If you haven’t read Part 1, please read that first. These posts build on each other.
“Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.” – Ephesians 5:19
I can approach this verse from two very different perspectives.
Approach 1 – Does the Bible authorize instruments in worship?
I look up every verse I can to see if God says instruments are okay. If God never says they’re okay, they’re not okay. That last sentence in and of itself is an assumption not supported by the Bible itself…it is a made up rule but I didn’t even consider that when I used to operate that way.
So I find Ephesians 5:19, and it says “sing and make music from your heart.” It doesn’t say anything about an instrument. So catch this…
My conclusion is:
1. The Bible doesn’t authorize instruments.
2. Using an instrument is sin.
3. Churches that use instruments aren’t the Lord’s church.
4. You could go to hell over this, because you approve of and practice error and aren’t the true church.
All of that from a verse that isn’t even talking about the Sunday gathering and doesn’t actually teach any of those four things. I am adding to the text while thinking I am merely repeating the text and what it means.
See the problem?
Approach 2 – What is Paul teaching in Ephesians 5:19?
Now I read the passage in context, trying to understand the message Paul is actually conveying.
Read the whole chapter and you won’t find anything about a Sunday gathering or going to hell over what we do when we get together. You will find a message about how God cares that we live our lives for him together, and that part of doing that is being filled with the Spirit, who moves us to encourage each other through song!
It’s a beautiful message. And I missed it, because I carved the text up into chunks useful for my purposes – to prove myself right and the Baptists wrong.
Shame on me.
I could only find those things when I went looking for them… that’s just me. Maybe you’re different.
What Paul was saying matters. It matters a great deal. Treating the text like Approach 1 is disrespectful to the text, to Paul, and possibly to God.
How we read the Bible matters.
There are very few passages that give instruction for the gathering. None of them are presented as lines of fellowship or as the dividing line between saved and lost. The Bible never says any of that.
So be careful who you judge and condemn. You may be missing the point… and end up sinning by being divisive.
