Study of Denomintions 07/11/2010

A Study of Denominations
Cont. from last week

Instrumental Music

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.

Finally, Hebrews 9:15 captures the essence of the distinction:

And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

We can see, therefore, that a change of law has occurred. When change occurs, the change runs throughout the law-- if there is a practice performed in the Old Testament that is not done in the New, we have no right to perform that practice. This goes for the Sabbath as well as for instrumental music. Until we see a verse in the New Testament that shows that instrumental music is authorized, we must assume that it was done away with at the cross.

Retort: David's use of instruments was not commanded by the Law; we can therefore use instruments today.

Answer: While many try to present this view, the Scriptures actually show that God did provide commands for the use of instruments in the Temple, as can be seen from 2 Chronicles 29:25, among other places:

And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for the commandment was of the LORD by his prophets.


While some may attempt to say that the command comes from David, the text is very specific that the command is prompted by the LORD Himself. We must not consider this command to be against the Law or adding to it, for Miriam the sister of Moses used a tambourine to praise the LORD in Exodus 15:20, and instruments seem to be an aspect of service to the LORD in the old covenant.

The argument is not valid, nevertheless, even if instruments were not directly commanded. David lived under the covenant between God and Israel; his actions are either legitimated or condemned by the terms of that covenant. We are under a new covenant, as seen above from Hebrews 9:15. Our actions will be legitimated or condemned by the terms of this new covenant between God and all mankind through Christ Jesus. Even if a given practice is not specifically required by the Law of Moses, it nevertheless is authorized or unauthorized under the terms of the covenant between God and Israel, and cannot be forced onto the new covenant. We have as much right to use instrumental music as we would to slaughter Philistines, to offer a heifer without blemish on an altar, or to require circumcision; just because God approved something under a previous covenant does not mean that we today have the right to do the same!

New Testament Considerations

Argument: Paul says that we are to sing psalms. Psalms were sung with instruments, therefore, instruments are acceptable.

Answer: This argument posits an inference that may not be in the text. While psalms were certainly sung with instrumental accompaniment in the Old Testament, where do we see any such thing in the New?

Although uninspired, we have the witness of one Clement of Alexandria, who lived a century after the Apostles, and explains an interpretation of David's statements in the Psalms:

If people occupy their time with pipes, psalteries, choirs, dances, Egyptian clapping of hands, and such disorderly frivolities, they become quite immodest...Let the pipe be resigned to the shepherds, and the flute to the superstitious ones who are engrossed in idolatry. For, in truth, such instruments are to be banished from the temperate banquet...Man is truly a peaceful instrument. However, if you investigate, you will find other instruments to be warlike, inflaming to lusts, kindling up passion, or rousing wrath...The Spirit, distinguishing the divine service from such revelry, says, "Praise Him with the sound of trumpet."
For with the sound of the trumpet, He will raise the dead. "Praise Him on the psaltery."
For the tongue is the psaltery of the Lord. "And praise Him on the lyre."
By the lyre is meant the mouth struck by the Spirit (The Instructor, 2.4).


Here we see early witnesses that interpreted the Psalms in a way that rendered them usable for the voice and the voice only. Since early Christians could obviously sing psalms without using musical accompaniment, nothing hinders us from doing the same.

Argument: Ephesians 5:19 , Colossians 3:16 , and James 5:13 are all talking about playing instruments in the Greek.

Answer: The Greek word translated "sing" is the word psallo. Psallo meant "to pluck" when it was first used by the Greeks, but later the meaning of the word shifted, so that by the time of Christ, the term meant "to sing." All translators and Greek scholars confirm this fact. A more modern example of the shift in meanings of word can be seen with "gay". A term that once was used to describe one who is happy, by various means, now more often is used to describe one who is a practicing homosexual. Words, therefore, can often change in meaning as time goes on, and therefore we have every confidence that the translators of the New Testament have it right.

Argument: Early Christians met in the Temple (Acts 2:42-46), and we know that instrumental music was played in the Temple (Psalm 150, Ezra 3:10). Therefore, early Christians praised God with instruments.

Answer: While it is true that early Christians did meet in the Temple, a significant leap is required to establish that they used instruments in their praise to God. First of all, the Temple was a vast complex encompassing a large part of the city; it is unlikely that the sounds of instruments could be heard in every part of it. Furthermore, the presence of instruments in another part of the Temple does not mean that the early Christians were actively using them or working with them to praise God. This inference is not required from the account in Acts, and there is no good reason to believe that the Christians in Jerusalem used instruments in their praise to God.