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Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Matthew 28:19 |
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Why does the Church of Christ not use instrumental
music?
When Jesus died on the cross the Old Testament was fulfilled and
the New Testament was established as the governing rule for the
church of Christ. That being stated, it is our responsibility to
conduct ourselves in all aspects of life, and especially in
worship to God, in the way that the NT dictates. The King James
Version (KJV) states in Ephesians 5:19, "Speaking to yourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making
melody in your heart to the Lord," and again in Colossians 3:16,
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
Many contend that the Greek word translated "psalms" in these
verses allows for "plucking" and "twanging" the strings of a
musical instrument. This, however, is not the case for these
three reasons:
1. In the Old Testament (OT), when someone would call for a
psalm, the one making the request seems to have had the option of
calling for whatever instruments he preferred, if he preferred
any at all (Psalms 57 & 81 & 92 & 150). One shudders
to think about what might have happened to a person living under
that system who brought in an instrument that was not
requested.
2. There were many things that God allowed in the OT that He
does not allow in the NT. In the OT God allowed men to have
multiple wives and concubines also. In the OT God allowed divorce
for any reason (Mt.19:1-9). In the OT God allowed "an eye for an
eye a tooth for a tooth..." (Mt.5:38-48; Rm. 12:17-21). In the OT
God called for animal sacrifices (Hb.9:11-15).
3. The fact of the matter is, however, that we are not now living under the OT, and in the NT there is only one who has the authority to dictate what instrument can and which instruments cannot be played. The only instrument that God authorizes, in fact commands, us to use is the Christian's heart (Eph.5:19; Col.3:16). I shudder to think about what might happen to those who determine to use an instrument that has not been authorized by God
Why does the Church of Christ call itself
nondenominational?
The New Testament plainly states that there is only one church.
(Mt. 16:13-19; Eph. 4:4-6). We believe that Christ is the only
Head of the church which is His body (Eph.1:15-23 & 5:22-24;
Col. 1:15-18), and only He has authority and dominion over the
church which bears His name. We believe that the only
headquarters for the church of Christ is in heaven, where Christ
(the Head) is sitting at the right hand of the throne of God
(Hb.1:1-3 & 12:2). We believe that the only creed that God
authorizes for Christians is the NT that He inspired
(2Pt.1:15-21). We believe that it is wrong for the church to be
divided into separate denominations, all wearing different names
and teaching different, often conflicting doctrines (Ac.2:41-47;
1Cor.1:10-15; Eph.4:11-14). We believe that we should be one,
sanctified by the only truth that God gave us, as Jesus prayed
(Jn.17:16-22).
Does the Bible teach that only members of the Church of
Christ will be saved?
The church of Christ is a nondenominational body and as such one
church does not have authority over another as to what should and
should not be taught, so, I can only speak for what we teach here
at Rena Road. As a firmly established rule, we do our best to
teach only what the bible teaches, and especially on the subject
of salvation. Jesus said, "He that believes and is baptized shall
be saved. He that believes not shall be condemned.' (Mk. 16:16).
The apostle Peter said, "Repent and be baptized everyone of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you
shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is
unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other
words did he testify and exhort, saying 'Save yourselves from
this untoward generation.' Then they that gladly received his
word were baptized, and the same day there were added about three
thousand souls...And the Lord added to the church daily such as
should be saved." (Acts.2:38-41, 77).
The question assumes that "Church of Christ" is just a
denominational name, and that people in the church of Christ
believe that they are more worthy of salvation than those in
other denominations. The bible, however (and one would most
likely find this to be true of most churches of Christ and
certainly of Rena Road), does not recognize denominations only
"the church". We here at Rena Road believe and teach that there
are some who will be saved and some who will be lost. Only those
who hear and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ's death, burial,
and resurrection (Rm.10:11-17), repent of their sinful life
(Lk.13:1-5; Ac.17:30), confess their faith in Jesus as the Savior
(Mt.10:32-33; Ac.8:36-38), are baptized into Christ for the
remission of their sins (Acts.2:38 & 22:16; Gal.3:26-27;
1Pt.3.21), Walk by faith in the light of God's truth and endure
to the end (Mt. 10:22; 1Jn.1:5-7), will be saved. Anyone who does
not adhere to the teaching of the NT is in danger of being lost
and should repent before it is too late (Hb.10:28-31;
1Pt.4:17-18).