The above words are the title of an article recently written in The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville, Tennessee (Sunday January 31, 2010). The article discussed a number of things related to doctrinal practices among churches of Christ. The writer said, "Since the late 1800s, Churches of Christ, one of Tennessee's largest faith groups, have believed their approach to church--singing without instruments in worship, interpreting the Bible literally, taking Communion weekly, and banning women from church leadership--was God's way." It was further stated, "In recent years, congregations like Otter Creek have adopted a more progressive view of their faith. They've added instruments to church services on Sunday nights and during the week." The use of instrumental music in worship service was the main point discussed in this story.
The real issue is does one have Bible authority for using instrumental music in worship service unto the Lord? We can't serve God just any way we desire and still please Him. In the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman in John 4, He said, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (vv. 23 and 24) Our worship must be from the heart and according to the truth. If it lacks either of these elements, it is not acceptable to Him.
There are three ways to establish and apply Bible authority--by a statement or a direct command, an approved apostolic example, or by necessary inference in the text. Please give careful consideration to this controversy (instrumental music) to see what God authorized the church to use in its worship service. Can we establish from the New Testament that God sanctioned the use of instrumental music in the early church?
Can we find a statement or a command authorizing the use of a piano, organ, or even a five-piece band (which some are using today)? If it is there, I have never read it. That was one thing conspicuously absent from the article in The Tennessean; they cited no Scripture. A number of verses command us to sing. Look at Ephesians 5:19, "speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." Following is a list of other New Testament verses that mention singing, Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26; Acts 16:25; Romans 15:9; 1 Corinthians 14:15; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 2:12; James 5:13; Revelation 5:9; 14:3; and 15:3.
Is there an example where a New Testament church ever used an instrument as they worshipped God in song? Not that I have read about! The church at Colosse was instructed to, "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) They were told what to sing--psalms, hymns and spiritual songs-and admonished how to sing--with grace in their hearts. Not only was their song service to be directed toward the Lord, it was also to teach and encourage one another.
Is there a New Testament passage that implies that the instrument is authorized? Where would it be? Some contend the word melody (Greek - psallo) used in Ephesians 5:19 implies the use of an instrument.
W. E. Vine defines this word psallo as, "primarily to twitch, twang, then, to play a stringed instrument with the fingers, and hence in the Septuagint, to sing with a harp, sing psalms, denotes in the New Testament, to sing a hymn, sing praise; in Ephesians 5:19, 'making melody'" (Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, p. 740). Thayer, in his Lexicon, gives a very similar definition to this word. Those at Ephesus were told what to pluck or twang; it was the heart strings as they sung the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to the Lord. In the New Testament, it simply meant to sing, not to play.
Adam Clark, a Methodist preacher and writer of Clark's Commentary, said, "Music, as a science, I esteem and admire: but instruments of music in the house of God I abominate and abhor" (Clark's Commentary Vol. IV, p. 684). Charles Spurgeon, a famous Baptist preacher, was quoted as saying, "I would as soon attempt to pray to God with machinery as to sing to Him with machinery." You can see from these quotes that, in days gone by, even those among some of the largest denominations in our nation rejected the use of instrumental music in worship service. Do you think they recognized that there was no Biblical authority for it? I believe so!
Is the use of instruments in our worship progressive or digressive? It might be progressive in men's eyes, but in God's eyes, it is digressive. We'd better be concerned about pleasing God, not other people. Paul said, "For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ." (Galatians 1:10)
It never ceases to amaze me how people can take such a simple subject and mess it up so badly. Nine New Testament passages reveal the kind of music God desires in worship. All nine use some form of the word SING. The Old Testament speaks of musical instruments and uses the language and words for playing them. If God wanted the people under the New Law to use musical instruments, why didn't He use the Greek language words for playing? He did not. Why? There are only two types of music-instrumental and vocal-and God told His people to make melody in their hearts-not on harps!
Another part of this article discussed modern churches and the fact that they are open to a more progressive view of faith. To whom does the church belong? (Matthew 16:18) Who is its head? (Ephesians 1:22, 23) Who shed His blood to purchase it? (Acts 20:28) Who has all authority in heaven and on earth? (Matthew 28:18) Who instructed us to worship in spirit and in truth? (John 4:24) These questions all have the same answer-the Lord. Shouldn't what He said carry more weight than the opinions of any man or group of men.
Modern thinking that seeks to undermine, ignore, change, equate to, or replace Divine authority has bigger problems than understanding the type of music the Bible authorizes for use in the New Testament Church. Fundamentally, what the modern religions have forgotten is the focus of worship. Worship is directed toward, and designed to honor, God and His wishes-not what the people in the pews desire. Yes, modern theology may put larger numbers in the pews, provide for great and gigantic building programs, and bring more money into the church coffers; but none of this saves souls! In the midst of all the good that progressive faith has attempted to do for mankind, it has completely forgotten that the church is a spiritual institution that has a spiritual work. We need to let God be God and us be subject to His wishes instead of what the majority of us wants! (KMG)