Ready! Set! Go!
"They shall mount up with wings like eagles" 
(Isaiah 40:31)

 

Volume 5—Number 8—September 2003
 
 

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

      READY:  Mechanical Instruments of Music

SET: Opposites—Narrow Way/Broad Way 

GO: Evangelizing Among the Chinese
 
 
 
 

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A Monthly Publication of the Church of Christ  at Duluth, Georgia 
to equip the saints in reaching 
the lost through example and evangelism. 

Editors 

Skip Andrews 
3239 Highway 120 
Duluth, GA  30096 
770  476-2159 
email: Skip Andrews

Bobby Wood 
1410 Flat Shoals Road 
Conyers, GA 30013 
770 922-8341 
email: Bobby Woods 

Produced under the oversight of the 
elders at Duluth, GA
 
 

Rod Rutherford
Dennis Hatchett
Skip Andrews
 

This paper is sent free to all who request it.

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Conyers: 
Gospel Meeting with Roger Campbell 
October 5-8
 

Duluth: 
Gospel Meeting with Frank Chesser
October 19-23
 

Chestnut Mountain: 
Annual Lectures
October 11,12
 

Greer, South Carolina: 
Annual Lectureship
October 12-16
 

Duluth: 
Truth For the World Mission Forum
November 7-9 

 
 
 
 
 

MECHANICAL INSTRUMENTS 
OF MUSIC

    One of the most obvious differences between the denominational world and the churches of Christ is the mechanical instruments of music. Although many brethren will say the only difference between the Lord’s church and the Independent Christian Church is the mechanical instruments of music, such is really not the case. A few years ago, I met a Christian Church minister during a funeral, and he said the only difference between you and me is the instrument of music issue. I knew that when the Christian Church split off from the right ways of the Lord, there were other issues involved such as missionary societies. So I asked him about this, and sure enough, there were other differences. A few years later, I had another Christian Church minister make a similar statement, and I again asked about some other issues. Like before, when I put the statement to the test and checked it out, there were other differences. They used titles for their minister, had women elders, and fellowshipped with denominations. Though not with ministers, similar statements have been made to me by their members, but each time the same results have been found.

To be clear, the issue does not center on music but mechanical instruments of music. Sometimes good meaning brethren will say we don’t have music in the churches of Christ. That simply is not the truth. We have music in the Lord’s church. We do not have mechanical instruments of music in the church of our Lord. The music in the churches of Christ is the music God has authorized, nothing more and nothing less.

To be sure, there are three kinds of music. There is what is normally called instrumental music which is played music as with strings, horns, and percussions. Then there is a capella music which is vocal music without instrumental accompaniment. The etymology of the word “a capella” means “in chapel style” (Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 1996). This was the type of music used in the early church. Interestingly, the term is now being applied to vocal music with instrumental accompaniment. Finally, there is a mixture of both instrumental and vocal music. Sometimes it is vocal music with an instrumental accompaniment and sometimes instrumental music with vocal accompaniment. 

What we are concerned with in this and the next couple of articles is the kind of music God wants and has authorized. We are not concerned with the kind of music that we as humans like or that sounds beautiful to us. That is really not the point. In our worship, we ought to be striving to please God rather than ourselves. A few years ago, a lady approached me with a Bible question. After I answered the question with book, chapter, and verse, she said, “I know what the Bible says. I want to know what you think.” When it comes to things eternal, what I think is not what is important. My words and thoughts are not the standard of judgment nor is any man’s. God’s word is the rightful standard (John 12:48). We will be judged according to what God said within His divine word — the Bible. “What does the Bible teach?” is the proper and rightful question. Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” As we have written in a previous article, “in the name of the Lord Jesus” means by the authority of Jesus. Thus, we must have authority for what we do.

Singing is the only type of authorized music for worship in the New Testament age. In this area of study, we are concerned with statements which can be generic or specific. Whenever a statement is specific, it eliminates anything and everything else. We must not add to it nor take away from it. This is the law of exclusion or the law of silence as we wrote about in our last article. Since the scriptures teach explicitly and implicitly, we should seek statements of the sort. Such statements are found in Acts 16:25; 1 Corinthians 14:15; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; and James 5:13. In each case, the scriptures explicitly teach us to sing in worship to the Father. Let us, therefore, not add to nor take away from what God has authorized.
 
 

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