Expert: Marvin Howard - 3/28/2006

Question
Does your denomination/tradition limit God's word to only matters of 'church conduct'?  If according to your tradition/denomination musical instruments are forbidden because of their exclusion in the New Testament, how can musical instruments be acceptable at all, in any aspect of the believers life?  Also, do you do formal debates?  Do you know of anyone from your denomination/tradition that would be willing to?

Answer
Hi!

JG, I would like you to know, from the start, the church is not a denomination as you suppose. So, the church does not have any teaching that is it's own, but rather we stand firmly on the Word of God rather than elevating a creed book to a higher position of authority.

I am virtually homebound, and am unable to debate publically. Likewise, I am not in close enough contact with others in the church, since we are not a denomination with this type of organization, to know who may participate in any such debate.

There are things that are limited to worship. There are things which are done in everyday life. You cannot confuse the two, and the Bible speaks of both. Things forbidden in everyday life are also forbidden in worship. For example, consider the scenarios of a murder in the church, cursing in the church, and fornication in the church. However, things which are wrong in the church are only wrong outside the church, if such prohibition is prescribed outside the church. I do not believe that instruments are wrong. I just do not believe they are authorized for worship. Here are some Scriptures for your consideration.

Leviticus 16:12-13, “And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil: And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not:”

Leviticus 10:1-2, “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.”

Leviticus 4:2-3, “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.”

All fire is not evil. All fire was not forbidden. However, all fire, save that from the one source which was prescribed, was forbidden in worship. God said to take it from the altar of burnt offering. They took it from elsewhere. After all, fire is fire, right? What harm can it cause; the incense is still burned? Did the Lord say, “Thou shalt not use fire from any other source?” No, He did not. The fact that He said to do something specific, in worship to Him, prohibited the use of anything else. Nadab and Abihu presumed to do something different in worship than that which was commanded, and it cost them their lives. Sins of ignorance did not invoke the death penalty at the hand of God, so the command was given prior to the actions of Nadab and Abihu. You must remember, the books were written after the actual events, and the chronology may not be in line, unless the chronology is specified in the text.

Incense may not required in the New Law. Nevertheless, here is evidence of the same attitude of God in the New Testament, relating to items used in worship.

1st Corinthians 11:18-29, “For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.”

Eating is not prohibited outside of the church. However, to take a part of worship, communion, and use it for an excuse to eat a full meal, is prohibited. We are now under a more perfect Law, that of Liberty (James 1:25 and 2:12), whereby our lives on earth are not required for so many sins, but at the same time, the consequences relating to sins of ignorance have changed.

Acts 17:30-31, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”

God would rather us remain alive on earth and have a chance to repent of our sins before death. However, sins of ignorance now require the ultimate death penalty at judgment.

There must be emotion in our worship, yet there must be logic, as well. I do apologize if this format deletes the Greek text I include. I have included pronunciations, translations, and transliterations for each that the word may be identified, regardless. Everyone understands when they see the suffix, “-ology,” that we are dealing with “science” or “the study” of something, dictated by the beginning of the word. From where does this suffix come? It comes from the Greek word, λόγος, or “logos.”

Strong's defines “logos” thusly:

λόγος

logos

log'-os

From G3004; something said (including the thought); by implication a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension a computation; specifically (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (that is, Christ): - account, cause, communication, X concerning, doctrine, fame, X have to do, intent, matter, mouth, preaching, question, reason, + reckon, remove, say (-ing), shew, X speaker, speech, talk, thing, + none of these things move me, tidings, treatise, utterance, word, work.

The short version of this definition is "word” or "words.” According to John 1:1-14, Jesus is both God and the Word. We are to use words, or λόγος, in our study of God and Godly things. In order to study God properly, we are to use λόγος, or its necessary derivative, logic.

Why do I feel this is an important topic to broach? Quite simply, most of the religious world misses the point. Most of the religious world fails to use the Word, or in other words Jesus, properly in trying to teach about Jesus and His teachings, or words. Because Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, in John 14:26, to bring to remembrance the things He said, this also applies to the teachings of the apostles. Many people have been misled into believing they are in a church, when in reality, they are not. They are only in a denomination. A few of these instances may be willful disobedience. But, I dare say that the vast majority of these are misled unknowingly. I want to give you one example of this. Remember, we are to use logic in our studies, so I need you to put on your thinking cap to follow me here.

First, we need to agree upon some definitions. What is a chapel? Is it not a place where the church meets? Why, of course, it is! Why must I ask this? We are about to discuss church music.

There are two types of music used within what is popularly recognized as “Christianity” today, by the world's definition. I must use this language, for some of these groups are not churches: their people are not Christians as supposed. What types are there? One is “A Cappella.” The other is instrumental. The other definitions we need to get a good grasp of are these. “A Cappella” music is vocal music. That is to say, it is music that has no accompaniment by mechanical instruments. The other type of music is “non-A Cappella,” or instrumental music.

We have the definitions in hand. What is the significance of this? Well, you are going to hear it this morning if you never have before. “A Cappella” is a Latin phrase. This is the language spoken by ancient Rome.

“A” is a preposition. It is the same in Latin, Italian, and Spanish, as the latter two derive from the first. It has two meanings, depending on the derivative language. In Spanish, the translation comes to English as, “of.” In Italian, the translation renders to English as, “from.” It makes no difference to the point here, because if something is “of” a place, it is what can come forth “from” a place.

In Italian, “Cappella Sistina” renders to “Sistine Chapel.” Can you see where this is leading? “A Cappella” translates into English as, “Of the Chapel,” or “From the Chapel.” Do you remember that a chapel is a church building? Do you remember that “A Cappella” music is vocal only? That's right, if it is vocal music, it is the type found in, or coming from, church buildings. If it is instrumental, it is the type, which is not found in church buildings. Logically then, (There's that “λόγος - logos” again.) if there are instruments present and in use, the place is not where the church is located. The people meeting there are then proven to not be the church.

“But, Preacher,” I often hear, “this is just a small thing.” “This is just a matter of opinion.” “It's not important.” Is it small? Is it unimportant? Remember, if it goes against God (Romans 3:4), it is a lie. It does not make any difference how big of a lie it is, any lie will send you to Hell (Revelation 21:8) if you don't stop saying it with either your mouth or actions.

We have proven the importance of using the right kind of music. We have studied the word origins of the different types of music. Now, let us go to the Father to determine if what He has to say contradicts the wisdom of man in this case.

Collossians 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.”

Collossians leaves no room for anything but singing; no instruments are allowed.

Ephesians 5:19, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;”

Ephesians is a different matter. We have the command to “psallo” (ψάλλω) to the Lord. “Psallo” is a Greek word. It was translated as, “making melody.” Its definition is to, “pluck,” or “play.” There is definitely room for an instrument here, or so it appears.

This is where the majority of denominations stop. “Psallo,” here, is accusative case, present tense, second person, plural, active voice, and the imperative mood. I am not going to try to teach you the Greek language today. Yet, you must know this combination demands the instrument that is to be played will also be named. It is. Is it the harp, which David played? Is it a piano or organ? No! It is the human heart. To use this verb tense of “psallo” to provide authority for instruments is equivalent to placing burgers and cokes on the altar for communion. This just is not to be done. It is not authorized by God. It goes beyond that which is written.

For the sake of the debate, let's assume for a moment that this does allow a mechanical instrument (even though it doesn't because the heart is named specifically; remember the specificity in the case of Nadab and Abihu we learned at the beginning of this dissertation). Because the word ψάλλω is plural, and this is a command (imperative mood), if there is an instrument allowed (since the instrument must be named), then everyone must be playing that same instrument, or those not so doing are disobeying the command. In other words, if an organ is authorized, and only one person plays the organ, that one person is the only person who is not sinning.

People will often try to stay in their comfortable, little, white lie. “But, Preacher,” I hear without fail, “David played a harp.” The same authority used to add instruments to worship (the Old Testament) also demands the use of animal sacrifice. If we were to use the animal sacrifices today, we would be denying the efficacy of Jesus' blood. Yet, we are told that if we try to keep that law, and fail in one point, we are guilty of all. Therefore, to keep the instruments, we must keep the animal sacrifices. This is an impossible task to accomplish and still get to heaven.

History records that mechanical instruments were not even introduced until after 600 A.D. This is too late to be part of the faith which was delivered one time for all; Christianity (Jude 3). Even so, people rebelled against the instruments in the 7th century. They knew that it wasn't the church if there were instruments used there. The instrument finally made a small toehold in the 9th century. Catholicism accepted it within the hierarchy.

However, when the reformation occurred, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Spurgeon, and Zwingli are all on record in opposition. Comments were made such as, “I have no objection to a piano being in the church building, provided it is neither seen nor heard (Wesley).” Instruments were not widely accepted in the denominational world until about the 18th century. The acceptance is about 1700 years too late to be the one church and one faith of Christianity.

The church is not even alone in this knowledge. The Greek Orthodox folks know “psallo” means “play.” Yet, they do not have an instrument other than the heart. Primitive Baptists, also, do not use them. I think their reasoning is different, but you will not find an instrument there.

I have said much today proving who is not the church. I have said much proving who is not really walking with God. So, who then is the church? Simply put, the church is any group of believers who practice all of what God said. They don't add anything to it. They don't take anything away from it. They make sure that when they divide the Scripture, it is done correctly (2nd Timothy 2:15), not forcing one part to contradict another. They have the utmost respect for the warnings issued throughout the scripture, such as Galatians 1:8-9.

I have said much in this response. I hope I have demonstrated, faithfully, what God declares on the matter.

In His Service,
Marvin Howard
http://www.geocities.com/preacherman_1962