Foundational Doctrines: Congregational A Cappella Singing as Worship

In the majority of congregations of the churches of Christ today, we maintain that God desires congregational a cappella singing as worship to Him. We stand opposed to the use of instruments of music in worship. In this article we examine this concept as one of the fundamentals of our faith.

1. What we offer to God as worship is a serious matter of respect to Him. The way that we choose to express worship to God either respects or disrespects Him. It is possible to be sincere in our religious actions, yet worship “in ignorance” (Acts 17:22ff) and our worship can become “vain” (Matt. 15:9) if it is motivated by our own desires rather than a desire to please God (Col. 2:23). Worshipping God by presumption, rather than by his spoken word, is equal to idolatry (1 Sam. 15:22-23). God feels severely disrespected and dishonored when we present offerings of worship to Him that he has not commanded (Lev. 10:1-3).

2. In the New Covenant, worship to God in “spirit and truth” is essential. In the Christian age, God still takes our worship to Him very seriously. Jesus instructs us that “true worshippers” MUST worship “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24). Sincerity and emotion are essential in worship, but so is truthfulness. God’s word is truth (John 17:17). We can only worship “in truth” when we know God has specifically asked for something as an offering of worship. Unlike the specific Old Testament laws of worship, God has communicated his desires in the New Covenant by the actions and writings of Jesus and His Apostles (2 Thes. 2:15; Philippians 3:17, 4:9).

3. Using only Scripture as our guide for faith, we can be certain that congregational, a cappella singing is an acceptable offering of worship to God. The New Testament is clear that we must be careful that we “offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28-29). God is still serious about the types of things we offer Him as worship, and there is worship that God finds “unacceptable.” The first covenant had many “regulations for worship” (Heb. 9:1). It is beyond dispute that God commanded instrumental music as worship to Him in the Old Testament (2 Chron. 29:25). But the Old Law was merely a “shadow of good things to come instead of the true form of these realities” (Heb. 10:1). John Price (interestingly a Reformed Baptist) gives a great summary of the issue: “(1) The Old Testament Temple worship in all of its outward ceremonies and rituals has been abolished; (2) We must look to Christ and His apostles alone for the worship of the church; (3) With no command, or example, or any indication whatsoever from the Lord Jesus that He desires musical instruments to be used in His church, we have no authority for their use” (Old Light on New Worship page 57).

4. We cannot be certain that using instruments in worship to God pleases Him; therefore it cannot be done “by faith.” As Christians we must walk by faith not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). Walking by faith means following God’s word alone for our religious practices (Rom. 10:17). We can be absolutely certain that congregational, a cappella singing (without instrumental accompaniment) is pleasing to God and can be done with confident faith (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; 1 Cor. 14:15; Heb. 13:15). It is impossible to have such confidence about instruments of music.

5. For about the first 1200 years of church history, instruments of music were not commonly used in worship and were condemned by church leaders. As late as 1260, Thomas Aquinas wrote that the Catholic Church did not use musical instruments because doing so doing would be to “fall back into Judaism.” In 1880, John Spencer Curwen wrote about men still living in his day who could remember when most all Protestant denominations (including Methodists, Independents, and Baptists) were opposed to musical instruments in worship.