Nathan

It’s good to hear from you, brother! It’s been awhile. Drop me a line at pitchford@pactec.kz, and we’ll get up-to-date on each other’s affairs.

Nathan

I appreciate this polemic. I’ve never heard of this application of the r.p., but I can see a certain crowd that would come to this conclusion. I have no problem using contemporary or Psalms-only out of preference when exercising the regulative principle; my problem is when other reformed believers try and define the principle more than it is intended to be.

chris

I actually didn’t have the psalmic admonition to sing “a new song” in mind when I wrote that sentence. But it may be a reasonable way of taking the expression. I’m not sure. It at least seems to me that the point being emphasized is that the song is new in proportion as the singing person’s knowledge of God is new. He didn’t desire to sing about God’s grace and faithfulness until he experienced it — and then he did delight to sing songs with those new themes, which transformation in singing emphases caused the world to take notice. Probably inherent in this reality is the singer’s composing of “new” (previously uncomposed) songs — but maybe the exhortation is broad enough to include those musically in-adept of us who, when we experience God’s greatness, newly begin to sing songs that had already been composed, but in which we took no previous delight in singing. I’m just thinking out loud here, so I don’t even know if I agree with everything I just said — but maybe some food-for-thought anyway.

Aspiring,

Yes, I recently got a new question on this issue on one of my older posts. It seems to be something of a hot-button issue all of a sudden, so I decided to promote my comment in response to an actual entry. I agree — there is so much phenomenal music around that one would have to be absolutely certain of his position before he cut it all off as illegitimate for worship. Good point too about the best hymns/Christian songs being based on specific scriptural passages.

Great post! In light of this quote: “God’s people worship him by singing songs composed in response to newly-wrought acts and newly-revealed or freshly-reinforced attributes”, am I correct to assume that you understand the phrase “new song” to refer to songs in response to such newly wrought acts and revelations of God’s greatness?

This phrase “new song” has been on my mind in the recen lenghty debate over on my blog over accepable music styles.

Just wondering.

Thanks,

Bob Hayton

Thanks for this post; it was most helpful.

A. Shepherd The Aspiring Theologian