All of us are prone to fall in with the popular concept that “whatever is, is right.” As children born into this scene, we find ourselves surrounded with a church already functioning according to accepted patterns of thought and method. It is quite natural to us, as we develop in our mental and spiritual capacities, to accommodate ourselves to what we find about us, on the supposition that it possesses Biblical sanction.
The author, as a child, attended a so-called “church,” where the organ was used at every service. The propriety of all this was taken for granted. As he later enlarged his sphere of associations, he found the piano, the organ and even the orchestra occupying a place of more or less prominence in all the different religious groups he contacted. It never occurred to him to question their presence. He accepted all as having always been a part of church worship and testimony. We venture to say that such an attitude is quite typical among Christians today.
Soon after his conversion at the age of about seventeen years, the author was invited to attend a little meeting of believers gathered in simplicity to the name of the Lord Jesus. All seemed to him so different from anything he had ever seen. There was no organ or musical instrument of any kind, nor was there any sign of a choir. The singing was congregational, with no visible director. All this impressed him as most peculiar, and he did not feel at all attracted by the strange simplicity of it all. He had not at that time reached the place in his spiritual growth where he had any disposition to seek out the reason for all this.
Now it is just at this point that the subject proposed by this chapter’s title assumes definite form. Let me state it as clearly as possible in this bold query: From the beginning of the history of the church of God on earth, down through the apostles’ time, and on into the early centuries and thereafter, did instrumental music form any part of church worship or gospel testimony? In answer to this question, the following facts are adduced.
Let us remind ourselves, to start with, that the proper “Christian” or church dispensation did not begin until the day of Pentecost. When our Saviour was on earth, He told Peter in Matthew 16:1818And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18), “Upon this rock I will build My church” — not, “I am building My church,” nor, “I have built My church,” but, “I will build”; it was still future. The only other mention of the church in any of the four Gospels is in Matthew 18:1717And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. (Matthew 18:17): “Tell it unto the church.” But an attentive examination of verses 15-20 will show us that our Lord is here contemplating the days to come after His departure from earth. This is clearly seen if we consider verse 20: “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” This was anticipating the time subsequent to His ascension to heaven, when He would grant His unseen, though real, presence in the midst of the two or three gathered together unto His name.
The actuality of the church as a present, functioning body upon earth takes its beginning from the day of Pentecost as described in Acts 2. This is definitely substantiated by the word in 1 Corinthians 12:13: “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” The first time the word “church” (properly “assembly,” from the Greek word ekklesia) is used in the Acts to designate this new body is in chapter 5:11. “Great fear came upon all the church.” So we are quite sure of our ground if we conclude that we must confine our investigation of apostolic practice in the church to those portions of the New Testament which are subsequent to the four Gospels. With this in mind, we will proceed with our subject.
The first thing that strikes us as we examine the Book of the Acts is the silence as to anything resembling present-day use of musical instruments in the church. In fact, the only mention of singing in the whole of the Acts is on the occasion of the imprisonment of Paul and Silas at Philippi. “At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God” (ch. 16:25). We feel confident no one would think of musical instruments in that dark and inner dungeon.
When we go on to the Epistles, we find the same utter silence as to the use of any mechanical helps to Christian worship or testimony. Let us here list every occurrence in the New Testament Epistles of any mention of music or singing.
“I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also” (1 Cor. 14:15).
Now we submit that nothing in any one of these six references carries with it the slightest suggestion of musical accompaniment. The “melody” mentioned is distinctly stated to be that “in your heart.”
Surely if God intended musical instruments to have a place in the church, would He not have made known to us somewhere, either in the twenty-eight chapters of the Acts or within the body of the fourteen epistles of Paul, the three of John, the two of Peter, or those of James and of Jude, His sanction of the same? How striking is the fact that that which now bulks so large in the thought and practice of present-day Christianity should have no mention in these twenty-two communications, written by six different servants of the Lord and covering a period of approximately seventy years.
What about the last book in the New Testament? We should not be surprised that we find frequent mention of singing in this book of heavenly triumph after the sufferings and trials of earth’s pilgrimage. And it is not the song of angels that greets our ear in this apocalyptic book. It is worthy of note that there is no Biblical record of angels singing. They are not redeemed.
Clad in this robe, how bright I shine!
Angels possess not such a dress;
Angels have not a robe like mine —
Jesus the Lord’s my righteousness.
Though angels praise the heavenly King,
And Him their Lord adoring own,
We can with exultation sing,
He wears our nature on the throne.
The first mention of singing in Revelation is in chapter 5:8-9: “The four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song.”
The company portrayed under the similitude of the twenty-four elders are unquestionably the glorified saints. In J. N. Darby’s Synopsis on Revelation he says, “Around it (the throne) those who represent the saints received at Christ’s coming, the kings and priests, are sitting on thrones” (p. 519). Here we encounter a company equipped with harps and golden bowls full of incense. What bearing does this have upon our investigation?
In the first place, we cannot take this heavenly scene as a pattern of earthly worship and testimony. It is not the church functioning in worship and testimony here below. If such were the case, we would surely have had something resembling this scene mentioned somewhere in the Acts or the Epistles. So it must be that the scene is meant to depict, not the pattern of earthly worship, but something of a new order.
In the second place, we must ever keep in mind in reading the Apocalypse that it is a book full of symbols. Dr. A. H. Burton in his pamphlet, The Symbols of the Apocalypse Briefly Defined, lists no less than two hundred different symbols in this book of the Revelation.
Logically, then, one must not put too much emphasis on the literality of what we meet in this most remarkable unveiling of the future. For instance, though we readily acknowledge the fact that the twenty-four elders symbolize the glorified saints, we would never for a moment take the number twenty-four literally. Actually, we believe their number will be beyond our computation. If we have no difficulty in seeing the symbolical significance of the number twenty-four, why should we hesitate to regard the harps as wholly symbolical? Dr. Burton, in his book above referred to, lists the harps as “symbolic of the choral service of praise” (Psalm 98:55Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. (Psalm 98:5)).
Furthermore, if we be disposed to press for a literal meaning in the heavenly harps, then we must also accept the accompanying figures in their literality. If we must add harps (instruments of music) to our assembly worship and testimony because we find harps in heaven, then let us be consistent and add also the golden bowls and the incense, the golden altar, and the crowns upon the head! No, brethren, we shall go far astray from the simplicity of the redeemed company of Acts 2:4242And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42) if we try to annex the material symbols of Revelation. How blessedly simple the pattern is:
“They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
If the reader cares to weigh further the references in the Revelation to singing or musical instruments, we list them here for his convenience: Revelation 5:8-9; 14:2-3; 15:2-38And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. 9And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (Revelation 5:8‑9)
2And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 3And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. (Revelation 14:2‑3)
2And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. 3And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. (Revelation 15:2‑3).
In these last two references we are again faced with heavenly harps and harpers, but the remarks above made would apply equally here. We know there will be no literal “sea of glass mingled with fire.” Why then should we literalize the “harps of God”?
In conclusion, may we not say with the assurance of the revealed will of God as found in New Testament doctrine and practice that instrumental music had no place in the apostolic church.