Acceptable Musical Worship
In 1551, in Calvin’s Geneva, the town’s chief psalms composer, Louis Bourgeois, was jailed. His offense was not writing a heretical song or breaking any major law, but simply fixing a couple psalms melodies in the church Psalter in an attempt to correct some perceived printer errors. The city authorities were so diligent about guarding against any changes to the authorized Psalter that they jailed Louis for even trying to correct some printer errors.1
While I would caution against jail time for such an action, there is something commendable and noteworthy about how Christians in that day understood the importance of the specific words sung in public worship. They had a proper conviction that what we say and sing in musical worship matters; therefore, any minor change, even if clerical, was something they responded to with rapt attention.
Five hundred years later, we would do well to learn from their conviction. The songs we sing in musical worship cannot be chosen randomly—the message and truths (or lack thereof) they contain are of immense importance. More than how they make one feel or how catchy of a tune they employ, the truths contained in each song sung on Sundays is what matters most. All songs are theological, either expressing rightly who God is and what he has done, or doing so wrongly.
Therefore, each line, each stanza, of what we sing matters. Scripture is clear—we cannot simply worship God however we want. Nahab and Abihu did so, offering to God worship that he did not prescribe, and they were utterly destroyed (Lev 10:1–3). Their deaths communicate clearly to us today: worship the Lord based on your own personal preferences at your own risk and danger. The Father desires worshippers who worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23); hence any worship that conveys a lie about him or lyrics that omit the core truths about him cannot be God-honoring worship.
Therefore, positively, theologically rich and true songs allow us to honor and praise our God correctly. In this type of worship, he is the focus, not man. There is a level of depth to the songs, because he is infinitely deep (Rom 11:33). The goal is truth, not an emotional response. And, most importantly, the songs enable us to acceptably worship our triune God with reverence and awe, as we are commanded to do (Heb 12:28).
Considering the Psalms
All of this is, most likely, agreeable so far—none of the above is that controversial. However, based on the foundational principles that we have briefly outlined, I would argue that as we consider what musical worship should look like in the church, the singing of the Psalms must be included. It is not only wise in light of the Bible’s teaching on what our singing should look like, but it is also commanded and modeled explicitly in the word.
Now to answer the immediate question that probably pops into your mind: the purpose of this blog is not to argue for singing exclusively Psalms, at the expense of all other hymns. While a valid view (held by other faithful Reformed denominations), I am simply saying that the church’s musical worship should be full of the Psalms every Sunday. I would agree with a PCA study committee from the 1990s on this topic, which encouraged each congregation “to sing at least one Psalm at each of their services.”2
We have already proven that we cannot sing whatever we want—instead, we must sing what is true about God and the world he has created. That could involve singing songs from fallible human writers who, by God’s grace, are enabled to write scripture-based hymns that are accurate. But, if what we sing matters as much as it does, why not sing infallible, Spirit-inspired songs given to us for the purpose of worship to begin with? Why not sing the Psalms? As Calvin says in his introduction to the Psalter, quoting Augustine, “no one is able to sing things worthy of God unless he has received them from him… when we sing [the psalms], we are certain that God puts the words in our mouths, as if he himself were singing in us to exult his glory.”3 The Psalms should be seen as 150 Spirit-given songs that we are to employ in our worship of God.
As 21st century Christians, we see the Psalms differently than the church in the past. In Old Testament times, it was the worship book, the hymnal, of the church. King Hezekiah “commanded the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer” (2 Chr 29:30). When they laid the foundation of the second temple, the priests and Levites praised the Lord “according to the directions of David”, singing Psalm 136 responsively (Ezra 3:10–11). Quite clearly, our forefathers in the faith understood and utilized the Psalms in their worship of God. In our day, we are correct to study the Psalms in our personal devotions. We are also correct to preach on the Psalms, as they are theologically rich and quoted throughout the New Testament. But we should understand, in light of scriptural witness, that the Psalms were primarily “made to be sung, not read.”4 As hard of a mental adjustment as this is to make, we have to see that these are songs to sing, first and foremost, for even the Psalms themselves cry out for use in public musical worship.5
Coming to the New Testament, we see that the primacy of singing the Psalms does not cease, but continues. Paul makes this explicit in Colossians 3 and Ephesians 5, commanding the church to sing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Col 3:16; Eph 5:19). Now at first this seems like two strange verses to cite—Paul seems to be commending more non-Psalms songs than the Psalms itself! But in actuality, we see that these three phrases all refer to different types of Psalms. Paul is saying, in essence, sing “psalms and psalms and psalms”.
Pulling from Christopher Ash’s fantastic introduction to the Psalms, we can see this clearly.6 The word for “psalms” is used 79 times in the Greek Old Testament and 5 times in the New Testament, and the vast majority of those cases refer explicitly to the Psalms. Now that is not surprising, given the word is translated as “psalms”. But what is surprising is that the same trend holds true for the other two words. The word for “hymns” is used 14 times in the Greek Old Testament, and all but one refers to the Psalms. Similarly, the word for “spiritual songs” is used 68 times, and while a bit more generic, the majority of uses still point to the book of Psalms. And lastly, when these three words are used together, one sees that they refer to the whole of the Psalter. As a result, it is accurate to conclude that Paul is commanding the early church to simply “sing all the Psalms” together.
We see Jesus himself doing this when he worships with his disciples after the Last Supper, before his death. After he breaks bread with his disciples, they precede to “[sing] a hymn” (Matt 26:30). Now the word translated “hymn” has the same root as the word Paul used in the aforementioned verses, referring to a specific subsection of the Psalter called the Hallel Psalms. So we see Jesus himself, when he desires to worship at the end of a meal, worship using the Psalms.
In light of the Old Testament church’s use of the Psalms in worship, the command of Paul, and the example of Jesus, our conclusion is this: public musical worship that does not include at least some singing of the Psalter is incomplete worship. It is worship that ignores the Biblical mandate to sing God’s words back to him, utilizing the hymnal that the Spirit provided thousands of years ago. If we care about worshiping the Lord in truth, in a way that honors him, we will ensure that we sing the Psalms.
The Heart Behind the Command
All of this might convince you that you should sing the Psalms. That is well and good, but my hope is that your heart is warmed to desire to sing the Psalms. As such, in this last section, we will walk through four brief encouragements and implications of psalm-singing, that you might delight in this conviction and can come to worship God through the Psalms with joy and gladness in your heart (Ps 100:2).
First, because the Psalms are inerrant, Spirit-given words, they teach us to worship well. Just like Jesus had to give perfect and inerrant words to teach us how to pray through the Lord’s prayer, the Psalms serve as a perfect model for us in our singing. We need to be taught how to pray, how to read scripture, and also how to worship—what better way to be taught, to be shaped into a worshipper who sings in spirit and truth, than to sing inerrant words back to God?
Second, singing the Psalms helps us worship with a biblical balance. The scriptures perfectly balance God’s wrath with his grace, eternity with temporal needs, judgment on the wicked and hope for the righteous. Because the Psalter is inerrant, the balance of topics, and the character traits and works of God that are emphasized more or less, will be perfect. On the other hand, man-made hymns, even from the most faithful hymn-writers, tend to emphasize theology that is popular in their own day. In our modern context, that will most likely mean ignoring God’s holiness, not singing the imprecatory psalms, and not dwelling on eternity, while spending the vast majority of the time on God’s love and the cross. Now the latter two realities are obviously good, but they must be held in balance with what else scripture focuses on.
Third, it is clear that the Psalms reflect the full experience of the Christian life. There are songs of joy and thanksgiving mixed in with cries of lament and confession. Singing these inerrant songs perfectly resonates with our emotions and affections here on this fallen Earth. As Athanasius said,
“in the Psalter… you learn about yourself. You find depicted in it all the movements of your soul, all its changes, its ups and downs, its failures and recoveries. Moreover, whatever your particular need or trouble, from this same book you can select a form of words to fit it, so that you do not merely hear and then pass on, but learn the way to remedy your ill.”7
On top of that, however, the Psalms don’t just perfectly reflect our emotions and affections, they also are used by God to change them. The Psalms “gradually reshape our affections and our aversions so that we love what we ought to love and hate what we ought to hate.”8 God works in us when we sing his word to fundamentally change our desires and bring them into conformity to his law—we are filled with the Spirit and are made more like Christ through Psalm singing. Yes, true worship is about God, not us; but the byproduct of that true worship is that we are changed.
Fourth, and last, the Psalms are truly all about Jesus Christ. They scream for a future fulfillment, for the messiah to come who will actually bring about the redemption and salvation talked about all throughout the book.9 We read and sing them in expectation of the future king of glory (Ps 24), the one pierced for us (Ps 22), ruler of the nations (Ps 2) and the priest who intercedes for us (Ps 110). They are Christ-centered through and through, helping us fix our eyes on Jesus Christ, beholding his glory, appreciating his work, and then through the Spirit being transformed into his image.
Discussion Questions
When you sing, do you tend to focus more on yourself and your response to the music, or on God?
Can you think of any other benefits of singing the Psalms?
How does this affect personal and family worship?
CRCNA, “Singing the Genevan Psalms”, 12 November 2025, https://www.crcna.org/news-and-events/news/singing-genevan-psalms#:~:text=In%20Calvin’s%20edition%2C%20he%20noted,be%20used%20to%20glorify%20God.
PCA Historical Center, “PCA Study Committee on Psalms Singing”, 1993, https://www.pcahistory.org/pca/studies/psalmody.html.
Quoted in Charles Garside, The Origins of Calvin’s Theology of Music: 1536-1543, TAPS 69, (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1979), 33.
Albert Barnes, quoted in John McNaughter, The Psalms in Worship, (Edmonton, Canada: Still Water Revival Books, 1992), 66.
See, for example, the context for public worship in the following Psalms: 34, 95, 100, 150.
Christopher Ash, The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary, Volume 1, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024), 6–9.
Athanasius, “Athanasius to Marcellinus on the Interpretation of the Psalms”, https://brianjlund.com/2023/09/30/athanasius-to-marcellinus-on-the-interpretation-of-the-psalms/
Ash, The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary, 23.
Ash, The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary, 29.
