What is biblical praise?
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| Hillsong Conference (Photo credit: Jiaren Lau) |
The whole of the Bible is punctuated with outbursts of praise. They rise spontaneously from the ‘basic mood’ of joy which marks the life of the people of God. God takes pleasure and delight in his works of creation (Gn. 1; Ps. 104:31; Pr. 8:30–31), and all creation, including the angels, expresses its joy in praise (Jb. 38:4–7; Rev. 4:6–11). Man also was created to rejoice in God’s works (Ps. 90:14–16) and fulfils this purpose by accepting God’s gifts (Ec. 8:15; 9:7; 11:9; Phil. 4:4, 8; cf. also W. Eichrodt, Man in the Old Testament, 1951, p. 35).
The coming of the kingdom of God into the midst of this world is marked by the restoration of joy and praise to the people of God and the whole creation (Is. 9:2; Ps. 96:11–13; Rev. 5:9–14; Lk. 2:13–14), a foretaste of which is already given in the ritual and worship of the Temple where praise arises from sheer joy in the redeeming presence of God (Dt. 27:7; Nu. 10:10; Lv. 23:40). The praise of God is rendered on earth for the works both of creation and redemption (Pss. 24; 136), this being an echo on earth of the praise of heaven (Rev. 4:11; 5:9–10). Praise, therefore, is a mark of the people of God (1 Pet. 2:9; Eph. 1:3–14; Phil. 1:11). It is the mark of the heathen that they refuse to render it (Rom. 1:21; Rev. 16:9). The act of praising implies the closest fellowship with the One who is being praised. ‘Therefore praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.… In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him’ (C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, 1958, p. 95).
Yet praise to God is frequently commanded from men as a duty and is obviously not meant to depend on mood or feeling or circumstances (cf. Jb. 1:21). To ‘rejoice before the Lord’ is part of the ordered ritual of the common life of his people (Dt. 12:7; 16:11–12), in which men encourage and exhort one another to praise. Though there are psalms which express the praise of the individual, it was always felt that praise could best be rendered within the congregation (Pss. 22:25; 34:3; 35:18), where praise not only gives honour and pleasure to God (Ps. 50:23) but also bears testimony to God’s people (Ps. 51:12–15).
Elaborate arrangements were made for the conduct of praise in the Temple by the Levites. The Psalms were used in the liturgy and in sacred processions with ‘glad shouts and songs’ (Ps. 42:4). The singing was probably antiphonal, involving two choirs, or soloist and choir. Dancing, from earliest times a means of expressing praise (Ex. 15:20; 2 Sa. 6:14), was also used in the Temple to this end (Pss. 149:3; 150:4). Ps. 150 gives a list of musical instruments used in the praise. (*Music and Musical Instruments.)
The early Christians continued to express their gladness by attending worship in the Temple (Lk. 24:53; Acts 3:1). But their experience of new life in Christ was bound to express itself in new forms of praise (Mk. 2:22). Joy was the dominant mood of the Christian life, and though the formal worship and praise which it inspired is not explicitly described or prescribed, this was because it was so much taken for granted. As those who experienced and witnessed the healing and cleansing power of Jesus broke out spontaneously into praise (Lk. 18:43; Mk. 2:12), so also in the apostolic church there are frequent examples of such spontaneous outbursts, as men began to see and understand the power and goodness of God in Christ (Acts 2:46; 3:8; 11:18; 16:25; Eph. 1:1–14).
The Psalms were undoubtedly used to express the praise of the early church (Col. 3:16; cf. Mt. 26:30). There were also new Christian hymns (cf. Rev. 5:8–14), referred to in Col. 3:16; 1 Cor. 14:26. We have examples of such inspiration to new forms of praise in the *Magnificat, *Benedictus and *Nunc Dimittis (Lk. 1:46–55, 68–79; 2:29–32). Elsewhere in the text of the NT there are examples of the formal praise of the early church. It seems likely from its literary form and content that Phil. 2:6–11 was composed and used as a hymn of praise to Christ. Probably there are echoes of, or quotations from, early hymns in such passages as Eph. 5:14 and 1 Tim. 3:16. The doxologies in the book of Revelation (cf. Rev. 1:4–7; 5:9–14; 15:3–4) must have been used in public worship to express the praise of the congregation (cf. A. B. Macdonald, Christian Worship in the Primitive Church, 1934).
The close connection between praise and sacrifice should be noted. In the sacrificial ritual of the OT a place was found for the sacrifice of thanksgiving as well as of expiation (cf. Lv. 7:11–21). Gratitude was to be the fundamental motive behind the bringing of the first-fruits to the altar (Dt. 26:1–11). In the sincere offering of praise itself there is a sacrifice which pleases God (Heb. 13:15; Ho. 14:2; Ps. 119:108). In the priestly self-offering of Jesus this aspect of thanksgiving finds its place (Mk. 14:22–23, 26; Jn. 17:1–2; Mt. 11:25–26). The life of the Christian should, correspondingly, be a self-offering of gratitude (Rom. 12:1) in fulfilment of his royal priesthood (Rev. 1:5–6; 1 Pet. 2:9), and the fact that such a sacrificial self-offering can be made in a real way in the midst of suffering, links suffering and praise together in the Christian life (Phil. 2:17). Thanksgiving sanctifies not only suffering but all aspects of the life of the Christian (1 Tim. 4:4–5; 1 Cor. 10:30–31; 1 Thes. 5:16–18). Whatever else be the burden of prayer, it must include praise (Phil. 4:6).
Bibliography. H. Ringgren, The Faith of the Psalmists, 1963; C. Westermann, The Praise of God in the Psalms, 1965; A. A. Anderson, The Book of Psalms, 1972, 1, pp. 31–36; H.-G. Link, NIDNTT 1, pp. 206–215; H. Schultz, H.-H. Esser, NIDNTT 3, pp. 816–820.
R.S.W.
