I often receive this question from visitors to our worship assembly: “I noticed you don’t have a piano. Is there a belief concerning musical instruments?” Indeed, this is an understandable and expected question and it is often one of the first observations made by those who worship with us for the first time. The absence of a piano or organ stands out in stark contrast to what most have become accustomed to in today’s religious world.

People professing Christianity today practice many things that seem right in their own eyes (Prov. 14:12), but lack any foundation in New Testament teaching (John 12:48). Like the practices of infant baptism or Sabbath keeping, the use of musical instruments is absent from the worship of the first century church. It was not until much later that the usage of instruments became associated with Christian worship.

In the New Testament, there are thirteen passages that deal with music. They are as follows: Matt. 26:30; Mark 14:26; Acts 16:25; Rom. 15:9; 1 Cor. 14:15; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; Heb. 2:12; 13:15; Jas. 5:13; Rev. 5:8; 14:2; 15:2; 18:22. With the exception of the passages in Revelation (which we will address shortly), all of these passages expressly and exclusively testify that singing is the only mode of musical worship used in Scripture by first century Christians, thereby making it the only mode authorized for use by twenty-first century Christians.

For example, Paul wrote, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col. 3:16). Notice, the Christians in Colossae were commanded to sing, not play. By playing, we are adding to (i.e. transgressing, going beyond) the clear and simple instruction to sing (read 2 John 9 and Rev. 22:18-19).

In another place, Paul wrote, “…speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord…” (Eph. 5:19). In this context, the Spirit goes so far as to specify which organ the melody is to be made on—our heart, not the keyboard. Therefore, we change the direct command of the Spirit when we “sing…making the melody on the piano.”

Additionally, in both of these contexts, the purpose of this music is clear—teaching. We are supposed to be “teaching and admonishing one another,” not entertaining one another. We are supposed to be “speaking to one another,” not playing to one another. Hence, Paul’s instruction to “sing with the spirit and …also sing with the understanding” (1 Cor. 14:15) makes complete sense.

Likewise, James instructs, “Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms” (Jas. 5:13). Notice, we are to sing psalms, not play them. Consider also the words of the Hebrew writer, who wrote by inspiration, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Heb. 13:15). It is the fruit of our lips that praises God, not that of the instrument. The New Testament reveals singing was the mode of musical worship used by first century Christians. Therefore, this is what we should use today if we are imitating them (1 Thess. 2:14)!

These contexts establish positive authority for singing in our worship (read Col. 3:17; 1 Pet. 3:15; 4:11). The question remains, is there positive authority for the use of instrumental music in worship in the New Testament? Thus, we need to address four passages in Revelation, which reference the harp in the same context as singing. These are used by some as “positive authority” for instrumental music in worship.

Before looking at these contexts, we must remember one thing about the book of Revelation—it is symbolic in nature (Rev. 1:1 – “signified”). Therefore, it is not all to be taken literally. While some of it is quite literal, much of what John writes is apocalyptic in nature and cannot be taken literally without leaving us with some very poor conclusions to defend.

In Revelation 5:8, John tells us that each of the creatures and the twenty-four elders have a harp. The next verse tells us “they sang a new song….” Hence, some have concluded that they were playing and singing here. However, this assumes that the harpsare literal. John also talks about bowls of incense being the prayers of the saints. Since the bowls are figurative, can we subjectively take the harps to be literal? Furthermore, this context will prove more than its advocates are willing to prove. For example, if the harps are literal, why don’t we use harps in our worship? Who said we couldsubstitute a piano or an organ in place of the harps?

In Revelation 14:2-3, John is hearing the voice of God’s people singing a new song. John tells us in verse 2 that he hears a voice from heaven —“like the voice of many waters” and “like the voice of loud thunder.” There are some variations on how the next clause is translated, but the New American Standard Bible, which relies on a larger variety of original manuscripts, translates it, “and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.” This seems to harmonize with the context, as John appears to be describing the power, volume and beauty of this singing he is hearing from heaven. This is proven in the fact that John is using similes (descriptive statements using the words like or as) to accomplish this. He is not saying that the singers were playing on harps. He is saying this is what it sounds like.

Furthermore, the scenes in this context, and in the next (Rev. 15:2) are taking place in heaven, not on earth. Hence, even if the harps are literal, we are talking about worship in the age to come, not in this age. The beings engaging in this worship are celestial beings, not physical. If we take them as physical beings, then we must assume that only 144,000 virgin males will be participating in such worship, as the context limits such worship solely to them (see Rev. 14:3-4). These conclusions are impossible to overcome.

In Revelation 18:22, the context is dealing with the fall of Babylon, not with any type of worship to God. It suggests that no more joyous (or even warlike) sounds shall be heard in that place anymore. Babylon was to be destroyed.

Therefore, we conclude that there is no positive authority for instrumental music in worship, but there is positive authority for singing in worship. This is why we do not use a piano or an organ in our services and why we sing acappella hymns in our praise to God. It is a matter of conviction, not preference. It is simply a matter of the faith (Eph. 4:5; Jude 3).