After a person believes in the Lord, he must learn to sing hymns. It is difficult when a Christian goes to a meeting but does not know how to sing hymns. Prayer is often neglected in the meeting, but hymn singing is neglected even more. We must learn to sing hymns. We are not trying to be musicians, but we should be familiar with the hymns. This is an important matter.
There are prophecies, histories, doctrines, teachings, and commandments in the Bible. There are also songs in the Bible. Songs are the expression of man’s finest feelings. The sentiments of man’s prayer before God cannot match the sentiments of his songs before God; the former are never as fine and tender as the latter. God wants us to have fine and tender feelings. This is why He gives us many kinds of songs in the Bible. In addition to the Psalms, the Song of Songs, and Lamentations, there are also songs in the history and the commandments (Exo. 15:1-18; Deut. 32:1-43). Even in Paul’s Epistles, we find hymns interspersed in his teachings (Rom. 11:33-36; 1 Tim. 3:16; etc.). All these examples show us that God wants His people to have fine and tender feelings.
Our Lord’s feelings are fine and tender. We have fine feelings as well as harsh feelings. Wrath and anger are clearly harsh feelings. Some people are not full of wrath, but their feelings are not fine either. God wants us to be patient, compassionate, merciful, and sympathetic because all these are fine feelings. God wants us to sing in the midst of our trials and to praise and bless His name in the midst of our pain because all these are expressions of fine feelings. When a person loves another person, his feeling is tender. When he forgives or shows mercy to others, his feeling is also tender.
God wants to lead His children toward a walk of finer, tenderer, and more song-like feelings. The more a person learns of God, the finer, tenderer, and more song-like his feelings become. Those who learn little before God are rough and unrefined in their feelings. If a Christian walks noisily into the meeting and has no concern for others, he is not behaving like a well-tempered Christian. Even when he sings, his voice will not sound like a song. If a person walks into a meeting and runs over others left and right, knocking over chairs, he is not behaving like a person of song. We must realize that from the day we were saved, God has been training us to have fine and tender feelings day by day. To be a good Christian, one must have fine and tender feelings. The deepest feelings that flow from a man’s heart are the feelings expressed in songs. We do not want harsh feelings. Harsh feelings have nothing to do with hymns; they do not belong to a Christian.
Every hymn that is up to the standard must meet three basic requirements. If a hymn fails to meet any of these requirements, it is not a good hymn.
First, the words of a hymn must be based on the truth. Many hymns meet the other two requirements but contain errors in truth. If we ask God’s children to sing these hymns, we are leading them into error. We are putting human errors into their hand when they go before the Lord; we are ushering them into an improper sentiment. When God’s children sing hymns, their feelings are directed toward God. If the hymns have wrong doctrines, they will be cheated in their feelings and will not touch reality. God does not meet us according to the poetic sentiment of the hymn; He meets us according to the truth conveyed in the hymn. We can only come before God in truth. If we do not come to God in truth, we are in error and will not touch reality.
For example, one gospel hymn says that the Lord Jesus’ blood cleanses our heart. But the New Testament does not speak of the Lord Jesus’ blood cleansing our heart. The Lord’s blood does not cleanse our heart; there is no such word in the Bible. Hebrews 9:14 says that the Lord Jesus’ blood purifies our conscience—the conscience is part of the heart, not the heart itself. The Lord’s blood washes us from our sins. Because we have been washed from our sins, our conscience no longer accuses us before God. Therefore, the blood cleanses only the conscience, not the heart. Our heart cannot be cleansed by the blood. Man’s heart is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9). No matter how much we try to wash it, it can never be cleansed. The biblical teaching concerning the heart is that our stony heart is removed and that God gives to us a heart of flesh (Ezek. 36:26). He gives us a new heart; He does not cleanse the old heart. When a man believes in the Lord, God gives him a new heart. He does not cleanse his old heart but washes away the offenses in his conscience. God does not wash his heart. If we go to the Lord and praise Him, saying, “The blood of Jesus cleanses my heart,” our praise is not according to the truth. This is a very serious matter. If there are errors in the doctrine of a hymn, it will bring people into wrong sentiments.
Many hymns make no distinction in the dispensations. We do not know whether such a hymn should be sung by Abraham or by Moses. We do not know whether it should be sung by the Jews or by the Christians. We do not know whether it belongs to the Old Testament or the New Testament. When you sing this kind of hymn, it makes you feel as if you are an angel who has nothing to do with redemption, that you have no sin and no need of the blood. If a hymn is not clear in its teachings concerning the dispensations, and if it does not reflect the age of grace, it will lead God’s children into error.
Many hymns express only hope but no assurance. They express a hope to be saved, a desire to be saved, and a pursuit of salvation, but there is no Christian assurance whatsoever. We must remember that every Christian should come to God with full assurance. We come to God with full assurance of faith. If a hymn gives a man the feeling that he is in the outer court, his singing will make him think that he is not one of God’s people and that he is merely aspiring to be one of His people. Many hymns give people the impression that God’s grace is still far off and that a man still needs to seek for it. Such hymns put a Christian in the wrong position. This is not the Christian position. The Christian position is one full of assurance, one that gives him the confidence that he is saved. All hymns which do not give a Christian such assurance should not be sung.
Another common error found in many hymns is the notion that man enters into glory after he dies. Many hymns speak of the entrance into glory at the time of death, as if a man enters glory through death. But the Bible does not say that a man enters glory after he dies. Entrance into glory is something different from death. After we die, we do not enter into glory. After we die, we wait for resurrection. The Lord entered into glory only after He resurrected. This is the clear teaching of the Bible (1 Cor. 15:43; 2 Cor. 5:2-3). Any hymn that gives God’s children a wrong impression that man enters glory when he dies should not be sung at all, because there is no such thing. Therefore, a good hymn must be accurate in its doctrines. If it falls short in doctrinal integrity, it will easily lead Christians into error.
Second, accurate doctrines alone do not constitute a hymn. A hymn needs to be poetic in its form and structure. Truth alone is not sufficient. After there is the truth, there is still the need for poetry in form and structure. Only when there is poetry is a hymn like a hymn. Singing is not preaching. We cannot sing a message. There was one hymn which began with the words: “The true God created the heavens, the earth, and man.” This may be something good for preaching, but this is not singing. This is a doctrine, not a hymn. All the songs in the book of Psalms are poetry. Every psalm is fine and tender in form and expression and utters God’s mind in the way of poetry. Merely having every line follow a certain meter does not constitute a hymn. The structure must be poetic, and the form must be poetic.
Third, in addition to the truth and poetic structure and form, a hymn needs to provide spiritual impact. It must touch spiritual reality.
For example, Psalm 51 is a psalm of repentance by David. In reading it, we find David’s repentance doctrinally correct, his words carefully chosen, and the structure of the psalm intricate. But more than that, we feel something within the words; there is a spiritual reality, a spiritual feeling, within the psalm. We can call this the burden of the hymn. David repented, and the feeling of his repentance permeates the whole psalm. Many times in reading the book of Psalms, there is something we are struck with—every sentiment expressed in these psalms is genuine. When the psalmist rejoiced, he jumped up and shouted for joy. When he was sad, he wept. These psalms are not empty words void of reality. There is spiritual reality behind the words.
Therefore, a hymn must be not only accurate in truth and poetic in form and structure, but also filled with the sense of spiritual reality. In other words, if a hymn is meant for tears, it should make you cry. If it is meant for joy, it should make you happy. When it speaks of a certain thing, it should make you feel that very thing. We cannot sing a hymn on repentance without having a corresponding echo in our heart; we cannot be laughing while we are singing it. We cannot say that we are singing praises to God, yet be void of joy and rejoicing. We cannot sing a hymn on consecration, yet have no feeling of consecration. We cannot say that a hymn calls for prostration and brokenness before God, yet remain comfortable and proud of ourselves. If a hymn cannot give us an accurate feeling on a subject, it is not a good hymn. The feeling of a hymn must be genuine, and it must touch spiritual reality.
A hymn must be accurate in truth and poetic in form. At the same time, it must invoke the singer to the spiritual reality behind the words, that is, to touch what the hymn says. Otherwise, it is not up to the standard. All three requirements must be met before a hymn can be considered a good hymn.