Music in Church History
It is important that we understand where we are in the church with respect to music in praise and worship. To do this, we need to look back as well as examining where we are and where we are going.
From the time of the tabernacle of David until now, we have had a myriad of different levels or degrees of compliance or obedience to God's Word regarding how we are to praise and worship Him. It is paramount that we understand that God is the author of praise and worship and if we want to understand what He wants, then we need to go to His Word and not try to 'logically' conclude what is correct in His sight.
He has clearly laid it out in the Old Testament. There is a reason King David was and is known as one the greatest worshippers of all time. We can look at what he did, based on God's instruction and see what we should be doing. After all, shouldn't we pattern ourselves after tried and tested men of God? We must never forget through all of this that our ultimate role model is Jesus Christ.
The only difference between the Old Testament worship and New Testament worship is that New Testament is post-cross. Jesus did not abolish the corporate worship of the Old Testament, He added to it. He did abolish the ceremonialism. Worship will continue eternally. It is very clear from the Bible that we are to always worship. You find it in the Old Testament and the New Testament all the way through the book of Revelation.
Worship is not confined to dispensations. It has had varied expressions in different dispensations. Jesus abolished the ceremonial portion of the law, including animal sacrifices. He never once repudiated the vocal and instrumental worship of the Old Testament. He places emphasis on vocal worship because the Holy Spirit was coming and it is the nature of God to sing. You can see from the Bible that Jesus Himself sang.
Matt 26:26-30
26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke
it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."
27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from
it, all of you.
28 "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins.
29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until
that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."
30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
(NKJ)
'They' included Jesus. Clearly they did not have the New Testament to work from. They sang a hymn.
Ps 32:7
7 You are my hiding place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah (NKJ)
Who surrounds with songs of deliverance? God the Father. Who else is David singing about? We see that the Father Himself is a singer.
Eph 5:18-19
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be
filled with the Spirit,
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making
melody in your heart to the Lord,
(NKJ)
What I see here is that it is the Holy Spirit we are filled with as we sing. It is Him doing the singing. Why?
Col 3:16
16 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.
(NKJ)
We are told that this is one of the ways Christians were taught and admonished. Clearly then, Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit are singers.
Heb 13:8
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (NKJ)
Jesus always was a singer, is a singer and will always be. He did not and would not advise us to stop worshiping and singing and praising Him. Let's just look at a few of the extremes we went through getting to where we are.
In Matthew and Luke, Jesus talked about singing. In Mark, Jesus sang a hymn at the establishment of the Lord's Supper. In 1 Cor. 14:26, Paul talked about having a psalm (which meant a set piece of music accompanied with an instrument). This clearly establishes that the Old Testament worship was not abolished.
There is no need to re-write the Old Testament to establish how to praise and worship God. Some would argue that if it is not in the New Testament, we should not use it. The restoration of the Tabernacle of David is in the New Testament and is clearly for the end time. We do not need to cut and paste the information into the New Testament.
Man in his effort to be religious, in an attempt to make the church palatable to the masses, has tried to take out 'emotionalism' from the church. There is very clearly a lot of passion and emotion in the praise and worship of the Old Testament. Halal is just a single example.
What about Esther 8:15? The word 'rejoice' is 'tsahal' in the Hebrew, and means to make high shrill animal noises. Does that sound like a people that do not display emotion? I have asked before and I will continue to ask: who is it that would want to inhibit the church in its worship of God?To prevent offending altogether, you would have to do nothing. We are not to set out to offend. If we practice truth and it offends, then so be it. Jesus offended just about everyone He came in contact with. He lived the Truth in total obedience to His Father. It is imperative that we understand that when we sing and play our instruments, it is to and for God, not His people. It helps if they like the music, but it is not their tastes that we are to be sensitive to. We need to hear from God and play what He wants.
There is a thing called styles. What style I play is and will be different than what someone else plays. I can play the warfare selahs in my style and it is fine. I have a 'rock guitar' background among others and when I play warfare it is heavy rhythms and screaming guitars. This is not the only style of music that portrays warfare. David's musicians did not have electric guitars and sound effects. They were able to play and interpret, to prophesy on the instruments of their time. I'm quite sure it did not sound like the music I and others like me play today.
What I am saying here is that I would not fit in everywhere. Not every congregation would accept the music I play. That does not mean that the expression of music God has given me is evil. I will prophesy where I am accepted. Those that are partial to more 'mellow' (for want of a better word) music can still have the principles of musical prophecy in motion. A pianist can play warfare quite effectively.
Let us not get hung up and stumble over likes and dislikes in musical taste, but rather focus on the intent and purpose of the music as God ordained. Let us pursue the prophetic music of the tabernacle of David without discarding the doctrinal 'hymns' that are so foundational to the church. We are, after all, told to play three types of music in the church gathering. Let's be tolerant of our differences and recognize the diversity of creative expression God has placed in us.
Here are just a few points that I have gleaned from church history to give you and picture of what has transpired in our journey to the present.
The Patristic period 95 - 600 A.D.
The earliest Christian hymns are the songs of Elizabeth in Luke 1:42-45 and Mary in Luke 1:46-55. There is nothing that clearly states they sang, but I see the words and I feel the song is there. Christians began to write their own songs. Thousands were written during this era. These have been found in the Greek language and they were call Christian Odes.
Saint Ignatius of Antioch, bishop of Antioch and one of the Apostolic Fathers of the Church, lived from 30 - 107 A.D. During the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan, Ignatius was condemned to be devoured by wild beasts. He wrote a hymn just before he was martyred. Why would he do this just before he was going to be murdered? It would seem that he worshiped God right up to the end. He loved God more than the world, more than his own life. When faced with eminent death at the hands of His enemies, he praised his God instead of cowering in fear. We should not love our lives unto death…
The Roman Emperor at this time appointed a man named Pliny (62 - 113 A.D.) to investigate the methods, customs and beliefs of the Christians. In his report he stated that Christians had a custom of meeting before dawn on an appointed day and singing by turns, hymns to Christ. This fits Corinthians, Ephesians and Colossians. Notice that they met before dawn. We have a problem with meeting by 10:00! Seems that priorities have changed since the days of the early church?
Josephus accounts how the Christians, as they waited for the lions, would sing the song of the Lord. The spectators loved the 'rush' they got watching the Christians being devoured. Then they began listening to the songs the Christians were singing as the lions rushed them and they soon began coming specifically to hear these Christians sing. The audiences lost their animalistic lust for blood as they listened to the Christians singing as they were being killed by the lions. What was it they were hearing? The Word of God through the mouth of His church!! Prophesy church! Prophesy!TALK ABOUT WARFARE! They loved not their lives even unto death. They magnified and glorified God even as they faced cruel death. The result: VICTORY over the oppressor!
There are prices to be paid for speaking the word boldly. We think we have it bad when one of our co-workers makes a derogatory statement about Christians! We must be in a place where we are willing to die for our brothers and sisters in Christ; for the Church Jesus paid for. We must be prepared to sing of His glory when the going gets tough…
Clemens of Alexandria, full name TITUS FLAVIUS CLEMENS (150?-215?), Greek theologian and an early Father of the Church composed hundreds of hymns, but he condemned the used of instruments because the pagans used instruments in their practices. What if we carried this line of thinking on? Suppose we stopped praying because the pagans spoke to their gods? Satan doesn't want us to practice tehillah. He doesn't want the tabernacle of David restored because it will be used so that the 'rest of mankind' may seek God.Clemens allegorized the musical instruments of Psalm 150, saying this was the believer worshiping with his/her entire being. Anti-nicine Fathers, Vol. 2 page 248-249. In a letter to a friend, he said "we cultivate our fields praising. We sail the seas hymning. Our lives are filled with prayers, praises and scripture readings. Before meals and before bed and even during the night. By this means, we unite ourselves with the heavenly choir." He was right in this respect, but he said the world could have the instruments because we are an instrument. It is true that we are instruments. It is also true that the Word of God tells us to praise Him with the instruments. It has never said this should stop. Who said it should? Only one that I can think of would be the deceiver, the accuser of the brethren…
A man named Tertullian, 160-220, the first important Christian ecclesiastical writer in Latin, whose work is remarkable for its blunt sarcasm, epigrammatic phrasing, aggressive partisan spirit, and skillful—though sometimes specious—reasoning, in apology 39 from his writing 'Apologeticus' (197?), records that during the love feasts, after the water was furnished for the hands and the lights were lit, he was invited to sing praises to God for a general good. He mentioned that their meetings had many songs, verses, sentences and proverbs. Sound like a verse in the New Testament?
Many false teachers used music to instill their doctrines in the minds and hearts of the people. They would take their heretic concepts and use the music to open the minds and sow their heresy into lives. They knew very well the role that music plays in praise and worship and the effect that it has on the spirit of man. The question I ask is this: If someone takes good and tries to use it for evil, does that mean that we should stop using that good for good? If drums and electric guitars are bad because the enemy has used them, then I say the piano is also bad. Many 'rock' stars have used the piano in their ungodly music. Are we to take the piano out of praise and worship also? I say no. I say let the church use ALL the instruments to praise God as He told us. Those that want to pervert music need our prayers.
Eusebius of Caesarea (260?-340?), theologian, church historian, and scholar, probably born in Palestine, (and other church historians) records in the history of the church that in many meetings the congregation would listen as a single singer would sing from Psalms and all would join in on the last verse of the song.The controversy that was started by Clemens waged on and still does. There were many different levels from total banishment of instruments or some point in between. The Tabernacle of David was lost as men were blinded. This came about because of scripture. God says in the last days He will restore…
In the third century there was a controversy over the psalms of David and ‘humanly composed songs’. The belief was that David's songs were not humanly composed, but rather that they were inspired by God. This is true, but the writing of psalms has never stopped. It was contended that all songs not in the Word of God were sacrilegious and the writer of such was therefore a heretic.
Is their any reason to believe that songs written after the Bible was compiled are not inspired? It is true that a man can sit down and write a song that is not inspired by God, but try it spontaneously and see what happens. If a song is sound in doctrine and content, who cares if God wrote it or not? Maybe we should just realize that God is not dead and He still talks to His people. We don't have any problem with the preacher who 'hears from God'. Why do we find it hard to accept that a musician 'hears from God'?
In 354 A.D., warnings were sounded against the licentious character of the chants. It was taught there was no need of instruments or trained voices, but the true song that came from the heart of the worshiper was New Testament worship.
The true song does come from the heart of the worshiper. Does this mean the instruments can't accompany the words and the melody? I think not.
It seems that throughout history, there has been a drive to squelch music in the church. The tabernacle of David is being restored and the evidence is the music that is finding its way into the musical expression of the church. God is once again prophesying to His people through His musicians as He did in the tabernacle of David.
What an honor it is to be called by the Master, to be used to speak forth His word and to express His heart to the world that He loved enough to send His Son to die for. This calling is for all of us. Remember, there were singers and musicians in the tabernacle of David.
Jerome 340-420 A.D., confirmed that music was an aid to worship by exhorting the believers to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs from the heart. He warned not to turn the house of God into a theatre. This is exactly what I spoke to in the section about the spirit of entertainment. We are not to come together to entertain each other, but rather to praise and magnify God in song, in dance and prophetic expressions of all types.
This does not mean that we can't do specials that are performances of songs for the edification of the church. The key question here is: who is being glorified? Who is being edified and built up? If Mr. Jones gets up and sings a song that glorifies God and one of the listeners is touched and gives his heart and life to Jesus, then what is wrong with that? Even entertainment can be used to reach the world. We must, however, be on guard not to get caught up in 'performance' and entertainment for any other reason than to lift up Jesus.
343-381, the fathers of what we call the church today, the synod of Laodicea, passed a regulation that psalms composed by men must not be used in the church. They ruled that none could sing in the church except those that were appointed singers and women were forbidden unless they were in a convent. Basil the great preferred the psaltery over all instruments, so he encouraged its use. In the Bible, we see that all of Israel sang with David and his appointed musicians. Who are we to forbid anyone to sing?
Ambrose in 397, encouraged congregational singing, wrote many hymns and embraced ‘humanly composed’ pieces of music. Can you imagine being branded a heretic because you wrote a song? Are you beginning to see the swings in the history of music in the church?
Pope Gregory, 540-604. He had probably the greatest influence of all on Christian music in the church. He believed that only clergy could sing in church. He ordered that the music be taken away from the congregation. He used the scriptures about the Levites ministering before the ark as priests to justify his position. Therefore, he claimed that the priests should do the worship for the people. What a sad state of affairs that the church should be gagged and silenced! God gave us a voice and gave us the fruit of our lips.
Gregory instituted the "Gregorian chant", in Latin, so that no one could understand it. He instituted the use of the pipe organ and kicked the musicians out of church. He founded a school for religious music. He taught the clergy how to get rid of music and get the chants going.
At one time in Christian worship they didn't have podiums. At one time the musicians were in pits so they couldn’t be seen. At one time the musicians were made to face a certain direction…
As the children of God were being silenced, and the musicians were being driven out, the podium came to be used, elevating the man above the congregation.
The situation in the natural exposes and expresses how it is in the spirit. For the sake of visibility in a large group of people, it makes sense to have an elevated platform to speak from. The part that is of concern is the 'forbidding' that took place in conjunction with the 'raising' of the 'pulpit' above the people. We are ALL priests.
A group in the Ephrata, Pennsylvania area decided that the only way that was reasonable to worship God was to mimic the sounds of the Aolean harp and nature. They would come together and for hours they would stand and make these noises without moving their mouth or moving at all for that matter. Moving the mouth was considered being 'in the flesh'.
At this same time harmonies in the church were forbidden. What could possibly be wrong with beautiful harmonies in vocals? If we get so caught up in what we are doing instead of who we are doing it for, then that is wrong. Beauty is never wrong. God authored music and He created all that music is, all the aspects of music - including harmony. Aren't we to be in harmony with God? My, how we tend to take our thinking and make it a doctrine.
As the church became more official, the people became less spiritual. As the church became more official, the church became less powerful. The church at large seems to focus on improving the community, to affecting the politics of the day. The church should concern itself with the spiritual matters and the rest would follow.
If the community has a need, it is probably because of a need in the spiritual life of the community and the church should place its efforts in that area. This does not mean that we should not feed and clothe the poor, for this is true religion.
We spend our time teaching each other how to do the job, how to sing, how to do warfare, how to feed the poor and minister to the widows, but only a few are doing the job. We are so busy practicing our freedom of worship that we no longer worship God. We seem to worship the freedom we have. We seem to worship the 'way we worship', or we worship worship itself. God help us.Who do you think wants to squelch the expression of God in and through His people? This alone is reason enough to sing from the heart, just to defy satan.
St. Bernard was labeled a revolutionist. He spoke up and brought the truth. He wrote many songs.
St. Francis of Asisi emphasized the importance of singing. Musical instruments were not to be tolerated. At this time the modern instruments were being invented. Secular music was exploding because the church was rejecting these new instruments. The church had a negative unity against the 'world's' instruments.
How quick we are to come together to fight off a perceived evil. Why is it so hard to come together and be 'for' something as passionately as we are 'against' things? The organ ultimately became the king of all instruments in the church. Musicians were forced into the world. Creative music in the church was squelched.
At this time there were also songs sung to the virgin Mary and various saints. Seldom were songs heard that were sung to God and Jesus. God and Jesus were portrayed as angry and vengeful. Mary and the saints were more sympathetic to the saints. Scary stuff!
Stephenson states in a book called "Patterns of Protestant Church Music", the teaching of the pope pious ten on church music, that the Gregorian chant has always been regarded as the peculiar heritage of the Catholic Church and therefore a type of music that is her very own, regarded as the supreme model for sacred music. He stated that the congregation as well as the choir should learn to sing chants. He was saying that people should be allowed to learn Latin and the chants. People were dying spiritually. They were allowed to sing, but no personal expression was allowed.
Do you see the parallel about the harps on the willow?
1500 brought the renaissance period and the spread of Protestant reformation. There was real religious experience and Christian music began to change its personality. God began to turn again the captivity of Zion. Once again as in Psalm 126, mouths were filled with laughter and tongues with singing. For a thousand years, there was no music. But now, we have it in the church once again.
Martin Luther posted a thesis on a wall in 1595 that turned the world upside down. He brought Jesus to the world again. He played the greatest part in the restoration of music to the church. John Huss was martyred in 1415, the leader of the Bohemian brethren. He and all his followers were singing and playing music. He circulated the very first congregational song book ever known to man in 1504.
Luther gave the German people the Bible in their own language, he gave the church Christian songs in their own language. Luther composed and encouraged people to write new hymns. Hymns to Mary and the saints became obsolete. Some people with Luther's hymn book would be punished to the point of execution because they were not a part of the Catholic church. He preached about the scriptures of Ephesians, Corinthians and Colossians. He introduced salvation by grace and brought forth songs with it.
Luther recognized that music was too solemn. He said that the music of the heart of God is for beauty, melody, cheerfulness and joy in Christian song. He ranked music second only to theology. He taught polyphonic music, which was considered sensual by the church. He used German folk songs and used suitable words to glorify God. Bar songs?
Luther showed eight things:
1) Admirable discrimination in his evaluation of contemporary composers and this set a standard of correct musical judgment. He found out what those who composed music were doing right that caused them to capture the culture. He discovered that God created music.
2) He defined music as an art that must be studied as well as appreciated. He was not looking for the sensual. He studied God's purpose for music.
3) He made the study of music a mandatory part of the curriculum in all schools under his auspice.
4) He required ministers that followed him to study and have an equivalent to a degree in music in order to be ordained. When Luther preached, he would have two artists paint to give the congregation a visual illustration of what God was saying prophetically to the church. Banners starting coming forth again. Banners help establish the belief system for the children. They can see and read on that banner the things of God – His majesty, might, salvation etc.
5) He overrode the scruples of those who followed St. Augustine's example, and feared elaborate church music on moral grounds.
6) He spoke on behalf of the excellence of music. Skill and anointing are related. How can music be anointed if it is full of error? Error is distracting.
7) He never minimized the importance of the organist while exalting or uplifting the role of the congregation.
8) He upheld the right of the musician to an adequate and ensured income from the church resources. This had not happened since the Tabernacle of David.
The hymn, ‘A Mighty Fortress Is Our God’ was written by Luther.
What one finds when looking at the saga of music in church history is that man has issued rulings and edicts and tried to control. Man has tried his best to do it the way he thinks it should be done. The only problem is, they didn't consult God as they worked all this stuff out.
If they had, they would have done it correctly. Actually, God said He would restore the tabernacle of David in the last days. I believe that men's eyes were blinded to the revelation of the restoration of the tabernacle. Many books have been written about the worshipper, David and the marvelous things he did and the heart he had for God. Yet, God held this revelation about the restoration of the Tabernacle of David until the last days.
Brothers and sisters, it does not take a theologian to recognize that we are in the last days. God is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh. His Spirit is more than just the 'new wine' we all hear and talk about. His Spirit is also Truth, Love etc. The tabernacle of David is part of the outpouring of His Spirit.
He wants us to worship and praise Him. If we are indeed having His Spirit poured out on us, then we will want to praise Him and worship Him! Any man or woman that is touched by God and not moved to express their praise and worship to Him has missed something.
Let us embrace all that God is doing in these last days. Let us tear down the walls that we have built. Let us clean our hands and our hearts. Let us be renewed with the mind of Christ. Let us return to the Lord! Let us stop looking on the world with a carnal mind. Let us not confuse our likes and dislikes with His eternal will and His ways.
Let us open our spirits to Him and let the King of Glory come in!
Selah!
