is not at all a conclusion which derives from an unbiased examination of the biblical evidence, even granting a prior acceptance of the basic validity of the regulative principle. The regulative principle is simply not elastic enough to confirm or eliminate subsets of what God has commanded in general. And that is what it attempts to do, in its psalter-only garb. In validation of this point, let’s consider exactly what it is that the regulative principle requires, and how it relates to the biblical commands governing the use of music in worship.

What Does the Regulative Principle Control?

The regulative principle requires that we only worship in ways that God has commanded; to which we may perhaps add ways which he has exemplified for us in sacred church history, as preserved in inspired scriptures. But God has indeed commanded us to worship him in songs (which may be classified in a multiplicity of ways, as may be seen in Colossians 3:16, Ephesians 5:19). Furthermore, he has exemplified for us sacred worship by means of a variety of musical instruments (as enumerated, for example, in Psalm 150). The psalter-only crowd will say that the commands in Colossians and Ephesians refer exclusively to various types of psalms – but such a conclusion is not at all mandated by the text or any legitimate biblical theology. It is a classic case of allowing a pre-conceived conclusion to influence one’s argumentation from the text. I would suggest that one simply cannot claim that these passages refer to psalter-only music for at least two reasons:

1. The terms themselves are not at all psalter-exclusive.

All of the terms used in these passages (psalmois, hymnois, odais), certainly may be used to refer to the psalms (as they frequently are used in the Septuagint). But they may just as easily be used to refer to other religious musical pieces, not in the psalter. One finds these terms in the Septuagint in such places as Daniel 3, where “hymneo” is used some 36 times to refer to the sacred music of pagans; and Isaiah 12, where it is used to refer to sacred music sung to the true God, but music which is not found in the psalter. So, even in biblical usage, these terms clearly have a semantic range wider than just the psalter – and there is certainly not any delimiting suggestion in the context of Colossians or Ephesians, which would restrict their range of meaning.

2. The exemplified worship of the Church, in the scriptures, is not psalter-only.

From the beginning of the church’s history, God’s people have composed and sung sacred songs in response to the continuing unveiling of God and his redemptive plans. At the great typical redemption of Israel, they sang the song of Miriam, recorded in Exodus 15. This is not in the psalter. Throughout the reigns of David and beyond, many psalms were composed and sung – but that was not the extent of the worship music of the church, as, for instance, Isaiah 12 (to which mention we could add similar others) makes clear. The church has always been willing to compose new sacred music, as the history of redemption unfolded. Neither did this pattern stop in the New Testament. If there is one thing we may gather with certainty from the book of Revelation, it is that God’s people worship him by singing songs composed in response to newly-wrought acts and newly-revealed or freshly-reinforced attributes. None of the worship songs in Revelation is to be found in the psalter. They are new worship songs written specifically for an advanced redemptive era. Furthermore, most scholars believe that New Testament passages such as 1 Timothy 3:16 and Philippians 2:5-11 comprise Paul’s quoting of early Christian hymns (although not in their entirety). Which would indicate, not only that the early Christians composed new songs as was befitting the marvelous advance in redemptive history that they had observed – but furthermore, that Paul approved of them, in proportion as they were doctrinally faithful.

I appreciate the heart of the Reformed psalter-only people, as they seek to apply the regulative principle of worship rigorously and biblically. However, I think they are misguided in their zeal, and in fact are guilty of arriving at a conclusion before they come to terms with the full biblical witness.

In sum, I don’t think the regulative principle can be forced to apply in this case, because we have a clear command to sing in a variety of ways as we worship, and we have no compelling reason to suppose that this command suggests or implies that we sing in worship only from the psalter. We are commanded to eat and drink to God’s glory, but we are not told whether to do so with orange juice and toast or with coffee and cereal. Therefore, it is not permissible to place a restriction where God has given us liberty to follow his commands with a multiplicity of media. Similarly, he has commanded us to worship him in song; and it is no more permissible to restrict the multiplicity of media by which to do so, without a clear scriptural restriction. And there simply is none.

7 Responses to “The Regulative Principle and Psalter-Only Worship”

  1. The Aspiring Theologian says:
    November 10, 2006 at 8:55 pm

    Thanks. This was most helpful – someone brought this issue up on my blog recently and I’ve been thinking about it. I can see what might be the argument behind singing only Psalms (as ‘divinely inspired’) songs, but I do not see how even that argument would exclude hymns from worship. Most hymns, such as “A Mighty Fortress” etc., are actually based off of Scripture, and a large amount of those hymns are based off of psalms. I think we should be careful not to take small inferences or assumptions from Scripture about the early church and be too zealous to say that it “has to be this way”. I cannot see the justification in Scripture for not being able to sing “Amazing Grace” because it is not a psalm.

    Thanks for this post; it was most helpful.

    A. Shepherd The Aspiring Theologian

  2. Bob Hayton says:
    November 11, 2006 at 1:09 am

    Nathan,

    Great post! In light of this quote: “God’s people worship him by singing songs composed in response to newly-wrought acts and newly-revealed or freshly-reinforced attributes”, am I correct to assume that you understand the phrase “new song” to refer to songs in response to such newly wrought acts and revelations of God’s greatness?

    This phrase “new song” has been on my mind in the recen lenghty debate over on my blog over accepable music styles.

    Just wondering.

    Thanks,

    Bob Hayton

  3. pitchford says:
    November 11, 2006 at 9:27 am

    Bob,

    I actually didn’t have the psalmic admonition to sing “a new song” in mind when I wrote that sentence. But it may be a reasonable way of taking the expression. I’m not sure. It at least seems to me that the point being emphasized is that the song is new in proportion as the singing person’s knowledge of God is new. He didn’t desire to sing about God’s grace and faithfulness until he experienced it — and then he did delight to sing songs with those new themes, which transformation in singing emphases caused the world to take notice. Probably inherent in this reality is the singer’s composing of “new” (previously uncomposed) songs — but maybe the exhortation is broad enough to include those musically in-adept of us who, when we experience God’s greatness, newly begin to sing songs that had already been composed, but in which we took no previous delight in singing. I’m just thinking out loud here, so I don’t even know if I agree with everything I just said — but maybe some food-for-thought anyway.

    Aspiring,

    Yes, I recently got a new question on this issue on one of my older posts. It seems to be something of a hot-button issue all of a sudden, so I decided to promote my comment in response to an actual entry. I agree — there is so much phenomenal music around that one would have to be absolutely certain of his position before he cut it all off as illegitimate for worship. Good point too about the best hymns/Christian songs being based on specific scriptural passages.

  4. Chris says:
    November 12, 2006 at 1:59 pm

    Nathan,

    I appreciate this polemic. I’ve never heard of this application of the r.p., but I can see a certain crowd that would come to this conclusion. I have no problem using contemporary or Psalms-only out of preference when exercising the regulative principle; my problem is when other reformed believers try and define the principle more than it is intended to be.

    chris

  5. Jonathan Hunt says:
    February 5, 2007 at 10:40 am

    Good stuff!

  6. pitchford says:
    February 6, 2007 at 3:21 am

    Jonathan,

    It’s good to hear from you, brother! It’s been awhile. Drop me a line at pitchford@pactec.kz, and we’ll get up-to-date on each other’s affairs.

    Nathan

  7. pitchford says:
    February 6, 2007 at 3:44 am

    I just followed the link and realized that you’re a different Jonathan Hunt than I was thinking you were — sorry about that!

    Nathan

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