Singing Before the Bible
The Ancient Sound of Worship
As far back as the Psalms, our scriptures preserve the songs of faith. Singing has always been woven into the human spiritual experience—an instinctive response to the sacred. But history holds even earlier treasures, small glimpses into how our spiritual ancestors worshiped together.
One of the most fascinating examples comes from something called the Oxyrhynchus Hymn. In the early 20th century, archaeologists uncovered a trove of ancient papyri in the Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus. Among the fragments was a Christian song dated to the late 3rd century—remarkable not only for its words, but for the fact that it included musical notation.
That means we can actually recreate the melody sung by Christians more than 1,700 years ago.
What It Sounded Like
By modern standards, it’s closer to a chant than a song. But that’s part of its beauty. You can even find renditions on YouTube today—though, oddly enough, copyright law applies, which is perhaps the least ancient thing about it.
The lyrics invite the whole of creation to join in worship:
Let the stars not be silent, nor the shining moon.
Let all the rivers and waters praise the Father, Son, and Spirit. Amen. Amen.
Strength and praise. Glory forever to God,
the sole giver of all good things. Amen. Amen.
Even here, so early in Christian history, we hear echoes of cosmic worship and the goodness of creation. We even catch a glimpse of trinitarian language already taking shape—centuries before creeds were formalized.
Sidebar: How Ancient Musical Notation Worked
The notation in the Oxyrhynchus Hymn wasn’t like the five-line staff we use today. Instead, it used symbols above the Greek text to indicate relative pitch and rhythm—more like a coded set of musical cues than a full score. It’s a reminder that music was transmitted as much through shared memory and communal repetition as it was through written instruction. These notations acted less like a prescription and more like a prompt, guiding singers toward a melody they already knew in their bones.
Before There Was a Bible
It’s important to remember that our modern form of church—stages, microphones, electric guitars, the familiar “four songs and then a sermon”—is a cultural artifact of our own moment. But the act of singing together? That’s been part of the Christian story from the very beginning.
Before there was a Bible, before there was a canon, there were melodies.
Communities were writing songs, recording their notation, passing them from place to place, and singing the same words and tunes together.
The music carried the faith forward long before the ink dried on the pages of Scripture.
