Deep Dive into The Psalms in Present-Day Apologetics by Jesse Johnson

In his defense of the Christian faith, Jesse Johnson argues that the primary duty of modern apologetics is to uphold the absolute inspiration and authority of the Bible against contemporary attacks. This momentous responsibility belongs not merely to specialized scholars, but to the entire church, which must hold God's truth firm and high. Johnson asserts that the church's choice of a praise manual profoundly influences the congregation's view of Scripture, as congregational singing is a delightful and highly formative part of public worship. Consequently, he advocates for the exclusive use of the biblical Psalter in worship, arguing that it serves as a powerful public testimony to the superiority of God's Word over all other writings.

According to Johnson, since God has already provided a complete and inspired collection of praise songs in the Bible, choosing to supplement or replace it with uninspired hymns wrongly suggests that the biblical Psalter is somehow deficient or unfit for modern use. He warns against the growing tendency to equate the spiritual illumination of modern hymn-writers with the divine inspiration of biblical authors. Johnson draws a sharp distinction between the two: divine inspiration was a unique, temporary intellectual equipment meant to communicate infallible truth to others, whereas spiritual illumination is a personal grace given to all believers to help them understand already revealed truth, though it does not guarantee freedom from error. Equating the two ultimately diminishes the authority of the Scriptures by subjecting them to human judgment.

Finally, the exclusive use of the Psalms provides a strategic defense against theological error. The Psalter contains complete, divinely proportioned doctrine that shapes the believer's thoughts and protects against flawed views of God, sin, and the atonement. While uninspired hymns carry the constant risk of unwittingly introducing and disseminating false teachings into the congregation's minds, the Psalter remains completely safe and free from error because it is entirely breathed out by God.

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