“…addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.”
Last time we talked about what it means to be filled with the Spirit. But Paul’s sentence doesn’t end at the end of verse 18.
Beginning in verse 19 he begins to explain some of the natural results of being filled with the Spirit. First, he addresses speaking. He says we will be speaking to one another. How will we speak to one another? In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
So, I have a question. Is he saying that since we have been filled with the Spirit, as a result we will sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to one another during the 20 minute song time in one of our worship gatherings? I don’t think so.
In the first place, he says speaking, not singing. Second, the speaking is a continuous sort of action used as an adjective. So people who have been filled with the Spirit will be speaking-to-one-another-in-psalms kind of people. I need to ask myself if I’m that kind of person.
Recently I was teaching on the book of Malachi, which in 3:16 says, “Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.”
When people speak to one another about the things of God, He listens, and, according to Malachi, he makes a note of it in His book.
Would that we could be the kind of people that would have psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs on our minds so that we could and would share these with one another often as we speak to each other.
Also in verse 19, he writes that we should be singing and making melody to the Lord with or in our hearts. As the Spirit fills us moment by moment, there will be a resulting song that arises in our hearts. Words from the Psalms will come to mind as will the lyrics of other godly hymns and spiritual songs that form the basis of much of our Christian meditation. Let me emphasize that this is a result of the filling of the Spirit, not a stand-alone command. The Spirit’s presence in our lives produces fruit, and this kind of speaking and singing is one of those fruits.