The association of instruments with pagan worship

This final section of OT perspectives on instruments is also an introduction to a problem that continued into NT times. Capturers like the Babylonians and Romans tolerated approved religions and persecuted the illegal ones. During the Babylonian captivity elaborate worship services without the support of the temple became impossible. The book of Daniel describes the various problems the Jews encountered worshipping in Babylon. The book of Daniel also prophesies about the coming of Alexander the Great (Dan 8:21). The conquest by Alexander brought Greek music into the culture of the Jews and because of the close association of instruments with pagan worship, the Jews began to exclude them in their worship.[1]

First century Christian worship was often in the temple (Acts 2:46; 3:3) or in a synagogue (Acts 14:1) as a sect within Judaism.[2] They most likely worshipped in temple precincts with instrumental accompaniment. This is enough to raise a note of caution regarding the NT’s silence on musical instruments in worship. Alfred Edersheim describes the temple worship as including instrumental accompaniment. Concerning temple worship he writes, “The melody was simple, sweet, and sung in unison to the accompaniment of instrumental music.”[3] The synagogue is perhaps a different situation. The absence of musical accompaniment is a little more concrete. The synagogue service was more didactic. According to Edersheim, the synagogue service was intended primarily as instruction and teaching and there was no “service of praise” in the synagogue.[4] Christian worship in NT times followed the model of the synagogue more so than the temple.[5] Perhaps this is a stronger argument for a cappella music in the early church. Of course all of this applies only to the Jewish churches in the NT period. The Greek churches may have used instruments but there is no historical record to confirm or deny this assumption. What is agreed upon is that music “was more of a regular feature in Christian households than it was in formal worship.”[6] It is certainly dangerous to make an argument from silence, but basically, there is no mention of singing in the descriptions of early Christian worship.[7]

Several early church fathers, though not all, also had the same concern as the Babylonian Jews. Instruments had a strong association with the sinful activity of the world and therefore should be avoided.[8] The specific first century problem is that the Greeks used sensual musical orgies in worship to false gods. The fact that the first century Christians did not use instrumental music is a strong argument and sufficient reason for many members of the churches of Christ to oppose the use of instruments today. It is perhaps the most quoted of the arguments against instrumental music. But before accepting this argument a study of the words of the apostle Paul on the subject of music should first be considered.

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[1] Egon Wellesz, ed., New Oxford History of Music, Vol. I: Ancient and Oriental Music (N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1957), 300.

[2] Interestingly, the synagogue itself is never approved of or authorized in Scripture. Here is a concrete instance of Scripture’s “silence” which obviously did not “rule out” the use of the synagogue. Note again the inconsistency of this ruling in vs. ruling out hermeneutic.

[3] Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: its Ministry and Services (Peabody, Ma.: Hendrickson, 1994), 51.

[4] For a good discussion of the synagogue worship service see Alfred Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish Social Life (Peabody, Ma.: Hendrickson, 1994), 244-45. All of this is difficult to assess objectively given our lack of sources describing temple and synagogue worship, especially in NT times. The only available source is the Mishnah, a rabbinical codification of laws from the early third century. It may or may not accurately reflect temple and synagogue worship in the first century. The traditions reflected in the Mishnah are very old and probably go back to the first century (and beyond) but this is debatable.

[5] John Rogerson, Christopher Rowland, Barnabas Lindars, The Study and Use of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 233.

[6] Stapert, Calvin R., A New Song for an Old World, Musical thought in the early church, Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2007, page 153.

[7] We have a compete description of the Eucharist by Justin Martyr who died in AD 165 and there is no mention of singing .

[8] Howard D. McKinney, and W. R. Anderson, Music in History, the Evolution of an Art (N.Y.: American Book Co., 1949), 108-09.