For various reasons, some people believe that the singing in church must only be a cappella. This position is not biblical for several reasons.
1. The singing in heavenly worship is not only a cappella singing (Rev. 5:8-10; 14:2-3; 15:2-5). Heaven’s worship is the pattern for ours (Matt. 6:10).
Our singing in worship is not to be only a cappella.
2. It is not true that only the Israelites were to use musical instruments to accompany their singing in temple worship and to do so only as long as the burnt offerings were being made.
Rather, God has commanded all the world to worship Him with singing accompanied by musical instruments (Ps. 98:4-6). NT Christians are among all the people of the world that God has commanded to worship Him with singing accompanied by musical instruments.
Our singing in worship is not to be only a cappella.
3. The NT does not show that all singing in Christian churches was only a cappella. In the corporate worship in the church at Corinth, Paul revealed that when they came together, every one of them had a psalm (1 Cor. 14:26). There is no legitimate lexical, grammatical, or contextual basis to insist that what Paul meant was only either the speaking of the words of a psalm or the singing of it a cappella. There is no basis to hold that this statement excludes the singing of the psalm with musical accompaniment.
Our singing in worship is not to be only a cappella.
Clarification
By making these statements, however, I am not saying that we can never sing a cappella in our churches when we worship. What I am saying is that it is not biblical to insist that all our singing in corporate worship must only be a cappella.
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