author : Keith Sharp
What is almost invariably the first thing a visitor notices who has never been in a worship assembly of a church of Christ before? “Where’s your piano?” “Are you folks too poor to buy some musical instruments?” No, we choose not to use any mechanical instrument of music. Why?
The popular attitude is “It makes no difference how we worship; after all, we all worship the same God.” So, we inquire, is the use of instrumental music in worship acceptable to God?
What Difference Does It Make?
Does it make any difference how we worship God? Cain and Abel both offered sacrifices to God, but the Lord accepted Abel’s worship but rejected Cain’s (Genesis 4:3-5). Why? Because Abel offered a sacrifice by faith, but Cain didn’t (Hebrews 11:4). Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). So, Abel offered what God required, but Cain didn’t. Did it make any difference how they worshiped?
Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron the High Priest and priests themselves, offered incense lit by “strange fire,” fire not taken from the altar of burnt offerings (Leviticus 10:1-3; cf. 16:12-13). Rather than accepting their worship, the Lord consumed them with fire. Did it make any difference how they worshiped?
King Uzziah of the tribe of Judah went into the Temple to offer incense, and God struck him with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:3-4, 16-21). The Lord had specified that the priests of the tribe of Levi were to offer the incense (Exodus 30:7). He hadn’t said anything about a priest from the tribe of Judah (Hebrews 7:14). Did it make any difference how they worshiped?
The Lord rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for vain worship because they taught as doctrines the commandments of men (Matthew 15:7-9). Did it make any difference how they worshiped?
We live under the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6-13). Acceptable worship, true (real) worship, is “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24). “In spirit” is with the right attitudes (cf. Romans 12:11); “in truth” is in harmony with truth, the Word of God (John 17:17).
What kind of music has God authorized in New Testament worship? Seven New Testament passages tell us the kind of music the Lord wants us to use in worship in this age (Acts 16:25; Romans 15:9; 1 Corinthians 14:15; Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 2:12; James 5:13). All seven specify that God wants us to sing.
Yes, it does make a difference how we worship God. We must worship both in spirit and truth. To worship in truth the only kind of music we may use is singing. The only music in worship God will accept in this age is singing.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Colossians 3:16).
An Examination of Arguments in Favor of Instrumental Music in Worship
When I preached in Northern New York, two young soldiers began attending with us, one from a Pentecostal background. They wanted to know why we didn’t use instruments of music in our song service. I showed them the New Testament passages that authorize singing in worship and explained that no passages authorize playing on instruments. The Lord revealed the kind of music He wants in worship – singing. That leaves out playing instruments, since it’s not authorized by the Lord.
They later returned confident they had the needed authority. The Psalms command us to play all kinds of instruments (e.g., Psalm 150). I explained that the Psalms are part of the Old Testament (cf. John 10:34; Psalm 82:6 and John 15:25; Psalm 35:19). The Old Testament was removed as law by the death of Christ on the cross (Colossians 2:13-14), and we cannot appeal to it for authority (Galatians 5:1-4). In fact, David, who wrote many of the Psalms (2 Samuel 23:1-2), had more than eight wives and at least ten concubines, i.e., slave wives (1 Samuel 18:27; 25:42-43; 2 Samuel 3:2-5; 5:13; 15:16; 1 Kings 1:1-6). Shall we follow his example of polygamy? David also offered animal sacrifices to God (Psalm 51:19). We cannot take a running leap over the cross, land in the sheepfold with David, and play a harp in worship. He lived under the Old Testament, but we live under the New (Hebrews 8:6-13). Under the Old Testament the Lord commanded the use of instrumental music in worship (2 Chronicles 29:25), but the New Testament nowhere authorizes it.
Two young military couples in Northern New York argued that instrumental music is acceptable in worship because the New Testament doesn’t forbid it. I asked them to find the passage that forbids polygamy, but they couldn’t, because it’s not in the Bible. Is polygamy therefore pleasing to God? No, because the Lord only authorizes a man to have one wife and a woman to have one husband (Matthew 19:4-5; 1 Corinthians 7:2). And the only kind of music the New Testament authorizes for worship is singing (Colossians 3:16). We must have authority from Christ for all we do (Colossians 3:17).
So far as is recorded, instrumental music was first introduced among brethren in America in Midway, Kentucky in 1860 because the singing was so bad some decided they needed a melodeon as an aid to their singing (Search. 1:311-12). Are instruments of music just aids to singing, like song books and pitch pipes? When we use song books, or the leader gets the pitch with a pitch pipe, we do nothing in addition to singing. But instrumental music is another kind of music, which the Lord has not authorized (2 John 9).
But, preacher, don’t you know there are harps in heaven (Revelation 5:8; 14:2; 15:2)? Well, if those harps were literal, and they’re not, that wouldn’t authorize instrumental music in worship on earth in the New Testament age. But if Revelation authorizes harps in worship, it also authorizes burning incense in worship (Revelation 5:8). Yes, I know the incense is symbolic of prayer, but the harps are symbolic of praise, just as the great, red dragon symbolizes Satan (Revelation 12:3,9).
Some go to the Greek and argue that singing psalms (1 Corinthians 14:26; Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:16) requires an instrument, since the root meaning of “psalmos” (Greek word for “psalm”) originally meant “‘playing’ a stringed instrument” (TDNT. 8:491). However, words change their usage over the years, and in the New Testament the word just “means a Christian song in general” (TDNT. 8:499). We can read the Psalms found in the Old Testament (cf. Luke 24:44). Does that require an instrument? We’re specifically commanded to speak to each other in psalms (Ephesians 5:19). Does speaking require a musical instrument?
Some make a parallel argument on the Greek word “psallo,” translated “sing” (Romans 15:9; 1 Corinthians 14:15; James 5:13) and “making melody” (Ephesians 5:19). In ancient classical Greek it meant “to play a stringed instrument” (TDNT. 8:490), but by the time the New Testament was written it meant “to sing praises” (Mounce. 1313). The apostle Paul specified we are to make melody (“psallo”) in our hearts (Ephesians 5:19), demonstrating he uses the term figuratively to direct that our praise must come from the heart. No standard English translation of the New Testament includes the idea of plucking on a stringed instrument in the verses where “psallo” occurs.
We cannot walk by faith and use instrumental music in worship (2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 10:17), we cannot worship in truth and accompany our singing with an instrument (John 4:24; 17:17; Matthew 15:9), we cannot have the unity of the Spirit by playing an instrument (Ephesians 4:1-6), and we cannot act by the authority of Christ with the use of instrumental music in worship (Colossians 3:17; 2 John 9 ). No, instrumental music in worship is not acceptable to God.
Works Cited
Delling, Gerhard. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.
Mounce, William, Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.
West, Earl, The Search for the Ancient Order.
