Church As Harmony

Church As Harmony May 22, 2015

Paul describes the church as a body animated by the Spirit – one body with many members, each member necessary to the health of the body, each making its unique contribution to the common good.

It would be consistent with Paul’s ecclesiology to use musical rather than somatic images. Each member of the church is a voice that contributes to the beauty of the whole. Each voice enhances all the others. The church is a chorus. The church is a harmony.

This hints in a couple of directions. On the one hand, “choir’ isn’t just a picture of the communion of the church. Rather, in song the church is actually formed into a single entity, a complexly vibrating body with many members. As the church is made one body by the one loaf, so it is made into one body by the one song that it sings.

On the other hand, the image of the church as harmony highlights the importance of authority. A choir sings well only if it submits to the authority of the notes. It must also submit to the authority of the director – the director’s choices about which music to sin, the director’s direction. Ultimately, the Spirit is the director of the ecclesial chorus, but the Spirit’s direction is mediated through Spirit-gifted teachers, leaders, rulers. 

The authority of a choir director doesn’t suppress individual talent and development, but enables it. So too authority properly exercised in the church doesn’t annul gifts but brings them to maturity.


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