Ephesians 5:19

19. ( :-).

to yourselves—"to one another." Hence soon arose the antiphonal or responsive chanting of which PLINY writes to Trajan: "They are wont on a fixed day to meet before daylight [to avoid persecution] and to recite a hymn among themselves by turns, to Christ, as if being God." The Spirit gives true eloquence; wine, a spurious eloquence.

psalms—generally accompanied by an instrument.

hymns—in direct praise to God (compare Acts 16:25; 1 Corinthians 14:26; James 5:13).

songs—the general term for lyric pieces; "spiritual" is added to mark their being here restricted to sacred subjects, though not merely to direct praises of God, but also containing exhortations, prophecies, c. Contrast the drunken "songs," James 5:13- :.

making melody—Greek, "playing and singing with an instrument."

in your heart—not merely with the tongue but the serious feeling of the heart accompanying the singing of the lips (compare 1 Corinthians 14:15; Psalms 47:7). The contrast is between the heathen and the Christian practice, "Let your songs be not the drinking songs of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and their accompaniment, not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart" [CONYBEARE and HOWSON].

to the Lord—See PLINY'S letter quoted above: "To Christ as God."