I will declare thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the church I'll sing.*
You will always find the congregation of Christ singing as the churches of the first century did. A careful study of the New Testament will reveal that the singing of the early church was not accompanied by any mechanical instrument. Paul, teaching the church in Ephesus, said the purpose of our songs is to praise God and to teach and admonish one another (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). Men today use everything that any musical band would in their worship and will say that Psalms 150 says so. This is not true. First, Psalms 150 does not give authority for all musical instruments but only specific ones. Additionally, the New Testament does not authorize the use of mechanical instruments in worship at all. Christians are not governed by the Old Testament but by the New Testament of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1,2; 8:8,13). The churches of Christ do not have choirs to sing for us or any type of artificial music to entertain us; our vocal singing combines beauty with spirituality.
|