Hymns, Early Christian
Hymns, Early Christian. Religious songs that early Christians sang in honor of God.
Religious services were joyful occasions for the early Christians and a fitting opportunity to sing praises to God. These religious songs were referred to as “hymns” (Gr. hymnos), “psalms” (psalmos), or “spiritual songs” (ode pneumatike; cf. Eph 5:19; Col 3:16). We know that Jesus and the disciples “sang a hymn” (hymneo) at the conclusion of the Passover supper in the upper room at Jerusalem (Matt 26:30; Mark 14:26), a practice which Paul probably followed. In the jail at Philippi, Paul and Silas “sang hymns" (hymneo) to God, and other prisoners heard their singing (Acts 16:25).
Early Christians likely continued the Jewish practice of singing from the book of Psalms, and many NT songs followed in the style of OT songs (e.g., the song of Moses in Exod 15:1–18 and Rev 15:3–4; the song of Hannah and the song of Mary in 1 Sam 2:1–10 and Luke 1:46–55; etc.). Christians also wrote new songs, and many scholars believe that fragments of these early Christian hymns appear in the text of the NT without being explicitly identified as such (e.g., Eph 1:3–14; Phil 2:5–11; Col 1:13–20; 1 Tim 3:16). The high Christology found in these fragments is evidence of early Christian celebration and worship of Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation is particularly full of doxological hymns, offering praise and worship to God for His mighty works (Rev 4:8, 11; 5:9–10; 11:17–18; 15:3–4).
The earliest complete Christian hymn that survives is found in Clement of Alexandria’s treatise The Teacher (ca. AD 200) and is known as “Bridle of colts untamed,” a song of praise to Christ. Christians were also known by outsiders for their singing—for example, when asking the Emperor Trajan for advice on how to deal with the Christians (ca. AD 107–15), Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia and Ponthus, briefly describes their gatherings and writes that “they were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god” (Epistles 10.96).