A HYMN WRITING APOLOGIST FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF JERUSALEM - A LOOK AT EPHREM THE SYRIAN

 

Jesus commanded His disciples to make disciples of all nations, to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, and to be His witnesses to the uttermost parts of the world. Yet we consider Christianity a Western religion, not reaching into Africa and Asia until the modern mission movement. Did the apostles fail to obey and ignored the lands to the East, or is our perception a bit off?

In this series (we're in part 9 of 13), I've been following Bryan Litfin's book Getting to Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction. The first edition included ten people from the first 500 years of the church, and the second edition added two more. One of these is Ephrem the Syrian. I had never heard of him before the second edition. My loss.

Litfin mentions that the Christianity that traveled East was more Jewish than the Western form. Some of it was orthodox, some wasn't. Also, in Edessa in Mesopotamia, there were other false teachings. Ephrem recognized that both the Eastern church he was a part of and the Western church were the same faith, serving the same Savior, and fought against the heresies of Ebionism (a Judaizing movement), Arianism (denying that Jesus was God in the flesh), Marcionism, and Manicheism (a form of Gnosticism). Ephrem's theology was so strong, it was praised by church leaders in the West, such as Augustine's contemporary Jerome.

One technique of the false groups like Arianism and Manicheism was to set their hereitical teachings to music. Ephrem decided the best way to fight fire was with fire, so he wrote hymns both to refute error and to proclaim truth. This helped him earn the nickname "the Harp of the Holy Spirit."

A topic for debate today is a woman's role in the church, particularly if women can preach. In Ephrem's day, there was no such debate - the answer was an across-the-board "No." However, Ephrem saw no prohibition on women singing. So he organized women's choirs, so the sisters can sing.

Have there been hymns or other Christian songs that have had an impact on you? Do you see music being used to defend the faith and teach doctrine much this day? If not, should it? (See Colossians 3:16)