Are all kinds of percussion acceptable to God for use in corporate worship? I believe that the following diagram treats and applies Scripture properly to provide a clear answer to that question.
In brief, Scripture teaches that even for all things that are lawful, not all of them are expedient and not all of them edify. Because that is true, both all things that are expedient and all things that edify are subsets of the set of all things that are lawful.
Only those things that are lawful and expedient and edifying are acceptable to God for use in corporate worship. If something is lawful but it either is not expedient or it does not edify or both, it is unacceptable to God for use in corporate worship.
Concerning all kinds of percussion, some hold that all kinds of percussion are lawful because they believe that there are no prohibitions in Scripture against any kinds of percussion. Even if that were a correct basis for concluding that all kinds of percussion are lawful, it would not be sufficient for establishing that they are all also expedient and edifying because there simply is no Scripture that teaches that all kinds of percussion are lawful, expedient, and edifying.
In fact, as the diagram sets forth, 1 Corinthians 13:1 implies that there are ways to sound certain percussion instruments that are not expedient and edifying. Because that is true, there is no biblical basis to hold that all kinds of percussion are acceptable to God for use in corporate worship.
If one disagrees and asserts that all kinds of percussion are in fact acceptable to God for use in corporate worship, he has the burden of proving from Scripture that all kinds of percussion are lawful, expedient, and edifying.
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I appreciate this article. I noticed the diagram above and noticed that the playing of the percussion had 4 areas: 1. Lawful but not edifying nor profitable 2. Lawful and edifying but not profitable 3. Lawful, edifying and profitable 4. Lawful and profitable but not edifying
I can totally understand number 1 and number 3. Someone could get up during the sermon and start playing the cymbals. That would be number 1. Someone could use the cymbals during an orchestra and choir piece and be number 3. Would there be a number 2 or a number 4?
Thank you for your post.