speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and chanting with your heart to the Lord;
The command comes in the verse before: do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. Singing is the first thing that spills over, which raises two questions: what should we sing, and where does the song start?
Fullness, Not Just Indwelling
One writer draws a sharp line between what every believer has and what few enjoy:
It is one thing to be indwelt by the Spirit, and another to be filled with the Spirit. All believers are indwelt; but how few, sadly, are filled! ... To be filled with the Spirit is to be under the direct energy of the Spirit's action. It stands here in contrast with the forced, natural cheerfulness that wine causes. Instead of that, the believer should have the joy and happiness that the Holy Spirit pours into his heart. This will find its suitable outlet in expressions of joy; not the foolish songs of the world, but the psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.
Another writer pictures the change as one vessel refilled:
There is a vessel filled with the Spirit. It is the very same vessel, only changed. It was once filled with wine; now, in a spirit of thanksgiving, it is bubbling up with melody to the Lord.
Three Kinds of Song
The verse names three kinds of song. One writer sets out what each word covers:
The word psalm means a sacred song sung with a stringed instrument. Hymns are songs of praise to God, and the word clearly covers many of the psalms too. Still, not all psalms are hymns, and hymns are not always psalms. Spiritual songs covers more than praise. It includes songs of spiritual experience, songs celebrating events in Scripture, and songs of meditation on its various truths.
Whose Psalms?
Commentators differ over whether "psalms" here means the Old Testament book. Some say it does. Others reject that, for reasons drawn from those psalms themselves:
The Old Testament Psalms cannot carry true worship. In them worship goes to Jehovah, and not to the Father and the Son. A finished redemption was not yet known. And the psalms that call down judgment are quite out of keeping with the spirit of the New Testament. So the psalms of Ephesians 5:19 cannot be the Psalms of the Old Testament. They must be psalms written for Christian worship.
Another writer notes that the New Testament gives Christians no book of songs, and sees a reason for it:
There is no supply of psalms, hymns, or spiritual songs written by inspiration for the Christian; for the Jew there is a very large one. Do you wonder at this? ... The Jew needed such praises made for him; the Church does not. The Christian and the Church have the Holy Spirit, which the Jew did not have, and so have within them a full spring for making melody in the heart.
Speaking to One Another
One writer sets the order between speaking to each other and singing to the Lord, and warns what happens when the words outrun the heart:
Personal worship is the first effect of being filled with the Spirit, and the fellowship of believers naturally follows it and carries it on... Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are the audible expressions of a melody that begins in secret, in the heart where Christ dwells. When we are in the Spirit and speak to ourselves, we speak of Jesus; when we answer one another, it is in the Lord's song... There is no melody for Christ if our hearts are still far from Him, even though the words we use may have come from His Spirit.
Voice and Heart Together
The heart is not an alternative to the voice. The verse asks for both at once:
Believers here are told not to sing only, and not to make melody in the heart only, but to do both. No amount of melody with the voice can take the place of melody in the heart.
One writer adds comfort for those who cannot hold a tune:
Singing is audible, but making melody in your heart is more vital. This is surely an encouragement to those who have trouble carrying a tune!
Sung to the Lord
The verse aims the song at one hearer:
We should always make sure our hymns and songs of praise are directed to God. Faith and the energy of the Spirit turn the heart straight to Him. Most religious singing today is probably aimed at people instead.
Summary
- Filled — the Spirit lives in every believer. But this song flows from being filled: from the Spirit's direct energy, not the lift wine gives.
- Overflow — the vessel that once held wine now bubbles up with melody. What fills it has changed, not who is filled.
- Three songs — psalms and hymns carry praise to God. Spiritual songs reach wider: experience, events in Scripture, and meditation on its truths.
- Source — commentators differ on whether "psalms" means the Old Testament book. Several hold that Christians need no inspired hymnbook, because the Spirit within is a spring of song.
- Direction — the verse asks for voice and heart together, both turned to the Lord. Without melody in the heart, the finest words are only sound.