My question is regarding instrumental music.\u00a0Is it okay to\u00a0play hymns on the piano at home, without singing, for fun?<\/p>\n
Also, how do I answer someone who says that instrumental music predates the Mosaic\u00a0law and, therefore, is okay in worship today?<\/p>\n
Thank you so much for your time!<\/p>\n\t
God commanded Christians to worship Him with singing.<\/p>\n
“Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord<\/em>” (Ephesians 5:19).<\/p>\n
“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<\/em>” (Colossians 3:16).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The emphasis is on the words, not the melody. Since you are not singing, just playing melodies, it is not worship to God and there is nothing wrong with playing tunes for your own entertainment.<\/p>\n
The argument isn’t reasonable. Yes, instrumental music goes back to near the beginning. “His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute<\/em>” (Genesis 4:21). How old something is doesn’t mean it is acceptable to God for His worship. For example, murder is older than instrumental music (Cain killed Abel), does that mean murder is acceptable in worship?<\/p>\n
People keep forgetting that it is God, who is being worshiped, who defines what He finds acceptable in the worship presented to Him. Man doesn’t have a say in the matter. “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ<\/em>” (Galatians 1:10).<\/p>\n\t
Response:<\/h2>\n
Thank you! I really appreciate the clarification.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: My question is regarding instrumental music.\u00a0Is it okay to\u00a0play hymns on the piano at home, without singing, for fun? Also, how do I answer someone who says that instrumental music predates the Mosaic\u00a0law and, therefore, is okay in worship today? Thank you so much for your time! Answer: God commanded Christians to worship Him…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[292],"class_list":["post-32040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-instrumental-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14641,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-drums-of-god-or-the-devil\/","url_meta":{"origin":32040,"position":0},"title":"Are drums of God or the devil?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I wanted to know if the drums are of God, or is it from the devil. Did God make drums for one of his instruments? Answer: God tells us that it is men who invented instrumental music, not Satan. \"His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42460,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/singing-to-the-lord-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":32040,"position":1},"title":"Singing to the Lord (Hickox)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Michael Hickox via The Sincere Milk of God's Word \"Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45241,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/psalmois-cant-be-understood-figuratively-it-has-to-refer-to-its-classical-meaning\/","url_meta":{"origin":32040,"position":2},"title":"Psalmois can’t be understood figuratively. It has to refer to its classical meaning.","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question is regarding the use of instrumental music to worship God in relation to Ephesians 5:19. \"speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord\". The view presented on your website is that the noun \"psalmois\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24130,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-christians-commanded-to-only-sing-the-psalms\/","url_meta":{"origin":32040,"position":3},"title":"Are Christians commanded to only sing the psalms?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I recently was made aware of an old acquaintance who is now part of a house church. In a message he sent to me giving a short explanation, he said, \"\u2026after a lot of study, I have come to the understanding that we are only authorized to sing inspired\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16846,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-go-to-a-show-and-sing-along-with-the-hymns-that-are-being-sung-with-instrumental-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":32040,"position":4},"title":"Can I go to a show and sing along with the hymns that are being sung with instrumental music?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can I go to a bluegrass show and sing along with hymns that are being sung with instrumental music? Can I play and sing hymns at home with instruments? Answer: When something is offered up to God, then it ought to be done in the manner in which God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59816,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-spiritual-simplicity-of-our-singing\/","url_meta":{"origin":32040,"position":5},"title":"The Spiritual Simplicity of Our Singing","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Paul Earnhart In the 1940s Elmer T. Clark observed that is \"a peculiar type of mind which is convinced that God is interested in whether his worshipers sing with or without instrumental music\" (Small Sects in America, p. 16). Clark's words carry a twentieth-century bias. The truth is that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32040\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}