Thomas Boston
1. Behold here the freedom and glory of sovereign grace, which is the sole cause why God did not leave all mankind to perish in the state of sin and misery, as He left the fallen angels. He was no more obliged to the one than the other. Why did He choose any of the fallen race of men to grace and glory? It was His mere good pleasure to pitch on some and pass by others. He did not need any of them, and there would have been no spot either on His happiness or justice if He had passed them by, but out of His mere good pleasure He pitched His love on a select number in whom He will display the invincible efficacy of His sovereign grace, and thereby bring them to glory.
This proceeds from His absolute sovereignty. Justice or injustice does not come into consideration here. If He had pleased, He might have made everyone the object of His love; and if it had pleased Him, He might have chosen none, but left Adam and all his numerous offspring to sink eternally into the pit of perdition. It was within His supreme power to have left all mankind under His just punishment; and by the same right of dominion He may pick out some men from the common mass and lay aside others to bear the punishment of their crimes. There is no cause in the creature but all in God; it must be resolved into His sovereign will. So it is said: “He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy” (Rom 9:15,16).
Yet God did not will without wisdom. He did not act by mere will without reason and understanding. Infinite wisdom is far from acting in that way. But the reason for God’s proceedings is inscrutable to us, unless we could understand God as well as He understands Himself. The rays of His infinite wisdom are too bright and dazzling for our weak and shallow capacities. The Apostle acknowledges not only a wisdom in His ways of working, but riches of wisdom – not only that, but a depth and vastness in these riches of wisdom. Paul was wholly incapable of making an inventory of it. Hence he cries out: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past finding out!” (Rom 11:33). Let us humbly adore the divine sovereignty. We should cast ourselves down at God’s feet, fully resigning ourselves to His sovereign pleasure. This is more appropriate to a Christian than contentious attempts to measure God by our line.
2. This doctrine should stop people murmuring and should silence all their pleading against God. What strivings there sometimes are in the hearts of men about God’s absolute sovereignty in electing some and rejecting others! The Apostle insists much on this in Romans 9. Having quoted the Lord speaking thus by Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (v 15), he at once anticipates an objection, the strife of man with God about that saying: “Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will?” (v 19). This is man’s plea against the sovereign will of God.
But what does the Lord say by the Apostle to such a pleader? We have Paul’s reproof of him for an answer: “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (v 20). The Apostle brings in this argument as to man’s eternal state: he must not strive with God about that; he must not say, Why does God find fault with man? God’s absolute power is His reason why He disposes of you, or any other man, thus or thus. He will give you no account why it is so, but His own will to have it so. He may choose some for the glory of His rich, free and sovereign grace, and leave others to perish in their sins for the glory of His power and justice. This should stop men’s mouths and make them sit down quietly under all God’s dealings.
3. This is a reason for the elect of God to be humble and to admire. It shows them to what they owe the difference between them and others, even to free grace. Those who are passed by were as eligible as those that were chosen. Though God has dignified them and raised them up to be heirs of glory, yet they were by nature heirs of wrath and no better than others (Eph 2:3). Well may they say with David, in another case, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my father’s house, that Thou hast brought me hitherto?” All were in the same corrupt mass, and nothing but free grace made the difference between those who were elected and those who were not.
4. The elect shall not persist in their infidelity and natural state, but shall all be effectually called and brought in to Christ. Whatever good things God has purposed for them shall surely be conferred on them and wrought in them, by the irresistible efficacy of His powerful grace. God’s purpose shall stand and He will do all His pleasure.
5. People may know that they are elected. Hence that exhortation: “Give diligence to make your calling and election sure” (2 Pet 1:10). Though we cannot break in directly on the secrets of God, yet if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, receive Him as our only Saviour and submit to Him as our Lord and Sovereign, we may know that we are elected – as the elect, and they only, are brought to believe. Others may be elected, but they cannot know it till they actually believe.
6. The Lord will never cast off His elect people. He that chose them from eternity, while He saw no good in them, will not afterwards cast them off. God’s decree of election is the best security they can have for life and salvation, and a foundation that standeth absolutely sure. Whatever faults and follies they may be guilty of, yet the Lord will never cast them off. They shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
7. This doctrine may teach us to form our judgement aright concerning the success of the gospel. The gospel and the ministry of the gospel are designed to bring in God’s chosen ones. It was never the case that all did believe, nor will it ever be so, but one thing is sure: all who are ordained to eternal life shall believe and obey the gospel (Rom 11:7).
1Taken, with editing, from Boston’s Works, vol 1.
Musical Instruments in Worship1
3. The Evidence of the New Testament
Rev K M Watkins
The four Gospels and the Book of Acts often take us into the worship services of the Jewish synagogue. It was not possible for all Israel to go up to worship in the temple at Jerusalem every Sabbath. That was done three times a year in connection with the prescribed feasts. For the rest of the year, the Jews congregated for public worship in their local synagogues throughout the land. What happened in the synagogues is highly significant, because Christian worship grew, under divine direction, out of the synagogues, not the temple.
Unlike temple worship, with its elaborate ceremonies, what strikes the reader of the New Testament about synagogue worship is its plain and unadorned character. We read of solemn gatherings for prayer, Scripture reading and exposition. The synagogue knew of no separation into a holy and a most holy place, with a veil dividing the two. We look in vain for an ark, a mercy seat, and representations of cherubims with outstretched wings. We find no altar, and we see no animal sacrifices offered there.
Instead of the temple’s brazen altar with its blood and fire, synagogue worshippers heard the Old Testament read, setting forth the significance of the sacrifice of Christ. Instead of gazing on the gorgeous garments of the high priestly sons of Aaron, synagogue worshippers heard from the Word the descriptions of Christ’s priestly work. Instead of seeing the high priest enter the most holy place once a year with sacrificial blood, those present at synagogue worship heard the Scripture prophecies of Christ entering into glory on the basis of the work that He would accomplish on earth.
Likewise, in the synagogues we meet with no Levitical choirs singing praise to the accompaniment of multiple instruments. Instead of listening to the tuned voices of divinely appointed professionals, synagogue worshippers would themselves have sung the praise of God, unadorned by the sound of instrumental accompaniment. Secular literature confirms this. “Instruments of music were not used in synagogues until modern times. Orthodox Jewish synagogues still do not use them because, as they still testify, this ‘serves to distinguish the synagogue from the temple’.”22
The New Testament evidence regarding synagogue worship gives no support then to the advocates of instrumental music in Christian worship. Synagogue services were not ceremonial and typical like those in the temple; they contained no priestly or sacrificial elements. Therefore they did not include the typical ceremony of playing musical instruments. They sang God’s praise from the Psalms, but they sang without accompaniment. Like the synagogues, churches are to worship God “in spirit and in truth”, without the burden of Old Testament ceremonies. Therefore churches are to have no instruments to accompany their singing of God’s praise.
Of course, neither do the New Testament accounts give any indication that there was singing in synagogue worship. But the positive warrant for the unaccompanied singing of psalms in New Testament worship is not based on the accounts of synagogue worship. Rather, it is based on passages like those in Ephesians and Colossians (dealt with below) that expressly require it. There are no such texts to give any positive warrant for using musical instruments in the worship of the Christian Church. In matters of worship, silence speaks loudly. Musical instruments were not used in synagogue worship, neither before nor after Christ’s work was accomplished. Therefore there is no justification for using them in Christian worship.
Christ “sung an hymn” with His apostles after instituting the Lord’s Supper (see Mt 26:30). This is accepted to be the “Hallel”, the six Psalms from 113 to 118, which the Jews ordinarily sang at the Passover. No mention is made of instruments being used at any point in that first sacramental celebration of Christ’s death. Clearly, especially in the pressing circumstances of that night in which Christ was betrayed, the singing in that upper room was without accompaniment. It is strange that many include in their worship connected with the Lord’s Supper an organ or piano which the Lord neither appointed nor Himself used. As there is no warrant in God’s Word for using a musical instrument in Christian worship in general, so there is no warrant for using it in connection with the Lord’s Table.
In Philippi’s prison, “Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God” (Acts 16:25). They had been suddenly and violently arrested, whipped with many stripes, thrown into the deepest part of the prison and had their feet secured “fast in the stocks”. It was now the darkness of midnight. Yet they were singing praise. These had to be some of the sweetest praises the Saviour ever received. Yet no one would suggest that they used musical instruments. The circumstances made that impossible. The lesson is clear: musical instruments are altogether unnecessary for Christian praise. Paul and Silas did not need them. Singing without accompaniment was natural to these two New Testament Christians. Even in a prison cell, they were perfectly at home praising the Lord, because singing without accompaniment was no strange thing.
There were serious problems in the church at Corinth. Paul’s first epistle addressed many of them. In chapter 14, he emphasised that everything in worship must be done for edification, and that meant it must be understandable. Therefore he ruled out the use of unknown tongues unless they were interpreted into a language that the congregation could understand. The only sounds admissible in Christian worship are those which convey meaning to the human understanding. “When ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation” (1 Cor 14:26). Not a musical instrument, notice! No one in Corinth was bringing an instrument along to worship.
Paul uses the idea of instruments to illustrate his teaching. “Even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” (vv 7,8). In certain contexts, such as an army preparing to enter battle, distinct previously agreed sounds blown by the army’s trumpeter have meaning. Musical instruments used in general for accompanying New Testament praise cannot have that specific, meaningful significance. They are “things without life”. Bringing them into the spiritual life of New Testament worship is an unwarrantable intrusion.
Theodore Beza, Calvin’s successor at Geneva, applied the point: “If the Apostle justly prohibits the use of unknown tongues in the church, much less would he have tolerated these artificial musical performances which are addressed to the ear alone, and seldom strike the understanding even of the performers themselves”.3
Paul told the Ephesians: Be “speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Eph 5:19). Because the Greek word translated “making melody”, psallo, is drawn from the idea of twanging a stringed instrument, some say this gives warrant for using instruments in New Testament worship. Such reasoning must be rejected. The word psallo was used in Greek literature in contexts where instruments were clearly not involved.4 In Scripture too, evidently instruments were not in view when Paul used the word twice to say, “I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also” (1 Cor 14:15). He was speaking about the words he would sing, not wordless instruments to accompany the singing.
Besides this, the Apostle requires this music to be made “in [or with] your heart”. This is not an instrument that can be held in the hands! It is to be a spiritual exercise within the soul. This is “not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart”, as it has been put.5 The believer’s soul must be like a well-tuned instrument as he praises his Lord and Saviour. The heart, tuned by grace, is the only instrument to be played in New Testament worship. Anyone having this must surely look on an unfeeling machine (which at best is all an instrument can be) as an unworthy accompaniment, and even as an unwelcome imposter, in the spiritual worship of the New Testament dispensation.
Paul’s teaching to the Colossians was the same: “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). When Christians sing psalms to the Lord, they are to sing, not with carnal instruments, but with the spiritual instrument of the heart moved by grace: “singing with grace in your hearts”. When they sing praise, “the word of Christ” is to dwell within their souls “in all wisdom”, not accompanied by some musical instrument, however skilfully it is played. The result is to be mutual “teaching and admonishing”, which can be achieved only by the intelligible words of the psalms they sing, not by the unintelligible sounds produced by a musical instrument.
Nowhere is the transition to new dispensation worship asserted more explicitly than in the Epistle to the Hebrews. There we read: “By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name” (Heb 13:15). Christians are not to offer blood sacrifices, but the bloodless sacrifice of praise. Equally, they are not to use mechanical instruments when they offer that praise, but only “the fruit of our lips” – the sound of their own unaccompanied voices. New Testament spiritual sacrifices of praise are not to be accompanied by mechanical instruments, as the Old Testament blood sacrifices were. The “therefore” refers to the context: in the light of the doing away of ceremonial elements like the altar, let Christians offer praise without the instruments that were always and only ceremonial and typical. Rather, let them use their lips alone. They live in the age of fulfilment. “By Him” – that is, by Christ who has come and fulfilled all the types and ceremonies, including musical instruments – they have access to bring spiritual sacrifices to God.
Peter supports this teaching. Christians are “a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 2:5). Unlike the priesthood of the Old Testament, which depended on being part of the “house” or family of Aaron and was confined to the Levites, all Christians have been made priests spiritually, through the Holy Spirit’s work setting them apart to God by the mediation of Christ. Christians have sacrifices to offer, but these are not the physical sacrifices of animal blood offered during the Old Testament. Christian sacrifices are “spiritual”. Linked with the texts already mentioned, there is no room in Christian worship for mechanical instruments. Christians are to use only spiritual instruments in their praises. Using mechanical instruments in Christian worship is effectively a denial of one of the New Testament dispensation’s greatest privileges – its spirituality, contrasted with the “carnal ordinances” imposed on Old Testament believers.
James asks, “Is any merry?” His advice to such a person is clear: “Let him sing psalms” (Jas 5:13). During the Old Testament period, a chief purpose of playing instruments was to express joy. “With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King” (Ps 98:6). But James does not tell the joyful New Testament believer to use an instrument. He tells him to sing – only to sing. Now that the New Testament fulness of joy has arrived, its joy is to be expressed with the voice, not typified with an instrument.
The Book of Revelation speaks of trumpets (1:10, 4:1, 8:13, 9:14), and harps (5:8, 14:2, 15:2). But it also speaks of what are obviously ceremonial aspects of worship such as an altar (6:9), incense (8:4), the ark (11:19) and the Lamb (5:6). The truth is, “none of these are to be taken literally”6 – not the altar, not the incense, not the ark, nor the lamb – not the trumpet, nor the harp either. The trumpet in 4:1 is said to be a “voice . . . as it were of a trumpet”. Along with the harps in 5:8, there are “golden vials full of odours”, which are said to be “the prayers of saints”. The references to instruments in Revelation are symbolic. Never do they refer to the literal worship of the Christian Church on earth. The final book of the Bible uses the language of old covenant worship to describe both the spiritual worship of the new covenant Church and the celestial worship of heaven.
This review of the Biblical evidence shows clearly that the use of musical instruments in the worship of God was always confined to the ceremonial and sacrificial worship of the Old Testament. With the types fulfilled in the coming of Christ, musical instruments have no place in Christian worship. The New Testament gives no precept or example for using them.
Those who want to use musical instruments raise objections against this teaching of Scripture. We will seek to answer those next time, God willing.
1In the previous article, we reviewed the use of instrumental music in Old Testament worship, and found that it was always connected with the typical and ceremonial elements of that dispensation’s temporary ritual. We would therefore expect instruments to have no more place in the worship of the Christian Church than Levitical priests, animal sacrifices and the Jerusalem temple—all of which were abolished with the coming of Christ. Turning to the New Testament, we find this expectation confirmed.
22 G I Williamson, Instrumental Music in Worship: Commanded or Not Commanded?, downloaded on 29 January 2016 from http://www.westminsterconfession.org/worship/instrumental-music-in-worship-commanded-or-not-commanded.php. The quote is from Gilbert and Tarcov, Your Neighbour Celebrates, p 93.
3Quoted in John Girardeau, Instrumental Music in the Public Worship of the Church, Richmond VA, 1888, p 166.
4“This attempt to fix the meaning of the word as implying playing instead of singing, as used by the New Testament writers, was thoroughly set aside by Dr Porteous, by a variety of evidence, one part of which is thus concluded: ‘From these quotations from the Greek fathers, the three first of whom flourished in the fourth century – men of great erudition, well skilled in the phraseology and language of Scripture, perfectly masters of the Greek tongue, which was then written and spoken with purity in the countries where they resided; men, too, who for conscience sake would not handle the Word of God deceitfully, it is evident that the Greek word psallo signified in their time singing with the voice alone’.” James Begg, The Use of Organs, quoted in John Girardeau, Instrumental Music, pp 116,117.
5“The contrast is between the heathen and the Christian practice, ‘Let your songs be not the drinking songs of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and their accompaniment, not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart‘ [Conymbeare and Howson]” (Jamieson, Faussel and Brown’s Commentary, Hartford, nd, on Ephesians 5:19)).
6G I Williamson, Instrumental Music in Worship: Commanded or Not Commanded?.