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Introduction
It is of the utmost importance to first establish that
the assembly of the Church is governed by rules different from those of daily
living. Within the assembly women are forbidden to teach. “Let the woman
learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor
to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first
formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was
in the transgression” (I Tim. 2:11-14). “Let your women
keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but
they are commanded to be
under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let
them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the
church” (I Cor. 14:34-35). Outside of the assembly,
however, women are encouraged to teach. “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh
holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good
things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their
husbands, to love their children, To
be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own
husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed” (Titus 2:3-5). In the assembly men are only allowed to speak one
at a time. “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If any thing be revealed to another
that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may all prophesy one by
one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. And the spirits of the
prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of
the saints” (1 Cor. 14:29-33). No such
restriction exists outside of the assembly.
When the Church assembles to worship God we are to do so
His way. There are three ways we can determine that something is approved by
God; these are a direct command, an approved example, and a necessary
inference. A good example of a command is Matthew 28:19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
Nowhere are we commanded to assemble every Sunday, but we do so by example.
“And upon the first day of
the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto
them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight”
(Acts 20:7). “Upon the first day of the week let every one of
you lay by him in store, as God
hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come” (I Cor. 16:2). A perfect example of a
necessary inference comes from the last verse. Nowhere are we commanded to
have a checking account, nor do we find an example of a Church that had one.
However, if we are told to have a collection then we can logically infer that
we can make use of the safest and most convenient way of storing the money.
Music in the Old Testament
The first reference in the Old Testament to any type of
musical instrument is in I Samuel 18:6 where women sang and played upon David’s triumphant return from battle. The first
mention of musical instruments being used to praise God is II Samuel 6:5 “And David and all the house of Israel played
before the Lord on all manner
of instruments made of fir
wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and
on cymbals.” From that time forward, under David’s
leaderhip, musical instruments became commonplace in worship. “And they
carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza
and Ahio drave the cart. And David
and all Israel
played before God with all their
might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with
timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets” (I Chron. 13:7-8).
After David’s
death music continued to be used to praise God during the reign of his son
Solomon. “Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. And king Solomon offered a
sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand
sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. And the
priests waited on their offices: the Levites also with instruments of musick
of the Lord, which David the king had made to praise the Lord, because his mercy endureth for ever, when David praised by their ministry; and the priests
sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood” (II Chron. 7:4-6). After the time of
Solomon, there is no direct reference to musical instruments ever being used
again to praise God!
Instead of musical instruments becoming the norm, we
find evidence of quite the opposite occurring. The prophet Amos chastized Israel for
their lax attitudes and lack of commitment toward God. “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then
go down to Gath
of the Philistines: be they
better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border? Ye that
put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; That
lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat
the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; That drink wine in bowls, and anoint
themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the
affliction of Joseph” (Amos 6:1-6).
This is a direct and unmistakable condemnation of the practice instituted by David of using instruments of music to praise God.
The obvious question is why wasn’t David
corrected when he first started this practice? There are no doubt many things
that God “allowed” during this period of time, but was not overly pleased
with. “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all
men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he
will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him
from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).
Whatever God’s reasons were, he did not directly condemn David’s actions during his lifetime. But since the
practice ceased after Solomon we must assume that God did eventually make His
feeling know on the subject.
Music in the Church
Nowhere in the
Bible are instruments of music ever condemned. Neither are they ever shown to
be acceptable to God as a means or aid to worship. Singing is mentioned as a
part of the Christian worship to God. “Speaking to yourselves in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart
to the Lord” (Ephes. 5:19). “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” (Col. 3:16).
Paul showed the important aspect of singing in his first letter to the Church
in Corinth.
“Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown
tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth,
but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the
spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the
spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also” (I Cor. 14:13-15).
God does not care how well we sing, if He did He would
have given all of us wonderful singing voices. What He does care about is
what is in our minds and hearts as we sing. Do we understand and agree with
what we are singing? When we sing praises to God, are we truly thankful, or
do we just sing the words? In other words, do we mean what we sing. “By him
therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is,
the fruit of our lips giving
thanks to his name” (Hebrews 13:15).
Several Old Testament examples serve to illustrate how
serious God is when He issues a command. Uzzah reached out to keep the Ark of
the Covenant from falling and being destroyed and was struck dead by God (II
Samuel 6:1-8). Even though his intentions were noble, he was not worthy to
touch the Ark
and paid dearly for his mistake. Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu used a
different source of fire to light incense in the Tabernacle, not the fire in
the Altar as commanded, and were instantly slain by God (Leviticus 10:1-2). Israel first
king, Saul, lost his throne for not explicitly following God’s directions in
slaying the Amalekites (I Samuel 15:1-23). In reproving Saul, the prophet
Samuel said “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings
and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is
better than sacrifice, and to
hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord,
he hath also rejected thee from being
king” (1 Samuel 15:22-23).
The Lord wants and deserves our praise. However, the
praise must be on His terms, not ours. Lest we forget, we are the children,
and He is the Father. Do we allow our children to tell us what they will do
for us? Certainly not, we tell them what to do and expect obedience. God
likewise expects and demands obedience from His children. Musical instruments
are an addition to singing, and as such are an alteration of God’s command to
sing. Songbooks, although not mentioned in the Bible, are expedients that
help us to carry out the command to sing. Whether we use songbooks or not,
the result, singing, is still the same. When we add musical instruments we
change the nature of what we are doing. The sound is no longer the same.
I will also argue that when musical instruments are used
the purpose is no longer the same. We sing to praise God, and God has
commanded us to do so. When we play musical instruments in the worship
service who are we pleasing? God has never commanded their use, nor indicated
that He would be pleased with such. It is ourselves that we are pleasing. It
sounds better to us, so certainly, we reason, God will be more pleased than
if we just sing. To make the point again, God is not concerned about the
quality of our singing, just the quality of our praise. Realize too that just
because something seems good to us, does not mean it will be the same with
God. “For my thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are
your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than
your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
Conclusion
The practice of praising God with musical instruments
was used only during the reigns of David
and his son Solomon. This practice was later condemned by the prophet Amos.
While we are commanded to sing praise to God in the New Testament, there is
no indication that musical instruments are to accompany our singing. There is
not a single instance in the Bible where God has approved of the use of
musical instruments in the course of worshipping Him. What we do in our
private lives is up to us, as long as we don’t violate any commandment of
God. During the public worship we must make every effort to do exactly as God
has commanded. Anything more or less puts our souls in danger.
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