A. It is certainly different among the denominations where almost all use instruments.<\/p>\n B. Lately, I been hearing of numerous congregations deciding to add instrumental\nmusic to their worship.\n 1. The reasoning that was so well known in the church has been lost these\ndays.\n 2. Too often we take things for granted and forget that each new generation of\nChristians needs to learn the reasons why.\n
II. First, let us examine the passages from the New Testament that defines our music<\/p>\n
A. The verses:<\/p>\n
1. Matthew 26:30 – They sung a hymn (also Mark 14:26)<\/p>\n
2. Acts 16:25 – Paul and Silas sang while in jail<\/p>\n
3. Romans 15:9 – I will sing to your name<\/p>\n
4. I Corinthians 14:15 – I will sing with spirit and understanding<\/p>\n
5. Ephesians 5:19 – Sing and make melody to the Lord<\/p>\n
6. Colossians 3:16 – Sing with grace in your hearts to God<\/p>\n
7. Hebrews 2:12 – I will sing Christ’s praise in the congregation<\/p>\n
8. James 5:13 – If you are cheerful, sing praise<\/p>\n B. There are no verses indicating that instrumental music was used in the New\nTestament church.\n
III. Some though would argue this point. <\/p>\n A. In Ephesians 5:19, two words are used: psalmos<\/i> (translated psalms) and psallo<\/i>\n(translated making melody).\n 1. They will turn to a Greek dictionary, such as Vine’s “psallo<\/i> – primarily ‘to\ntwitch, twang,’ then, ‘to play a stringed instrument with the fingers,’ and\nhence, in the Septuagint, ‘to sing with a harp, sing psalms,’\n
2. See it means singing to the accompaniment of instruments!<\/p>\n
B. Notice that Ephesians 5:19 gives a command to sing and make melody. <\/p>\n 1. If the word translated “make melody” means songs accompanied by\ninstruments, then it would be a sin to sing without instruments.\n 2. It does not say sing or sing with instruments. The conjunction is “and”\nmeaning both must be done.\n
C. Second, the argument ignores something that Vine points out.<\/p>\n
1. Words change meaning over time.<\/p>\n
2. Examples from English<\/p>\n
a. “Idiot” once meant “a person who did not hold office.”<\/p>\n
b. A “lewd” man was a “layman.”<\/p>\n
c. “Prevent” use to be “precede.” (In KJV)<\/p>\n
d. “Let” once meant “hinder.” (In KJV)<\/p>\n 3. From The Complete Biblical Library Greek Dictionary: “In classical Greek\nthe verb psallo<\/i> means ‘to pluck, pull’ in a very general sense, such as to\n‘pluck out a hair’ or ‘to pull a bowstring.’ It is also used with a technical\nmeaning to play a stringed musical instrument’ on which the strings were\nplucked rather than struck with a mallet”\n a. The original meaning of the word, in use of music, meant to play an\ninstrument by plucking, such as a harp, guitar, or lyre.\n
b. Notice that singing was not included in the classical definition.<\/p>\n 4. Continuing: “The usage of psallo<\/i> in the Septuagint, however, introduces an\nexpansion of its meaning. Twelve times it is used to translate Hebrew\nnaghan<\/i>, ‘to play a stringed instrument,’ in keeping with its technical use in\nclassical Greek. However, nearly 40 times the Septuagint uses psallo<\/i> to\ntranslate Hebrew zamar<\/i>, ‘to make music in praise to God.’ This Hebrew\nword describes music made either by musical instruments or vocally, and\nthus can also mean ‘to sing.’ In some Old Testament contexts it is apparent\nthat zamar\/psallo<\/i> refer to singing that is accompanied by instruments (cf.\nPsalm 66:4).\n a. So by the time the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament was\ndone, psallo<\/i> had changed meaning to include singing with playing,\nplaying alone, or singing alone.\n 5. Continuing: “As a result, the meaning of psallo<\/i> began to be extended to\ninclude ‘to sing,’ and by Modern Greek it had come to mean this\nexclusively.”\n a. Notice that the broadened word became more specific, taking on\nthe meaning of singing only.\n 6. Continuing: “This gradual shift in meaning presents minor problems for\nunderstanding the use of psallo<\/i> in the New Testament. It is widely agreed\nthat the primary meaning in the New Testament is ‘to sing’ with at least the\npossible nuance of ‘to sing with instrumental accompaniment.’ Clearly no\nconclusions can be drawn solely from the lexical meaning of psallo<\/i> as to\nwhether instrumental accompaniment should be included with Christian\nworship in song.”\n a. In other words, the scholars agree that it means to sing, though\nsome hold out that it might include an implication for using\ninstruments.\n 7. Now, returning to dictionaries, such as Vine’s. Most stop reading the\ndefinition too soon.\n a. “Psallo<\/i>, primarily ‘to twitch, twang,’ then, ‘to play a string\ninstrument with the fingers,’ and hence in the Septuagint, ‘to sing\nwith a harp, sing psalms,’ denotes in the New Testament, ‘to sing\na hymn, sing praise’; in Eph. 5:19, ‘making melody.’ Elsewhere\nit is rendered ‘sing,’ Rom. 15:9; I Cor. 14:15; in Jas. 5:13, ‘let\nhim sing praise’.\n b. Vine gives the same record of the shift of meaning and states that in\nthe New Testament the meaning is to sing (not play).\n
8. Thayer makes the same distinction.<\/p>\n a. “In the New Testament to sing a hymn, to celebrate the praises of\nGod in song.<\/i>”\n
9. Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament<\/p>\n a. “Psallo<\/i> originally meant to play on strings, then to sing with an\naccompaniment (Eph. 5:19), and here apparently to sing without\nregard to an instrument.”\n b. Robertson again traces the same change of meaning. But notice that\nin Ephesians 5:19 he says the word means with accompaniment. We\nwill return to this point later.\n D. One of our problems is that we are almost 2,000 years later trying to figure out the\nnuances of a word used in another language.\n 1. Everyone agrees the word means to sing, but some hold out that it is\npossible it could include instruments. Probably because they are uncertain\nas to when the change in meaning was completed.\n 2. One solution to this problem is to see how people of that era interpreted the\nword.\n 3. “Christians who heard and read the New Testament commands to sing did\nnothing else but sing for 600 years.” Jim Massey in Psallo\n 4. James W. McKinnon examined 150 references to Christian music up to the\nMiddle Ages and found opposition to instruments ‘uniform, vehement, and\nmonolithic’.\n 5. Clement of Alexandria, about 195 A.D. “The one instrument of peace, the\nWord alone by whom we honor God, is what we employ. We no longer\nemploy the ancient psaltery, trumpet, timbrel, and flute.”\n 6. McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, Volume 8, page 739 “The Greek\nword psallo<\/i> is applied among the Greeks of modern times exclusively to\nsacred music, which in the Eastern Church has never been any other than\nvocal, instrumental music being unknown in that Church, as it was in the\nprimitive Church. Sir John Hawkins, following the Romish writers in his\nerudite work on the History of Music<\/i>, makes Pope Vitalian, in A.D. 660,\nthe first who introduced organs into churches. But students of ecclesiastical\narchaeology are generally agreed that instrumental music was not used in\nchurches till a much later date; for Thomas Aquinas, A.D. 1250, has these\nremarkable words: ‘Our Church does not use musical instruments, as harps\nand psalteries, to praise God withal, that she may not seem to Judaize.’\nFrom this passage, we are surely warranted in concluding that there was no\necclesiastical use of organs in the time of Aquinas.”\nIV. I have about 15 translations, all translate the word psallo as sing or making melody. Only\none, the Amplified Bible, inserts “and instruments” in brackets in Ephesians 5:19. \n A. “Speak out to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, offering praise\nwith voices [and instruments] and making melody with all your heart to the Lord.”\n 1. What is fascinating is that psallo<\/i> appears four times in the New Testament:\nRomans 15:9, I Corinthians 14:15, Ephesians 5:19, and James 5:13, but\nthey only insert this commentary of musical accompaniment in Ephesians\n5:19.\n 2. The other problem is that the added commentary is on the word ado<\/i>, which\nall agree is vocal singing and not on “making melody” (psallo<\/i>)\n
3. At best, this translation is misleading.<\/p>\n B. The reason for questioning psallo<\/i> is that Paul says sing (ado<\/i>) and make melody\n(psallo<\/i>). They look for a reason for why Paul would say sing and sing.\n C. In a sense, I believe they are right, there is an accompaniment to the singing being\nreferred to in this verse. There is something being played.\n D. The question must be asked is what is being played. The AMP version says it is\ninstruments, if we ignore the fact that they attached it to the wrong word.\n 1. When we say baptized or immersed, the words are actions but they do not\ndescribe, by themselves, the medium being immersed in. In the Bible,\npeople are immersed in water, in fire, in the Holy Spirit. \n 2. If I mentioned plucking, you would need to hear more as to what was\nplucked. It could be a chicken for all you know.\n 3. “Making melody”, some feel, includes the idea of plucking, strumming, or\nplaying something.\n a. What is the object of this verb? What is being played? With what\nare we making melody?\n b. Even in English it is as obvious as it is in Greek – we are making\nmelody with the heart.\n c. When the object is specified, it is not reasonable to insert other\nthings.\n
(1) You want to add instruments, such as an organ or a guitar?<\/p>\n (2) Then I want to add a chicken or a bow! At least both of\nmine can be plucked, you can’t pluck an organ.\n (3) But be aware that they are all additions because what is\nbeing played is already in the text!\n
V. Actually, instrumental music is a relatively recent innovation.<\/p>\n
A. For many years, only a few denominations had instrumental music.<\/p>\n B. John Calvin, “Musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no\nmore suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting of lamps, and the restoration\nof the other shadows of the law. The Papists, therefore, have foolishly borrowed\nthis, as well as many other things from the Jew. Men who are fond of outward\npomp may delight in that noise: but the simplicity which God recommends to us by\nthe apostles is far more pleasing to Him.” (Commentary on Psalms 33)\n C. John Wesley, “I have no opposition to the organ in our chapel provided it is neither\nseen nor heard.” (Adam Clark’s Commentary, Volume 4, page 868)\n D. Adam Clark, “I am an old man, and an old minister; and I here declare that I never\nknew them to be productive of any good in the worship of God; and have had\nreason to believe that they were productive of much evil. Music, as a science, I\nesteem and admire; but instruments of music in the house of God I abominate and\nabhor.” (Adam Clark’s Commentary, Volume 4, page 686)\n E. Charles Spurgeon, when asked why, in the twenty years he preached in London,\nnever used the organ in worship, cited 1 Cor. 14:15 and said “I will pray with the\nspirit and I will pray with the understanding also, I will sing with the spirit, and I\nwill sing with the understanding also. I would as soon pray to God with machinery\nas to sing to God with machinery.”\n F. I might not agree with the men on other subjects, but I think they hit the nail on the\nhead when it comes to mechanical instruments of music in the worship.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I. One of the distinguishing marks of our worship is the fact that we do not use instrumental music in our worship. A. It is certainly different among the denominations where almost all use instruments. B. Lately, I been hearing of numerous congregations deciding to add instrumental music to their worship. 1. The reasoning that was so well known…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[292,520,84],"class_list":["post-4191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-instrumental-music","tag-music","tag-worship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15061,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-have-something-on-the-use-of-instrumental-music-under-the-old-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":4191,"position":0},"title":"Do you have something on the use of instrumental music under the Old Law?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you have any articles or sermons on the instrumental music used to worship under the Old Law? I understand that the Old Law has been done away with and we don't use instruments in today's worship, but I am just curious about the use of instrumental music in\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":90633,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/instrumental-music-to-worship-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":4191,"position":1},"title":"Instrumental Music to Worship of God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gary Colley The following reasons, concerning why churches of Christ do not use mechanical instruments of music in worship to God, were given recently in our Denominational Doctrines class. It has been requested that they be in our bulletin for the help of all. It can be stated without\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":36613,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-didnt-reverse-his-position-on-using-instrumental-music-so-why-cant-we-use-them-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":4191,"position":2},"title":"God didn’t reverse His position on using instrumental music, so why can’t we use them today?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: It is funny that in your condemnation of musical instruments in \"worship\" you fail to address that while the use of them was clearly permitted in the Old Testament, there is no clear reversal of this in the New Testament. If I was going to change my position it\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":94676,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-must-you-use-instrumental-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":4191,"position":3},"title":"Why Must You Use Instrumental Music?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 19, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Author Unknown Recently, a congregation in the city where I preach decided to start using instruments in their worship assembly. Apparently, even the community realizes that among churches of Christ, this is a big deal because the local news and newspaper have done stories on it. Obviously, I love\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":50350,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-record-your-own-music-with-instruments\/","url_meta":{"origin":4191,"position":4},"title":"Can you record your own music with instruments?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a member of the Lord's church (Acts 2:41) and am fully aware and fine with the fact that instruments in worship toward God are unauthorized by Scripture (Acts 17:25), and thereby unacceptable (II John 9). However, I read your article Is playing an instrument for a person's\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":37972,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/arguments-i-used-for-the-use-of-instrumental-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":4191,"position":5},"title":"Arguments I Used for the Use of Instrumental Music","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"(When I Was a Preacher for the Christian Church) by Dan Goddard Men have long been prone to go beyond the limitations of God's word in their zeal to serve Jehovah. Zeal for God is commendable when it is coupled with a knowledge of God's will; but when one allows\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\/4191","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=4191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}