When Christ in the beginning established His church, as He had promised in Matthew 16:18, Christians sang psalms, hymns and spiritual songs in the worship of God, without the use of any kind of instruments of music. They were taught, “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” (Colossians 3:16). Likewise, Christians in Ephesus were instructed, “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19).
When the Roman Catholic church began hundreds of years after the establishment of the church of Christ, it began to use mechanical instruments of music in its worship. In the beginning of the 16th century when the Protestant movement started, founders and leaders of prominent denominational churches, including Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Wesley, spoke against the use of instruments of music in the worship of God.
Christ taught, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). God desires that people, whom He created, should worship Him with their hearts and lips, which God made and not through musical instruments which man made. Hebrews 13:15 teaches, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”
[Editor’s Note: The foregoing is part of the introduction appearing in a new Hindi and English languages songbook published in New Delhi, India. It is very appropriate and biblically based. ~ Louis Rushmore, Editor]
