Concerning the use of music in church services: what "styles" are Biblically permitted?

12/28/2013 | Laissez-Faire Capitalist

[Laissez-faire capitalist]

As to "in church" I mean that not so much broadly as to the Church (body of Christ), but as to which styles are Biblically permitted in individual churches.

1.) At what point (scripturally) does a church worship team (for instance) go too far when plucking the bass guitar or electric guitar, or beat the drums too loudly? At what point is the "riff" (or beat) becoming too "wordly."

Define "wordly" music as opposed to non-wordly music if/when discussing this. I ask this of those who lean more towards the Michael W. Smith type worship services or to those who like the Southern Gospel type worship services.

2.) At what point does "Southern Gospel" music become a little too Southern and thus become too worldly/honkey-tonk/Country/Country Rock? I ask this of those say they like who like what they deem to be Godly "Southern Gospel."

3.) I still can't find any scripture that exegetically/hermeneutically says that a service must be marked by only Latin/Gregorian chanting. Surely these churches can imploy other "styles" of music, too, at least in the "main" service.

[Salvation]

Sad story. It must have been difficult to sit through.

[Oratam]

Tallis, Taverner, Josquin, Palestrina, Morales, Byrd and Victoria. You know, normal stuff.

[kjam22]

Make a joy full sound.... and ROCK the FLOCK.

[kjam22]

One thing for certain.... It is gonna be LOUD in heaven. Those that like "quiet church" better get ready....

Revelation 19...After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting:

“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, 2 for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” 3 And again they shouted:

“Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.” 4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried:

“Amen, Hallelujah!” 5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying:

“Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both great and small!” 6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”

Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign[b] on the earth.” 11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they were saying:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” 13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” 14 The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

[Mrs. Don-o]

There's been some (fairly) recent research on this. Eric Werner, a Jewish composer and musicologist, and a refugee from Hitler's Germany, evaluated evidence that Gregorian Chant was based on the cantillation of the Jewish synagogue.

In the late 50's he published "The Sacred Bridge," in which he presented the evidence that Gregorian chant was indeed a direct descendant of Jewish synagogue music. (He later published an updated second edition with more data).

His points are:

• New Testament scholarship recognizes the Jewishness of Jesus and the respect for Jewish law and ritual esp. by the early church of James (in Jerusalem) and his followers. One can reasonably infer a certain continuity in basics of cantillation practices among the Jews in the first century AD would have been transferred to the early Christian Church.

• There's the unique nature of the Old and New Testaments, and Christian ritual which had no counterpart in Pagan Hellenism. The intonation of Jewish liturgical music is determined by the structure of the sentence and its logical meaning. The music and its notation are not autonomous: they are always tied closely to the text.

• The opening and closing tones of Jewish cantillation and Gregorian chant follow simple basic rising and falling patterns. Syllabic (one word one note) patterns are used throughout the service, but are punctuated with ornamented melismas (what jazz musicians would call improvs) at the most solemn moments in the service. In both Jewish and Christian worship, female singers did not participate and there were no instruments until the rise of polyphony in the early middle ages (like, around the time of Charlemagne.)

• There's the notation of Jewish cantillation and the "neumes" or signs of early Gregorian chant before the adoption of staff. They both started as visual "graphs" from hand gestures which, within a living oral musical tradition, give an understanding of musical phrases, as opposed to individual notes. This system is still in use in Jewish synagogues around the world.

• Plus, Werner's book has charts of almost identical pieces of Gregorian chant with synagogue melodies.

Since then, researchers have done comparative histories of chant in the Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Slavic/Russian Orthodox, Syrian, Armenian, Ge'ez (Ethiopian) and other traditions.

It is really a fascinating study on the validity and continuity of oral tradition. You can hear some of this on the CD "The Sacred Bridge," (Boston Camerata?) It swings between Latin and Hebrew, Gregorian chant and synagogue cantillation. Some of the melodies are identical!

[Salvation]

Very interesting.

[Nonsense Unlimited]

>> Oh, that’s just so much nonsense. <<

I’m not the most perceptive soul on this planet and I’m not sure how to take your words, so I’ll just pray that God grants you and everyone you love His blessing always.

:)

[Bryan24]

First off, there is no mention of musical instruments in the New Testament. We see several examples of singing in the New Testament, and musical instruments are not commanded, they are not mentioned as being used in the text, and there is no reason to have them.

Second, what is the PURPOSE of singing? The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians in chapter 5 saying, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;” (Eph 5:18-19)

Instead of filling yourself with the selfish pleasures of alcohol, he says to fill yourself with the Spirit by singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. So it would appear that one of the goals of singing is to fill your heart with the thoughts of God and his word. And we do that by SINGING to each other these spiritually based songs.

In Colossians, Paul tells them “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Col 3:16)

Again, the goal of the singing was to teach and admonish each other about the word of Christ.

So, to answer your question more directly.

Musical instruments do not edify or admonish, nor are they thankful. The human voice paired with a devout heart does that.

What “style” is too much?
When it ceases to be worship to God and performance for audience.
When it doesn’t edify about God’s word.
When it doesn’t admonish and encourage others to follow God.

[avenir]

Am I alone in being tired of ALL Christian confusion over EVERYTHING? We need to grow up, believers.

Our God commended the prostitute Rahab for lying to her own people (treason, for the legalists; not to mention the prostitution...) because she had “faith” (see Hebrews). Savor the seeming disconnect and realize none of the lesser things (music?) are decisive. Faith in the Living God is decisive!

[mlizzy]

Thanks for the link, Salvation. We’ve added another webplayer filled with Gregorian Chant on our site. http://rosaryforpeace.com

[RichInOC]

There’s not any specific scriptural direction on that, especially because we’re mostly talking about musical genres that began long after New Testament times. So it really mostly comes down to human tradition and taste, even if it’s not described in those terms.

[cva66snipe]

I see no reason to forbid music or instruments unless the lyrics themselves are not to GOD's glory or have nothing to do with worshiping GOD.

Some dislike singers which they say are dancing or preforming? This is usually in Southern Gospel. The singers are there to give a message by song. There have been many dedicated musicians and singers alike who are stone cold faced on stage. There are also preachers like that. Singers or preachers who are filled with the spirit and because so are energetic when singing or preaching doesn't bother me in the least. A good example is the late Anthony Burger. The man was by anyones standards a concert pianists. Yet he chose Southern Gospel Music and was associated with several groups.

One of Burgers things to do was to lay down on the piano bench while still playing the piano which annoyed the singer {not really}. It wasn't disrespect. Rather it was like the late Wendy Bagwell's stories {such as Here comes the Rattlesnakes} which were part of his music ministry much like a preacher telling a funny event he remembers giving his sermon. I see nothing wrong in it.

Southern Gospel took off in large part because of the promotion by a blind preacher and his wife who traveled the south and had both a TV and radio show called Mulls Singing Convention.

There is also the older Bluegrass Gospel which comes mainly from the Blue Ridge & Appalachians. Groups like The Stanley Brother, The Easter Brothers, The Carter Family, Bill Monroe were among the earlier ones. They use Banjo, Fiddle, Acoustic guitar, bass fiddle, Mandolins, as instruments. That personally is my favorite. On the other hand my favorite longest owned album is Willie Nelson's Troublemaker album. IMO his best work. I learned to play a six string by that album. It's older traditional Gospel songs and he doesn't skip verses LOL.

The regions own heritage, church doctrines, age of those attending, and very often the talent by ones within a church usually sets policy.

[Old Yeller]

We all know that Gregorian chants are the only Godly forms of religious music. /sarc

[Organic Panic]

I have to admit I can’t stand modern Christian “rock” or the music in the larger churches. When I first moved to this town I was looking for a church and some of them played music for a good 40 minutes, on and on and on and on....

On the other hand if we are suppose to believe there is a biblical requirement for church music we would be limited to lutes, horns, and our own voices. Seems kind of boring to me.

[Blue Collar Christian]

Being a “Praise Leader” for many years I have to agree with you about the Praise Team being on stage and becoming the center of attention. I like the old Catholic churches with a choir loft where the musicians are above and behind the congregation out of sight.

Too many folks, with good intentions, come forward to heap praise on the musicians, and I believe that is dangerous. We tried to let folks know it was kind to say how they enjoyed the music, but how our focus should be on the worship of the LORD instead of the musicians. It would be very easy to bask in their compliments.

[bunster]

Re: The Sacred Bridge (CD)

Thanks. I will check out. And, one back to you, “Brother Sun, Sister Moon” (CD) Cambridge Singers - brings tears to my eyes. I live in So. Cal where it has been quite warm —I was playing that on CD with door and windows wide open on Christmas Eve. Met a very nice man who was lingering by my front gate just to hear it. Very nice!

[Mrs. Don-o]

Bump

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Wonder which denomination preaches that? ***

Nazarine Church? I knew a man in that church who claimed he had not sinned in twenty years! That was thirty five years ago.

[Mrs. Don-o]

:o)

[Blue Collar Christian]

“If I were put in charge of editing the Methodist hymnal, I would throw out everything written after 1939 and replace all of those insipid...”

And THAT is why you should not be put in charge, you think everyone should only hear what you prefer. What kind of music and instruments were “traditional” when the music and instruments you prefer were new? Do you want to have exclusively selected music that you became accustomed to back in the day despite the preferences of others in your congregation?

Variety is pleasant to most.