by Paul Earnhart<\/p>\n
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 the mind that he thought so peculiar was once dominant in “Christian” thought. The use of musical instruments in the worship of churches is a relatively recent development. Most Protestant churches in America did not yield to the practice until the nineteenth century.<\/p>\n
The unadorned simplicity of our spiritual singing is not a cultural statement but a matter of faith – a response to the teaching of the New Testament.<\/p>\n
The worship of the Old Testament church with its complex rituals was not simple. During the intricate rites of the temple sacrifices a Levitical chorus was commanded to sing and a Levitical orchestra to play (II Chronicles 29:25-28). But the New Testament refers to the appointments of temple worship as “carnal ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation<\/em>” (Hebrews 9:10). This reformation is dramatically illustrated by the total absence of any reference in the New Testament to Christians worshipping God with sacrificial animals, incense, lamps, choirs, or orchestras. There is only the admonition for the disciples to speak to each other and to the Lord in “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs<\/em>” (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16).<\/p>\n Christian worship in song is not a choral contest. Spiritual singing has spiritual ends. Since God’s ways differ radically from our own (Isaiah 55:8-9) it is of no consequence that in the mind of some, the absence of musical instruments (or of devotional lamps and incense) diminishes the appeal of the singing. What is important is that we have sufficient trust in God to follow His instructions with the confidence that His methods achieve His purposes.<\/p>\n The silence of the New Testament on instrumentally accompanied singing has had its impact on history. The early centuries not only reveal no use of instrumental music in worship but an expressed opposition to it as belonging to the spiritual infancy of the Old Testament church.<\/p>\n Eusebius of Caesarea (early 4th century), commenting on Psalms 91:2-3: “Of old at the time those of the circumcision were worshipping with symbols and types it was not inappropriate to send up hymns to God with the psalterion<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0kithara<\/em>…We render our hymns with a living psalterion and a living kithara with spiritual songs. The unison voices of Christians would be more acceptable to God than any musical instrument.”<\/p>\n Chrysostom (late 4th century): “It was only permitted to the Jews, as sacrifice was, for the heaviness and grossness of their souls. God condescended to their weakness, because they were lately drawn from idols; but now, instead of organs, we may use our own bodies to praise him withal.”<\/p>\n Theodoret of Cyrhus (early 5th century): “Question: If songs were invented by unbelievers to seduce men, but were allowed to those under the law on account of their childish state, why do those who have received the perfect teaching of grace in their churches still use songs, just like the children under the law? Answer: It is not simple singing that belongs to the childish state, but singing with lifeless instruments, with dancing, and with clappers. Hence the use of such instruments and the others that belong to the childish state is excluded from the singing in the churches, and simple singing is left” (Questions and Answers for the Orthodox).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Roman Catholic Church continued this opposition at least until the time of Thomas Aquinas (1227-1274) who wrote: “Our church does not use musical instruments, as harps and psalteries, to praise God withal, that she may not seem to Judaize.” The Greek Church (Orthodox) has never used musical instruments. Several Protestant reformers held to the same sentiment. Calvin wrote that “musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law” (Commentary on Psalm 33). Wesley was more succinct: “I have no objection to instruments of music in our chapels provided they are neither heard nor seen.”<\/p>\n The use of instruments in worship is not progress but a carnal retreat to spiritual kindergarten. We should glory in the supreme spirituality of our singing, sanctified by God and accompanied by the higher melody of our hearts.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 the mind that he thought…<\/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":[27],"tags":[292,520],"class_list":["post-59816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-instrumental-music","tag-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8723,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-it-is-wrong-to-use-instrumental-music-because-the-new-testament-doesnt-mention-it-then-it-would-be-wrong-to-use-electricity\/","url_meta":{"origin":59816,"position":0},"title":"If it is wrong to use instrumental music because the New Testament doesn’t mention it, then it would be wrong to use electricity.","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My brother was a member of the Church of Christ which is why I know something about their beliefs. They didn\u2019t use musical instruments when singing songs because, as he told me, musical instruments were not mentioned in the first-century church. Neither was electricity, but that sure didn\u2019t keep\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":33858,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/music-in-worship-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":59816,"position":1},"title":"Music in Worship (Hart)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dave Hart When people visit churches of Christ for the first time, they are often surprised to hear only singing. There are no instruments of music such as pianos, organs, drums, or guitars. Neither do they hear choirs, quartets, or solos. Every member of the congregation is encouraged to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/singingCongregation2-300x169.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27779,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/it-is-sad-that-the-hymnbook-is-being-abandoned\/","url_meta":{"origin":59816,"position":2},"title":"It is sad that the hymnbook is being abandoned","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings. I appreciated your article \"Sing with Understanding.\" David, the Bible's great hymn-writer, by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, was concerned about that too (Psalms 47:7). And it's really the purpose of my blog on hymns, to help with this. Your examples are good. This is the\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":59816,"position":3},"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":45601,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-churches-of-christ-not-use-instrumental-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":59816,"position":4},"title":"Why Do Churches of Christ Not Use Instrumental Music?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Allen Webster Churches of Christ love music. Singing is a prominent - and favorite - part of each service. Most congregations dedicate a Sunday night each month to learn new songs and to sing old favorites. Annual singings can draw thousands of people. Many Christians sing daily as they\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":52762,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/analyzing-arguments-in-favor-of-instrumental-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":59816,"position":5},"title":"Analyzing Arguments in Favor of Instrumental Music","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mark Mayberry via\u00a0Guardian of Truth, January 18, 1990 Christianity is a religion of faith. To walk by faith means that we live in harmony with God's Word. This has special application to our expression of worship: It must be according to God's will! Our faith, practice, and worship must\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\/59816","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=59816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59816\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}