I CORINTHIANS 13:1

Q: What does the phrase “Sounding Brass” mean?

This phrase appears in I Corinthians 13:1 to describe one who speaks in tongues but is lacking in love. The original Greek is chalkos echon. Echon is related to our word “echo” and is not used in the Greek or Roman world to refer to musical instruments. So what does it mean?

The key may be found in the book On Architecture by Vitruvius written in 27 BC. He describes a Roman theater which was equipped with large (3-foot) brass vases placed in the front and back of the theater and tuned to different pitches. They would vibrate and amplify the speaker's words and musical tones. But by themselves, they were useless. One of the Pompeian mosaics pictures such vases.

It is interesting that Vitruvius states that the theater at Rome had just acquired a set of these sounding brasses from the sacked theater at Corinth!