The Authorized Elements of Church Music

Jesus Christ declared there are three elements to appropriate Christian worship.

Our worship must be directed to deity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), it must be rendered in “spirit” (sincerely), and it must be offered consistent with revealed “truth” (cf. Jn. 4:24; 17:17).

Paul also declared worship must be “in the name of Christ.” The phrase signifies that worship must be by his authority (Col. 3:17; cf. Mt. 10:1; Mk. 16:17), not merely a rote recitation of certain words.

The holy apostle also condemned “will-worship.” What is “will-worship”? It is any form of worship explicitly “forbidden,” or “unbidden” (see Thayer, 1968, 168).

These preliminary observations would apply to all forms of worship, including our musical worship to God.

There are three components of proper music in the Christian worship assembly: the form of music; the nature of the melody; and the manner of presentation.

Singing

The two major categories of “music” are instrumental and vocal. Which one is authorized by the New Testament?

All the passages in the New Testament that mention Christian musical worship authorize only singing — nothing more. Here they are:

• Acts 16:25;
• Romans 15:9
• 1 Cor. 14:15
• Ephesians 5:18-19
• Colossians 3:16-17
• Hebrews 2:12;
• James 5:13

The introduction of mechanical accompaniment in Christian worship was an innovation that came centuries later.

The renowned McClintock & Strong Cyclopedia notes that while the Jews used instruments in their worship, the early Christians did not. “The general introduction of instrumental music can certainly not be assigned to a date earlier than the 5th or 6th centuries” (1968, VI.759).

Even leading Protestant scholars have opposed the use of instrumental music in Christian worship (e.g., Calvin [Presbyterian], Clarke [Methodist], and Spurgeon [Baptist]). These men acknowledged that the early church did not employ instruments and that such were human additions unauthorized by the Lord.

The Wycliffe Bible Dictionary states: “There is no record in the [New Testament] of the use of instruments in the musical worship of the Christian church” (Pfeiffer, et al. 2003, 1163).

Shallow Arguments for Instrumental Music

The arguments commonly introduced in defense of mechanical instruments are shallow and forced.

Some will say: “Instruments were used in the Old Testament era.” But the Jews also sacrificed animals in their worship. The early Christians knew that instruments were employed under the Mosaic system. Why then did they not embrace them?

Another argues: “The New Testament doesn’t explicitly condemn them.” But neither does it explicitly condemn praying to Mary or baptizing infants. The early church never incorporated the use of instruments by rationalizing that Jesus or Paul never specifically condemned them. Why not, if this is a valid argument?

Still others offer this explanation. “There will be harps in heaven.” Will there be the burning of incense as well (Rev. 5:8)? Will Jesus be literal a Lamb in heaven (Rev. 5:6)?

The language is symbolic. There will be neither literal harps nor incense.

Finally, there is this trite complaint. “If a church can have an air conditioning unit, why can’t it have an organ?”

Air conditioning does not change the nature of one’s worship. Cooling a building is expedient. Incorporating an instrument alters the nature of the worship activity and is an addition.

Arguments employed in defense of instrumental accompaniment in worship are bereft of New Testament support.

Spiritual Songs

Paul’s instruction in his Ephesian letter (Eph. 5:18) reveals that the style of vocal music authorized for Christian worship stood in vivid contrast to the crass secular music of the ancient culture. Note this comment from two British scholars, whose work on the life of Paul was one of the most highly regarded of the 19th century:

“Throughout the whole passage there is a contrast implied between the Heathen and the Christian practice, q.d. When you meet, let your enjoyment consist not in fulness of wine, but fulness of the Spirit; let your songs be not the drinking-songs of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and their accompaniment, not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart; while you sing them to the praise, not of Bacchus or Venus, but of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Conybeare & Howson, 1889, 714-15, emphasis original).

The three categories may be difficult to distinguish. “Psalms” may refer to those compositions in the Hebrew Bible, while “hymns” and “spiritual songs” could denote songs directed to the members of the Godhead or melodies in which Christians “teach” and “admonish” one another with spiritual truths (Col. 3:16).

Some suggest hymns indicate “community singing” (Brown, 1976, 2.874). These certainly are a universe distanced from the religious jazz, hip-hop, rap and the imitating of instruments with vocal sounds into amplified microphones so commonly making inroads in some churches today.

Reciprocal Edification Versus Performance

In both Ephesians and Colossians, Paul revealed that the type of music to be employed was congregational singing, not the performance fad that has become prominent in sectarian churches and is finding a place among some in the Lord’s family.

Note the phrases “one to another” or “one another” (Eph. 5:18; Col. 3:16). These are classified as “reciprocal pronouns” which involve “an interchange of the action signified in the verb.”

In their highly acclaimed Greek Grammar, Dana & Mantey list both Ephesians 5:18 and Colossians 3:16 under this category of pronouns (1968, 131-132). Another scholar, J. B. Lightfoot, noted that these reciprocal pronouns emphasized “the idea of corporate unity” characteristic of congregational worship (1892, 219).

There is no reciprocity of action when one (or a few) sing, while the remainder merely listen.

To my recollection, the only passage used in an attempt to justify performance worship (e.g., solos) is 1 Corinthians 14:26, where Paul mentions “each of you has a psalm.” The text is so ambiguous that it scarcely can be employed as a sole prooftext.

The context has to do with a miraculous gift, with the psalm most likely being delivered phrase by phrase, with the whole church joining in (Macknight, 1954, 195; cf. Acts 4:24). It could have been merely recited as an alternative to singing (Thayer, 1968, 675).

Some contend that the text may be an admonition addressing some who were insisting that “the time and worship [be] spent chiefly in singing psalms” (Lightfoot, John, 1979, 4.266). H. K. Moulton characterized the text as a reflection of “selfish individualism,” a disposition Paul was rebuking (1977, 37). If so, it hardly is a precedent for today.

If this text authorizes solos in worship, it is strange indeed the ancient church seemed unaware of it. In fact, special singers came into vogue only in the 4th century A.D. and involved what McClintock & Strong called a “decay” of the apostolic practice (1968, 9.776).

In his celebrated work on church history, Joseph Bingham wrote: “[F]rom the first and apostolical age singing was always a part of Divine service, in which the whole body of the church joined together...” (emphasis added). He goes on to point out that the separate “order of singers” was a departure from the primitive pattern (1865, I.III.VII).

For additional information see: Is The Use Of Solos & Choirs In The Church Assembly Authorized In The New Testament? (Jackson, 1990).

Surely those who have made a serious study of Jesus’ rebuke of “performance” worship in Matthew 6:1-18 should be aware that solos, choirs, and performance teams do not partake of the spirit of unified corporate worship reflected in the New Testament.