Nevin on NT Allusions to Instruments
James Dodson
ALLUSIONS TO INSTRUMENTS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
There are allusions to musical instruments in the New Testament, but not of such a kind as to give any aid or comfort to those who are so anxious to introduce them into houses of worship. In Matthew’s account of the raising of Jairus’ daughter, he tells us that, when Jesus came to the house, He saw “the minstrels (pipers, auletas) and the people making a noise.”—Matt. ix. 23. Before working the miracle, the Saviour put the minstrels out of the house, and it does not appear that he invited them in afterwards. Paul, again, when pointing out the unprofitableness of speaking in a tongue which the audience understood not, says, “And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp,
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except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?”—1 Cor. xiv. 7. But that is a mere illustration, drawn from common life, and has nothing to do with instruments in worship. These passages have no direct bearing on the subject, yet we refer to them for a purpose. It has been said by some that the silence of the New Testament about instruments in worship is to be altogether accounted for by the circumstance, that the early Christians were of the poorer classes, and could not afford the expense. But the fact is, that the poorer classes in all ages and countries have shown a love for music, have had their instruments of a less expensive kind, and have been able to appreciate music, as well as those above them in the social scale. The Greeks of old were conspicuous for their cultivation of poetry and music. And the passages referred to show, that, when the Gospel was introduced, those to whom it came, whether Jews or Greeks, formed no exception to the general rule in this respect, so that the silence of the New Testament on the subject is not to be accounted for in this way. We have already considered the harps of the Apocalypse. We have seen that, if these be relied on, censers and incense must be the concomitants. And certainly if instruments be introduced merely to please the ear—we firmly believe they are never introduced for any other purpose—then we really think the nose has an equitable claim upon our consideration. We can see no reason, if the ear is to be gratified in a way that has no divine sanction, why our sense of smell should not be equally soothed and gratified by that which is calculated to furnish appropriate delectation.
The verdict of truth must be a most emphatic reversal of Professor Wallace’s conclusion, “that we have no reference to song in the New Testament which does not include instrumental music.” Somehow he has got it fixed in his mind, that there was no singing of praise to God under the old economy without instruments, that the significance of the terms employed remained unchanged, and that even when a word which confessedly signifies in itself no more than to sing is employed, as in Col. iii. 16, still this “implies” “the whole service,” which he assumes to involve the use of an instrument. Let a man be allowed to make plenty of assumptions, and to put a word into his literary alembic, after this fashion, and he can easily bring it out speaking what he pleases and teaching any doctrine he pleases. The plain truth is, there is not to be found the faintest trace of a reference to the use of instruments in the ordinary and stated worship of the Christian Church, to be found in the New Testament from beginning to end. This is enough for us. They had a conspicuous place by divine command, at least from the days of David, in the ritual of that economy which is ‘done away,’ as that was observed in the chief seat of the worship, the Temple.
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And when we cannot perceive so much as the shadow of one either in the theory or practice of Christ and His apostles, the only conclusion we can come to is, that it was the design of the Head of the Church they should be excluded from the sanctuary, under the new dispensation which He came down from heaven to inaugurate.