For most of 1,500 years instruments were virtually unknown in Christian worship. Indeed, they did not become widely used until the 18th century. Even then, it was still not unusual to find a Christian congregation that did not use instruments. Our experience of ubiquitous musical instruments is an anomaly in the history of the church. It is parallel to the relative Psalmless-ness of Christian worship in the 21st century. Again, until our time, this condition was virtually unknown in Christian worship. The early post-apostolic church universally rejected the use of musical instruments. The traditional story is that Pope Vitalian first permitted the use of an organ in public worship in Spain about AD 759. More recent scholarship has suggested that the first organ was permitted about three centuries later. In either case it means that no Christian church used any musical instruments in public worship for most of the first 800 years of the Christian church. They remained virtually unknown for centuries after. Even after they began to spread, they were not permitted to be used in St John’s Lateran, where the Pope worships, because they were considered too informal. In the 13th century Thomas Aquinas seems to have assumed that we all know that Christians do not use instruments in public worship because they belong to the period of types and shadows in redemptive history.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Reformed churches uniformly followed the pattern and practice of the early church by rejecting the use of musical instruments in Christian worship. This is aspect of the Reformed reformation is typically neglected today. Were the Calvin or any of the great Reformers to walk into our churches today they would be shocked and they would not be persuaded by appeals to sentiment, aesthetics nor would be understand the modern redefinition of circumstance (see below) to justify the use of instruments on pragmatic grounds. The Westminster Assembly removed the organ from St Paul’s and burned it in the street.
Perhaps this history and way of seeing things is unfamiliar. Below are a series of essays from Scripture and history along with some source material to help you understand the traditional Christian view.
Biblical
- Of Levites, Sacrificial Blood, Burnt Offerings, And Musical Instruments In Worship
- Psalms, Hymns, Spiritual Songs, and Instruments In The Latin Bibles
- Of Musical Instruments, Worship, Choirs, Levites, and Blood
- Making Melody With Instruments Versus Making Melody In The Heart
- If Instruments, Why Not Swords?
Historical
- On The Absence of Musical Instruments From the Synagogue
- The Church Fathers Reject Instrumental Music In Public Worship
- Niceta of Remesiana Contra Instruments in Worship
- Organs Were “Purely Secular” Instruments Until The 10th Century
- Aquinas: The Use Of Instruments In Public Worship Is Judaizing
- From 1815: A Brief History Of Instruments In Worship
- The 1559 Geneva Bible On Musical Instruments
- Calvin On Instruments: Not Given For Us To Imitate
- Calvin On Instruments In The New Covenant: Restoring Shadows
- Calvin: Musical Instruments Were Intended Only For God’s Ancient People
- Calvin: Instruments In Public Worship Is The Restoration of Shadows
- Calvin on Instruments: “Stupid Imitation”
- Dort 1578: Organs to Be Removed ASAP
- John Rainolds On The Jewishness Of Roman Masses And Instruments
- The Reformation Of Worship In Geneva
- William Perkins on 1 Cor 14 Contra Instruments in Worship
- Overturning the Reformation In 1617–18 In Scotland
- Saturday Psalm Series: Psalms, Hymns, Spiritual Songs, and Instruments in the Vulgate (Part 1)
- Saturday Psalm Series: Psalms, Hymns, Spiritual Songs, and Instruments in the Vulgate (Part 2)
Ecclesiastical
- Fifth-Century Church: Instruments Were For Moses
- Hungarian Reformed Churches: Instruments For Antichrist Masses And Marks Of Idolatry
- Hungarian Reformed Churches: Instruments Are Shadows
- On The Burning Of Trinkets
- The Judgment Of A 1574 Dutch Provincial Synod On Organs And Alms
Theological
- If Believers Are Playing Instruments In Heaven, Why May We Not?
- Ridgley: No Precept Nor Precedent For Instruments In NT Worship
- Musical Instruments In Public Worship Are Among The Legal Ceremonies
- Standard Reformed Polemics Against The Use Of Musical Instruments In Worship
- Could Instruments Be Idols?
- Is The Organ God’s Gift To Worship?
- Girardeau: Instrumental Music In The Public Worship Of The Church
- Moral Courage In Defense Of That Vital Truth
- The End of Sacrifices And Ceremonies
Practical
©R. Scott Clark. All Rights Reserved.
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