“Oh, you’re the ones with no instrument.” Perhaps you’ve heard that before. One of the “distinctives” of churches of Christ is a cappella singing during worship. That we do not have a band or even a piano is considered by many to be an oddity. And it is true that in our 21st century American context a cappella music is an oddity. After all, in any given town the largest churches are likely going to be Baptist, Roman Catholic, Methodist, or Non-Denominational – all of which make more or less use of instrumental music in worship. However, when the entire history and scope of Christianity is taken under consideration, we quickly find that a cappella worship, far from being an oddity, is well within the historical norm of Christianity. We are an oddity only in our current context. This fact helps us to see the reasonableness of our position.
To begin with, the very phrase a cappella means “as the chapel.” Unaccompanied singing was such the norm for a long enough time that “church singing” became synonymous with singing without instruments. That alone should help us see that by insisting on unaccompanied music in the public worship of the Church, we are not being weird or unreasonable.
Further, the early church, for many centuries, was uniform in its praise of a cappella worship and condemnation of instrumental music in worship. Significant leaders such as Origen, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, John Chrysostom, and Basil of Caesarea are all on record as being against the use of instruments in public worship (see chapter 2 of A Cappella Music in the Public Worship of the Church, by Everett Ferguson for quotes from these men and others). John Chrysostom, writing in the 4th century, is representative when he says, “in olden times they were thus led by these instruments because of the dullness of their understanding and their recent deliverance from idols. Just as God allowed animal sacrifices, so also he let them have these instruments, condescending to help their weakness” (quoted in Ferguson, 67). For Chrysostom and others, instrumental music in worship was permitted by God due to the childishness of Israel; therefore, it has no place in the maturity of the Church.
This view prevailed until the Western church (what we know as the Roman Catholic Church) slowly introduced instruments into worship, possibly as late as the 10th century. Remarkably, this development only occurred in the West. In the East, in what is called the Eastern Orthodox Church, instruments were not introduced, even to this day. Consider that for a moment: the introduction of instruments was a late development of the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, was a break from the consensus of earlier Christians, and was rejected by the Eastern churches. Why would we want to join the Roman Church of the Middle Ages in adding instruments to worship? Food for thought.
As we close this article, I want to reemphasize what we’re trying to accomplish at this time. The point is not that being in the majority or having the backing of John Chrysostom means we are right to insist on a cappella music. The point that I’m trying to emphasize is that by insisting on a cappella music, we are not oddities, but are quite normal within Christianity – the oddity was actually the addition of instruments. Understanding this helps us to see that it is an absolutely reasonable position to insist on a cappella music in worship. Next week, Lord willing, we’ll consider the Protestant Reformation and some subsequent developments.
Studies in the Bible 