I recently had a conversation with a Christian, who I have known for many years and have a lot of respect for, who shocked me with his true feelings about musical instruments in worship. He has basically concluded that the issue of instrumental music in worship isn’t enough to cause a person to lose his soul. In other words, if a congregation stood for the truth on every issue,
yet they used musical instruments in their worship, he believes the souls of those people would not necessarily be in jeopardy.

Over the years local churches of Christ have taught that musical instruments in the worship of the Lord’s church are unauthorized and therefore wrong. Is such still the case? Are musical instruments in the Lord’s church still wrong? Really, the
question should be are musical instruments wrong at all. You see, if they have ever been wrong, then they are still wrong. If they were not wrong in the first century, they are not wrong now. The Bible has not changed.

A popular argument, and one that my brother used in our conversation together, centers around the word psallo. It is argued that the word psallo, which is translated into making melody in Eph. 5:19, and sing in other places in the New Testament (Rom. 15:9; 1 Cor. 14:15; Jas. 5:13), involves using a musical instrument. Different Greek scholars are quoted as saying that the word
means to use an instrument. For example, Strong says psallo means, “…to twitch or twang, i.e. to play on a stringed instrument (celebrate the divine worship with music and accompanying odes).” Thayer has this to say about the Greek word psallo: “1) to pluck off, to pull out 2) to cause to vibrate by touching, to twang a) to touch or to strike the chord, to twang the strings of a musical instrument so that they gently vibrate b) to play on a stringed instrument, to play, the harp, etc. c) in the Septuagint, to sing with the music of the harp d) in the New Testament, to sing a hymn, to celebrate the praises of God in song.” Since the word psallo involves plucking or playing an instrument, according to these Greek scholars, it is reasoned that we have New Testament authority for instrumental music in our worship.

That argument sounds good at first, especially as the references to Greek scholars multiply. But did you notice that one definition that Thayer gave was “in the New Testament, to sing a hymn, to celebrate the praises of God in song.” So then, the word psallo does not demand a musical instrument after all. The word was used in New Testament times to denote playing, plucking, or just plain singing. Now, just because the word could be used to denote playing is not enough. It has to be proven that the inspired writers of the New Testament meant to play when they used the word, something that the New Testament does not bear out.

It is sometimes argued that the word demanded playing because plucking or playing is an inherent part of the definition of the word. However, that hard-line position presents a serious problem. If psallo demands that we play a musical instrument, it is no longer an option to use one or not, which is usually what those who use this psallo argument say. My good friend making this psallo argument was not saying that we have to use an instrument based on the word psallo, only that it gives us the right to if we desire to do so. He had no desire to use an instrument in worship, but based on his present understanding of the word psallo, he would not condemn someone who did. But, if the word always involves a plucking or playing when it is used, then that is what we must do when worshiping God. That means that all of us who simply sing when we worship God are sinning by violating the psallo commandment. Would those who say that psallo inherently means to play an instrument of some kind say that we sin by not using one? Most would not because that would condemn, not only present day Christians, but also the apostles and first century Christians because they did not use musical instruments in their worship. Historian after Historian can be quot-ed as saying that vocal music was the only kind of music in the first century church. In fact, it was not until 670 A.D. that Pope Vitalian introduced organs into worship (American Encyclopedia). So, if psallo demands the use of an instrument, the very apostles who demanded such violated their own teaching. That is the dilemma of the psallo argument.

The fact is the word psallo was used in the first century to denote either singing or singing while playing or plucking an instrument. The playing part was not mandatory. Sometimes the word was used to denote just plain singing. Since the New Testament church did not use musical instruments in their worship, it must be concluded that inspired writers of the New Testament used the word to denote singing alone. Thus, musical instruments in worship are still wrong! In our next article, we will prove this further by a basic argument from Bible authority.