Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

"Admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." (Colossians 3:16 NIV)

Most theologians will agree that this verse describes various styles of music. Psalms were the traditional music from the book of Psalms written for instructional purposes as well as praise. These had been sung for nearly one thousand years when the book of Colossians had been written. Hymns were songs of the early Christian church, which often helped to teach theological beliefs in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Spiritual songs are generally considered to be more emotional in content.

Why did God feel it important enough to mention these three different styles of music not once, but twice in the New Testament? I believe that God understands His creations enough to know that we would have very personal opinions and tastes in the creative arts. Modern churches continue to debate what styles of music are appropriate for worship (see Defining Worship Styles).

Here is another way to look at these three styles in context of current worship trends:

• Psalms would be like the classical music of the church such as Bach or Handel.


• Hymns would be like the traditional hymns and the new modern hymns of the church


• Spiritual Songs would be like the contemporary and modern praise and worship choruses of the church

As a Music History major, I found the progression of church music in the last 100 years to be very interesting. Traditional hymns often have 3-5 stanzas and are usually sung about God. Hymns written in the early 1900s began to include a refrain (chorus) which was sung following each stanza. These hymns began to take on a more emotional style which led to the Gospel hymns. Refrains became more important with Gospel hymns and many became best known by the refrain. Some of these Gospel hymns were almost entirely sung to God instead of about Him. Contemporary music rarely included stanzas or verses as they are more commonly called and were almost always sung to God instead of about Him. Many were almost a complete return to psalms as the lyrics were taken directly from the Psalms. Now the Modern music of the praise and worship style has become more hymnic with verses and choruses and sometimes include 3-4 verses with only a small chorus-like tag that might only be sung after several verses.



The most important thing is that we continue to follow God's will for the church by continuing to "sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."