Music in the Assembly

9/9/03

I was recently asked by a brother-in-Christ what my views about music were. The following was my reply.

I’m grateful for many of the older hymns and choruses and also for some of the newer ones. Some of the older ones, and probably more of the newer ones, have some lyrics that are not sound, doctrinally. Many of the newer ones might fall into the area of vain repetition. The hymns and choruses and music that you and I are likely to be familiar with are at most 500 years old, I would think, and originate in Europe and North America. I would love to hear what followers of Jesus sang to the Lord 1500 years ago in Asia minor, or even 40 years ago in China!

I strongly recommend that we be dogmatic about the clear teachings of scripture and that we are not so dogmatic about things that are not taught in the scriptures. We ought not take away from scripture or add to scripture. In areas that the word does not explicitly speak to, we are to apply the principles of scripture in that area. Such areas are disputable matters, and we must give one another the freedom to disagree.

All things we think and do should be edifying.

Styles of music and the types of instruments that are used are not dealt with explicitly in the Bible.  If, for example, drums are considered not edifying to a brother, he has the freedom to live out that conviction, but he should not place his conviction on the level of the word of God and try to enforce that on other believers.

I recognize that there are many convictions and opinions and preferences about music among Christians. I’m open to discuss with anyone who would like to. Email me