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 A
tract (VOCAL MUSIC AND ITS FRUIT) from Portland, Or., proclaims:
"The highest scholarship in the world testifies that the
word psalmos (Greek word for "psalm") in Eph.
5:19 and Col. 3:16 properly means a song sung with musical
accompaniment. So says the eminent Joseph Henry Thayer." He
then quotes, NOT THAYER, but Bishop Lightfoot on Col. 3:16.
Thayer has quoted Lightfoot (p.637) for his comments on the synonymous
character of bunions, psalmos, and ode; and NOT to give the
N.T. meaning or use of psalmos. This is a flagrant misuse of
Thayer, which must be first charged to the unsigned tract
writer, and then to all who use the tract to justify(?) their
cause.
Thayer
quotes Lightfoot in his discussion of humnos, NOT of psalmos,
as the tract would have you believe. In Thayer's discussion of
psalmos (p.675) he recognizes the verbal root meaning of
"striking, twanging;' shows its association in early Greek
literature with striking the chords of a musical instrument, and
says, "hence a pious song, a psalm, Eph. 5:19; Col.
3:16; the phrase echein psalon is used of one who has it in his
heart to sing or recite a song of the sort,..."
Thayer,
on the verb psallo, shows much the same progression of
the word and says, "in the N.T. to sing a hymn, to
celebrate the praise of God in song, Jas. 5:13." Now
why did not the tract writer use that quotation???
I
am reminded of an earlier time when a zealous young man showed
me that Thayer said (?) "absolutely to play on a stringed
instrument, to play the harp." He didn't know that
"absolute" referred to a grammatical
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usage. Too, Thayer cites only secular
writers for such interpretation; and translates Jas. 5:13
"sing." The lexicon of Arndt and Gingrich cites Jas.
5:13 as "absolute" and translates, "sing
praise." Moulton and Milligan say of psallo:
"properly- 'play on a harp,' but in the N.T. as
in Jas. 5: 13, -'sing a hymn. "'(emph. mine, rt)
New
Testament translators (K.J., A.S., R.S.V., etc.) seem to have no
problem with the words psallo (verb) and psalmos
(noun). The first they translate "sing" or "make
melody" (Eph. 5:19). The second they translate
"psalm" or "Psalms" (of David). This
uniformity of scholarship must put great pressure on those who
try to authorize instrumental music in N.T. worship with psallo.
Else why would they make such bizarre and unscholarly use of
Thayer and other lexicographers? It is not to their credit.
Perhaps this is why most users of the instruments have long
ceased to look for New Testament "authorization."
Psao,
the root word, originally meant to pluck or twang, and the
object had to be supplied. One psao-ed a hair from the head, or
a chalk line. Later it was applied to twanging the strings of a
harp; hence, psallo-ing. As such psallo-ing accompanied
singing, the noun form (psalmos) came to be applied to such praise
songs. Then, as the lexicographers testify, in the N.T. it
means, "to sing a hymn, to celebrate the praise of God in
song." The object or instrument is not inherent in the verb
psallo; but the Holy Spirit supplies one: "making melody
with your heart..." (Eph. 5:19). (continued next page)
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