Should churches use instruments in worship?

It might seem like a modern argument, guitars and drums versus a cappella singing, but the question of instruments in worship has occupied Christians for centuries, particularly within movements like the Churches of Christ, who worship without instruments as a matter of conviction. Most other traditions use instruments freely. Understanding both sides requires looking carefully at what Scripture actually says across both testaments.

It is worth noting upfront that this debate has never divided orthodox from heretical Christianity. Both positions have been held by churches that affirm the deity of Christ, salvation by grace through faith, and the authority of Scripture. This is a question about the manner of worship, not the substance of the gospel, which is exactly why it deserves careful, charitable handling rather than dismissiveness on either side.

The Old Testament is saturated with instrumental worship. David organized Levitical musicians with harps, lyres, and cymbals for tabernacle worship (1 Chronicles 15:16), and Hezekiah later restored temple worship according to the commandment of David with instruments (2 Chronicles 29:25-26). Psalm 150 reaches a crescendo of instrumental praise: trumpet, lute, harp, tambourine, strings, pipe, and clashing cymbals are all summoned to praise the Lord (Psalm 150:3-5). Instruments were not incidental to Old Testament worship; they were commanded and celebrated.

This instrumental tradition was not a late addition to Israel's worship but was present from the very beginning of organized temple service, established by David under what Scripture describes as divine direction (1 Chronicles 28:19), and it continued through centuries of prophetic and priestly ministry. Whatever conclusion a reader reaches about New Covenant practice, it cannot be argued that Scripture views instruments themselves as spiritually inferior or dangerous; God commanded their use for centuries of his people's worship.

The New Testament's commands about singing, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart (Ephesians 5:19), do not explicitly command instruments, but neither do they forbid them, and Paul himself uses musical instrument imagery approvingly elsewhere (1 Corinthians 14:15). Strikingly, John's vision of heavenly worship includes the twenty-four elders each holding a harp (Revelation 5:8), suggesting instruments are not viewed in Scripture as inherently at odds with pure, spiritual worship.

It is also worth noting that Paul's illustration in 1 Corinthians 14:7-8, comparing intelligible speech to a flute or harp being played skillfully rather than randomly, assumes his readers were familiar with instrumental music as something good and orderly when done well, using it as a positive analogy for clear, purposeful worship rather than treating it as a suspect or worldly comparison.

Those who hold to voice-only worship typically argue from the regulative principle: since the New Testament commands singing but never explicitly commands instruments, instruments should not be added to New Covenant worship, which some see as a shift away from the more elaborate, temple-based worship of the Old Testament. They see this as a matter of careful biblical fidelity, not legalism.

Advocates of this view also point out that the early house churches described in the New Testament had no temple, no Levitical choir, and no established liturgical instrumentation, and they argue this simplicity was intentional rather than merely circumstantial, reflecting a New Covenant emphasis on the heart's worship over external ceremony (John 4:23-24). For churches that hold this conviction, it is treated as a serious matter of obedience, not an arbitrary preference.

The strongest response to the a cappella position is that the New Testament's silence on instruments is better explained by house-church settings and cultural circumstance than by a theological prohibition, especially given how positively Scripture treats instruments elsewhere, including in scenes of heavenly worship. Still, this remains a secondary matter on which sincere, Bible-loving Christians disagree, not a test of orthodoxy.

An argument from silence, after all, cuts both ways: the New Testament's silence about instruments could indicate prohibition, but it could just as easily indicate simple continuity with an already-understood, God-ordained pattern of praise that needed no fresh command to be assumed. Given that Revelation portrays instruments present in the worship of heaven itself, the burden of proof arguably rests more heavily on those who would exclude them than on those who welcome them.

Whether your church worships with a full band, an organ, or unaccompanied voices, the deeper question Scripture presses is not what instruments are used but whether the heart offering the praise is genuine (John 4:24) and whether the music serves to exalt God rather than the performers. An instrument, like a voice, is simply a tool; the real instrument God is tuning is the worshiper's heart.

If you visit a church that worships differently than you are used to, whether with a full orchestra or with nothing but voices raised together, resist the urge to judge its spirituality by its sound. Ask instead whether the congregation is engaged, whether the lyrics are true, and whether Christ is being exalted. On that question, and not on the instrumentation, the health of a church's worship truly depends.