The Challenge of Adding
Instrumental Music
Does God accept all worship sincerely offered?
• Cain – Genesis 4:3-7
• Nadab and Abihu – Leviticus 10:1-2
• Uzziah – 2 Chronicles 26:16-20
• John 4:24, Matthew 15:9
We Must Have Authority.
Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Command (Direct Statement) – Matthew 28:20, cf. Luke 10:16, e.g. Luke 13:3
Divinely Approved Example – 2 Thessalonians 2:15, e.g. Acts 20:7
Necessary Inference – Matthew 22:23-32, e.g. Hebrews 10:25
CEI in Acts 15
Law of Moses or the gospel of Christ?
• Acts 15:7-11 – Necessary implication
• Holy Spirit baptism of Jews in Acts 2 meant day of salvation
had come for the Jews.
• Holy Spirit baptism of Gentiles in Acts 10 meant the same
thing for the Gentiles – by implication.
CEI in Acts 15
Law of Moses or the gospel of Christ?
• Acts 15:12 – Divinely Approved Example
• The miracles worked by Paul and Barnabas as they preached
among the Gentiles showed God’s approval of their example.
CEI in Acts 15
Law of Moses or the gospel of Christ?
• Acts 15:13-18 – Command (Direct Statement)
• James taught by quoting a direct statement promising
salvation to both Jew & Gentile through the gospel (Amos
9:11-12).
Specific Authority For Singing
• Ephesians 5:18-19 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is
dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your
heart to the Lord,
• Colossians 3:16 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.
Specific vs. Generic Authority
Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature.
• “Go” gives us generic authority to travel.
• We may use any lawful means to do so.
• “Preach the gospel” gives us specific authority for the
message.
• Specific authority eliminates all other possibilities.
Arguments in Favor of Mechanical
Instruments in Worship
• Instruments are inherent in psallo.
Psallo
• Thayer’s Greek English Lexicon
Psallo
Psallo
• "The Greek word 'psallo' is applied among the Greeks of modern times exclusively
to sacred music, which in the Eastern Church has never been any other than vocal,
instrumental music being unknown in that church, as it was in the primitive church."
(McClintock & Strong’s McClintock & Strong’s Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological,
and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. 8, p. 739)
• “…before the beginning of the New Testament period, it had lost this meaning. In
his well-researched book, Instrumental Music in the Worship, M.C. Kurfees noted that
the word psallo never is used in the New Testament or in contemporaneous literature
to mean anything other than to sing.” (Eric Lyons, M. Min., The Meaning of Psallo
in the New Testament, Apologetics press,
http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=11&article=868 )
Arguments in Favor of Mechanical
Instruments in Worship
• Instruments are inherent in psallo.
• Musical instruments were used in the Old Testament.
The Law of Moses Has Been Superseded.
• There were mechanical instruments in the OT.
• 2 Chronicles 29:25 And he stationed the Levites in the house of
the LORD with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps,
according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king’s seer,
and of Nathan the prophet; for thus was the commandment of
the LORD by His prophets.
• Hebrews 8:7-13, Galatians 3:23-25
Arguments in Favor of Mechanical
Instruments in Worship
• Instruments are inherent in psallo.
• Musical instruments were used in the Old Testament.
• The Bible doesn’t say not to use them.
Silence Doesn’t Constitute Authority
• Hebrews 7:11-14
• The Levitical priesthood was not sufficient. Another, according to
the order of Melchizedec, was prophesied, and it came.
• Since the law of Moses authorized and recognized only the
priesthood "according to the order of Aaron,” the existence of the
priesthood of Christ logically demands "of necessity there is also a
change of the law."
Silence Doesn’t Constitute Authority
Hebrews 7:11-14
Why?
• Moses only spoke of a priesthood from the tribe of Levi.
• Christ came from the tribe of Judah.
• Consequently, if a new priesthood exists (and it does), then a new law
also exists, since Moses "spoke nothing" (was silent) about priests from
another tribe.
Arguments in Favor of Mechanical
Instruments in Worship
• Instruments are inherent in psallo.
• Musical instruments were used in the Old Testament.
• The Bible doesn’t say not to use them.
• There are instruments in The Revelation.
Instruments in The Revelation
• E.g. Revelation 5:8-10, 15:2
• The Revelation is full of signs and symbols.
• Is Jesus literally a lamb? Are the prayers of the saints literally
bowls of incense? What about the 4 living creatures and the
24 elders?
• These things take place in Heaven.
Arguments in Favor of Mechanical
Instruments in Worship
• Instruments are inherent in psallo.
• Musical instruments were used in the Old Testament.
• The Bible doesn’t say not to use them.
• There are instruments in The Revelation.
• Instruments are an aid.
Instruments Are Not An Aid.
• Genesis 6:14 – Build the ark of gopherwood.
• Saws, hammers, chisels – aids
• Oak, pine, cedar – not aids, different kinds of wood
• Aids for singing – song books, pitch pipes, song leader
• Mechanical instruments create a different kind of music than
the one specified by God.
The Origins of Mechanical Instruments in
Worship
• Mechanical instruments were not used by those claiming
to be Christian for hundreds of years.
• Even denominational leaders and founders argued against
their use.
The Origins of Mechanical Instruments in
Worship
Sir John Hawkins, following the Romish writers in his erudite work on the
History of Music, makes pope Vitalian, in A.D. 660, the first who introduced
organs into churches. But students of ecclesiastical archaeology are generally
agreed that instrumental music was not used in churches till a much later date;
for Thomas Aquinas, A.D. 1250, has these remarkable words: “Our Church
does not use musical instruments, as harps and psalteries, to praise God withal,
that she may not seem to Judaize.” From this passage we are surely warranted
in concluding that there was no ecclesiastical use of organs in the time of
Aquinas. (McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and
Ecclesiastical Literature, Volume 8, page 739)
John Calvin, Presbyterian Church
“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 Jew. 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. (Commentary on Psalm 33)
Martin Luther, Lutheran Church
“Luther called the organ the ensign of Baal.”
(McClintock & Strong’s Cyclopædia of Biblical,
Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Volume 6, page
762).
John Wesley, Methodist Church
“I have no objection to instruments of music in our
worship, provided they are neither heard nor seen”
(Quoted in Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Vol. 4 page 685).
Charles Spurgeon, Baptist
“David appears to have had a peculiarly tender remembrance of the
singing of the pilgrims, and assuredly it is the most delightful part
of worship and that which comes nearest to the adoration of
heaven. What a degradation to supplant the intelligent song of the
whole congregation by the theatrical prettiness of a quartet, the
refined niceties of a choir, or the blowing off of wind from
inanimate bellows and pipes! We might as well pray by machinery as
praise by it” (Commentary on Psalm 42:4).
Why Talk About This?
Jude 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our
common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to
contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready
to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you,
with meekness and fear;
Ephesians 4:11-15
This Matters!
Matthew 15:9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
2 John 9-11
Deuteronomy 4:2, Proverbs 30:6, Isaiah 8:20, 1 Corinthians 4:6,
1 Peter 4:11, Revelation 22:18-19