One of the foundational truths about worship is the non-use of instrumental music. It was recognized by pioneer preachers that the use of pianos and organs in worship was a Roman Catholic innovation. Bible study will reveal to us that instruments do not produce an authorized form of worship. All the passages in the New Testament that deal with music in worship mention singing only; instrumental music is not contained in what is written.
It should be remembered that there are two kinds of music. There is vocal and instrumental. SINGING is vocal music. Most people know that to have instrumental music, you need an instrument. If the Lord had simply told us to make MUSIC, we would be at liberty to (1) sing, (2) play or (3) sing and play. But, based on Ephesians 5:19, we have instructions that are specific and we have no right to substitute by playing or to make an addition by singing and playing.
The apostle Paul writes: “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (NKJB). In this passage, as elsewhere in the New Testament where any kind of music is mentioned for worship, the teaching is always and only to sing. We do not have a command, precept, example or a necessary inference in the New Testament to use any kind of instrument in our worship to God. To do so is sin.
God is the DESIGNER and CREATOR of the heart, the divine instrument He has given each one and upon which he demands the “melody” to be played in praising him. If God recognized and authorized the instruments of music invented by man to praise him, each individual member would have to play his own instrument, for no one else could play for him, anymore than he could commune, sing, pray and give for him. But, the divine instrument of God, being superior to the mechanical instruments of man, is the instrument upon which every man must make his own melody, without any confusion, by singing praises to God.
