The Bride of Christ Sings
The apostle Paul commands Christians to sing together, “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19) and uses metaphors such as the church being the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22–23; 1 Cor. 12:27) and the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:22–23). But have we ever pondered why? What’s the relationship between “vocalship” and “bodyship”? This article aims to explore the organic connection between congregational singing and the church in hopes of providing a path for cultivating robust singing in our churches.
Congregational Singing as the Church’s Immune System
Consider this analogy: you have a body, and your body needs the immune system, which should be able to regulate the system and ward off infection. Congregational singing serves as a crucial part of the immune system, functioning like an antibody. We sing for the teaching and admonishing of one another, to the Lord (Col. 3:16). It’s an important element of community church health. In other words, robust congregational singing is a sign of health and a maintainer of health.
All healthy churches have singing as part of their culture—not anemic, but robust. Singing is necessary for cultivating a healthy church culture, and this is not an accidental property but an essential property of healthy churches. Naturally, we ask questions like, “Does our church sing theologically deep songs?” and rightfully so. This is an important question because, most often, what is sung is what is believed.
However, we seldom ask and wrestle with questions like, “What types of songs do we sing?” I don’t mean contemporary songs versus hymnals. Rather, I mean liturgical categories such as adoration, confession of sin, assurance, or imprecatory. If these categories are neglected, singing may, over time, become anemic, thus weakening the immune system, which will eventually affect all other aspects of the church as well.
We Need Men to Sing Too
But in order to have robust singing in a community, we need the men to sing. You cannot have a robust culture of singing without the men singingly loudly and boldly, providing a foundation that undergirds the entire experience. While women’s voices are undoubtedly beautiful, worship must have a masculine feel. If you create an atmosphere where singing is only feminine, you create disaster.
This viewpoint might cause you discomfort, but consider this thought: What does singing illustrate? I believe that singing is designed by God to illustrate complementarianism. Complementarianism is the belief that men and women are equal yet different by God’s good design, and that this design makes a difference in how we ought to live.
Just as a wedding dance can be seen as an illustration of complementarianism, with the groom leading and the bride following, the same principle applies to singing in a church context—the focus is on the woman but the man is the one who provides the order, the structure, the resonance. Male voices provide a baseline foundation, and feminine voices then elevate and glorify the overall musical experience.
Even the fact that the metaphor we use to describe voices as low and high implies a kind of foundational nature in masculine voices and then a kind of glorification that feminine voices accomplish.
When female voices predominantly take the lead, it can result in men withdrawing and singing less. Whereas, if you have a strong culture of masculine singing or male singing, it creates a platform upon which women can sing and glorify the entire musical expression.[1]
Male-Only Eldership Models Submission
Now, let's consider a brief aside. One objection to my assertion might be: “But wait, isn’t the corporate church meant to be feminine? The church is the bride of Christ. So, in what sense does it make sense for the church to be foundationally masculine? Moreover, if the Scripture is comfortable with describing the church as a bride, why should we exclude those who are feminine from the post of pastor-elder?”
In response, it’s true that the corporate church is meant to be feminine. However, even though the corporate church is meant to be feminine, God requires that those who hold the office of pastor-elder (those who lead in preaching and teaching) are meant to be masculine. When you have a masculine office with men leading the church who are unashamedly masculine, that’s when the church as a whole is expressing femininity because that’s what we’re told to do. The office of elders is reserved for qualified men, and the church submits to Christ. In other words, male-only eldership models submission (1 Tim. 2:8–3:13; Eph. 5:24).[2]
How to Get Men to Sing
Now returning to our main topic. If you want men to sing, you need songs that men will sing. At this point, you’re probably expecting me to conclude by saying something like, “Therefore, we need to stop singing emotive, contemporary songs about longing and aching for God since men don’t want to sing these types of songs.”
That’s not what I’m saying because the Bible has psalms like that: “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1). Moreover, although it’s true that many contemporary songs may not be objectively heretical in their lyrics but rather theologically anemic, I believe that the solution isn’t to stop singing songs of longing for God. The problem is not the presence of the longing and aching songs; the problem is the absence of another type of song—a different kind of song.
I think what’s missing are songs of robust celebration of divine judgment and imprecatory psalms. When these types of songs are absent, they can slip us into sentimentality and a romanticized view of Jesus. Modern worship loses something significant when we neglect songs that embody martial, imprecatory celebrations of God’s righteousness and justice.
The Effects of Martial Songs
Men need martial songs—songs that have a feel of warfare. They don’t necessarily have to be about war. Prime examples are “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” and “Crown Him with Many Crowns.” When introduced in congregational worship, they often elicit a heightened response from Christian men due to their masculine energy which allows them to use their voices more assertively.
But when I think of martial songs, I typically of “Psalm 46 (Lord of Hosts)” by Shane & Shane or “Psalm 2 (Kiss Ye The Son)” by Brian Sauvé. These type of songs creates a certain kind of atmosphere or, better yet, inhibits a certain kind of atmosphere. You can’t degenerate into syrupy sentimentality, “Jesus-is-my-boyfriend” stuff if you have this as the anthem.
Even more importantly, if you have the masculine foundation, you're actually able to sing the songs of longing and aching for God, because this is what the model psalmist David had—he was both a man of war who celebrated God's judgments and sang about them (e.g., Psalm 7:8–11), and he was the psalmist of delight, longing, and ache (e.g., Psalm 42:1–2). He did both of these things.
Sing the Whole Counsel of God
We need to recognize the liturgical tools in our singing toolbelt. If the martial judgment part is missing in our singing repertoire, it creates a situation that compromises the body’s immunity, at least in two ways: firstly, because we omit something the Bible emphasizes, encouraging us to sing the whole counsel of God, and secondly, because it hinders robust singing, especially by men, in a church setting. Singing the whole counsel of God raises the question of whether we truly embrace all aspects or selectively choose parts.
Footnotes
[1] Moreover, it’s only when the church prescribes and protects a secure, strong, humble, masculine feel that it can provide the freedom for men to be appropriately feminine—tender, warm, nurturing (but still prominently masculine)—and for women to be appropriately masculine—courageous, strong, adventurous (but still prominently feminine). Just like great musicians who clearly understand music theory, you can’t improvise off of what you don’t understand and embrace.
[2] See Douglas Wilson, “Brothers, We Are Not Sisters,” in Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors, ed. David Mathis (Minneapolis: Desiring God, 2013), 11–14.
Tuezong Xiong is the Associate Pastor at Christ Bible Church in Roseville, Minnesota. He received his M.Div. from Bethlehem College and Seminary and writes regularly at tuezongxiong.wordpress.com. He, along with his wife, Pa Kou, resides in Circle Pines with their two sons.
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