MUSIC
Music is a very important part of our worship to God. It is commanded. In the church that Jesus built, what kind of music does God command?
God gives us very specific instructions about our music. Our instructions are, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your to the Lord” Ephesians 5:19 (KJV). This is only one of several references that determine the music we should use.
There are two kinds of commands in the Bible, generic and specific. Generic commands are general commands. Specific commands are special commands with very direct instructions.
Genesis 6:14—“God told Noah, “Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.” This is a very specific command; and if you continue to read, you will see that God gives Noah more very specific commands.
Mark 16:15-16—“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” This command is both generic and specific. It tells the disciples exactly what their job was, but it doesn’t tell them how to do it. They can go by donkey, camel, boat, or on foot. That is the generic part. The specific parts are to go, to preach, and to preach the gospel. They are to preach to everyone. Their message is to tell people they must believe and be baptized.
God gives us specific commands regarding music.
Ephesians 5:19—“Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Speaking indicates that we are to use our voices.
I Corinthians 14:15—“…I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.” Remember Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John 4 that we are to worship, “In spirit and in truth.” Our singing is part of worship, and it must be done in spirit and truth.
Colossians 3:16—“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.” Teaching, admonishing, and singing are all done with the voice.
This scripture also teaches us that we are to think about what we are singing, and we are to sing with the right attitude. We can’t think about where we are going to have for lunch while we are pretending to worship God. That is not acceptable worship.
Man’s plan for music in worship is to use instruments, have solos, quartets, trios, or choirs. God commands all of us to sing. The melody is to be made in the heart, not on an instrument.
We can’t use the Old Testament to justify instrumental music. We don’t live under the Old Law. It was written for our learning, Romans 15:4.
Instrumental music was not a part of New Testament worship. It was not used in worship until the 13th century. Since we have specific instructions about the kind of music God wants in our worship to Him, we know that a religious body that uses it is not the church that Jesus built.
Sandra Oliver