Why No Instrument?
If you have visited at a church of Christ, you will probably notice several things that are different from the way other religious groups usually worship. You may well note that we do not use a piano or an organ or any other instrument of music when we edify each other and praise God in song. This might cause you to wonder why we do not utilize the instrument in worship. I would like to explain why I personally reject the use of the instrument and why those I choose to worship with in the churches of Christ share my convictions.
God’s Unchangeable Pattern
As a beginning point for our study, I would like to invite you to open your Bible and observe that God has appointed a pattern for how people are to worship and serve him. We cannot change this pattern in any way and have his approval. Moses stated that if anyone added to or took away from the Law that God had given to the Jews, that they would no longer be keeping the commandments of God (Deut. 4:2). In the New Testament, the apostle Paul states that we must do all things in the name of, or by the authority of, Christ (Col. 3:17). Jesus tells us that those who do things in religion without his authority, will not be able to go to heaven (Matt. 7:21 -23). John warns his readers that those who refuse to abide in the teachings of Christ have forfeited their fellowship with God (2 John 9) and goes on to forbid them to receive these individuals into their local fellowship (vv. 10, 11). When Satan sought to pervert Scripture, Jesus reminded him that we should listen to all that God has revealed on a given subject (Matt. 4:5, 7). By inspiration, John closes the Bible with a warning against adding to or taking from what God has revealed (Rev. 22:18, 19).
The New Testament Is God’s Pattern Today
That portion of our Bibles that contains the Law that God gave to the Jews by Moses, commonly known as the Old Testament, no longer serves as a pattern for how people should worship and serve God today. When we teach this, we are not saying that the Old Testament is not inspired by God. Peter said that men who were moved by the Spirit of God wrote the Old Testament (2 Pet. 1:21). Nor would we dare to say that the Old Testament has no value for us today. We can learn many valuable lessons from the principles and examples contained in the Old Testament (1 Cor. 10:1-11). However, the New Testament contains the teachings of Christ and constitutes the final revelation of God to man (Heb. 1:1, 2). Paul writes by inspiration that Christ is the “end” (goal or fulfillment) of the Old Testament Law (Rom. 10:4). The same apostle told the Colossians that no one should judge them by the precepts of the Old Law since Christ’s death on the cross had abolished that law (Col. 2:13-16). He warned the Galatians that those who sought to be justified by the precepts of the Law of Moses had fallen from grace (Gal. 5:4). Earlier, Paul had taught that the Law was a guardian to protect the Jews until the faith of Christ came. Now that faith has come, he reasoned, we have no need for the guardian (Gal. 3:24, 25).
Conclusion
Having established that God has a pattern which we cannot change and that the New Testament contains that pattern for us today, in our next article I want us to look at every passage in the New Testament that mentions music and seek to determine what God’s pattern for music in worship is today.
Truth
Magazine Vol. XLV: 8 p17
April 19,
2001