“What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.”  (1 Cor. 14:26)

“Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord”  (Eph. 5:19)

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.”  (Col. 3:16)

“If we desire to be the speaking ones in the meetings, we have to know the hymns. In order for us to enrich, strengthen, enliven, refresh, and uplift our meetings, we need to use the hymns. We have seen that according to 1 Corinthians 14:26 and Hebrews 10:25, we need both speaking and singing in our meetings. The speaking is not only the speaking of the word of God or the speaking forth of Christ but also the speaking of the hymns. The first item listed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:26 is a psalm. A psalm is poetry. In both Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, we are charged to speak in hymns. This indicates that the saints in the early Christian meetings used a lot of hymns. Many times we may not be able to find a verse or some verses in the Bible to meet the real need in the meeting, but we can easily find a hymn to meet the need. This is why we have to know the hymns. If we use the hymns adequately and properly in our meetings, they will be uplifted, enlivened, and refreshed. But we have to do everything in a living way, not in a legal way. Legality brings in death and deadness. We must stay away from the legal deadness. We should try to do everything in a very living way that is flexible and applicable.”

(Speaking Christ for the Building Up of the Body of Christ, chapter 7)