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NASB | 2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Timothy 2:15 Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth. |
Subject: Logic: The Means to Rightly Divide |
Bible Note: One man's cacophony is another's harmony; one culture's dulcet melody is another's grating noise. Beyond the general command of "teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (see Col. 3:16 and Eph. 5:19), Scripture has laid down no pat rules of hymnody, and it is just as well that it hasn't, for it would doubtlessly present interpretative challenges of gigantic proportions: How would Christians round the world ever form a consensus of what music is "right" for worship and what isn't? There is no absolute measuring rod that I know of. Accordingly, it is a trifle foolish in my view to debate what music is "sacred" and what isn't; it's more of a matter of breeding, culture, and personal taste than it is anything else. A "psalm, hymn, or spiritual song" is defined chiefly by the words, I believe, and not by the music itself to which the words are sung. If the young like a vibrant, pulsating, fast tempo to accompany their songs of praise, I see no earthly reason why we old fogies should condemn them for that and insist on imposing our more sedate musical tastes on the youth. Because I, nearing 70, cannot abide the din and cadence of some modern forms of music, doesn't at all mean that I should presume that young people are being blasphemous when they sing praises to God in a tempo that gets on my old nerves and gives me hives! Now, if the the words themselves are out of kilter with the Scriptures, that's quite a different matter and constitutes grounds for disapproval and censure, no matter how "sacred" the music it is sung to. ........ Music does not have to be "classical" to be good; some modern music is better than some of the classical music. And a hymn does not have to have whiskers on it to be worthy to be sung to the glory of God. There is no reason why the modern Christian cannot worship God in the same ambience in which he lives his daily life, i.e., in the contemporary world of which he is a part. The venerable hymns of two centuries ago were modern, contemporary hymns to those people who lived two centuries ago. The venerable King James Bible was a fresh (some thought it brash) modern translation to those who lived in 1611. The people who sang the fresh, contemporary hymns of two centuries ago or read the King James Bible in 1611 were not necessarily any more pious or devout or dedicated Christians than are the young Christians of our time who sing their hymns to an accelerated tempo and read their Bibles in a modern version that is translated into contemporary English that they can understand. How easy it is to lose sight of the truism that the message is vastly more important than the medium. And how tempting to classify the sacredness of music -- or the superiority and commanding authority of a Bible translation -- according to our own personal tastes, with nothing else to back it up! --Hank |