The Impact and Application of the Psalms in the New Testament

This is a passage I read that is really excellent on the implications of the Psalms as they are used in the New Testament. As we strive to understand the relevance and application of the Old Testament books on the writers of the New Testament and accordingly on the practical application of such into our own lives, writers delving fruitfully into the topic such as we see here are entirely worth our time to read.

Their New Testament use
Our Lord, at the beginning of His ministry, made a pointed omission from an Old Testament passage, by closing the book before the phrase 'the day of vengeance of our God' (Isa. 61:1f.; Luke 4:18-20). This, taken with His teaching on repaying evil with good, might suggest His discarding of the whole concept of judgment; but it soon becomes clear that matters are not as simple as this. He has come with salvation, yet its very approach brings judgment all the closer. The 'wicked husbandmen' in the parable are brought to a final, and as it turns out, a fatal decision when the son of the house confronts them; the small towns of Galilee, having had their taste of heaven, now face a deeper hell than Sodom's.

This paradox has its bearing on the psalms of imprecation. The psalmists in their eagerness for judgment call on God to hasten it; the Gospel by contrast shows God's eagerness to save, but reveals new depths and immensities of judgment which are its corollary. 'Now they have no excuse for their sin.'

In its quotations and echoes of the Psalter on this theme the New Testament sometimes speaks with less severity than its source, sometimes with more, but never with mere personal rancour. We... can note, as samples, that God's wrath and the Messiah's 'rod of iron', which are prominent in Ps. 2, are prominent in Revelation; that the 'day of His wrath' (110:5) finds its echo in Rom. 2:5, and the anger called down on those 'who do not know' God (79:6) is confirmed in 2 Thess. 1:8 (where, however, the offense is clarified as refusal to acknowledge Him, not mere ignorance).

Occasionally the New Testament breaks off a quotation at the point where retribution is threatened in the Psalter, but this is usually for reasons of relevance rather than any reservations of doctrine. For example in Jn. 10:34 the point at issue has been fully made with the words 'I said, you are gods'; nothing would be gained by completing the quotation: 'nevertheless you shall die like men' (Ps. 82:7). Much the same is true of 1 Pet. 3:12, quoting only half of Ps. 34:16. Again, in Rom. 3:19 the phrase, 'that every mouth may be stopped', concludes the case against man which has been built up in the previous chapters, so that he falls silent. There is no need here of the sanctions which loom up behind Ps. 63:11. On the other hand the silence is significant in Jn. 13:18, where our Lord quotes Ps. 41:9 on the friend 'who ate my bread' and 'lifted his heal against me', but forbears to pray, as David prayed, for the opportunity to requite him. He has something better to offer him.

At the same time there is 'sorer punishment' revealed in the New Testament than in the psalms, simply because the whole scale of human destiny has come into sight. This is very clear from a comparison of Ps. 6:8 with Matt. 7:23, where the words 'Depart from me, all you workers of evil' are transformed from a cry of relief by David into a sentence of death by Christ. The principle is the same truth and lies cannot live together. 'Outside' will be 'every one who loves and practices falsehood'. But it is one thing to be driven off by David; quite another by Christ, to the final exclusion which is also the climax of almost every parable in the Gospels.

The New Testament, then, so far from minimizing the role of judgment, increases its gravity at the same time as it removes it from the sphere of private reprisal. This is illustrated by its use of two of the most heated outbursts in the Psalter, in Ps. 69 and 109. Each of them is treated as prophecy, and taken to be the sentence of God on invincible impenitence. Peter quotes Ps. 69:25 and 109:8 of Judas, in the spirit of our Lord's sorrowful but unquestioning references to his perdition. Paul has a similar tenderness for Israel (for whom he could wish himself accursed) when he sees them inheriting the doom of Ps. 69:22f.; 'Let their feast become a snare... let their eyes be darkened... and bend their backs forever' (Rom. 11:9f.) - but he clearly regards the clause 'for ever' as revocable if they will repent, as indeed he expects them to do. So we gain the additional insight into these maledictions, that for all their appearance if implacability they are to be taken as conditional, as indeed the prophets' oracles were. Their full force was for the obdurate; upon repentance they would become 'a curse that is causeless', which, as Pro. 26:2 assures us, 'does not slight'.

Their present relevance
As a preliminary to this question there are two further elements in the New Testament to take into account... The first is the plea of God's elect for vindication..., a plea which our Lord accepts in Lu. 18:7f., and which is echoed in the martyrs' cry in Rev. 6:10: 'How long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?' What seems to be meant in both cases is the accusing fact of innocent blood, 'crying' like Abel's 'from the ground' to God. It can hardly mean the conscious prayer of the martyrs, for in reality the example of Stephen set the tone for his successors (as his Master's did for him), ending the old tradition of indignant protest (cf. 2 Chr. 24:22; Jer. 18:23). But Stephen's prayer for his enemies could be answered only through their repentance, as indeed it was the case of Saul. Otherwise, in the sight of heaven this blood would still be on their heads. Even the atoning blood of Christ, although 'it speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel', becomes damning evidence against those who abuse it.

The second element is the occasional equivalent of cursing in the New Testament. The Lord Himself led the way with His acted and spoken oracles of judgment on unfruitful Israel (Mk. 11:14; 12:9) and on unfaithful churches (Rev. 2f.). In the age of the apostles, if the fate of Ananias and Sapphira was not actually invoked, the temporary blinding of Elymas was; so too was the handing over of the Corinthian offender to satan (1 Cor. 5:5). The future requital of Alexander the coppersmith is stated in terms of Ps. 62:12 in 2 Tim. 4:14 (but note the prayer of verse 16). What is common to all these cases is concern for the welfare of the kingdom or of the offender himself (including Alexander, it may be, while there was yet hope of repentance: 1 Tim. 1:20). The personal interests of those who call down these judgments have nothing of the prominence which they appear to have in the psalms. The fewness of these prayers or oracles of judgment, and the absence of bitterness, are proof enough of the new thing that has happened; but their presence at all in the New Testament confirms its continuity with the Old.

We conclude, then, that it is not open to us to renounce or ignore the psalmists, part of whose function in God's economy was to make articulate the cry of 'all the righteous blood shed on the earth' (to borrow our Lord's phrase). But equally it is not open to us simply to occupy the ground on which they stood. Between our day and theirs, our calling and theirs, stands the cross. We are ministers of reconciliation, and this is a day of good tidings.

To the question, Can a Christian use these cries for vengeance as his own? the short answer must surely be No; no more than he should echo the curses of Jeremiah or the protests of Job. He may of course translate them into affirmations of God's judgment, and into denunciations of 'the spiritual hosts of wickedness' which are the real enemy. As for the men of flesh and blood who 'live as enemies of the cross of Christ' or who make themselves our enemies, our instructions are to pray not against them but for them; to turn them from the power of satan to God; to repay their evil with good; and to choose none of their ways. 'As men in need, who may yet be rescued, they are to be loved and sought; as men who have injured us, they must be forgiven. But as men to follow or to cultivate' - and here the psalms and the New Testament speak with one voice - 'they are to be rejected utterly, as are the principalities and powers behind them'.

If these passages in the psalms open our eyes to the depths and just deserts of evil, and to the dangers of borrowing its weapons, they have done their work. To say that theirs is not the last word on the subject is no reproach: more work first needed to be done. That work and final word belonged to Christ, and we are its inheritors. (Derek Kidner, IVP Academic, TOTC, vol. 15, pp 43-47)

John Calvin on the Psalms

In this following passage Calvin outlines for us the beauty and practical application of the Psalms in the lives of believers. Rarely will we find a more expert presentation intended to lead us to study this book and to make it a central part of our walk with the Lord.

"I have been accustomed to call this book, I think not inappropriately, 'An Anatomy of all the Parts of the Soul;' for there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror. Or rather, the Holy Spirit has here drawn to the life all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities, in short, all the distracting emotions with which the minds of men are wont to be agitated. The other parts of Scripture contain the commandments which God enjoined His servants to announce to us. But here the prophets themselves, seeing they are exhibited to us as speaking to God, and laying open all their inmost thoughts and affections, call, or rather draw, each of us to the examination of himself in particular, in order that none of the many infirmities to which we are subject, and of the many vices with which we abound, may remain concealed. It is certainly a rare and singular advantage, when all lurking places are discovered, and the heart is brought into the light, purged from the most baneful infection, hypocrisy. In short, as calling upon God is one of the principal means of securing our safety, and as a better ad more unerring rule for guiding us in this exercise cannot be found elsewhere than in The Psalms, it follows, that in proportion to the proficiency which a man shall have attained in understanding them, will be his knowledge of the most important part of celestial doctrine. Genuine and earnest prayer proceeds first from a sense of our need, and next, from faith in the promises of God. It is by perusing these inspired compositions, that men will be most effectually awakened to a sense of their maladies, and, at the same time, instructed in seeking remedies for their cure. In a word, whatever may serve to encourage us when we are about to pray to God, is taught us in this book. And not only are the promises of God presented to us in it, but oftentimes there is exhibited to us on standing, as it were, amidst the invitations of God on the one hand, and the impediments of the flesh on the other, girding and preparing himself for prayer: thus teaching us, if at any time we are agitated with a variety of doubts, to resist and fight against them, until the soul, freed and disentangled from all these impediments, rise up to God; and not only so, but even when in the midst of doubts, fears, and apprehensions, let us put forth our efforts in prayer, until we experience some consolation which may calm and bring contentment to our minds. Although distrust may shut the gate against our prayers, yet we must not allow ourselves to give way, whenever our hearts waver or are agitated with inquietude, but must persevere until faith finally come forth victorious from these conflicts... It appeared to me to be requisite to to show in passing, that this book makes known to us this privilege, which is desirable above all others - that not only is there opened up to us this familiar access to God, but also that we have permission and freedom granted to us to lay open before Him our infirmities, which we would be ashamed to confess before men. Besides, there is also here prescribed to us an infallible rule for directing us with respect to the right manner of offering to God the sacrifice of praise, which He declares to be most precious in His sight, and of the sweetest odor. There is no other book in which there is to be found more express and magnificent commendations, both of the unparalleled liberality of God towards His Church, and of all His works; there is no other book in which there is recorded so many deliverances, nor one in which the evidences and experiences of the Fatherly providence and solicitude which God exercises towards us, are celebrated with such splendor of diction, and yet with the strictest adherence to truth; in short, there is no other book in which we are more perfectly taught the right manner of praising God, or in which we are more powerfully stirred up to the performance of this religious exercise. Moreover, although The Psalms, are replete with all the precepts which serve to frame our life to every part of holiness, piety, and righteousness, yet they will principally teach and train us to bear the cross; and the bearing of the cross is a genuine proof of our obedience, since by doing this, we renounce the guidance of our own affections, and submit ourselves entirely to God, leaving Him to govern us, and to dispose of our life according to His will, so that the afflictions which are the bitterest and most severe to our nature, become sweet to us, because they proceed from Him. In one word, not only will we here find general commendations of the goodness of God, which may teach men to repose themselves in Him alone, and to seek all their happiness solely in Him; and which are intended to teach true believers with their whole hearts confidently to look to Him for help in all their necessities; but we will also find that the free remission of sins, which alone reconciles God towards us, and procures for us settled peace with Him, is so set forth and magnified, and that here there is nothing wanting which relates to the knowledge of eternal salvation."

May the study of this book personally lead each of us to share its significance just as Calvin has done here. May that, in turn, lead to an increase in the use of the Psalms by all of the people of God both privately and corporately. Then may we see it lead all of us to fervent prayer and a close walk with our God with an utter abandonment of self to His glory and in obedience to His will.