Should we use instruments in worship?

Whenever discussing anything Spiritual or doctrinal, we always need to go to the source of doctrine, the Bible. The only way to know God’s will regarding a Spiritual topic or question is to look at where He tells us, and the Bible makes it clear time and time again that everything we do needs to be in accordance with His will. In fact, we’re told that everything we do needs to be done “In the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col 3:17). However, this statement isn’t exactly clear at first glance, how can we fulfill this commandment? What does it mean to do things in the name of Jesus? Thankfully we can go to other passages to find answers.

In Acts 4 the disciples were preaching Jesus’s resurrection. The next day, there were rulers, elders, scribes, and the high priest gathered in Jerusalem, and they asked the disciples in vs 7, “By what power or by what name have you done this?” The word “power” in Greek has a direct correlation to the word authority. So really, they were asking “By whose authority are you doing and teaching these things?” Peter answered and said “By the name of Jesus Christ”. He was saying they weren’t preaching their own ideas, but rather what God authorized and commanded them to preach in the great commission. So by saying “In the name of Jesus” they are saying that it came and is authorized by God, not by man.

To bring it back to the first verse, it means that everything that we do in our lives needs to be authorized and approved by God. We should do everything that God says to do, and not do what God tells us not to. Because of this, we need to make sure everything in our lives, including how we worship, with or without music, is in accordance with God’s will and comes from God Himself.

Examples of authority in the Bible

Before we bring it back to instrumental music, we need a deeper understanding of the authority in scripture, and I’ve included some illustrations to explain the idea.

We’ll start with the example of Noah. God commanded him to build an ark, and He told him the specific dimensions, the type of wood, and even the means of travel, a boat. This means Noah wasn’t authorized to build a car made out of plastic the size of a toy. God told him to build an ark out of gopher wood 300x50x303. And so we, in our lives, are commanded to gather biblical knowledge and come to the conclusions God wants us to (1 Thessalonians 5:21, “test all things, hold fast to what is good”).

Another example is the Great Commission. God commanded us to “Go” and preach the word to the world. However, we see that people fulfilled this commandment differently. We see preachers going by chariot (Acts 8:31), by rope and basket (Acts 9:25), on foot (Acts 14:14), and by ship (Acts 16:11). So we can conclude that even though the commandment to go is mandatory, the method of going is optional.

One last example, God commands us to gather and worship. However, we see throughout the New Testament people gathering in buildings, in people’s homes, and even outside. So we can conclude that the location of worship is authorized and optional, we can worship wherever we want, as long as it doesn’t violate other commandments (you shouldn’t hold worship in a crowded bar, for example). The same can be said with songbooks, we are authorized to sing and to sing the same song as opposed to everyone singing random songs or words. To fulfill this commandment, there need to be tools to accomplish that (songbooks, projectors, song leaders with microphones, etc). Even if you were using instruments, you would most likely have sheet music, microphones, and other equipment to fulfill this task.

Is there authority in the New Testament for Instrumental music?

The short answer: no, instrumental music is not authorized. Playing (an instrument) is a supplement to singing. It’s just like hearing and seeing are two different kinds, or ways, of perceiving. Seeing does not aid hearing, it supplements it, and vice versa. So singing and playing are two different ways to make music, and they supplement each other. One is authorized in scripture, the other is not. We are told to sing, Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16, but playing is not authorized in the New Testament. God never tells us He wants us to play for Him as worship. To say that He does is to “add to His words” (Proverbs 30:6) and to “go beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6).

This idea of authority is understood well by Christians in other scenarios. For example, what would you think if went to a new church and instead of unleavened bread and grape juice for communion, they decided to serve Gatorade and Goldfish? Or what if instead of only serving the bread and juice, they added pizza and Dr. Pepper? Most of us understand how this is wrong, it’s deviating from what God has commanded. If it’s so clear in examples like this, why do Christians have a problem with instrumental music?

Now an often argument brought up is that there was often instrumental music in the Old Testament, in fact, it was sometimes commanded of them (Psalm 150:3-4). Because of this, we can assume that it also applies to us today, at the very least it goes to show that God likes instruments. However, this is failing to understand the authority of Scripture and the New Testament. When Jesus died on the cross, He did away with the Old Law (Ephesians 2:14-16). The Old Testament is still good for learning about God, but its laws and commandments are not applicable to us today, everything we do needs to be from the New Testament. Because of that, and because it was never brought over from the Old Testament, we are not authorized to use instrumental music in worship.

Ultimately, the use of instruments in worship is to ignore God’s will and authority and decide that your way, or what you want to do, is better than God’s will. Who are we, men who were created by God, to decide that our will is better than the Lord’s?

Side effects from instrumental music

The main purpose of singing is to worship our Creator. However very often with instrumental music, the importance of the matter can be lost. When you start adding instruments and bands and worship teams, the focus can very easily leave God. Not only is only the band participating while everyone else watches, the focus easily becomes on the quality of the instruments, music, atmosphere, and skill of the musicians. However, this is very contrary to the idea in scripture. We are commanded to sing, Ephesians 5:19. Even if this could include playing, often the whole church isn’t participating in the making of music, instead turning their focus to the band. This is not found in Scripture in the slightest.

In the same vein, instruments can produce the side effects of elitism in the church. Imagine if you had to have a certain level of skill to be able to worship God. Often times churches allow only the best of the best to play the instruments and lead in their worship. However, Scripture doesn’t teach this, in fact, it commands us to sing. Singing has an extremely low barrier to entry, even young children with no instruction or lessons can sing songs. However it is a slippery slope, if we added instruments to worship it easily could start making it impossible for others to worship fully, or only those who are skilled enough can worship Him.

Conclusion

All things need to be done in the name of, or with the authority of Jesus Christ. We are commanded, and therefore authorized, to sing. However, we are never authorized to play instruments in worship, and in doing so we disregard God’s will, and we decide our own is better. Every Christian needs to examine themselves and actions, and make sure they line up with God’s will. In the terms of this topic, that would mean that you sing with your voice, nothing more, and nothing less, just as God requests.