IMPLICATIONS
OF SINGING WITHOUT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Hebrews 10:1-5
Our belief in a New Testament call for a cappella music
in the worship of the church has certain implications we would do well to
understand. Otherwise it might appear as though our beliefs regarding the music
of the church are floating around in space, disjointed from the broader
teachings of the New Testament. Actually our a cappella (the term
literally meaning, “in the style of the chapel”) convictions are well grounded
in a rich theology of New Covenant teaching. Let us examine the full biblical
connections to the way we sing in our assemblies.
THE LOGIC OF A CAPPELLA SINGING—TECHNICAL MATTERS
1. The
New Testament teaches that the silence of the Bible on a matter prohibits
rather than allows the thing under consideration (Heb. 7:11-14).
a. Even
Jesus could not have been a priest while on earth because the Law of Moses did
not give Him authorization.
b. Just
because the Law did not say “no priests from the tribe of Judah” still did not
allow Jesus to be a priest during His stay on earth.
c. Silence,
by its very nature, cannot authorize anything.
2. The
Bible gives authorization either by what it directly states in so many words
(explicit teaching, i.e., baptism in Matthew 28:18-20), or by what it would
take to facilitate or aid the doing of a command (implicit teaching, i.e., a
place of assembly to facilitate Hebrews 10:25’s command to assemble).
3. The
Old Testament directly authorized instrumental music in worship (II Chron.
29:25) while the New Testament mentions only vocal music in worship (Eph. 5:19;
Col. 3:16).
4. Instruments,
unlike a true aid, actually produce a type of music themselves and are thus not
acceptable as an aid (i.e., a microphone, speakers, and song books do not make
music themselves—by themselves there is no music).
5. Even
a tuning fork or pitch pipe does not make music (an orderly progression of
tones), they merely set a tone from which to begin vocal music.
6. These
technical points, logically sound as I believe them to be, nevertheless are the
bare bones of the bigger argument and, therefore, not the most attractive part
to most people.
7. We
need also to understand the reasons behind the change from the music of the Old
Testament to that of the New Testament.
THE PURPOSE BEHIND THE TECHNICALITIES
1. The
outward forms of Old Testament were pointing forward to a superior way of
approaching God in the Messiah (Heb. 8:1-13; 10:1-18).
2. The Old Covenant had much associated with it
that was outward in focus, things that prefigured the Messianic Era.
a. The
temple represented the idea of Gods presence and was fulfilled in Christ and in
His relationship to the church (Jn. 2:19-22; I Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19).
b. The
animal sacrifices found fulfillment primarily in the sacrifice of Christ and
secondarily in the living sacrifice of Christians (Heb. 9:11-15; Rom. 12:1-2).
c. The
Passover prefigured both Jesus as God’s perfect sacrificial Lamb and the Lord’s
Supper in memory of His death (Jn. 1:29; I Cor. 5:7; Matt. 26:17-29).
3. The
book of Revelation uses many things of the Jewish religion to symbolize a
variety of situations and actions associated with a message to the early
church—those things used as symbols had not carried over into Christianity.
a. Jewish
tribes no longer mattered (Rev. 7:1-8; Rom. 2:28-29; Eph. 2:11-22).
b. All
Christians were priests (Rev. 1:6; I Pet. 2:9).
c. The
lampstand did not carry over into the church age (Rev. 1:12; Heb. 9:1-2).
d. Incense
ended with the coming of the New Covenant (Rev. 5:8; Heb. 9:4).
e. Likewise,
Jewish harp music is also not found in the church (Rev. 14:2; Eph. 5:19).
4. Jewish
institutions and observances are said to be mere shadows of the substance found
in Christ (Col. 2:16-17).
5. Instruments
are characterized as but inferior and lifeless conveyors of sound in I
Corinthians 14:6-7, where also, by implication, they were clearly no part of
church worship.
6. The
nature of New Testament life and worship is clearly distinguished from Jewish
worship by its center of attention being Jesus, and the expression of its
adherents being emphasized overwhelmingly as coming from the heart (Col. 3:1-3,
17; I Cor. 13:1-3; 11:27-28; II Cor. 8:5; 9:7; Jas. 1:6, 21).
7. The
only outward symbolism included in the New Testament way is found in the simple
expressions of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Rom. 6:3-4; I Cor. 11:23-26).
8. Therefore,
the a cappella music of the church (Eph. 5:18-20; Col. 3:16) is well fitted
into a broad network of emphasis that encompasses the richness of a
Christ-centered, heartfelt new order.
The nuts and bolts of our rejection of noninstrumental
music in our worship is eminently logical and defensible. However, when we join
that skeleton to the beautiful body of spiritual thought it supports, the
wisdom of God fully shines through. The worship of the Messianic Age is much to
be preferred over the types and shadows of way of Moses. After all, Jesus is
“counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the
house has more honor than the house” (Heb. 3:3).
Edwin
11/5/00
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