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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - 1 Corinthians 14:15 - 14:15
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
I will sing (ψαλῶ)
See on Jam 5:13. The verb, ᾄδω is also used for sing, Eph 5:19; Col 3:16; Rev 5:9; Rev 14:3; Rev 15:3. In the last two passages it is combined with playing on harps. In Eph 5:19 we have both verbs. The noun ψαλμός psalm (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16; 1Co 14:26), which is etymologically akin to this verb, is used in the New Testament of a religious song in general, having the character of an Old Testament psalm; though in Mat 26:30; Mar 14:26, ὑμνέω hymneo, whence our hymn, is used of singing an Old Testament psalm. Here applied to such songs improvised under the spiritual ecstasy (1Co 14:26). Some think that the verb has here its original signification of singing with an instrument. This is its dominant sense in the Septuagint, and both Basil and Gregory of Nyssa define a psalm as implying instrumental accompaniment; and Clement of Alexandria, while forbidding the use of the flute in the agapae, permitted the harp. But neither Basil nor Ambrose nor Chrysostom, in their panegyrics upon music, mention instrumental music, and Basil expressly condemns it. Bingham dismisses the matter summarily, and sites Justin Martyr as saying expressly that instrumental music was not used in the Christian Church. The verb is used here in the general sense of singing praise.