Alexander Hamilton was George Washington’s Secretary of Treasury. Thomas Jefferson was the Secretary of State. Hamilton believed in a strong central government. Jefferson was opposed to a strong centralized authority that would impose on the role of the state.
The Federalist Party under Hamilton believed that anything was allowed that had not been expressly forbidden in the U. S. Constitution. Thus, he wanted a centralized federal bank. Jefferson believed (his purchase of the Louisiana Territory notwithstanding) that everything was forbidden unless it was expressly authorized in the U. S. Constitution.
When we don’t limit ourselves to the powers expressly given to us in those documents that define who we are as a people, then we eventually evolve into something quite different, distinct from what we were originally.
The Hebrew word often translated “heart” refers both to the emotions of man and to his intellect. We simply cannot do anything enthusiastically unless we do it from our hearts. We may not always do what our brains tell us to do, but we will always do what our hearts lead us to do.
This is why the Old Testament deals so much with loving and serving God from the heart. Consider these passages from Deuteronomy on the heart: 6:5; 7:9; 10:12, 16; 11:13; 30:6. The uncircumcised heart, in the Old Testament, was a heart that refused to obey.
So, consider these passages that emphasize the relationship between the heart and obedience: Psalm 37:31; 40:8; 51:17; 119:10, 112. The heart that is given to God fully, then, is a heart that will obey and will not pass beyond what obedience is required. To word it another way, obedience means a heart that will not add to what God has commanded.
“You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2). Seven verses later, Moses commands: “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.”
In the New Testament age, under the guidance of Christ’s apostles, the Christian assemblies were commanded to sing from the heart. It is our heart that motivates us to worship. But our hearts have to be submissive to the Word of God. Temptations will always come along to see if we will remain submissive to the word of God or if we will do what our self-centered heart desires. Again, obedience to God involves not adding to what God has commanded.
Thus, when Paul talked to the Christians in Corinth about their attitude toward God and toward one another, he uses their singing as an illustration of that unity that should prevail in their assembly: “What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also” (1 Cor. 14:15).
To the saints in Ephesus, Paul said, “be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord” (5:18-19). Please observe that if Paul had limited his command to “making melody,” then any source of “melody” would have been authorized. But, he limited his command to “singing” and “with your heart.”
Then to the Christians in Colossae, Paul wrote, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (3:16). Again, this “song service” is limited to that which “teaches and admonishes,” showing us the purpose of the song service is educational. Paul also says it is the heart that is to do the worshipping.
Let us limit ourselves to the instrument which God has authorized in our song service: our hearts.
Paul Holland
