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Why we sing a
cappella
One of the things you will notice when
you worship with us is that we sing a
cappella, that is, without instrumental accompaniment. We don't
use instruments in public worship because they were were part of the ceremonial
Law and Levitical Priesthood that were abolished when Jesus died
on the cross,
“The
priestly sons of Aaron, moreover, shall blow the trumpets; and this shall
be for you a perpetual statute throughout your generations.
“When you go to war in your land against the adversary who attacks you,
then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered
before the LORD your God, and be saved from your enemies.
“Also in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and
on the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your
burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and
they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am the LORD your
God.” (Numbers
10:8-10; emphasis added)
With the
death of Jesus, the ceremonial law and Levitical Priesthood have ended, [1]
For when the
priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. (Hebrews 7:12) [2]
For, on the one
hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its
weakness and uselessness. (Hebrews
7:18)
We are
now commanded to sing to God with the instrument of the heart,
And do not get drunk with
wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the
Lord. (emphasis added; Ephesians 5:18,19; cf. Colossians
3:16)
By
not using instruments in public worship the church declares that the
sacrificial work of Jesus Christ is finished.
The church is now listening for the trumpet of God when Jesus returns
and the dead are raised and we will be changed (1 Cor.15:51-52; 1
Thess.4:16).
A cappella singing was the practice of the apostolic church and it was
the unanimous practice of the post-apostolic church. In fact, it wasn’t until A.D. 560
that bells were first used in a church and the approximate year an organ was
first used in worship was A.D. 730. Below are remarks and reasons by
well-known Christians as to why instruments should not be used when the
church gathers to offer sacrifices of praise:
Justin Martyr A. D.
150
Plain singing is not
childish, but only the singing with lifeless organs, with dancing and
cymbals, etc. Whence the use of such instruments and other things fit for
children are laid aside, and plain singing only retained.
Clement of
Alexandria A. D. 190
We [Christians] make
use only of one organ or instrument, even the peaceful Word, with which we
honor God; no longer with the old psaltery, trumpet, drum, cymbal, or pipe.
Cyprian—A. D.
240
Such organs, or instruments, were then permitted them (the Old Testament
Church) for this cause, even for the sake of their weakness, to stir up their
minds to perform their external worship with some delight.
Chrysostom A. D. 396
It [Instrumental
Music] was permitted to the Jews, as sacrifice was, for the heaviness and
grossness of their souls. God condescended to their weakness, because they
were lately drawn off from idols; but now instead of instruments we may use
our bodies to praise him withal. Again, let no man deceive you, these, [instruments]
appertain not to Christians; these are alien to the Catholic Church; all
these things do the nations of the world seek after.
Thomas
Aquinas—A. D. 1260
In the old law, God was praised both with musical instruments and human
voices. But the Church does not use musical instruments lest she should seem
to Judaize. Nor ought a pipe, nor any other artificial instruments, such as
organ, or harp, or the like, be brought into use in the Christian Church, but
only those things which shall make the hearers better men. Under the Old
Testament such instruments were used, partly because the people were harder
and more carnal, and partly because these bodily instruments were typical of
something.
John Calvin—1545
Instrumental Music is not fitter to be adopted into the public worship of the
Christian Church than the incense, the candlestick, and the shadows of the
Mosaic law... We know that our Lord Jesus Christ has appeared, and by His
advent, has abolished these legal shadows.... For instruments of music in
Gospel times, we must not have recourse to these, unless we wish to destroy
the evangelical perfection, and to obscure the …light which we enjoy in
Christ our Lord.
John Wesley
1703-1791
I have no objection
to instruments being in our chapels, provided they are neither heard nor
seen.
Charles Spurgeon
1834-1892
We should like to see
all the pipes of the organs in our …places of worship either ripped open or
compactly filled with concrete
“The custom of organ
accompaniment did not become general among Protestants until the eighteenth
century.”
— The New Shaff-Herzogg Encyclopedia, 1953, Vol 10, p. 257
Click here for a
sermon outline (The Day the Music Died ) which gives further
biblical explanation why we don't use instruments in public worship.
Organ
Grinding, debate which took place in 1849 which the young pastor Robert
L. Dabney was a part.
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