The Psalms Are Prominent in the New Testament
Depending upon which scholar you consult, Psalms is one of the two Old Testament books most frequently quoted in the New. The other contender is the Book of Isaiah. Our Lord saw Himself as the fulfillment of the messianic prophecies and types of the Psalms.
Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). Other references of the Psalms from our Savior are: He cited Psalm 110 (Matt. 22:43-44) to show that David spoke of Him in the Psalms. The Savior also uttered the beginning words of Psalm 22 from the cross (Matt. 27:46).
In their preaching and writing, the apostles often quoted from the Psalms as biblical proof of the fact that Jesus was the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. Peter quoted Psalm 16:8-11 as proof that Jesus must be raised from the dead (Acts 2:24-36). Paul’s message was virtually identical (cf. Acts 13:29-39). Any book so prominent in the minds of the New Testament writers should also be important to us.
The Psalms Have Had a Prominent Role in the History of the Church Through the Ages
According to Paul’s letter to Timothy the reading of Scripture was to play an important role in the assembled worship of the saints (1 Tim. 4:13). From 1 Corinthians 14:26, Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 we can safely infer that the singing of the Psalms was a vital part of the corporate worship experience of the church. While the translators have indicated a more general category by their rendering of the term “psalms” (rather than “Psalms”), I believe the Old Testament Psalms were certainly included in this broader category.
Not only did the church continue to sing the Psalms, the early fathers often chose to write commentaries on the Book of Psalms. Among these fathers were Chrysostom and Augustine. The church of the Reformation made much use of the Psalms and men like Luther were known for their love of this book. H. C. Leupold, who wrote “Exposition of Psalms,” goes so far as to suggest, “Perhaps we are safe in saying that no biblical book has seen more use throughout Christendom than has the Psalter.”
The Psalms Significantly Contribute to the Worship of the Church Today
Bernhard Anderson reminds us that in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, “especially where the ancient monastic usage is still preserved—the entire Psalter is recited once each week. In the Anglican church the Psalms are repeated once a month.” Our church hymnals are filled with the Psalms, either quoted or paraphrased. The Psalms have provided inspiration for many hymnists. In The Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts, Isaac Watts wrote hymns for every Psalm and many others. I grew up singing from the Baptist Hymnal that was full of songs inspired from the Psalms.
There are several reasons why the Psalms have meant so much to the saints over the years. Here are a few reasons why they considered the Psalms their most prized possession.
(1) The Psalms speak to us. We cannot read very far in the Psalms without drawing the conclusion that the psalmist seems to have been reading our mail. How is it that after centuries have passed we find a man who lived in a different time and culture expressing our innermost feelings, fears, and hopes? The answer, of course, is that we are reading the Scriptures, divinely inspired, infallible and inerrant, so as to be a word from God to us (cf. 1 Tim. 3:16,17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21). Recognizing this, it was Luther who centuries ago said,
“The Psalter is the favorite book of all the saints.… [Each person], whatever his circumstances may be, finds in [the book] psalms and words which are appropriate to the circumstances in which he finds himself and meet his needs as adequately as if they were composed exclusively for his sake, and in such a way that he himself could not improve on them nor find or desire any better psalms or words.”
In the Psalms the history of Israel is not only condensed (e.g., Ps. 78), but her theology is compressed. I once read an article with a title something like, “Israel’s Theology, Sung, not Said.” I think that is a correct assessment of the Book of Psalms in terms of its theology. Sabourin reminds us that the Psalter has been called “a microcosm of the whole Old Testament, … the epitome of Israel’s spiritual experience.”
Bernhard Anderson suggests another reason why the Psalms speak to us. He reminds us that the Psalms were written at a point when Israel was between the initiation of God’s Kingdom and its culmination. Christians today live under similar circumstances. Our Lord has come to the earth as our Redeemer and Israel’s Messiah, but He has also returned to the Father to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-3). We are living in the interim, awaiting the culmination—the coming of God’s Kingdom, much like Israel of old. It is this anticipation and at the same time a sense of God’s absence (at times) which enables the saint of today to identify with the struggles of the saint of old and to find the Psalms striking a familiar chord in our own hearts and lives.
(2) The Psalms speak for us. It was Athanasius, an outstanding church leader in the fourth century, who reportedly declared “that the Psalms have a unique place in the Bible because most of the Scripture speaks to us, while the Psalms speak for us.”
Our Lord expressed His grief at being separated from His Father on the cross by repeating the words of Psalm 22:1. Jonah’s “psalm” (Jonah 2:2-9), composed in the belly of the great fish, was an original work and yet his words and phrases were borrowed from the Book of Psalms. Countless Christians, down through the ages, have found the Psalms to speak for them and have prayed the words of a Psalm, finding them the best expression of their souls’ desires.
We know from Romans 8:26-27 that the Spirit of God speaks those things for us which are unutterable. Is it not possible that some of our unutterable feelings and desires may have been spoken by the psalmists under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? I find that the psalmist has often put his finger on a problem I have grappled with and penned what I have not been able to put into words. Consequently, the Psalms not only speak to us, but for us. We can therefore sometimes pray in the words of the Psalms more effectively than in our own words. As Theodore Laetsch has said, “How many Christians have voiced their prayers in hours of extreme anguish by repeating familiar passages from Scripture or from their hymnbook!”
(3) The Psalms speak for us “out of the depths.” I am particularly indebted to Bernhard Anderson for this insight. He has entitled his excellent book on the Psalms, Out of the Depths: The Psalms Speak for Us Today. It is one thing to be able to praise God when we have, in our modern idiom, “had a nice day.” It is quite another to praise God when the bottom appears to have fallen out of life. If there is any time when men have turned to the Book of Psalms it is in their hour of deep despair and adversity.
No wonder the church fathers of the early centuries turned to the Psalms. And the Reformers did likewise. John Calvin had this to say about the psalms:
“This book I am wont to style an anatomy of all parts of the soul; for no one will discover in himself a single feeling whereof the image is not reflected in this mirror. Nay, all griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, anxieties – in short, all those tumultuous agitations wherewith the minds of men are wont to be tossed – the Holy Ghost hath here represented to the life.”
In the preface to his book, Bernhard Anderson reminds his readers that Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed by the Nazi regime, was a man deeply influenced by the Psalms. His last publication before his death was The Prayer Book of the Bible: An Introduction to the Psalms (1940). On May 15th, 1943, he wrote these words:
“I am reading the Psalms daily, as I have done for years. I know them and love them more than any other book in the Bible.”
A friend who was with him in his last days said: “[Bonhoeffer] always seemed to me to diffuse an atmosphere of happiness, of joy in every smallest event in life, and of deep gratitude for the mere fact that he was alive.… He was one of the very few men that I have ever met to whom his God was real and close to him.”
It was another Russian prison camp in the same war which produced yet another student of the Psalms. Claus Westermann, a scholar whose work has contributed greatly to the study of the Psalms, was imprisoned with a copy of Luther’s translation of the Psalms. During his confinement he turned his attention to the Psalms and his writings have benefited many students of these precious Scriptures.
Since the Psalms speak for us “out of the depths” (this expression comes from the opening words of Psalm 130), we may find comfort, consolation, and the words to praise God in our darkest hours. This, incidentally, explains much of the reason why the Psalms are so neglected in preaching and worship in most American congregations. The truth is that we have had it too easy. We, like the Laodicean church of the Book of Revelation, have found Christianity comfortable and we have become complacent. It is when we are suffering and God seems strangely absent that our attention turns to this precious book. I pray that it will not take tragedy and trouble to motivate our study.
I might also add that it is noteworthy that virtually every Psalm which is attributed to David is a Psalm of lament. Most, if not all, of the Psalms of David were written in the days when he was fleeing from Saul, not when he was sitting on the throne of the nation. If anyone qualifies to praise God from “out of the depths” it was Jonah, for his psalm was composed from within the belly of that great fish which God had appointed to save him (cf. Jonah 2:1-9).
(4) The Psalms are not only a “Prayer Book” but a pattern for worship. Much of the value of the Psalms is that they speak to and for us. I believe this helps explain why Paul instructed the churches of the New Testament times regarding the sharing of psalms (1 Cor. 14:26; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). While I believe that much of the “psalming” which took place in the New Testament church involved reading from the Book of Psalms, I am inclined to think that when Paul spoke of a “psalm” he was also speaking of a particular form or pattern for participation, rather than referring only to the 150 psalms contained in the Book of Psalms.
If I understand the Psalms correctly they provide the saints with a pattern for participation in worship, as well as with a prayer book (the Old Testament psalms, which are read or repeated). In fact, the psalms of the Bible are not even confined to the Book of Psalms. The worship of individuals and of congregations often employed psalms. For example, the Israelites sang a song (a psalm) of praise to God after passing through the Red Sea at the Exodus (Ex. 15:1-18). In Deuteronomy 32 Moses composed a psalm contrasting God’s faithfulness with Israel’s unfaithfulness. Deborah composed a song of praise after God rescued His people (Jud. 5:1-31). Hannah sang a psalm of praise to God for the gift of her son, Samuel (1 Sam. 2:1-10).
Not all the psalms of the Old Testament were psalms of praise and thanksgiving. Many were psalms of lament. There are psalms of lament in the Book of Job (e.g., 3:3-12, 13-19, 20-26; 7:1-10; 10:1-22). The books of Jeremiah (e.g., 15:15-18; 17:14-18) and Lamentations (e.g., chaps. 3; 5) contain numerous laments.
This leads me to the conclusion that the Psalms provide us not only with a passage to ponder and to pray, but also with a pattern for our prayer and worship. Martin Luther found the Psalms to be a school of prayer:
“The Christian can learn to pray in the psalter, for here he can hear how the saints talk with God. The number of moods which are expressed here, joy and suffering, hope and care, make it possible for every Christian to find himself in it, and to pray with the psalms.”
If the Psalms are a pattern for our worship, our prayer, and our praise, then it is my hope that our study of the Psalms will make of us better worshippers, more skillful and faithful than we have ever been before in prayer and in praise.
Conclusion
The psalmist pictures God as enthroned upon the praises of His people:
O my God, I cry by day, but Thou dost not answer;
And by night, but I have no rest.
Yet Thou art holy,
O Thou who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel (Ps. 22:2-3).
If God were enthroned upon your praises, how glorious would that throne be? If God were to be seen enthroned upon the praises of our church, how glorious would He appear to men?
The Psalms which we have been studying greatly influenced the thinking of the apostles and the worship of the early church. The Psalms have been found worthy of the study and devotion of the greatest men of the centuries, and have brought comfort to those who have suffered for their faith. Any book so revered and read for centuries should also be our prized possession as it has been for so many saints before us.
Blessings,
Chris
