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The term "a cappella" came into the English language from
Latin by way of Italian. It means "in the style of the chapel
(church)." Today, it is commonly used to express "without
instrumental accompaniment."
From the beginning of Christianity, Christians sang in their
worship without the use of instruments of music. Today,
those who worship without musical instruments are a
minority of believers in America. However, our practice is
not as rare or peculiar as it might first appear. For the first
1,000 years of church history, instrumental music in worship
was not only unknown, it was also vigorously opposed by
Christian writers. Even though it was later accepted in the
West, the Eastern (Greek Orthodox) Church has continued to
regard instrumental music in worship as a non-biblical
practice that is contrary to the spiritual nature of worship.
What are the reasons for insisting on a cappella music in
Christian worship? Is this matter significant, or is it merely
a stubborn tradition that has no relevance in the present age?
These are the questions to which we now turn our attention.
The early Jerusalem church was born into a world of
music. Existing as it did for the first few years of its history
in the shadow of the Jewish temple, the first-century church
was exposed to a large variety of musical instruments. There
were numerous types of cymbals, harps and lyres (1
Chronicles 25:6-7). However, the early church used none of
them. Instead, their worship assemblies included "psalms,
hymns and spiritual songs," performed only with human
voices and hearts (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16).
In light of the extensive use of instruments in the Old
Testament and in the first-century world, it is amazing that
there is no mention in the New Testament of such
instruments in connection with the worship of the church.
Apparently, when the early Christians were instructed to
sing, the clear meaning of those instructions to them was to
sing without instruments of music.
In addition to the direct instructions early Christians had to
sing, they had other reasons to reject instrumental music:
• Its association with the Old Covenant – Instruments of
music were, indeed, used in the worship that was conducted
in the temple of God in Jerusalem. Many people today
believe that instrumental music in worship is still
appropriate, based on this ancient practice. However, there
are many Old Testament practices, including animal
sacrifice, which the New Testament declares to be
inappropriate for Christian worship.
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are
coming – not the realities themselves. For this reason it can
never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after
year, make perfect those who draw near to worship
(Hebrews 10:1).
Church historian Eusebius of Caesarea (263-339) wrote the
following in his Commentary on Psalms 91:2-3:
Of old at the time those of the circumcision were
worshiping with symbols and types it was not inappropriate
to send up hymns to God with the psalterion and kithara
and to do this on Sabbath days....We render our hymn with
a living psalterion and a living kithara with spiritual songs.
The unison voices of Christians would be more acceptable
to God than any musical instrument. Accordingly in all the
churches of God, united in soul and attitude, with one mind
and in agreement of faith and piety, we send up a unison
melody in the words of the Psalms.
• Its association with externals – Jesus told the Samaritan
woman that New Testament worship was to be "in spirit
and in truth" (John 4:24). Instructions about Christian
singing include the following spiritually-focused words:
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual
songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord
(Ephesians 5:19).
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and
admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing
psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your
hearts to God (Colossians 3:16).
In another context, while not condemning the use of
musical instruments, the Apostle Paul drew a contrast
between the meaningless noise of a gong or a cymbal with
the meaningful response of a human heart filled with the
love of God (1 Corinthians 13:1).
Everett Ferguson, in a work entirely devoted to the question
of a cappella music in worship, writes,
The whole self (including the emotions) is involved in
Christian worship, but the mind (reason) is to be in control.
Instrumental music can express feelings and emotions.
Vocal music can express the will and intellect. The latter is
better suited for the communion of spirit with Spirit. In
vocal music there is an immediate contact. In instrumental
music there is an intermediary. The voice is much more a
matter of one's self than any other gift of praise can be.
Vocal music thus best corresponds to the nature of man's
relationship to God.
• Its association with pagan festivals – As the church
moved out of Judea and into the Greek world, instrumental
music posed new problems for Christians. Many of their
converts had formerly been involved in pagan mystery cults
where a wide variety of musical instruments had been part
of the wild immorality that characterized their worship. Out
of concern for these young, vulnerable believers, the early
church avoided instrumental music in their worship, helping
the new converts to make a clear break with their sinful
past. The Oxford History of Music observes,
...The religious use of instruments, so long an important
feature of the Temple worship, was not prohibited after the
destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70 in token of mourning,
as was long believed, but discouraged before then in order
to safeguard the purity of religious music ‘against the
musical and orgiastic mystery cults in which Syrian and
Mesopotamian Jews not infrequently participated.' It was
equally disapproved of by the Hellenistic–Judaic
philosopher Philo of Alexandria, who wrote in the early
years of the Christian era and was opposed to any kind of
music in worship, and in the early Christian communities
– whose interdiction of instrumental participation in
service-music has been maintained to this day by the
Eastern Church.
While church history does not serve as our authority, it is
often helpful in understanding the thinking of the earliest
Christians. As mentioned before, we have no clear references
of instrumental music in Christian worship for almost 1,000
years. Even then, it was not the normal or generally accepted
practice. It is a shock to most people today to find that,
historically speaking, instrumental music in worship is
actually the minority practice.
It is also surprising to most people to find that many
writers in the first several centuries had a lot to say about
instruments of music. Typical of their objections to
instruments are the following:
• Theodoret (390-458) – A leader of the church in Syria,
Theodoret was probably the writer of Questions and
Answers for the Orthodox.
107. Question: If songs were invented by unbelievers to
seduce men, but were allowed to those under the law on
account of their childish state, why do those who have
received the perfect teaching of grace in their churches
still use songs, just like the children under the law?
Answer: It is not simple singing that belongs to the
childish state, but singing with lifeless instruments, with
dancing, and with clappers. Hence the use of such
instruments and the others that belong to the childish state
is excluded from the singing in the churches, and simple
singing is left.
• Niceta (335-414) – A church leader in Eastern Europe,
Niceta addressed the concept of "silent singing" in On the
Utility of Hymn Singing.
It is time to turn to the New Testament to confirm what is
said in the Old, and particularly, to point out that the office
of psalmody is not to be considered abolished merely
because many other observances of the Old Law have fallen
into desuetude (disuse). Only the corporal institutions have
been rejected, like circumcision, the sabbath, sacrifices,
discrimination in foods. So, too, the trumpets, harps,
cymbals and timbrels. For the sound of these we now have
a better substitute in the music from the mouths of men.
The New Testament instruction and example are to sing praise to God, making music with our voices and our hearts. The early church was both consistent and adamant in its rejection of musical instruments in worship. Whatever the reasons, whether because of its association with the old covenant, with inferior external rituals, or with pagan feasts, instrumental music was viewed for centuries as inappropriate for Christian worship and inferior to the human voice as a vehicle for the expression of the soul's worship of God. Non- instrumental believers today continue to follow the simple, positive teaching of the New Testament on this subject and to imitate the example of the early Christians in our rejection of instrumental music in the worship of the church.
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