Our objection to the use of mechanical instruments of music in Christian worship is a simple one. No authority for the practice is found for it in the New Testament. We do not deny that is was present in the worship offered to God by the Jews under the Old Covenant. Nor do we deny that there is a reference to instruments in heaven, as found in the book of Revelation.
It is simply that Christian worship must follow the pattern that God has given for it! There is no command in the New Testament for Christians to worship Him with instruments. There is no example of Christians worshipping God with musical instruments. There is no intimation whatsoever in the New Testament that God either requires or accepts such worship to Him.
Therefore, such worship is presumptuous. While men may assume that God would be pleased, they can’t prove it. In fact, Jesus suggested the opposite in Matthew 7. Will worship (that worship that we decide to do rather than what He has authorized) is condemned by Jesus.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Some claim that since God was pleased with it in the Jewish worship of the Old Testament, He would likewise be pleased with it in Christian worship. If such were true, it would seem that we would have a record of Christians using the instrument in the first century. As has already been stated, there is no scriptural evidence for it. In addition, there is no extra-biblical evidence that it existed until centuries later. Consider the following quotes:
- “Although Josephus tells of the wonderful effects produced in the Temple by the use of instruments, the first Christians were of too spiritual a fibre to substitute lifeless instruments for or to use them to accompany the human voice. Clement of Alexandria (165-215 AD) severely condemns the use of instruments even at Christian banquets. St. Chrysostom (344-407 AD) sharply contrasts the customs of the Christians when they had full freedom with those of the Jews of the Old Testament.” (Catholic Encyclopedia X:652).
- “For almost a thousand years Gregorian chant, without any instrumental or harmonic addition was the only music used in connection with the liturgy. The organ, in its primitive and rude form, was the first, and for a long time the sole, instrument used to accompany the chant.” (Catholic Encyclopedia X:657).
- “It is alleged that Marinus Sanutus, who lived about A.D. 1290, was the first that brought the use of wind organs into churches….but never has either the organ or any other instruments been employed in public worship in Eastern churches; nor is mention of instrumental music found in all their liturgies, ancient or modern.” (McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, VIII:739).
It is obvious from these quotes that early Christians felt that since there is no scriptural basis for the use of instruments, they should be excluded from Christian worship. Both history and scripture agree—such use of instruments is a human innovation, and not acceptable worship to God.
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