Sunday, January 7, 2018 am
NT CHURCH 2017
Worshipping God (5)
Can We Use Instrumental Music?
a.
Singing is commanded and
authorized – 1 Corinthians 14:15, Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16
b.
Last week we noted the
parameters. We are teaching
and admonishing one another – thus singing is about God, as well as
teaching one another. It is
reciprocal and not about entertainment.
There is a variety of types of songs (psalms, hymns and spiritual
songs).
ALL of these can be fulfilled and describe the elements of vocal
singing.
c.
9 NT passages address
Christians and music in the NT.
In addition to the three above there is:
i.
Matthew 26:30 (Mark
14:26) – Jesus and the apostles, “When they had sung a hymn”
ii.
Acts 16:25 – Paul and
Silas in prison in Philippi at Midnight – they were singing and praying
iii.
Romans 15:9 – (2 Samuel
22:50, Psalm 18:49) – a passage proclaiming Gentiles will glorify God
(along with the Jews)
iv.
Hebrews 2:12 – Psalm
22:22 – a Messianic psalm where David describe deliverance.
v.
James 5:13 – Is any
cheerful, let him sing psalms
vi.
Hebrews 13:15 – while
not mentioning music specifically, it speaks of offering praise to God
with “the fruit of our lips”
vii.
NOTICE how each mention
singing. 2 of them are
quoting psalms and David praising God in his later life.
YET, of all the OT verses that mention instrumental music (about
36 times), the one’s quoted in the NT mention singing ONLY.
d.
When we consider these
things, it is WITHOUT question that vocal singing is acceptable worship.
a.
The NT gives no command,
example or necessary inference (conclusion) that instrumental music is
acceptable
or needed.
b.
We have shown in our
study about the church that
God says what He means and means what He says.
A study of authority shows that when God is specific about how to
worship Him, He means it.
Consider Cain and Abel (Genesis 4), Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:1-3),
and Uzzah (2 Samuel 6), etc. as
examples of this.
c.
Specific vs. generic authority. Remember that there
are two types of authority – specific and generic.
Specific authority means that something is specified.
WHEN a command or details are specified, they become part of the
command.
Generic authority means that something is not specified.
Typically, this deals with general instructions that leave the
details to our discretion.
The command to “go” in the great commission (Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:19)
is general as to HOW we are to go.
The OT gives us many concrete examples of specific and generic
authority.
i.
When God told Noah to
use gopher wood (Genesis 6:14), whatever type of wood that was, all
other types were excluded.
ii.
When God specified that
the ark was to be transported by Levites using poles, that excluded
every other mode of transportation (Exodus 25:14-15, Numbers 4:15, 7:9,
etc.). That is a factor as
to why Uzzah was struck dead when he touched the ark which was being
transported in a wrong way (2 Samuel 6).
They are two different,
specific types of music.
When we consider types of music, singing is SPECIFIC in contrast to
instrumental music. While
they can be combined, they are distinct.
God SPECIFIES that we sing.
That excludes every other type of music which is why we cannot use
instrumental music and be pleasing to Him.
d.
Some argue that
instrumental music is simply an aid to singing.
i.
No, it is an addition.
An aid does not change the nature of something, it simply
expedites doing something.
An addition, ADDS to the element thus making it different than what it
originally was.
Song books, song leaders and pitch pipes simply aid us in singing.
Instrumental music ADDS another element to our singing that is
foreign to the authority of scripture.
ii.
Furthermore, if honest,
instrumental music in worship is more about what people want and
enjoy than simply an aid to singing.
OFTEN, the instrument is playing even when there is no singing
(prelude in a song, or in some places during acts of worship such as
giving or the passing of the Lord’s Supper for mood enhancement, during
the sermon, etc.). It is NOT
being done because they find authority for it.
iii.
HOW does an instrument
aid us in the purpose of our singing – to teach and admonish one
another, singing with the spirit and with the understanding, to praise
God, etc.?
e.
“But God didn’t say we
could not use it.”
i.
Many justify
instrumental music based upon the silence of the NT.
Far too many believe that as long as God doesn’t specifically
forbid something then it is acceptable.
ii.
Silence is NOT consent.
a.
Some appeal to the word
psallo in Ephesians 5:19. A
word whose origin means to pluck or twang, as you would a harp or other
stringed instrument. It was
used that way in the Old Testament.
Therefore, some advocate that the word translated, “making
melody” authorizes the accompaniment of instrumental music.
b.
There are many flaws to
this argument, most of them technical and scholarly.
Including the evolving of its usage during NT times, where it did
NOT have to include an accompanied instrument.
The emphasis was on the action – plucking.
The word could simply mean to pluck something, such as a hair or
bow string.
Many NT scholars (Vine’s, Thayer, etc.) acknowledge the word referring
to singing as opposed to using the harp.
That is why, virtually every translation translates the word,
“making melody” and avoids mentioning accompanied with an instrument.
Observation:
Does one need to know Greek to be able to understand the Bible?
NO! We know better.
The Bible is written so that the average person can understand what he
needs to do. Paul wrote so
that the average member could understand him (Eph. 3:3-4).
He even wrote that we understand the will of the Lord (Ephesians
5:17).
While study the original languages can be very helpful, (and I often
appeal to original word meanings without apology), most do not have the
ability to do so properly, which is why we rely on honest scholars to be
truthful.
c.
The word is found 5
times in the NT. The other
texts are: Romans 15:9, 1 Corinthian 14:15 – 2x, and James 5:13 all of
which translate the word sing and an examination of the text explains
why.
There is a REASON why virtually all translations use the wording they do
– and it does NOT require instrumental accompaniment.
d.
Furthermore, consider
the elements of our singing:
i.
Ephesians 5:19 tells us
what we are plucking – “In your heart”.
NOTE that this is consistent with the change of tone from the Old
Testament to the New Testament.
Again consider John 4:23-24 – the time is coming…
We are under a spiritual law.
Our worship MUST be from the heart.
Singing can do that.
An instrument has no heart.
ii.
With our singing we are
speaking to one another
iii.
1 Corinthians 14:15 –
our worship in song is with the spirit and with understanding.
e.
Also, consider if psallo
means accompanied, can we properly sing WITHOUT an instrument?
And does it have to be a stringed instrument?
Very few honestly make this argument.
a.
Some contend that David
used instruments of music in worship to God, which he did.
Further, one might argue that the Old Testament gives examples
and even commands to worship God with instrumental music (cf. Psalm 150,
b.
That may be so, but we
are not under the Old Testament anymore.
It was nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14).
Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John 4:23-24 that the way Jews
(and Samaritans) worshipped was going to change.
c.
We cannot use the Old
Testament to justify instrumental music any more today, than we can to
justify animal sacrifices, priestly garments, the burning of incense, or
the Sabbath day, etc. (some do justify some of these by appealing to the
Old Testament)
d.
We will address this in
greater detail in a few months (when we study Psalm 150).
a.
Historical accounts show
that first century Christians did NOT use instruments of music.
They simply sang.
b.
Quotes
[1]from
early sources include:
i.
EUSEBIUS (263-339 AD)
"Of old at the time those of the circumcision were worshipping with
symbols and types it was not inappropriate to send up hymns to God with
the psalterion and cithara and to do this on Sabbath days... We render
our hymn with a living psalterion and a living cithara with spiritual
songs. The unison voices of Christians would be more acceptable to God
than any musical instrument. Accordingly in all the churches of God,
united in soul and attitude, with one mind and in agreement of faith and
piety we send up a unison melody in the words of the Psalms."
(commentary on Psalms 91:2-3)
ii.
AUGUSTINE (354-430
AC)"musical instruments were not used. The pipe, tabret, and harp here
associate so intimately with the sensual heathen cults, as well as with
the wild revelries and shameless performances of the degenerate theater
and circus, it is easy to understand the prejudices against their use in
the worship." (Augustine 354 A.D., describing the singing at Alexandria
under Athanasius)
iii.
CHRYSOSTOM (349-407 AD)
"David formerly sang songs, also
today we sing hymns. He had a lyre with lifeless strings, the church has
a lyre with living strings. Our tongues are the strings of the lyre with
a different tone indeed but much more in accordance with piety. Here
there is no need for the cithara, or for stretched strings, or for the
plectrum, or for art, or for any instrument; but, if you like, you may
yourself become a cithara, mortifying the members of the flesh and
making a full harmony of mind and body. For when the flesh no longer
lusts against the Spirit, but has submitted to its orders and has been
led at length into the best and most admirable path, then will you
create a spiritual melody." (Chrysostom, 347-407, Exposition of Psalms
41, (381-398 A.D.) Source Readings in Music History, ed. O. Strunk, W.
W. Norton and Co.: New York, 1950, pg. 70.)
iv.
NOTE: While not inspired
men, they observe early on that instrumental music was not used.
c.
While we do not know the
exact date, the early clear records of instrumental music being
introduced into the church would be the 7th century (600s)
and then only sparsely, by Pope Vitalian I.
And it was divisive.
It was centuries later, around the 10th or 11th
centuries that they became more common with the introduction of the
organ. Again, these were a
source of division (not unity).
d.
When the reformation
music began, there was not universal acceptance of instrumental music.
i.
JOHN CALVIN "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. Paul
allows us to bless God in the public assembly of the saints, only in a
known tongue (I Cor. 14:16) What shall we then say of chanting, which
fills the ears with nothing but an empty sound?" (John Calvin,
Commentary on Psalms 33)
ii.
LUTHER "The organ in the worship Is the
insignia of Baal… The Roman Catholic borrowed it from the Jews." (Martin
Luther, Mcclintock & Strong's Encyclopedia Volume VI, page 762)
e.
The point of these
quotes is to show that instrumental music was NOT found in the NT as a
part of our worship, nor was it universally accepted when it occurred.
Instead, almost always, the instrument of music divides us.
The solution is to simply appeal to what the Bible teaches.
That is the safe course.
Thus, instrumental music is not the pattern we find for our music in
worshipping God. If we want
to ensure that He is pleased with our efforts, we will respect His
limitations, even in this, and even if it is not the poplar thing to do.
Let us seek to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
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