Worship Wars

The “battle” over what type of songs and music we should have in our worship services is a contentious debate. While the Bible may not explicitly say “Thou shall not play Rock music, etc., to thy God,” it does give us much guidance on the issue of church music.

Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 are some of the more clear statements on church music in the New Testament. Of course, these aren’t the only verses, and the NT isn’t the only place we find instruction on this topic, but they are a good summary. There are at least three criteria for church music either stated or implied in these verses.

#1. Sound doctrine in the lyrics. This point may not be very controversial, but it isn’t always diligently applied. While I would assume that, if pressed, most Christians would say that the lyrics we sing to God ought to be true, many act as though how a song makes them feel is more important than the doctrine the song is teaching.

In Col. 3:16, Paul says to:

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you [the church in Colosse] richly…teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs…”

If our songs don’t contain true doctrine, they won’t be causing the word of God to dwell in our churches. The lyrics in our songs must be biblically accurate. They must be true.

But should we only be concerned that the lyrics are merely true? I would argue, no. This verse also says that the word of Christ should dwell richly in us, and that our songs have a teaching element in them as well. If I were to sing “God is great, God is great, God is great,” I would be singing truth. But those lyrics wouldn’t be expressing deep, rich truths. Furthermore, saying “God is great” over and over again doesn’t teach me very much about why God is great, or in what ways He is great.

Not all modern songs are bad, but many of them don’t teach you very much. Even some of the church music from the late 1800’s can be rather shallow. There is a place for simple, straightforward expressions of praise, but let us remember that shallow songs generally lead to shallow churches.

#2. A style of music that is fitting for worship. Because the words “Southern Gospel” or “Rock & Roll” aren’t in our Bibles, many people have a tendency to think that any style of music is acceptable for use in a worship service. While the Bible may not give specific instructions in this area, it does give us guidance.

Eph. 5:19 and Col. 3:16 say that we are singing “to the Lord.” God is a holy God, the King of all creation. He is majestic beyond anyone’s imagination. The music we sing to Him ought to reflect these truths. Even music that isn’t “bad” may not be fitting for worship. T. David Gordon, in his book Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns, uses the example of playing a kazoo at a wedding (or maybe it was a funeral?). There’s nothing immoral about playing a kazoo, but it doesn’t fit an important occasion like a wedding or a funeral.

Again, the Bible doesn’t give specifics, but certain genres of music just don’t communicate that we are singing to a holy, majestic God.

#3. Congregational singing. This last criteria is less clear in Scripture, so I’m not as dogmatic about it. But in these two verses, it appears that the singing in our churches should be congregational. By “congregational” I mean that when a song is sung, it should be the whole congregation doing the singing.

While I don’t have space to make a thorough case for this view in this short article, notice that these verses say that we should be “speaking, teaching, and admonishing one another in song.” There are many “one another” commands in Scripture given to local churches. These commands are given to tell each member of a church their duties to every other member of their church. So, the command to admonish one another in song, implies that the singing is to be done by every member, not the praise band, soloists, etc.

When you begin to apply these criteria to church music, you’ll see that a lot of modern church music ignores these criteria. You’ll also see that much of the older music follows these criteria more closely (By the way, when I say “older music,” I mean church music that is 150 years old or older). This is not to say that all modern music is bad, or that all older music is good. But the Christians who produced the church’s music in prior centuries were much more diligent in applying the Bible to how we worship God.

I know this short article won’t end the worship wars, but hopefully it will give you some things to think about.