This important question deserves a much longer answer than the one I will briefly present in this article. Here I want to take up one particular aspect of this question, which will undoubtedly be asked at some point in the life of a Reformed church: should we only be singing the psalms? Certain church orders grant no leeway, dictating the use of the Psalter exclusively. Other church orders give preference to the psalms, while others remain silent on the issue.

This article is adapted from “What Every Elder Needs to Know about Congregational Singing” in Faithful and Fruitful: Essays for Elders and Deacons.

We want to ensure that our songs are God-centered, Christ-focused, Bible-based, accessible to the congregation, with texts appropriately wedded to singable tunes, and so much more. What should we sing in church?

This important question deserves a much longer answer than the one I will briefly present in this article. Here I want to take up one particular aspect of this question, which will undoubtedly be asked at some point in the life of a Reformed church: should we only be singing the psalms? Certain church orders grant no leeway, dictating the use of the Psalter exclusively. Other church orders give preference to the psalms, while others remain silent on the issue. In this brief article, I want to offer up a balanced approach and give five reasons why we should be singing both psalms and hymns.

1. Psalmody is our heritage.

By this I am not only referring to the fact that exclusive psalmody was essentially the sole practice among Presbyterian and Reformed churches up until 1740.[1] I mean much more than that. I am referring to the fact that by faith we are grafted into the people of Abraham, into Israel, and the psalms are literally our history as well as God’s own hymnal. Beyond its relatively recent historical pedigree in our ecclesiastical circles, this fact should commend the singing of psalms to our churches.

Moreover, the psalms belong not only to us but to Jesus Christ Himself. This was His songbook, written by Him, sung by Him, and it is meant to be sung for Him as well. In an age where the church’s music is predominantly marked by man-centered words and performances, there may be no better remedy than to return psalm-singing to a prominent place in the corporate worship of God’s people.

2. Psalms ensure a representation of the entire range of Christian experience.

The repertoire of many churches is emotionally uneven: the majority of the songs sung are upbeat and joyful. But life does not play out always in the major key, so why should our songs? The psalter gives us a proper balance of emotive music: songs of praise as well as lament, songs of adoration as well as confession.

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