DatOrganistTho
Puritan Board Freshman
First off, I'm working through the arguments for and against EP at the moment. There have been some close friends in my life who teach at a professional level who have made some objections to EP. I also have some of my own objections.
I am not out to make straw-men out of EPers. What I intend to do is, however elementary, address some of the concerns I have when embracing an EPp. Here are those objections:
Again, I have to frame these questions in such a way that my thinking is on the table for people to examine. I again am not trying to make out straw-men, but rather sharpen my thinking in understanding the RPW and EPers positions. Thank you for considering this, if you respond!
I am not out to make straw-men out of EPers. What I intend to do is, however elementary, address some of the concerns I have when embracing an EPp. Here are those objections:
- If the Old Testament is about types and shadows, as they do not directly reveal the ministry of Jesus and his earthly time, then why do EPers insist on only keeping the OT revelation of Jesus in their singing, even though NT covenant has been established and we are no longer about types and shadows?
- Why do EPers insist on relying solely on the exegesis of an uninspired book (the LXX) for the cogency of their argument (related to the exegesis of Eph. 5, et al)? How is the claim that "Eph. 5 essentially uses 'Psalms, Psalms, and Psalms'" not a non sequitur (i.e. because the only three words used in the account of singing in Eph. 5 (et al) talks about Psalms, therefore those are the only songs they sung.)?
- Why do EPers insist on singing "God's inspired hymnal" but do not sing in the original Hebrew, or insist in using metered and poetic variants of the Psalms (as a musician, this is particularly puzzling to me)? This follows from the argument that begs the question, "Why should we sing anything other than inspired scripture, the hymnal of the Bible, which the apostles and early church dared not to stray from?" Also related to this question is that of convenience. If it is easier to sing a metered version of the Psalm because it is easier for a congregation to sing, then this would not be a valid argument. We do not worship God out of convenience, especially if what God requires of us is to sing to him in a manner consistent with the inspired Word of God.
- If EPers (in keeping with RPW) believe that Baptism is referencing circumcision (referring to oikobaptists), and that the Lord's Supper is referring to Passover, but the New Covenant order of these sacraments are not all-together the same as their type/shadow counterparts in the OT, then why must the Psalter be exclusively used, as the OT shadow of the NT?
- If EPers are committed to the ordained singing of Psalms because they are inspired, then why do we preach uninspired sermons that are based in scripture but are not recitations of scripture?
Again, I have to frame these questions in such a way that my thinking is on the table for people to examine. I again am not trying to make out straw-men, but rather sharpen my thinking in understanding the RPW and EPers positions. Thank you for considering this, if you respond!
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