“I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also” (1 Corinthians 14:15).

Today instruments of music are almost always used in worship, but as recently as two hundred years ago, almost all Protestant churches were united in their opposition to mechanical music in worship. The real question to consider as you read this material is this: Have today’s Bible scholars uncovered new truths from God’s Word that lay hidden for nearly two thousand years that compelled them to adopt instrumental music, or have men just gradually compromised scriptural convictions in favor of a more entertaining style of worship, regardless of biblical authority?

Consider further examples:

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

When Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses in Germany in 1517, there was an 8-year-old boy living in Noyon, France, named John Calvin. Calvin (1509-1564) grew up to be a French reformer and theologian, and the generally recognized founder of the Presbyterian Church. Presbyterians readily acknowledge being Calvinists. The primary tenets of Calvinism include a belief in the primacy of the Scripture as an authority for doctrinal decisions, a belief in predestination, a belief in salvation wholly accomplished by grace with no influence from works, and a rejection of the episcopacy. Interestingly, the character Calvin in Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes was named after John Calvin. It is thought that this reflects the young male character’s belief in predestination (as justification for his behavior), while his stuffed tiger Hobbes shares Thomas Hobbes’s dim view of human nature.

Along with the Institutes, John Calvin also produced commentaries on the books of the Bible. Perhaps many modern Presbyterians do not know what John Calvin thought about instrumental music. In his commentary on Psalm 33:2 (which reads, “Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings”), Calvin wrote: “The name of God, no doubt, can, properly speaking, be celebrated only by the articulate voice.” He went on to say:

When [believers] frequent their sacred assemblies, musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting up of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law. . . . The Papists, therefore, have foolishly borrowed this, as well as many other things, from the Jews. Men who are fond of outward pomp may delight in that noise; but the simplicity which God recommends to us by the apostle is far more pleasing to him. . . . The voice of man . . . excels all inanimate instruments of music.[1]

Calvin went on to admit that music had power to move the hearts of men, but cautioned:

We should always take care that no corruption creep in, which might both defile the pure worship of God and involve men in superstition. Moreover, since the Holy Spirit expressly warns us of this danger by the mouth of Paul, to proceed beyond what we are there warranted by him is not only, I must say, unadvised zeal, but wicked and perverse obstinacy.[2]

Further, in the Publication, Questions on the Confession of Faith and Form of Government of The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America we find,

Question 6. Is there any authority for instrumental music in the worship of God under the present dispensation?

Answer. Not the least, only the singing of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs was appointed by the apostles . . . not a syllable is said in the New Testament in favor of instrumental music nor was it ever introduced into the Church until after the eighth century, after the Catholics had corrupted the simplicity of the gospel by their carnal inventions. It was not allowed in the Synagogues, the parish churches of the Jews, but was confined to the Temple service and was abolished with the rites of that dispensation.[3]

We are not saying that instrumental music is wrong because John Calvin or a governing board thought it was wrong. Calvin’s views are not the standard. The Presbyterian Church is not the standard. The point is simply that these men clearly opposed instrumental music in worship.

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:

John Knox (1513-1572) was a Scottish religious reformer who played the lead part in reforming the Church in Scotland. He is widely regarded as the father of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, and of the Church of Scotland.[4] He did not use instruments in worship and referred derogatorily to the organ as “a kist (chest) of whistles.”[5]

CHURCH OF ENGLAND:

W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson were famous scholars of the Church of England, and identified as “authorities on Paul” by the Christian Encyclopedia.[6] In commenting on Ephesians 5:19 they say:

Throughout the whole passage there is a contrast implied between the Heathen and the Christian practice . . . When you meet, let your enjoyment consist not in fullness of wine, but fullness of the spirit; let your songs be, not the drinking songs of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and their accompaniment, not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart; while you sing them to the praise, not of Bacchus or Venus, but of the Lord Jesus Christ.”[7]