Expert: Joe Norman - 10/5/2010

Question
music in the church????   how do you interpret sing and make melody with your heart verses instrumental music????                                                   2nd question now...                                                        i got married at the age of 17 due to pregnancy and raising our child in a family home.way to young and immature...    i being a young immature church of Christ she being baptist. long story short i cheated a twice we worked things out for 5 or 6 years and then she cheated. we tried but i couldn't move on. she then cheated again and filed for a divorce. she has remarried and i also have and remarried to a non Christian. after 4 years of a very unstable marriage she cheated.   So now my question is was i truly ok to remarry and if so would i be able to do so now??? please give scriptures in answer.  

Answer
Hi Shane,

I do apologize for the long delay in my answer to your questions. I lost my Internet connection for a while and just got it back. First you asked me how I interpret sing and make melody with your heart verses instrumental music. I do not find any scriptural support for musical instruments in Christian worship anywhere in the New Testament. Also history shows that musical instruments were not a part of Christian worship for over 1000 years. Also the literal definition of the Latin "a'capella" is - in the style of the church or chapel.

Eph.5:18-21
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.

In this passage above, this is instruction to all Christians. Due to the sentence structure, it is clear that singing is accompanied by making melody in our hearts so the heart is the only instrument to accompany the voice. Also, we see from the sentence structure that every Christian is supposed to sing and make melody in their hearts to the Lord so this eliminates not only instrumental worship but also choirs and soloists.

Col.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.  

This passage from Colossians also shows very similar things regarding everyone singing and being accompanied by the heart. Also, under the Old Covenant the Temple was a building. It was external. Under the New Covenant, the Temple is each and every Christian. It is internal. The only instruments that can enter the temple of the New Covenant are the voice and the heart.

1 Cor.3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

1 Cor.6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

Now to your next question: As Christians we should always strive to marry once and for life because that is God's ideal. But sin is in the world and so divorce is sometimes going to happen even when one in the marriage doesn't want it. You both cheated in your first marriage and tried to work it out. Then you both married again. If I understood correctly, your second wife who is not a Christian cheated on you after 4 years of an unstable marriage. Yes you were both okay to remarry and yes you are able to remarry someone new a 3rd time - but only if there is no way to save the second marriage. I have given many many answers on divorce and remarriage on the all experts website and advise you to read my past answers - especially the most recent ones.

But here is the reason I say you can remarry a third time. Few men have the gift that Paul had to live a celibate life and not fornicate (I Cor.7:6-9). Marriage is to help us avoid fornication (I Cor.7:1,2). Also, celibacy was only encouraged by Paul due to the persecutions Christians were enduring in his lifetime.

All that being said, God hates divorce and we must strive to please God by making our marriage last if at all possible. But also, God doesn't want anyone to suffer a terrible marriage. I strongly advise that if you do choose to divorce a second time and marry a 3rd time, you not rush into anything and find a good Christian woman who understands marriage is to be for life for better or worse. Don't rush into a third marriage. Be sure this time. I pray you make wise decisions and God blesses you.

In Christian Love, Joe Norman