Study of Denomintions 07/04/2010

A Study of Denominations
Cont. from last week

Instrumental Music


Statement of Belief
The Scriptures teach that Christians are to sing in praise of their God,
speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord ( Ephesians 5:19 ),

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God ( Colossians 3:16 ),

Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise ( James 5:13 ).

The Scriptures make no mention of the use of instrumental music for Christians.
Sections

● Silence Considerations
● Old Testament Considerations
● New Testament Considerations
● Other Considerations
● Early Witnesses Concerning Instrumental Music


Silence Considerations
Many who use instrumental music first defend their practice by saying, "Well, God never said not to use instruments!" Do the Scriptures establish this as a legitimate defense?
We must always remember the purpose of God's Word. The Word of God is our guide to life; within its pages, we have all of the knowledge that we need to live a life pleasing to God, as shown in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 :
Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness. That the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

The Bible does not, however, lay out explicitly every little thing that is sinful. The Law was good at demonstrating what the Jews were not to do-- however, thanks be to God, we are no longer under that bondage, for we are freed in Christ Jesus from such a Law (Colossians 2:14-17 , etc.). We have an important principle established in Romans 14:23 :

But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Note that Paul does not say that whatsoever is not of sin is of faith; indeed, what is not of faith is sin. We recognize the nature of faith from Hebrews 11:1 :

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proving of things not seen.

Faith is not just some "feeling"; proper faith will have some substance and assurance. If we are going to engage in a practice, we need some legitimating evidence from the Scriptures. Therefore, we are to do what we see in the Bible according to valid principles. Nevertheless, some will question whether or not the idea that God's silence as being prohibitive is a valid principle. For them we appeal to Hebrews 7:13-14 :

For He of whom these things are said belongeth to another tribe, from which no man hath given attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord hath sprung out of Judah; as to which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priests.

In this situation, we see that God previously had made a specific command that the tribe of Levi officiate as priests (cf. Numbers 3:6-9 ). Christ, therefore, cannot be a priest according to the tribe of Levi because He descended from the tribe of Judah. God did not speak about the tribe of Judah officiating as priests because He gave commandment of the tribe of Levi, and to no other. Likewise, we have been given a specific command to sing; to use instrumental music would be adding where God has not said to add, and using the principle demonstrated in Hebrews 7:13-14 , we see that the practice is wrong.

Others will say that God's silence shows indifference toward practices. In some cases, this can be true: when God has made a command to do something, but not about how to go about fulfilling the command, we have liberty to perform the command in any way we wish. A good example is assembling: we see that we are commanded to assemble (Hebrews 10:25), but God never said specifically where we were to assemble. The early Christians met in various places as they could. Thus, we are left to conclude that where Christians meet is of no consequence to God, as long as they are meeting.

This condition does not exist with instrumental music, however, since God has made a specific command to sing. Since the specific command has been given, we must not add anything to it, as shown above. We can establish, then, that when God establishes generic authority and is silent about specific means, there is liberty; where God establishes specific authority and is silent about any other practice, there is prohibition.
Old Testament Considerations

Argument: David used instruments, and David found favor with God, so instruments are acceptable.

Answer: This would be so, if it were not for the change of covenant that divides David and us as Christians today.

We read in Colossians 2:14 that the Law was nailed to the cross and in Galatians 3:24-25 that the Law was a tutor, no longer necessary when we have the fullness of Christ. Hebrews 7:12 is very specific on the subject:

For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.