The Heaton File

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. (Ephesians 5:18-21)

Instrumental Music

Instruments of music have been around since the beginning of time. Jubal was the seventh generation removed from Adam, and “He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute” (Genesis 4:21).

David was a skilled harpist and inventor of musical instruments. “Then David and all Israel played music before God with all their might, with singing, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cymbals, and with trumpets.” (1 Chronicles 13:8)

During the temple worship of Solomon, instruments filled the House of the Lord (2 Chronicles 5:11-14). The Jews were experts with instruments of worship. There is little doubt the worship of Israel was filled with the music of instruments of music.

The first converts to the gospel of Christ were Jews. There would be a time of transition for the Jews to learn that circumcision was no longer a sign of the covenant between them and God. They would know the Sabbath was no longer required to be kept sacred. Many laws no longer applied to salvation, and many things they did in worship were not done in the early church.

Three thousand devout Jews were the first Christians, and from Pentecost, the church never used instruments of music in worship. If there were a people versed in the use of instruments of music, the Jews were that people. In all the early church writings, the Jews never suggested or used the instruments.

The reason is clear: when they continued in the apostle’s doctrine, the Holy Spirit instructed the first disciples to use the musical instrument designed by God – the mouth.

When the doctrines of the New Testament church were established, singing was the type of music commanded by God. Ephesians 5:19 does not mention pianos, guitars, and trumpets.

Paul affirmed the same message in Colossians 3:16 for the saints to sing to one another. The church at Corinth needed correcting about their worship, and Paul reminded them to sing with the understanding of what is being sung (1 Corinthians 14:15).

The use of instruments of music came in the sixth century and was not readily accepted until the 16th century. So great was the opposition that it would have been abolished by the Council of Trent but for the influence of Emperor Ferdinand.

Another argument against using instrumental music in worship is what history has to say. Consider the writings of some early church fathers. Thomas Aquinas said, “Our church does not use musical instruments, as harps and psalteries, to praise God withal, that she may not seem to Judaize.”

Augustine (354 A.D.) writes, “Musical instruments were not used. The pipe, tabret, and harp here associate so intimately with the sensual heathen cults, as well as the wild revelries and shameless performances of the degenerate theater and circus.”

In 190 A.D., Clement of Alexandria declares, “Leave the pipe to the shepherd, the flute to the men who are in fear of gods and intent on their idol worshipping. Such musical instruments must be excluded from our wingless feasts, for they are more suited for beasts and for the class of men that is least capable of reason than for men.”

During the Protestant movement against the teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, many religious leaders condemned using instruments.

John Calvin (Presbyterian) said, “Musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting up of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law. The papists, therefore, have foolishly borrowed this, as well as many other things, from the Jews. Men who are fond of outward pomp may delight in that noise; but the simplicity which God recommends to us by the apostle is far more pleasing to Him.”

Charles Spurgeon, an influential Baptist preacher (1834-1892), writes, “What a degradation to supplant the intelligent song of the whole congregation by the theatrical prettiness of a quartet, bellows, and pipes! We might as well pray by machinery as praise by it.”

A popular commentator named Adam Clarke (Methodist) declared, “Music, as a science, I esteem and admire; but instruments of music in the house of God I abominate and abhor. This is the abuse of music; and here I register my protest against all such corruptions in the worship of the Author of Christianity.”

Clarke went on to write, “John Wesley, who was a lover of music, and an elegant poet, when asked his opinion of instruments of music being introduced into the chapels of the Methodists said, in his terse and powerful manner, ‘I have no objection to instruments of music in our chapels, provided they are neither heard nor seen.”

Finally, Martin Luther summed it all up when he said, “The church rings with the noise of trumpets, pipes, and dulcimers; and human voices strive to bear their part with them. Men run to the church as to a theatre, to have their ears tickled.”

History does not authorize the use or non-use of instruments because Jesus is the only authority. But history helps to clarify and illustrate the rejection of instruments in times past. The student of scripture must find in the word of God the authority to use instruments of music. There is no authority, and using instruments of music is without divine approval.