Instrumental Music in Christian
Worship – Is it God's Will?
I am
sure there are millions of those who lay claim to being Christians who have
never given the subject of instrumental music in Christian worship a
thought. It is just taken for granted
that it is a part of acceptable worship to God.
I suspect even most of us who were raised in a religious setting where
instruments were never used in worship wondered about it at one point in time
or another. Was it really wrong to use
them in worship and if so why? Perhaps
we were troubled to the point of studying the subject. If so we were to be commended. Our religion should never be just a matter of
inheritance from one generation to another.
In
studying the subject of instrumental music no man alive today can remember when
there was a time when instruments were not in common use and generally accepted
across what is called Christendom. However,
it was over 600 years after Christ before instrumental music was introduced
into worship. Pope Vitalian, it is said,
was the first to add the instrument to the worship with the date being a little
uncertain but it was somewhere between 658 and 670 AD. While the Roman Catholic Church came to
accept it the Greek Catholic Church never did although that may now be changing
some.
This
historical fact is immensely important.
It proves the introduction of instrumental music into the worship was
done by man rather than God. If of God
rather than man why did they not use the instrument from the beginning?
If it
was of man who gave man the authority to bring it into the worship?
Remember
when Jesus was confronted by the chief priests and elders who wanted to know by
what authority he was doing the things he was doing? He said he would answer when they answered
his question which was “The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?”
(Matt.
A man
then has to ask himself some questions as he considers whether or not he wants
to worship with those who use instruments.
Do I want as my authority for worship what men gave or what God gave? They say it doesn’t matter; God doesn’t
care. How can we know this? I repeat, how can we know this? How can you be sure? Do you just know it because your heart tells
you so?
Jeremiah
said, (Jer. 17:9 NKJV), “The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Again the Lord says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” (Isa. 55:8 NKJV) Just how can a person know that a thing that
clearly came from man, not God, is a matter of little or no consequence with
him?
The
Bible is full of examples of men who thought it was a little thing to deviate a
little from what God had said with regards to the worship of him - that it would not matter.
One thinks of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, who “each took his censer
and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before
the Lord, which he had not commanded them.
And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died
before the Lord.” (Lev 10:1-2
Uzziah
was one of the kings of Judah whom you can read about in 2 Chron. 26. The Bible says “he transgressed against the
Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of
incense.” (2 Chron. 26:16 NKJV) Azariah the priest along with 80 other
priests went in after him and withstood him to the face for only the priests,
the sons of Aaron, had God authorized to perform this service. Uzziah became very angry with them at which
time leprosy broke out on his forehead from God. He remained a leper until the day of his
death living in isolation. Do you think
Uzziah thought it would matter with God if he entered the temple and burned
incense? Do you think he would have done
it had he thought so?
Other
examples could be given for in reality much of the problem with God’s people in
the Old Testament can be traced back to the idea that they did not think who
they worshipped or how they worshipped made much difference. One sees some of the same tendencies in the
New Testament. What is Paul’s rebuke of
the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 11 all about if it is not about the corruption of the
worship in how the Lord’s supper is to be partaken
of? Does it matter to God? Some are still saying today it does not
matter. We can do this or that with
it. How can one say that in light of
history? Why does Paul place
restrictions on women in the public worship if things like that do not matter?
Those
who say the instrument does not matter know more than any man can possibly
know. No man can know a thing with
certainty about which God has said nothing.
I once read a sermon whose message in the title has stuck in my memory
now for decades. The sermon was by a
preacher named Benjamin Franklin, some distant relation to the Benjamin Franklin
of historical fame, in a book entitled The Gospel Preacher, Vol. 1. The name of the sermon was “The Course to
Pursue to be Infallibly Safe.” That
sermon had nothing to do with instrumental music but it seems to me the title
is exceedingly applicable to the subject.
Is there
an infallibly safe way where a man can be right beyond any question and in
which all men would agree there is safety with regards to the subject of instrumental
music in the worship? Yes there is. No person who calls himself a Christian has
ever questioned the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with the
voice only and without the use of musical instruments. All agree this is pleasing to God without
question or doubt of any kind.
Paul
says we are to speak to one another “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Eph.
However,
if a person chooses to be reckless, if a person desires to be a gambler, if a
person wants to take a chance he must also be prepared to take the consequences
if his heart misleads him on the matter and he finds out that God does not
think as he thinks on the last day.
Consequences are in this case eternal.
It is quite a gamble. Of course,
if you ask the man or woman who is involved in the worship where the instrument
is used they will tell you they are not gambling, they
know it is okay. Ask them how they know
and they are not able to give a satisfactory answer only that their heart tells
them so.
G. K.
Wallace wrote a tract on the subject of instrumental music years ago that took
an unusual slant but one that also left a lasting impression with me. His thesis was that we have to decide what we
will be guided by. Will it be by what
the Bible says or by what the Bible does not say?
The New
Testament is the new covenant of Christ under which we live today, not the Old
Testament. There were instruments of
music used in Old Testament worship. Why
was it okay to use them? Because there
was word from God approving such under the law of
Moses (read the Psalms). Why is it wrong
to use them today? Because there is no
word from God approving such under the law of Christ under which we live today.
If a man
desired to live under the law of Moses today he could
not be saved. Much of the books of
Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews discuss this very issue. We cannot hope to be saved today by animal
sacrifice, by worshipping as they worshipped, by observing Jewish festivals,
etc..
Faith
comes by hearing the word of God (Rom.
When the
word of God is silent on a subject no matter how much you may believe what you
really have is opinion, not Bible faith.
If there is no word of God on a subject there can be no faith, only
opinion. To have faith you must first
hear the word of God (Rom.
A
foundational principle of the Christian faith is that “without faith it is
impossible to please Him (God – DS)”. (Heb. 11:6 NKJV) Faith is always dependent on evidence. We don’t believe in little green men, pink
elephants, nor ten foot tall mushrooms because there is
no evidence of their existence. We do
not actually have to see a thing to believe it but we do have to have evidence.
When it
comes to instrumental music the problem is that evidence is lacking. Not a single word about it’s
usage is found in the New Testament. It
is hard to have faith in a thing that is not even mentioned or hinted at. Is silence reasonable evidence?
There is
plenty of evidence, however, in the pages of the Bible about changing worship
to God. All the
evidence points towards the idea that it is a very dangerous thing for man to
change the worship of God.
In Matt.
15:9 Jesus quotes Isaiah and applies it to those with whom he was speaking as
follows: “And in vain they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (NKJV) I want you to look at some things. These people were worshipping God, not
idols. Yet, it was all in vain. Why?
They were “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
Those
who use instruments of music in Christian worship teach their acceptability. Is this teaching of God or man? If of God where does the New Testament so
teach the thing? If of God why did it
take 600 years after Christ's death to get it started?
Had God
desired that we use instruments how hard would it have been for him to of told
us? Not very. He told the Jews but he did not tell the
Christians. Where there is no word from
God there can be no scriptural faith (although there may be a lot of opinion
passed off as faith).
That
said and understood what does the law of Christ teach in the New Testament
about instrumental music? Not one
thing. Where is there
a single passage found that gives any support whatsoever, any command, any
example of instrumental music in the worship of Christians? The passage cannot be found.
One
might go to the book of Revelation and find it there one says. But, the book of Revelation is a symbolic
book. Do we think spiritual beings play
literal instruments? Besides, if they
are found in heaven what has that to do with the here and now? If they are there I will be glad to play them
with you if we both get there. Right now
you and I are living in the here and now under the law of Christ.
Brother
Wallace was correct. If I use the
instrument in worship I am not being guided by what the Bible says but by what
the Bible does not say. The Bible does
not say not to use them. I am being guided
by what the Bible does not say. Is this
the way we are to live?
Let us
be guided by what the Bible does say. If
I sing the Bible does say I am to sing and I am thus being guided by what the
Bible says.
If this
is how I derive Bible authority for what is right, the silence of the Bible,
then we are free to bring into the worship anything not specifically prohibited
by direct command. We can again burn
incense as did the Jews of old, perform Christian (?) dramas, eat hamburgers
for Jesus, and just about anything else we want to do that the heart can
imagine.
In fact,
we all know this is exactly what is and has happened in the so called Christian
world of today. You name it and someone
is doing it. However, ask the question
whether it is of God or man and you easily come up with the answer. No, not because they will tell you but you
are a reasonable person and can figure out that if God gave it you ought to be
able to find the book, chapter, and verse.
Happy hunting.
Of
course if your guide is what the Bible does not say then really who needs the
Bible? If a man does not need the Bible
as a guide then of what value is it?
Paul
tells us, “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7
NKJV). The whole teaching of the Bible
is that a man is to hear the word of God, believe it, and obey it. In fact, this is the bedrock of gospel
obedience. You cannot obey the gospel
any other way. This is the only way a
man can walk by faith – hear, believe, and obey.