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Music in the Church

What is the standard Christians should use to determine what we teach and practice? Would it be acceptable to take surveys of professing Christians so we could determine what the majority prefers regarding the plan of salvation, the worship of the church, et cetera? Could we do this and still call ourselves Christians? In Moses day, human preferences led to the worship of a golden calf. Few if any professing Christians would agree to basing church on doctrine on the whim of human popularity.

Could we consult the Koran, the Vedas, the teachings of Confucius, or Buddha to determine Christian beliefs and practices? Could we adopt the Jewish practices found in the Old Testament? If so, polygamy could be defended. May Christians model their religious practices after the Psalms? If so, we could sanction the use of incense (Psalm 141:2); curses upon enemies (Psalm 137:9); blowing trumpets (Psalm 81:3); processions (Psalm 42:4); animal sacrifices (Psalm 51:19); and worship toward the temple (Psalm 5:7).

We contend that in order to honor Jesus Christ in worship and doctrinal matters, faithful congregations must consult New Testament writings exclusively. When we use only the New Testament – the teachings of the apostles to the church -- as the source of Christian practices, when we assemble for worship we will offer songs of praise to God without instrumental accompaniment. First, we have a song….

“New and improved” resonates with the American consumer. When we look at televisions, computers, and cell phones, we expect the newest, most innovative models to be the best. Unfortunately, many bring this mentality into the realm of religion. The casual church member may overlook the fact that attempts to improve on God’s way as taught in the New Testament violates the biblical warning against “adding to” and “taking away” from the God’s Word (Revelation 22:18-19) and creates division within the body of Christ – one of the sins most strongly condemned in Scripture (1 Corinthians 1:10-13; John 17:17-21). In this message, we plead with conscientious believers to let the Holy Spirit’s teaching set the boundaries for church music.

Most believers know some forms of Jewish worship included instrumental music. But when did the followers of Christ begin to use instrumental music in worship? Since the Roman Catholic Church and most denominations employ instrumental accompaniment, most people assume Christians have always done so. History speaks to the contrary. Consider the testimony of the following encyclopedias:

J.M. Brown writes in the Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge "That instrumental music was not practiced by primitive Christians...is evident from church history."

The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge documents the fact that "...the organ...was rejected in early Christian circles….The custom of organ accompaniment did not become general among Protestants until the eighteenth century."

Historians provide further support for the facts presented by Encyclopedias. Edward Dickinson writes in History of Music, "While… the pagan melodies were always sung to instrumental accompaniment, the church chant was exclusively vocal." Yale Professor, George Fisher, tells us in the History of the Christian Church that "... primitive church music was choral and congregational." Theodore Finney explains in A History of Music that "The early Christians refused to have anything to do with the instrumental music which they might have inherited from the ancient world." Hugo Leichtentritt emphatically declares in Music, History and Ideas, “Only singing, however, and no playing of instruments, was permitted in the early Christian Church.” In his book, The Sound of Light: A History of Gospel Music (9), Don Cusic writes, “It was during [the first six centuries] that Christian music separated itself from the secular, pagan world by embracing a vocal music without the support of instruments….This church music defined a universal mood for prayer and reinforced the concept that the expression of the individual was to be subjugated to the whole body.” Karl Wilson Gehrkens writes in Music Notation and Terminology (1914, 76), “This term [a capella] means literally ‘in chapel style,’ and refers to the fact that in the early days of the church all singing was unaccompanied.”

Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes, though ultimately downplaying its significance, acknowledge the exclusiveness of singing in the early church in Conviction Without Compromise: Standing Strong in the Core Beliefs of the Christian Faith (2008, 289-290). They write, “Many churches throughout history have included hymns and songs in their worship services with no musical accompaniment. This was apparent especially so during the patristic period [the first six centuries of church history]. Hymns featured the human voice alone.”

Larry Thompson writes in his book on great Bible characters titled Hidden Heroes (2005, 34), “Beethoven himself is said to have “preferred a capella music in the cathedral, with instrumental music appropriate only for the theater.” Joseph Schluter, in his General History of Music (1865, 231) informs us further that Beethoven refers to unaccompanied vocal music as “the only genuine church style.”

The testimony of history is conclusive: not only was church music “entirely vocal,” but all other music was banned by early Christians as something pagan and inappropriate for the church. How could Jewish worship include instrumental music and early Christian worship exclude it? Clearly, someone altered Christian worship. So, which is it: Did God ordain the use of instruments only to have the earliest Christians remove them from public worship OR did the apostles cast instrumental music out of the worship assembly only to have men add them at a much later date without Divine sanction? Keep in mind that playing instruments are not themselves evil any more than eating steak is. But just as we cannot add or substitute steak for unleavened bread in the worship assembly neither can we add or substitute the playing of instruments for singing.

The admonitions multiply against the use of instrumental music in worship. Consider more impressive warnings from the most unlikely of sources - scholars from denominations that today uphold the use of instruments in worship.

Cajetan, the prominent sixteenth century Roman Catholic Cardinal and contemporary of Martin Luther, says, “It is to be observed the church did not use organs in Thomas time; whence even to this day, the church of Rome does not use them in the Pope’s presence… because God’s internal discipline exceeds all human disciplines, which rejected this kind of instruments.” The Catholic Encyclopedia concurs: "Although Josephus tells of the wonderful effects produced in the Temple by the use of instruments, the first Christians were of too spiritual a fibre to substitute lifeless instruments for or to use them to accompany the human voice. Clement of Alexandria severely condemns the use of instruments even at Christian banquets..." These words issue from the Roman Catholic authorities even though the Roman Catholic Church, not Jesus, the apostles, nor the New Testament introduced the instrument into worship.

ANGLICAN/EPISCOPALIAN

Anglican (Episcopalian) Joseph Bingham, in The Antiquities of the Christian Church writes, "Music in churches is as ancient as the apostles, but instrumental music not so... In the Western parts, the instrument, is not so much as known till the eighth century; for the first organ that was ever seen in France was one sent as a present to King Pepin by Constantine, the Greek emperor. . . . But, now, it was only, used in princes’ courts, and not yet brought into churches; nor was it ever received into the Greek churches, there being no mention of an organ in all their liturgies ancient or modern."

The Lutheran church employs musical accompaniment in worship, yet Lutheran scholar John Kurtz admits in his Church History that "Chrysostom had to declaim against the secularization of church music. More lasting was the opposition to the introduction of instrumental music." Martin Luther himself said that "The organ in the worship is the insignia of Baal… The Roman Catholic borrowed it from the Jews."

John Calvin, the father of the Reformed and Presbyterian churches wrote on Psalm 33: "Musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law. The Papists therefore, have foolishly borrowed this, as well as many other things, from the Jews. Men who are fond of outward pomp may delight in that noise; but the simplicity which God recommends to us by the apostles is far more pleasing to him.” Calvin found scriptural sanction only for vocal music in worship.

More recently, John L. Girardeau, Presbyterian professor of Columbia Theological Seminary, issued a lengthy series of quotes from ancient Christian leaders supporting his conclusion regarding church music. He writes in his book on Instrumental Music in the Public Worship of the Church (161): "Let us pause a moment to notice the fact, supported by a mass of incontrovertible evidence, that the Christian church did not employ instrumental music in its public worship for 1200 years after Christ. It proves, what has been already shown from the New Testament Scriptures, that the apostolic church did not use it in its public services, and surely the church ought now to be conformed to the practice of the apostles and of the churches whose usages they modeled according to the inspired direction of the Holy Ghost. It deserves serious consideration, moreover, that…the Roman Catholic Church did not adopt this corrupt practice until about the middle of the thirteenth century.”

Methodist Commentator, Adam Clarke, warns in Christian Theology, "But were it even evident, which it is not, either from this or any other place in the sacred writings, that instruments of music were prescribed by divine authority under the law, could this be adduced with any semblance of reason, that they ought to be used in Christian worship? No; the whole spirit, soul, and genius of the Christian religion are against this… Away with such … from the worship of that infinite Spirit who requires His followers to worship Him in spirit and truth, for to no such worship are these instruments friendly.” On another occasion, Clarke writes, "Music as a science I esteem and admire, but instrumental music in the house of God I abominate and abhor. This is the abuse of music, and I here register my protest against all such corruption of the worship of the author of Christianity.”

Clarke was not alone among the Methodists. In fact, John Wesley, the actual founder of Methodism speaks decidedly on the topic as reported in the notes of a hymnal published by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1884: “I have no objection to instruments of music in our worship, provided they are neither seen nor heard.” Why would these men be so insistent on singing and not playing if the New Testament Scriptures instructed the church to use instruments?

BAPTIST

Baptist, William Posey, writes in his book, The Baptist Church in the Lower Mississippi Valley, "For years the Baptists fought the introduction of instrumental music into the churches... Installation of the organ brought serious difficulties in many churches." David Music and Paul Richardson write, in "I Will Sing the Wondrous Story": A History of Baptist Hymnody in North America (2008, 104), “David Benedict noted that Baptists had long opposed the organ because of its association with ‘cathedral pomp and prelatical power,’ and that ‘staunch old Baptists in former times would as soon have tolerated the Pope of Rome in their pulpits as an organ in their galleries.’”

Charles Spurgeon, the most popular Baptist preacher of the twentieth century, preached to 20,000 people every Sunday for twenty years in the Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle. Never were mechanical instruments of music used in his services. In a sermon titled, “Singing in the Ways of the Lord,” Spurgeon said, “We would like to see all the pipes and organs of Non-comformist places of worship either ripped open or compactly filled with concrete. The human voice is so transcendently superior to all that wind or strings can accomplish, that it is a shame to degrade its harmonies by association with blowing and scraping. That the great Lord cares to be praised by bellows we very gravely question; we cannot see any connection between the glory of God and sounds produced by machinery…”

Spurgeon wrote in his commentary on Psalm 42, "We might as well pray by machinery as praise by it." Buddhists put prayers inside a prayer wheel and spin them. Some prayer wheels can contain millions of prayers. The Buddhist spins the "wheel" in a clockwise direction while uttering religious sayings. When spinning, these prayer wheels are believed to send prayers into the world. Is it okay to pray with machinery? If not, why, as Spurgeon puts it, would we sing with machinery?

We have shown from encyclopedias, history and prominent scholars within denominations that today use instruments that early Christians used only vocal music in corporate worship. Now we notice the Scriptural support from the New Testament for this truth:

James 5.13: "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms."

Romans 15:9 - "I will…sing to your name."

1 Corinthians 14:15 - "I will sing with the spirit and I shall sing with the understanding also."

Ephesians 5:19 - "Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord."

Colossians 3:16 - "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

Hebrews 2:12 - "In the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise."

Each of these New Testament Scriptures specify singing only. No New Testament scripture adds the playing of instruments in the Christian assembly. The apostle Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 4:11, “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.” So, if we truly Let the Bible Speak on the music we offer in worship to God, we will come together to sing without the addition of instruments.

Why is it so urgent that we reject changes being made to New Testament worship? The Apostle Paul insists in Ephesians 4:5 that there is “one faith” – one system of doctrines set down by God in Scripture designed to unite the faithful. In Jude 3, the Holy Spirit tells the people of God to “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints…” What is God teaching? The phrase “earnestly contend for” means “to vigorously defend.” So, what must Christians “vigorously defend?” The Bible says “earnestly contend for THE FAITH ONCE DELIVERED to the saints.” And what is “the faith once delivered?”

Albert Barnes says in his commentary on Jude that “the faith” is “The system of religion revealed in the gospel.” He adds, “The delivering of this faith to the saints here referred to is evidently that made by revelation, or the system of truth which God has made known in his word. Everything which He has revealed, we are to defend as true. We are to surrender no part of it whatever, for every part of that system is of value, to mankind.” So, the faith that we must vigorously defend is the system of beliefs relayed to us in the New Testament scriptures. Let me be clear: the “faith once delivered” includes singing and without instruments in worship.

On the very last page of the Bible, Jesus declares emphatically in Revelation 22:18-19, “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Surely, this warning applies not just to the last book of the New Testament, but to them all.

May we all resolve to offer God in worship what He wants, not what we want. We add nothing; we take away nothing. Stay with us for a final word, after our song…

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