Instrumental Music Debate Thrasher/Weatherly JLW 1st Affirm

Here is my first affirmative speech from the second half of my debate with Dr. Thrasher on the issue of Instrumental Music in NT Church Worship.

 

Unfortunately since submitting this First Affirmative speech, my friend Dr. Thrasher has been dealing with some health issues. Therefore we have not been able to continue this debate beyond my First Affirmative speech. If at any time Dr. Thrasher is able to continue with the debate, we will go forward. However, if we never come to that point my First Affirmative will be the final installment in this debate. I ask that you keep Dr. Thrasher and his family in your prayers.

 

Weatherly’s First Affirmative

 

"The Bible teaches that the use of mechanical instruments of music in New Testament worship is by Divine authority."

 

          It is indeed an honor to present what I believe to be the truth of God’s word in this debate. The proposition is defined as follows:

 

Bible – The Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation

Teaches – instructs, imparts knowledge

Use of – Playing on

Instruments of Music – drums, guitar, organ, trumpet, etc.

New Testament – Calvary to Second Advent

Worship – praise or adoration

Divine authority – acceptable by God

 

First Argument

 

Colossians 3:16,  “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in PSALMS (ψαλμος) and hymns and spiritual SONGS (ωδη), singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

 

          I won’t dedicate much space to this argument since plenty has already been said. We see from Colossians 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 14:26 that psalms are authorized in New Testament worship, and were in use in the early church. Three ASV translators (Lightfoot, Thayer, Trench) defined a psalm as, “a song sung to MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT.”  This definition is based upon Biblical word usage (LXX Job 21:12; Psalm 71:22; Amos 5:23). So, when we read the word “psalm” in the NT, we must understand that the passage is referencing “a song sung to MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT.” The standard Greek lexicons define a “psalm” as having musical accompaniment.

 

Abbott-Smith, “a sacred song sung to musical accompaniment, a psalm.”

 

Bullinger, “a song as accompanied by stringed instruments; hence, gen., a psalm or song in commemoration of mercies received, rather than of praise to God.”

 

Liddell-Scott, “song sung to the harp, psalm LXX, N.T.”

 

Souter, “a psalm, that is a song of praise, &c., to God, with an accompaniment on a harp”

 

Thayer, “the leading idea of psalm is a musical accompaniment”

 

Vincent, Word Studies, 1:763, “Our word psalm, derived from this, is, properly, a tune played upon a stringed instrument.”

 

Vine, “The psalmos denoted that which had a musical accompaniment.”

 

Also, we see from the Biblical usage of ode (song) [cf. Rev. 5:8-9; 14:2-3; 15:2-3], that a song (ode) includes the idea of MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT. Thomas stated in his answer to my Question #5 that “sing (ado) the song” “is an ADDITIONAL ACTION to playing upon mechanical instruments of music” (emphasis JLW). However, much like Exodus 15:20-21, “sing” is the ONLY action used to describe the worship. Revelation 15:2-3 does NOT say, “sing AND play;” it simply says “sing,” which we can see from the context included the playing of musical instruments.

 

 

Second Argument

 

Ephesians 5:19 (NIV), “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, Sing AND make music in your heart to the Lord;”

 

          The New Testament authorizes TWO ACTION in Christian worship: Sing AND Make Music. “Sing” (ado) is distinguished from “Make Music” (psallo) in this passage i.e. TWO different actions. There are only two kinds of music: vocal and instrumental. Since “sing” is distinguished from “make music” in this passage, “sing” would refer to vocal music. Since “sing” in this passage refers to vocal music, then the only other “music” to “make” would be instrumental music! Thomas has already admitted in his first affirmative that “make music” would include a piano, organ, or guitar. So, Ephesians 5:19, “sing AND make music” authorizes BOTH vocal and instrumental music in Christian worship.

          Thomas’ comments on Ephesians 5:19 thus far have been:

 

“We are doing it ‘in our hearts,’ not on a mechanical instrument of music!” (Second Affirmative)

 

 “With the heart as the designated instrument.” (Third Affirmative)

However, I want you to notice that the prepositional phrase “in the heart” modifies BOTH “sing” AND “make music.” The conjunction “and” couples the two verbs. Thus, the phrase “in your heart” modifies both verbs, sustaining equal relation to both. This is similar to Acts 2:38 where “in the name of Jesus” modifies both “repent” and “be baptized.” In my question #2, Thomas would not acknowledge that “in the name of Jesus” modifies both “repent” and “be baptized” because he knows where I will take this application. However, I’ve debated his close friend Pat Donahue several times on the Baptismal Formula, and Pat has recognized that “in the name of Jesus” in Acts 2:38 modifies both “repent” and “be baptized” (see Pat’s Baptismal Formula chart #10). Also, Colossians 3:16 (Greek text) states, “singing in your hearts,” yet Thomas in his answer to my question #4 understands that the “heart” is not the instrument we “sing” with. Thus in Ephesians 5:19, the “heart” is not the instrument we “make music” with! The phrase “in your heart” means “heartily” or “sincerely.” We are to “sing” (vocal melody) and “make music” (instrumental melody) “in our heart” (sincerely) to the Lord!

 

Third Argument

 

          The phrase make music comes from the Greek verb psallo. The verb psallo is found five times in the New Testament: Romans 15:9; (2) 1 Corinthians 14:15, Ephesians 5:19; and James 5:13. The word psallo has the same meaning in each of these verses. This means that whatever psallo means in Ephesians 5:19 – which is instrumental music, it also means in the other four occurrences. There are various translations that indicate this idea of instrumental music in the Greek word psallo.

 

Romans 15:9:

 

Lenski, “… and will sing and PLAY PSALMS to thy name.”

 

Concordant Literal Version, “… And to thy name shall I be PLAYING MUSIC.”

 

1 Corinthians 14:15:

 

Julia Smith Translation, “… I will PLAY ON THE HARP in the spirit, and I will play also on the harp in the mind.”

 

Apostolic Bible Polyglot, “… I will strum praise with the Spirit, but I will strum praise also with the intellect.”

 

Ephesians 5:19:

 

Revised New Testament, “… singing and PLAYING to the Lord in your heart.”

 

Moffatt, “… praise the Lord heartily with words and MUSIC.”

 

The Amplified Bible, “… offering praise with voice (and INSTRUMENTS) …”

 

James 5:13:

 

Rotherham Emphasized New Testament, “… Cheerful, is any? Let him STRIKE THE STRINGS;”

 

Riverside New Testament, “Is any one cheerful? Let him SING WITH THE HARP.”

 

Montgomery New Testament, “Is any in good spirits? Let him SING UNTO HIS HARP.”

 

We see from these (and other) translations that psallo is not limited to “a cappella singing,” but refers to MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT! Even translations in different languages indicate that psallo refers to PLAYING a musical instrument.

 

Ephesians 5:19:

 

Coptic NT (2^nd Century), “praising and playing to the Lord in your hearts”

 

Icelandic Bible, “singing and playing to the Lord”

 

Luther German Bible (1545), “sing and play to the Lord”

 

Norwegian Bible, “sing and play for the Lord”

 

 

Fourth Argument

 

Romans 15:9 (ISV), “So that the gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, ‘That is why I will praise you among the gentiles; I will sing praises (ψαλω) to your name.’”

 

          Romans 15:9 is a quote from Psalm 18:49 (LXX). The Septuagint, grammatically speaking, was the mother of the New Testament. In Romans 15:9 Paul quotes the Septuagint which uses the Greek word psallo to translate the Hebrew word zamar. So whatever zamar meant in the Hebrew Old Testament so also did psallo mean in the Septuagint, and thus that is what psallo means in the New Testament. The same Hebrew word zamar used in Psalm 18:49 which Paul quotes in Romans 15:9, is also found in Psalm 33:2 in reference to MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS!

 

“Praise the LORD with harp: sing (zamar/psallo) unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.”

 

Not only that, but zamar which is translated psallo in the LXX (used in Romans 15:9) is also found in Psalm 71:22 in reference to playing on the harp!

 

“I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing (zamar/psallo) with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.”

 

          In Hebrew there are three basic words that refer to types of music: (1) shir which refers to vocal music; (2) nagan which means to play on a musical instrument and never refers to vocal music; and (3) zamar which blends these two meanings together,  meaning either playing on a musical instrument or to sing with musical accompaniment. Dr. J.W. Roberts (church of Christ denomination) confirmed this:

 

“There are two words in Hebrew which mean ‘play’ or ‘sing to accompaniment.’ They are nagan and zamar. There are some 12 different words or expressions which are translated with the idea of ‘sing.’ The most common one is shir.” (Restoration Quarterly, 1962, 6:59 emphasis JLW)

 

The word psallo in the Septuagint is used to translate BOTH nagan, which means “play an instrument” and zamar which means “to sing with musical accompaniment”, but NEVER translates shir which refers to vocal music. That is the Biblical usage of the Greek word psallo. Whatever psallo means in the Septuagint i.e. “play” or “sing to accompaniment;” so also it means in the NT (Romans 15:9)! Thus psallo by no means refers to unaccompanied singing, but refers to singing with musical instruments. This is the word used five times in reference to New Testament worship!

 

Fifth Argument

 

          Finally, I will present the testimony of the standard Greek lexicons to show that psallo refers to singing with MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT.

 

J.H. Bass, p. 244, “to touch, touch the strings of a musical instrument, hence to sing, sing praises or psalms to God.”

 

Notice this word “hence” indicated in red. The word “hence” means “therefore” and identifies an equal relationship between the phrase before and after the word. In other words, when the lexicographer says, “sing praises or psalms to God” it includes the idea of “touching the strings of a musical instrument” i.e. they are synonymous phrases. This is important to note when we look at other lexicons.

 

Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, p. 899, “in our lit., in accordance w. OT usage, sing (to the accompaniment of a harp), sing praise”

 

Again, there is no distinction between “sing (to the accompaniment of a harp)” and “sing praise.” These are synonymous phrases.

 

George Ricker Berry, p. 109, “to sing, accompanied with instruments, to sing psalms, Ro. xv.9; 1 Cor. xiv.15; Ep. v.19; Ja v.13”

 

E.W. Bullinger, p. 493, “In lxx. and N.T., to sing, to chant accompanied by stringed instruments Eph. v. 19.”

 

Balz & Schneider, Exegetical Dictionary of the NT, vol. 3, p. 495, “This vb., which occurs 5 times in the NT, actually means ‘pluck/play a stringed instrument’ or ‘sing to the accompaniment of a harp.’ In the NT it always refers to a song of praise to God (dat.).”

 

John Groves, p. 608, “to touch, strike softly; to play on the harp; to sing to the harp; to praise, celebrate.”

 

W.J. Hickie, p. 211, “to strike a musical instrument; to sing hymns, James v.13. Ephes. v.19. Rom. xv.9. 1 Cor. xiv.15”

 

G. W. Lampe, p. 1539, “sing with musical accompaniment; esp., sing psalms Eph. 5:19”

 

Liddell-Scott, p. 2018, “sing to harp, LXX Ps. 7.18, 9.12, al.; to kardia Ep. Eph. 5.19;”

 

Clinton Morrison, Analytical Concordance to the RSV of NT, p. 377, “MELODY, MAKE pluck, sing to a harp: ψαλλω PSALLO Eph 5.19”

 

Edward Robinson, p. 904, “In Sept. and N.T. to sing, to chant, properly as accompanying stringed instruments absolutely James v. 13. c.”

 

 Alexander Souter, p. 286, “I play on the harp (or other stringed instrument)”

 

James Strong (5567), “to twitch or twang, i.e. to play on a stringed instrument (celebrate the divine worship with music and accompanying odes)”

 

Joseph Thayer, p. 675, “Sept. for ngn and much oftener for zmr; to sing to the music of the harp; in the N.T. to sing a hymn, to celebrate the praises of God in song, Jas. v.13”

 

Robert Young, 892, “To sing praise with a musical instrument ψαλλω, Rom. 15.9; 1 Co. 14.15”

 

Spiros Zodhiates, p. 87, “to rub or touch the surface, to play on a stringed instrument.”

 

All of these lexicons indicate the New Testament meaning of psallo as to “sing WITH MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT.” Thus musical instruments are authorized in NT worship.