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Providence: Affirmations and Denials…
1. I affirm that a biblical under- standing of divine providence is sufficiently accounted for in the following propositions: 1) All creation is absolutely dependant for its existence at every moment on the existence of God (Neh 9.6, 2 Pt 3.7, Heb 1.3, Col 1.17, Acts 17.28, Job 34.14-15; cf. Ps 104.29). 2) God’s eternal decree extends to all things (Eph 1:11) and has been [since creation], is [now], and will be [evermore] continually executed in the created order through a) natural laws (causes and effects set in motion at the creation of the universe) and b) supernatural creation of and intervention in the created order.
2. I deny that anything which has come to pass concerning the universe and its origin or that will come to pass concerning the universe and its future falls outside of the scope of God’s providence. This includes the heavens, the earth, and all its past, present, and future inhabitants, as well as the eternal destiny of the human race and all created contingencies contained therein (such as the new heavens and new earth)—nature (Ps 148.8, Job 37.6-13, cf. 38.22-30, Ps 104.4, 135.7, Ps 104:14, Mt 5.45), animals (Ps 104.27-29, cf. Job 38.39-41, Mt 6:26), seemingly random chance events (Prov 16.33), all the nations of the earth (Ps 22.28, Acts 17.26, cf. 14.16, Job 12.23, Lk 1.52, Prov 21.1 [cf. Ezr 1.1], 6.22, Dan 4:34-35), the daily needs and obedience of Christians (Mt 6.11, Phil 4.19, Phil 2.13, cf. Ps 33.14-15), the course of every life down to the very detail (Ps 139.16, Job 14.5, Gal 1.15, Jer 1.15, Ps 33.14-15, Acts 17.28, Ps 75.6-7), and all good things (Ps 139.16, Job 14.5, Gal 1.15, Jer 1.15, Ps 33.14-15, Acts 17.28, Ps 75.6-7). 
4. I deny that responsible interpreters need not postulate some supernatural intervention or especial power which God continually exercises at every moment a blade of grass is growing or every time it rains on the grounds that the biblical authors attribute such phenomenon to him. Rather, we ought to think of all natural events as caused by God through the continuation of the natural order set in motion from the creation of the universe (secondary causation). Since the Bible speaks of God’s secondary/indirect causation in the same terms as his direct causation (God causes the grass to grow, and he causes the Red Sea to part) we cannot assume that the language of causation everywhere necessitates that supernatural/direct causation is involved in the nature of such causation. Rather, unless we have some reason from the text to believe a supernatural intervention must be involved for God to bring something about (such as the parting of the Red Sea), the hermeneutical default for interpreting the language of causation ought to be one which understands the nature of that causation as secondary/indirect. 
7. I deny that we live in a closed universe in which God does not directly and passionately intervene in the affairs of the human race or that the universe could exist one millisecond apart from God. 
10. I deny the legitimacy of categorizing as “Christian” any person, group, church, ministry, institution, or organization that would fail to affirm God’s direct and supernatural intervention on behalf of the human race as articulated in affirmation eight. "I Wish I Were Dead" : How to Love the Depressed
Recalling Job – After God makes a deal with the devil concerning Job’s family and wealth, and God takes everything from Job, Job’s now classic response was this: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed by the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). And the scripture adds, “Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God” (Job 1:22).
But round two saw to it that Job’s health was taken from him so that he had a miserable physical existence. Job’s three friends came “to sympathize with him and comfort him” (Job 2:11). They stayed quiet for seven days, “for they saw that his pain was very great” (Job 2:13).
“Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? … Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, as infants that never saw light. … Why is light given to him who suffers, and life to the bitter of soul, who long for death, but there is none, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, who rejoice greatly, and exult when they find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in? For my groaning comes at the sight of my food, and my cries pour out like water. For what I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, and I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.” (Job 3:11, 16, 20-26).
Job Had a Suicidal Mentality, And His Friends Were in Hush Mode – Clearly, Job would rather be dead than experience such emotional and physical pain. This is the suicidal mentality that inevitably flows from a miserable existence. When you are in so much pain that you cannot rejoice, cannot find hope, cannot see things getting better, and cannot live a normal life due to the pain, why even live? Especially for Christians—why not be at home with the Lord where all our pain is gone? This makes suicide especially attractive to believers—they know where they will go if they kill themselves. Yet, it is precisely the Christian who desires to be with Christ that also desires to please Christ and therefore not commit such a grave sin as suicide. This makes the struggle all the more complicated for a believer.
Two things I desire to point out about the book of Job so far. 1) Job wanted to die. Although God testified of Job that “there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil,” when suffering of such great magnitude came upon him, though he still loved and had God to hope in, he nevertheless wanted to die. He cursed the day of his birth and was utterly depressed. 2) Job’s friends were silent when they saw Job’s calamity was great. Even these men—who assumed that Job must have sinned for God to allow such great calamity to fall upon him—even they held their tongue at the sight of Job’s suffering.
Both Love and Answers Help, but Love Before Giving an Answer – Just one application from this: When people are suffering greatly, what they need most is for someone to listen, try to understand their pain, and grieve with them. “Weep with hose who weep” is not a suggestion, but part of how we “let love be without hypocrisy” (Rom 12:15, 9). If your only reaction to someone who shares their grief with you is to start intellectually analyzing a person’s situation in light of biblical truths that you think apply to their situation, your heart is cold. Counseling one who suffers from depression is not like solving a math problem. It’s not as easy as 1) “What is your problem?,” 2) “What does the Bible say?,” 3) “Here’s your answer.” If we fail to weep with the suffering, we fail to love them. Someone who is hurting greatly needs your compassion more than they need your biblical analysis of their situation. That’s not to say people don’t need to be counseled with biblical truth—such counsel is essential to their recovery, especially if the sufferer is deficient in biblical understanding and Christian worldview. It is, however, to say that love must express itself first and foremost in compassion, not in analysis and biblical solution. The old adage, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” is proverbial genius. 
Love and Pleasure – Love for God & people is what makes the Christian Hedonist’s heart tick. If you understand better how to love, and what love looks like when you want to help someone who suffers with depression, your capacity to love, and therefore to expereince pleasure, grows. More than a Trial
It’s funny how one minute you can feel on top of the world; full of hope; favored of God; full of life and love, and the next, like your sufficating from fear, depression, anger, unforgiveness, feelings of betrayal, feelings of lonliness, weakness, pain, and despair. It can happen. At the blink of an eye, it can overtake you. When you least expect it. Just when you thought life was getting better; just when you were getting ready to take the next step on the ladder of fulfillment, the next step can crack and send you back to the bottom of the ladder; back to the rock bottom of the sea of despair where the sharks of temptation swim around your head and snap at your flesh.
The word “trial” doesn’t even do it justice. Your faith isn’t just “tested,” it is weakened to the point of doubt and despair. No light at the end of the tunnel. No releif from the emotional suffication; the soul does not stop it’s heaving; it comes in waves; it comes with crushing power; it comes relentlessly; ripping up your insides like internal poison ivy; like a soul-quake; a heart attack; a mack truck of pain rolling over the finest parts of your soul, steeling your joy, sucking your hope up like a death vacuum, cracking your most inner shell like it was made out of plastic, shattering your peace like a brick shatters a car windom, leaving bullet holes in your gut like a roothless drive-by of angry gangbanger retaliatation, leaving you in a puddle of blood, on the torture rack, chopped to peaces, melted in the microwave of affliction. 
When it comes, you can have a million friends who run to your rescue, and yet none of them will be able to comfort. They bring you water you cannot drink, they bring you medicine you cannot take, they bring you gifts you cannot accept, they bring you food you cannot eat, they bring you advice you cannot take, soap that does not make clean, lights that do not shine, songs that cannot be sung, glasses that fail to focus the eyes, clothes that do not take away the nakedness, coats that do not warm, lotion that does not stop the flesh from cracking, scissors that cannot cut off the pain, cars that do not start the engine of faith, and words without meaning. They surround you like media surrounds a press conference, yet you are all alone in a black hole of darkness. They pray over you, yet you feel far from God. They look upon you with compassion, yet you feel unloved. No one hears you crying; no one understands the pain. Like a man who watches the sun set, they see you falling and can do nothing. They throw you life lines you cannot grab, send you supplies you cannot use. They are helpless; you are helpless; all you can do is grit the teeth of your soul and wait. Wetting Your Hedonistic Appetite
If you want to experience new levels of pleasure in Christ, you must be willing to let go of all inferior pleasures. This is repentance. Repentance is letting go of the pleasure of sin in order to have the pleasure of God. It requires faith, for in it we must “believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hb 11:6).
In one sense it is a giant step of intellectual faith, because it asks that you trust that something completely invisible to you will be able to satisfy and make happy your soul more than those things which are tangible, visible, immediately gratifying, culturally preferred, and are very much capable of entertaining the soul for a lifetime of intense pleasure.
On the other hand, it does not require so much intellectual faith, so long as we believe that there is a God who created us, for then we might think it obvious that the one who created pleasure itself (the one, who, for example, created sex), and created our souls, would Himself know best how to maximize the potentiality of pleasure in our souls. That is to say, if anyone knows what will make us most happy, surely it would be the one who created us with body and soul, and therefore has the secrete to our pleasure tucked away in His infinite knowledge of our make-up as human beings. Therefore, when He tells us that we should do this or that (such as repent), unless we think that God is a demoniac who wishes to make us miserable, we can safely conclude that God has our highest pleasure in mind.
Besides this, everyone knows the consequences of sin—wrecked marriages and relationships (this includes all broken hearts), sexual perversion (which leads some to become pedophiles or entertained by shameful sexual practices such as bestiality), all DUI related accidents which have claimed a sea of souls in our culture, the disfunctionality which comes from alcoholism and drug-addiction, the unpleasantries which result from jail time and/or the restraints and punishments related to drug charges (such as probation, difficulty in getting hired due to criminal records, etc.), all sorts of depression, early death (from drug overdose or drug abuse over time), murder (how many people have been murdered because of something sinful they were caught up in?)—just to mention a few.
Jesus’ first sermon was this: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt 3:2). His departing words were this: “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witness of these things.” (Lk 24.46-48, cf. Acts 1:8). Repentance is the most fundamental step toward true happiness and superior pleasure—a foundational grace (Heb 6:1). Since faith and repentance are inseparable experiences of grace, it is the necessary hinge on which the door of eternal blessings turns.
Thomas Watson, a Puritan minister of the seventeenth century, has a book entitled, “The Doctrine of Repentance.” This book is freshly published by Banner of Truth Trust. It has stood the test of time, first published in 1668, and having been republished ever since, Banner of Truth Trust has reprinted it several times in the recent past (1987, 1994, 1999, 2002). It is full of vintage Puritan expression, terse exactitude of definition, and logical amplification. A must read for a true Christian Hedonist who desires to rid himself of all pleasures which get in the way of the ultimate and supreme pleasure of knowing God.
Watson understood his own intention in calling people to repent as his wishing for their happiness. He was a true Christian Hedonist. He closes his introduction like this: “I will not launch forth any further in a prefatory discourse, but that God would add a blessing to this work and so direct this arrow, that though shot at rovers, it may hit the mark, and that some sin may be shot to death, shall be the ardent prayer of him who is The Well-wisher of your soul’s happiness. – Thomas Watson” (9).
Logical Impasse in Generational Judgment: Embracing the Mystery
Reading: Exodus 20.
Christian Hedonism
1. We can’t escape longings for happiness: “The longing to be happy is a universal human experience, and it is good, not sinful.”
2. This longing is God-given: “We should never try to deny or resist our longing to be happy, as though it were a bad impulse. Instead we should seek to intensify this longing and nourish it with whatever will provide the deepest and most enduring satisfaction.”
3. Only God can ultimately best satisfy this longing: “The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God. Not from God, but in God.”
4. Joy in God is cultivated in many ways: “The happiness we find in God reaches its consummation when it is shared with others in the manifold ways of love.”
5. God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him: “To the extent we try to abandon the pursuit of our own pleasure, we fail to honor God and love people. Or, to put it positively: the pursuit of pleasure is a necessary part of all worship and virtue. That is, ‘The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever.’”
Note: I would rather say that God is most glorified in us when we are most in love with Him, but since we will only love Him to the degree that we enjoy Him and are satisfied by Him, it is a mere matter of emphasis. Piper’s teaching is not in conflict with this idea, rather, his expression of it is more nuanced. It is true that we love God no further than we delight in Him, and thus Piper’s popular maxim, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him” is certainly true. In fact, I don’t know of a better way to describe what it is like to love someone better than to say, “My soul most deeply delight in her with vigerous satisfaction.”
Inspired by Edwards
The following are borrowed resolutions from Jonathan Edwards restated in my own words, and other resolutions which I was inspired by Edwards to come up with for myself. I revisited these resolutions this New Year, and plan to make it a regular habit to visit them annually, and tweek them as I need, or add as I need. The number in parentheses corresponds to the resolutions of Edwards as found in chapter 3 of The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. fourth printing 2004), lx-lxv.
Borrowed Resolutions
1. To discontinue any actions for which I cannot give a precise explanation as to how it glorifies God (23).
2. To have a time-clock mentality, always being mindful of my short time in this life—and thus to take full advantage of every moment (5).
3. To let the knowledge and perceiving of the sins of others become occasions to ponder my own sin that I might grow in humility (8).
4. To think much of death and suffering (9).
5. To never get angry at irrational beings or objects (15).
6. To never speak critically of someone unless it be for the promotion of some real good (16).
7. To have strict eating and drinking habits which promote health and time management (20).
8. To trace the source of my sinful actions that I might endeavor with all my might and prayer against the cause of sin (24).
9. To have a healthy amount of scripture intake that I might be the more familiar with the word of God as a whole (28).
10. To always relate my experiences plainly, honestly, and accurately (34).
11. To never do anything which my conscious so much as questions (39).
12. To endeavor to conform my emotions and affections to the things of God (45).
13. When I am violently beset with temptation and sinful thoughts, to (after crying out to God) think of my possible future wife, and the disrespect and grief it would bring her—or to think of death and martyrdom (Edwards, Works I, Diary, ixxii, lxxiii).
14. To be careful not to plunge myself into a long debate for the sake of my pride, i.e. wanting others to see that I’m right; but only if I feel the desire that they should be better for being converted to a better way of thinking for some godly purpose; to know precisely what is at stake at such times (Edwards, Works I, Diary, lxxiii).
15. “My time is so short, that I have not time to perfect myself in all studies; wherefore resolved, to omit and put off all but the most important and needful studies” (Works I, lxxiii).
Original resolutions
1. To never let my concerns go unmentioned to God, and to mention them to Him before expressing them to others (unless the concern be thought of spontaneously in conversation of which I should afterwards make known unto God).
2. To come before God three times a day in prayer.
3. To learn how to possess a simple amount of clothes, and to never spend money on expensive jewelry or personal adornment; yet to buy clothes of quality rather than buying cheap clothes which wear out quickly or which are hardly ever warn.
4. To keep a tight track of my money so as to never be unaware of how much I have in savings—that I might be more motivated to be conservative in my spending.
5. To buy only cheap coffee at coffee joints; unless I am buying for another or eating there.
6. To limit my caffeine intake to two half-calf cups in the morning and one regular or two half calf in the evening (at the most), without attaining to this limit on a daily basis. When coffee drinking gets out of hand, to fast from it for at least a couple of weeks.
7. To never become involved in so many ministries and activities that I am unable to do them well, and to avoid the error of imagining that I will be able to do more for the sake of the Kingdom of God by simply doing more—to remember that I must be selective to be most effective. To lay my options before me and judge what would be best fit for my gifts. To never be afraid to say “no” out of a desire to be please others or to be admired.
8. To not give continence to the criticisms of others; to grieve if I agree with their criticisms and exhort the both of us to pray for the person(s) being appropriately criticized.
9. To find joy in self-denial.
10. To comfort myself when suffering affliction, that “it is the very nature of afflictions, to make the heart better; and, if I am made better by them, what need I be concerned, however grievous they seem for the present” (Edwards, Works I, ixxii).
Exhibit B: Jesus Rebukes Racism
Intro – The following exhibit relates more to the question of the segregation of blacks and whites in the church than with interracial marriages (although I still have more biblical material to examine on that issue). This may be the most significant exhibit, however, since it is the only exhibit in which the life and ministry of Jesus Christ is examined in light of our topic.
Exhibit B
Jesus’ Ministry in Light of Jewish Prejudice Against Samaritans – There existed in biblical times a similar prejudice among the Jewish people that existed in America at the height of the racial tensions pre-civil rights movement. The Jews were prejudice against the Samaritans, and the Samaritans were segregated from the Jews. The Samaritans were called “half-breed’s” by the Jews because they were the Jews who were left behind during the exile and intermarried with Gentiles. Jews simply despised and would have nothing to do with Samaritans. When the Jews said to Jesus, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” the latter seemed to follow from the former (Jn 8:48). That is, the Jews thought of Samaritans as evil, so merely identifying someone as a Samaritan was understood as an extreme insult among the Jews. This is why the woman at the well thought it was a shocking thing that Jesus even spoke to her, saying, “‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?’ (for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans)” (Jn 4:9). The segregation was so strong, not even their faith in the One True God could unify them. The Samaritans had their own mount of worship called Mount Gerizim which was separate from the mount of Jews (Jn 4:19-21).
While Jews would travel the long way around Samaria to avoid going through because of the racial prejudice, Jesus went conspicuously through Samaria and made a point to minister to the Samarian people (Jn 4:4-42). Jesus also made it a point to announce that among the ten lepers who were healed, the one who came back and thanked him was a Samaritan (Lk 17:11-19). In light of the racial tensions, Jesus’ command to his disciples to preach in Samaria (the place they literally go out of their way to avoid) takes on an even deeper counter-cultural significance (Acts 1:8).
Jesus did not neglect to address the racial issues of his day, but rather went out of his way to aggressively counter the racial bigotry so deeply entrenched within his own culture. He rebuked his own disciples for being of a prejudice spirit (Lk 9:51-56).1 In fact, the story of the good Samaritan was meant to scorn the Jews for their partial treatment of the Samaritans and teach them to love all people regardless of their geographic, ethnic, or cultural identity (Lk 10:30-37).
Jesus’ Ministry in Light of the Jews Prejudice Against other Races – Jesus didn’t just teach against the prejudice of his day because prejudice is wrong (though it certainly is), but also it was his intention to teach that the gospel was not to be just for the Jews, but for the Gentiles also (that is, non-Jews). Jesus was not only interested in teaching against the Jewish bigotry against the Samaritans. Jesus spoke against the racial prejudices that the Jews had against any other races among the Gentile people. As Jesus taught the gospel in the temple (and the Jews, for the most part rejected him) he made it a point to tell stories about God’s blessing foreigners (Lk 4:14-30). He reminded them that although there were many people whom God could have chosen to bless during the time of famine in the days of Elijah, God sent Elijah only to a foreign widow in Sidon. Then he mentioned how God could’ve blessed and healed many people from leprosy in the days of Elisha the prophet, but only chose to heal a foreign man from Syria. Jesus’ point is unmistakable.2 In response to their rejection of him as the Messiah, he was telling stories about non-Jews being blessed by God in the past. The Jews did not interpret Jesus as telling random stories about God blessing people in general, for they were “filled with rage as they heard” what Jesus said, and they tried to murder him (Jn 4:28-29). Racial tensions in first century Palestine were so intense concerning Jew/Gentile that Jews were ready to kill this self proclaimed prophet and Messiah because he was teaching from the scriptures against religious ethnocentrism. Jesus did more than step on the toes of those who were ethnocentric, he aggressively rebuked the racial sentiments of his time.
Marks gospel indicates that Jesus’ motives in his aggressive cleansing of the temple were rooted in the Isaianic multinational vision of the temple. Jesus quotes Isaiah 56:7 which reads, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations” [italics added, the Hebrew literally reads “all the peoples”3]. Again, Jesus was upset because the temple was to be a house of worship for people of all different nations and peoples. The theme of universal inclusion of the peoples into the covenant of YAHWEH on the basis of the faith in Jesus Christ is clearly developed throughout the New Testament gospels, Acts, and the apostolic letters.
Conclusion: Jesus considered it necessary to address the racial prejudice in his day with scorn and rebuke, to teach against racial discrimination from the scriptures and with parables. He not only made it a point to minister to and fellowship with people who were racially discriminated against, he even risked his own life by aggressive confrontation of the prejudice beliefs held by his contemporaries.
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1 In Luke’s gospel, Jesus rebukes the disciples for wanting to take revenge on the Samaritans because they did not receive them since they were Jews. Even though it was wrong for the Samaritans to treat them this way, when the disciples sought to take revenge, Jesus told them “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of.”
2 Or, if you didn’t get it—The Jews had rejected Jesus as being the Christ. It was the plan of God to take the gospel to the Gentiles once it had been thoroughly rejected in all the Jewish cities. Thus the narratives Jesus chose to call attention to foreshadow the blessing which was to come to the Gentile world. No longer could the Jews claim they are more blessed than the Gentiles, since the blessing of promise was for those who accepted Jesus and the Christ. Christ was the dividing line between the blessed and the cursed—not the Jewish race.
3 John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad, p. 203.
Exhibit A: Moses Marries a Black Woman
Aaron and Miriam’s Racial Discrimination Against Moses’ Wife: Numbers 12:1-16 – Moses’ brother Aaron and their sister Miriam spoke against Moses because of the ethnic identity of his wife. His wife was a Cushite, which means she was from the land of Cush (Num 12:1). The people were descendants of the son of Ham: Cush (see Genesis 10:6). The land of Cush is “south of Egypt, also called Nubia, which includes part of Sudan.”1 The word “Cush” in the Hebrew language of the original biblical text is simply translated “Ethiopia” by modern biblical scholars (Ex: NASB, Ezek. 29:10), though it is not equivalent to modern Ethiopia. The people who lived there were tall with “colored,” smooth skin (cf. Isaiah 18:2, 7; Jeremiah 13:23). In other words, Aaron and his sister Midian spoke against Moses because he married, in modern lingo, a “black” Ethiopian woman.
If ever there was an opportune time for God to teach against interracial marriages and turn this narrative into a parable of sorts—this was it. God could have taught Moses and the rest of the people of Israel a lesson by punishing Moses or at least speaking out against his marrying a woman of another race. However, instead of God pronouncing judgment on Moses for marrying this black woman, and thereby vindicating Miriam and Aaron, God instead struck Miriam with leprosy. The narrative presents the incident as God’s way of teaching a lesson to both Aaron and his sister Miriam for speaking out against Moses. Therefore, Aaron confessed his racial slanders against Moses as “sin” (Num 12:11) and begged that Moses not account their sin to them. Moses cried out on their behalf to God, asking God to heal Miriam of the leprosy. God was merciful to heal her, but He told Moses that she would have to bear her shame by being banished outside the camp for a week (Num 12:14-15).
Conclusion – In answering the question, “What does God think about interracial marriages?” biblically, we must say not only that God has never forbidden such marriages—and did not speak out against the most prominent OT saint for marrying a black Ethiopian woman—but we must also say that He considers it a “sin” to speak against anyone for marrying someone of a different race.2
1 Ronald F. Youngblood, Gen. Ed., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 318.
2 Of course, there are those who are convinced that the Bible teaches elsewhere that interracial marriages are wrong. Don’t worry, I’m getting there. The validity of this claim will have to be determined by looking at the evidence one piece (i.e. exhibit) at a time in the weeks to come. Feel free to comment and bring to my attention any relevant passages for the discussion.
One Common Objection
The Regulative Principle – One common objection to the use of musical instruments in corporate worship has to do with the regulative principle. What is the regulative principle? Well…it depends on which tradition your coming from.
“Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, and Lutherans have taken the position that we may do anything in worship except what Scripture forbids. Here Scripture regulates worship in a negative way—by exercising veto power. Presbyterian and Reformed churches, however, have employed a stronger principle: whatever Scripture does not command is forbidden. Here, Scripture has more than veto power; its function is essentially positive. On this view, Scripture must positively require a practice, if that practice is to be suitable for the worship of God.” – John Frame, Worship in Spirit and Truth: A Refreshing Study of the Principles and Practice of Biblical Worship (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 1996, 38. See Frames Chapter “The Rules of Worship” for a basic discussion of the regulative principle.
The regulative principle is simply this: you don’t worship any other way than the way God has commanded. Where does this principle come from? A better question would be this: Where must it come from in order to escape self-referential absurdity? That’s right. The Bible. It’s explicitly stated in Deuteronomy 12:32 when the Lord says, “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.” It is exemplified in examples like Nadab and Abihu who offered “unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command” and were immediately executed by God (Lev 10:1-3, cf. 1 Sam 13:7-14, 2 Sam 6:6-7, 1 Kgs 12:32-33, 15:30, 2 Chron 26:16-23, 28:3, Jer 7:31, 1 Cor 11:29-30).
Regulative Principle in Service of Legalism – So, enough with the regulative principle introduction. I want to tell you how this principle—which is a good biblical principle by the way—is used to justify pessimism with respect to the use of musical instruments in corporate worship. The argument is not hard to understand. It goes something like this: Although the Old Covenant commands the use of musical instrumentality in worship, the New Covenant has no such emphasis—therefore, a church which emphasizes their worship with instruments is out of kilter with the emphasis of the New Testament. That is, since the NT does not repeat such commands concerning the use of musical instruments, we are justified as New Covenant believers to neglect these older practices. Those who have musical accompaniment in their corporate worship are putting emphasis where the Bible does not. The New Testament does not make a big deal out of music. In fact, nowhere in the New Testament do you find reference to musical instruments except for the trumpets which are to signal the coming of Christ—and these are symbolic referances rather than literal musical instruments.
Well…what shall we say to such an argument? Nobody wants to be “unbiblical” and put “emphasis” where the Bible does not. But this argument does not really need a lengthy rebuttal. First of all, even if there were no references to music in the NT, the commands from the OT would still be sufficient to mandate musical accompaniment in corporate worship. Though many of the Old Covenant demands have been done away with in Christ, music is nowhere said to be one of these aspects. Music was not a shadow of things to come in Christ in the way that blood sacrifices were. Thus, according to the Reformed maxim which goes along with the regulative principle—if it’s not repelled in the New Testament, it still stands. Thus, all the commands in the OT concerning musical worship still stand. Secondly, the NT only reinforces this duty by commanding us to sing psalms. This is because 1) the meaning of the word bears a subtle nuance of musical instrumentality (see below), and 2) if the singing of psalms are commanded, then psalms like Psalm 150 would be edifying for the church—but imagine singing this in a church which forbid the use of musical instruments: “Praise the Lord! Praise Him in His sanctuary … Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!”
Ephesians 5:18-19, Colossians 3:16, I Corinthians 14:26 – The Greek word used in the NT for “Psalms” carries the subtle nuance of the accompanying of musical instruments. It is reflexive of the Hebrew word used in the Old Testament in reference to the poetry that was accompanied by musical instruments.
Though psalmos is translated literally “psalm” (song of praise), it is used “in accordance w. OT usage.” Thus, when used in the NT epistles, it is distinguished from songs and hymns as having it’s own nuance from the OT. Frederick William Danker, rev. ed., et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 1096.
Louw & Nida also say that yalmov” “in the NT probably [is] a reference to an OT psalm.” Louw & Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, vol. 1, 2nd ed. (Broadway, New York: United Bible Societies, 1989), 402.
“The Hebrew designation of Psalms is Tehillim, meaning “praises,” a term that reflects much of the book’s content. Its name in Latin and English Bibles, however, comes from the Greek, Psalmoi, which means “twangings [of harp strings],” and then, as a result, songs sung to the accompaniment of harps. This latter name originated in the LXX (cf. its NT authentication, Luke 20:42) and reflects the form of the book’s poetry. The same is true of its alternate title, psalterion, meaning “psaltery,” a collection of harp songs, from which comes the English term “Psalter.” J.D. Douglas, revising ed., Merrill C. Tenney, general ed., The New International Bible Commentary, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1987, p 832.
Ephesians 5:18-19 – “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one anther in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;” So part of being filled with the Holy Spirit (or evidence thereof) is singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (presuming it is coming from our hearts).
Colossians 3:16 – “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Part of letting the Word of Christ dwell richly within us is to be admonishing one another by way of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
I Corinthians 14:26 – “What is the outcome then, bretheren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.” The Scripture once again commands us to let God be worshiped in psalm for the edification of the body.
Conclusion – Given that we are worship God as He desires, not adding to nor taking away, consider the following. If the Psalms command or direct us to worship with stringed instruments and drum, etc. and the NT nowhere explicitly forbids this kind of worship—but even reassures us of this duty (Ephesians 5:18-19, Colossians 3:16, I Corinthians 14:26)—then the regulative principle demands that we continue in the way God originally directed or commanded us to worship – with musical instruments.
P.S. – Sorry no pics, the comp won’t let me download them.
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