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Church of
Christ 100 Rena Road Van Buren Arkansas 72956 |
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 Colossi
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).