The Question
Can we worship God with musical instruments in the New Testament church?
This is a vital question of the day in which we live. So many people are in error on this subject that I feel especially burdened of the Lord to write on it. I used to think it didn’t make much difference whether we did or did not have musical instruments in the church, but the Lord has showed me some vital truths on the subject in His Word.
The Lord has always required His people to do all things according to His Word, as He told Moses to “make all things according to the pattern” (Hebrews 8:5) which He showed him on the mount; and Jesus said, “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46)
Before we discuss this subject, we must say, as Jesus told Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) Dear reader, it is needful for you to have been born of the Spirit of God, for this writing is about spiritual things that are in the kingdom of God, so one must be in the spiritual kingdom to see spiritual things. The natural man cannot discern the things of the Spirit, for they are foolishness to him. This subject of music in the church is surely a spiritual subject. Now, dear reader, get your Bible out before you read any farther, as this question can only be answered by the Word of God. I am going to deal wholly with God’s Word.
What is Worship?
Back under the Law they used all kinds of instruments of music in the worship of God, as we can find in many psalms, especially Psalm 150. To this we agree. But David also killed his enemies with the sword, and he did many other things which God’s people cannot do today. David could not be born of the Spirit of God and have his heart clean and in harmony with God. He had to worship Him in a literal way and show his love all on the outside.
But now let us go to my text. Jesus said to the woman by the well, “But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24) This text means much to the born-again, Spirit-filled soul who is open for the truth. First, let us notice that some must be worshiping God in error, or Jesus would not have mentioned and put emphasis on the true worshipers. We must not overlook this. Read Matthew 15:7-9. “But in vain do they worship me.” According to this Scripture, it is possible to worship God in vain, or wrong, or of no profit. Paul said of certain people, “For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.” (Acts 17:23) Many today are ignorantly worshiping God, but Jesus, in our text, is speaking to the true worshipers. Worship means to reverence and adore and highly honor God. Jesus said the true worshipers must worship in Spirit and truth. Truth means according to His Word. Jesus said, “Thy Word is truth.” (John 17:17) Paul said, “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” (Romans 3:4) Worship in this dispensation means spiritual worship, which consists of praying and singing in the Spirit, which is indeed the greatest privilege granted to people of any and all ages; for until Christ came, no people could worship God in Spirit, as the Spirit of God did not dwell in man. Man did not have a clean heart, and God could not put his Spirit into an unclean heart. God had to dwell in the tabernacle which Moses built, and the people had to worship him with their hands and feet, and with animals and all kinds of temporal worship. This is why David worshiped Him with the timbrel and the dance. He could not worship God in Spirit.
But God promised His people all down through the ages that He was going to make a new covenant. Read Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 7:37; Jeremiah 31:31. Now let us go to Ezekiel 36. Here the Lord spoke through His prophet: “Then [meaning some future date, or when Christ comes] will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness [sin] and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony [hard] heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh [soft]. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27) Praise God! Now read John 14:23; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; and 2 Corinthians 6:16. Please read all of these texts with me as we go along.
After you have read these texts you will see that the prophecy of Ezekiel 36:25 and Jeremiah 31:31 has been fulfilled, and you and I today come under it through Christ, the Mediator of the new covenant. We must realize this fully in order to understand what Jesus told the woman at the well. The true worshipers must worship God in Spirit. If people have not been regenerated and possess this new heart of which Ezekiel spoke, and God’s Spirit within them, they cannot worship God in Spirit. Therefore they use their musical instruments as David of old; but God does not accept this kind of worship now. When Solomon built the temple, he used musical instruments to dedicate it to God (2 Chronicles 5:13-14). When the one hundred twenty trumpeters and singers were in harmony, as one, the glory of God filled the temple, or building. This temple was, as all the law and ordinances, a type and shadow of things to come (Hebrews 8:5). Read Hebrews 8-9 and 10:1. When Solomon dedicated the temple he had one hundred and twenty trumpeters. They all played as one man and the glory filled the house. This was a direct shadow or type of the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts second chapter. One hundred and twenty people were in one accord as one man and God sent the glory, or his Holy Spirit, and this time it filled their hearts, which is now God’s temple. The hearts of men and women took the place of the literal temple building made of earthly material, and God moved out of the literal building made of earthly material, and moved into His people’s hearts, cleansing them and keeping them clean for the abode of His Spirit. Praise His name forever.
This is verified in Acts 7:47-51. Brother Stephen was preaching this very subject when he was stoned to death. In Acts 17:22-30, Paul was preaching on this same subject. “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” (Acts 17:24) This is enough to convince any honest-hearted person that God is not worshiped with musical instruments and men’s hands or feet or any part of our temporal bodies. In 1 Timothy 4:8, Paul said, “For bodily exercise profiteth little.” This should be enough, but let us consider a few more thoughts. A certain minister, who was pleading for his congregation to buy a pipe organ, said that many souls were won to the Lord by the instrument. This cannot be possible. Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” (John 6:44) God draws through the Holy Spirit. We have proved that God does not dwell in temples made with hands (Acts 7:48; 17:24). Then it would be impossible for anyone to be drawn to God through a musical instrument of any kind, because they are made with hands. We agree that a spirit accompanies instrumental music, but we must not mistake it for God’s Spirit. I have known people to work hard all day and be very tired, then go to a dance, and something about the music there would cause them to revive until they could dance almost all night. Some tunes, when played on instruments, will cause people to weep; but this is not God’s Spirit. The Bible says, “Godly sorrow worketh repentance.” (2 Corinthians 7:10) Just because a person hears some sad tune or one that brings old memories to his mind, does not mean he has godly sorrow.
Let us reason together a little. Jesus said, “That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15) What can you think of today that is more highly esteemed among men than musical instruments? They are used to draw people into the honky tonks; when a circus comes to town, they parade down the streets with all kinds of music; and at dances and worldly receptions, no matter how ungodly they are, musical instruments are the main draw. Since the devil esteems instrumental music so highly to draw for him, do you think the Lord wants His people to use the same thing to draw people to Him? No, dear one, the Lord has His Spirit to draw people—a meek and a quiet Spirit—and He does not work through any kind of man-made instrument or any confusion of noises. Read 1 Kings 19:11-13, and you will find an example that is still good today. Dear soul, this is truth according to God’s Word.
Now let us read carefully Ephesians 5:6-20. The 18th and 19th verses say: “And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” The word melody means music. Is not this plain, where we are to make music or melody? God’s Spirit dwells in our hearts; and when we sing or pray out of a Spirit-filled heart, it makes melody or music in the ears of God. His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God (Romans 8:16). This is what makes the music. Music means harmony. When God’s Spirit dwelling in our hearts witnesses with God’s Spirit which is in heaven, that makes a tune which brings a sweet harmony or melody in our hearts to God, as in the text. David made melody on his harp and God accepted it then, but his harp was a type of our hearts. David played tunes to God, but our hearts are to play tunes to Him now. The musical instrument was strictly a law ordinance, and was nailed to the cross as a form of worship.
Again Paul exhorted, “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.” (Colossians 3:16) Here we find again “spiritual songs.”
In connection with Jesus’ ministry, we do not find one word concerning musical instruments except in one place where He put the minstrels out of the room before He raised the dead girl. Paul, in his writing to the churches, commended them for their much love and faith and for giving and being faithful, and many other things; but nowhere did he mention about anyone playing well on an instrument, neither did any of the other apostles or any of the other writers; and, according to my understanding, history does not record an instance of the use of a musical instrument in the early church. Most of the reformers of later years and movements, such as Wesley, Campbell, and Luther, did not use musical instruments in their worship. God was with them in Spirit at first, but as the reformation grew and people received more light and failed to walk in it, then God’s Spirit moved out of their assembly and they found their meetings void of the Spirit. Then they brought in musical instruments to entertain and fill the vacant place. Any honest soul knows this is truth.
Symbolic Instruments
Let us notice more Scriptural teachings on the subject. “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.” (Revelation 5:8) “And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.” (Revelation 14:2) As we consider this scene, let us understand that it was before the throne in heaven. The book of Revelation is a book of symbols. Literal things are used as symbols of spiritual things. If we are to literalize this scene, we should have to literalize the golden vials and odors as well as the harps, and this would be very unwise. There would have to be goldsmiths to make the harps and vials, and fields in which to grow spices to make the odors. (The Scripture plainly states what the odors are.) In Revelation 19:11 Jesus is pictured riding on a white horse, and in different parts of Revelation we read of monstrous beasts and creatures. We know they are symbols, but if you literalize the harp, then you would need to get a white horse and bring him into your worship.
Since the odors are “prayers of the saints” (redeemed people), then the vial would symbolize the vessel which contains the odors. Perfect harmony existed between the redeemed souls, God, and the angels. This is symbolized by harps. When a child of God tunes his heart to the great heart and will of God, that is harping on his harp. Nothing is more musical to the ear of God than a group of spiritual saints with their hearts and souls in perfect tune with the Word and Spirit of God. How necessary it is to keep our heart (harp) in perfect tune with the great heart of God. There must not be any discord, for it is easily detected, even as a discord on a literal instrument when one string is out of tune; it will spoil the music. Let us be sure our heart is in tune with God at all times. This is the secret of holy living. Praise God forever!
Let us consider another text: “And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.” (Psalm 87:5-7) Some who fail to rightly divide this, hold to it for their musical instruments in worship. The text is talking of Zion, the church. The church of God, Zion, and the kingdom of God all have the same meaning (Hebrews 12:22-23). Paul says, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” (Ephesians 3:14-15) Zion consists of all the redeemed of all ages. Part of Zion departed from this earth under the Abrahamic covenant, part under the Mosaic dispensation, and part under this grace dispensation. Zion includes all the redeemed living at present and those who have passed on; so the players on instruments would include David and all the law worshipers, and singers would mean the grace or spiritual worshipers. Is this not plain? Paul said part of the church was in heaven and part of it in earth. When we die, we do not die out of the church. We stay in the church, but just move upstairs with other redeemed ones and our dear Redeemer. This is sound doctrine, according to God’s Word.
The Principle
Someone may say, “I still don’t find where the Word says not to have musical instruments in worship.” This is true. There are many things that God did not mention by name, but He did leave us a principle to go by and He deals with the positive side of everything. It would take most of the world to hold the books He had to tell us the negative side of everything. He tells us what to do and leaves us a principle to go by and expects us to measure to it.
Let us notice a few texts on this line. “Ye shall not do after all things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.” (Deuteronomy 12:8) God does not want people to draw their own pattern to follow Him (Leviticus 10:1; Proverbs 14:12). Notice what happened to Aaron’s sons for offering strange fire before God. He slew both of them before the altar. It is dangerous to trifle with God. David decided to bring back the ark which had been stolen and it pleased all the people and God (1 Chronicles 13:1-14; 15:2,13). But David failed to get the book of the Law and see how God had planned for it to be moved. He got some helpers and made a cart, etc.; but God was displeased and slew a man, and David was troubled. He learned that God had a plan for the Levites to carry it on their shoulders. After he learned how God wanted it moved, he moved it and God blessed him. Israel had been keeping the feast of Tabernacles for a number of years, but not according to the Law (Nehemiah 8:13-17), and when they found in the book of the Law that the people should dwell in booths of palm branches, etc., they did this just like God said, and God blessed them greatly.
This is a principle that we can follow all the way through the Bible. God did not say not to use musical instruments in worship, and He did not say not to watch television, and He did not tell us not to smoke tobacco. But He did tell us what to do, how to do it, and expects us to do it His way, not ours. It is a dangerous thing to trifle with God and His word.