Many professing Christians today approve of the use of CCM. This article evaluates the propriety of that approval by directing attention to a question that every believer would do well to consider carefully—whether the authors of the Psalms would approve of CCM?

To answer this question, we should keep in mind some facts about the book of Psalms: God inspired a number of men to write the Psalms: David (75); Asaph (12); Solomon (2?); Ethan (1); Heman (1), and Moses (1); [no information or unclear information about the authors of the other 58 Psalms]. Together, these men have given to us the only inspired sacred songbook in existence.

Of these men, at least four were also instrumentalists (David, Asaph, Ethan, and Heman; cf. 1 Chron. 15:19). These four men produced at least 89 of the Psalms, so more than 59% of these inspired songs were written by men who also played musical instruments themselves. The Psalms, therefore, were not merely the product of poets or songwriters inspired by God to write lyrics for inspired songs.

If these inspired songwriters (and sacred instrumentalists) were somehow to hear the CCM of our day, would they approve? To answer this question, we should consider what God has taught us through them.

The first Psalmist teaches us that a man will be blessed (i.e., uniquely favored by God), if he will be characterized in the following dual manner:

1. Negatively, he does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful.
2. Positively, he delights in the law (Heb. instruction) of God and meditates therein day and night.

Because the Psalmist begins by characterizing the blessed man negatively with three expressions of what is not true of him, we must understand that these statements are the right place for us to start in answering our question.

To be blessed, we must not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Our lives must not be lived influenced in any essential way by any ungodly advice, viewpoints, priorities, objectives, and practices.

How does this truth apply to the music that we use for our worship? It teaches us that we must not get our music perspectives or practices from those who are not like God.

CCM, however, was created by professing Christians who chose to incorporate into Christian music a style and type of music invented by ungodly people who created that style specifically for the purpose of promoting ungodliness. Because CCM was therefore created by those who acted contrary to the teaching of Psalm 1:1, which directs us not to live under the influence of the ungodly, we should hold that the Psalmists would not approve of CCM.

Confirmation of this assessment is seen by applying to our question David’s teaching in Psalm 2 about the counsel of the ungodly:

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us (2:1-3).

To understand the importance of these statements, we note that the first Psalmist provides no specific information about the counsel of the ungodly. David here thus gives to us the first specific information about that counsel when he teaches us that ungodly men (especially the kings of the earth and the rulers) have taken counsel together to promote rebellion against the authority of Yahweh and His Messiah.

From taking the teaching of Psalms 1-2 together, we learn that the inspired songwriters preeminently warn people about following ungodly counsel that incites and promotes rebellion against God. Applying this principle to music means that these two (if David did not write Psalm 1 as well) Psalmists would not approve in any way of music created by ungodly people for the purpose of promoting rebellion.

The people who created and advanced rock music have openly and repeatedly testified that the music itself—apart from the lyrics—was created for the purpose of promoting rebellion. Rock music, therefore, regardless of what words are sung along with it, is ungodly music because it was created by the ungodly to promote rebellion.

Those who created CCM—as well as those who have since promoted it—have thus advanced the use of music of which the Psalmists clearly would not approve. Because David wrote at least half of the Psalms, he is by far the most important musician spoken of in Scripture. Hence, we do well to give special regard to applying his teaching in Psalm 2 to this issue.

The believer, therefore, should heed the godly counsel of the first Psalmist and of David and categorically reject CCM as well as all other music that weds Christian words with ungodly music styles.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Amos 6:1-8 indicts God’s people for their great wickedness at that time in history:

1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!

² Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?

³ Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;

⁴ That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

⁵ That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;

⁶ That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

⁷ Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.

⁸ The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.

C. F. Keil comments on verse 5,

They lie stretched, as it were poured out . . . upon beds inlaid with ivory, to feast and fill their belly with the flesh of the best lambs and fattened calves, to the playing of harps and singing, in which they take such pleasure, that they invent new kinds of playing and singing. . . . Consequently the meaning of ver. 5 is the following: As David invented stringed instruments in honour of his God in heaven, so do these princes invent playing and singing for their god, the belly. (The Minor Prophets in KD, 10:299-300)

D. R. Sunukjian remarks on 6:4-8,

6:4-6. Rather than heed the prophet’s warning of judgment, the leaders of Samaria instead gave themselves to a decadent hedonism. They reclined on expensive beds whose wood was inlaid with ivory (cf. 3:15). At their opulent feasts, they “lounged” on their couches. The Hebrew word for lounge . . . conveys a sprawled stupor of satiation and drunkenness, with arms and legs hanging over the side. They ate gourmet food—choice lambs and fatted calves—the tastiest and tenderest meat they could get. In their drunken revelry they imagined themselves strumming like David as they attempted to improvise music at their parties. Yet they were vastly different from David! Not content to drink wine from goblets, they consumed it by the bowlful. Only the finest lotions would do for their skin.

Their sole concern was for their own luxurious lifestyle. They did not grieve over the coming ruin of Joseph, the Northern Kingdom (cf. 5:6, 15). They had no concern for their nation’s impending doom.

6:7. Therefore they, the first men of the first nation (v. 1), would be among the first to go to exile. Their festivities and drunken stupors would end. The sound of revelry would fade into bitter silence as they headed into captivity. (The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, 1443; bold in original)

J. Randolph Jaeggli helpfully explains the great sinfulness of these people:

                They Abandon Themselves to Sensual Enjoyment (vv. 4-7).

                The Israelites who heard Amos’s words of warning were convinced that they were safe from God’s judgment, so they were indulging themselves in every kind of sensual enjoyment available. They were indolent leaders, lounging around while others apparently worked to support their grand lifestyle. They ate only the choicest meat from the best lambs and fattened calves. Verse five says that they “chant to the sound of the viol.” The verb “chant” is parat, to improvise (see Holladay, p. 297). The “viol” (nebel) was some sort of stringed instrument. Music that is undisciplined in its composition and performance appeals to the sensual person of any age. Modern jazz is a good example of improvised music that fits the mood and loose living of those who love this musical genre. The men of Amos’s time were prolific song writers like David, but they certainly lacked his devotion to the Lord. People compose music that is a reflection of their lifestyle. Lyrics either warm the believer’s heart with thoughts of God’s grace or inflame the passions of the unsaved with unseemly accounts of debauched emotions and actions. Feinberg noted that “music which is degrading is a sure sign of an incipient national decline” . . . Not content to consume wine in smaller vessels, Amos’s contemporaries were drinking from bowls (v. 6). The same word for bowl (mizraq) occurs in Exodus 27:3 to describe the basin used to catch the blood of the sacrificial animal at the altar in the tabernacle. If these drunkards were consuming their intoxicating beverages from an item used in the sacrificial system, they were guilty of sacrilege as well as intoxication. Being careful not to miss out on any enjoyment, these gourmet revelers were treating their skin to the finest ointments available. They did not miss anything that would make them feel good.

If there is anything characteristic of our modern age, it is the same quest for sensual pleasure. People today will try anything to fill the void created by the empty pursuit of material prosperity. Money, possessions, and “good times” do not satisfy modern man any more than the people who heard Amos preach. The world system persuades men that they can find happiness in fleshly gratification apart from God. The empty promise leads only to the enslavement of the human heart, as men become addicted to the fulfillment of their own passions. (Biblical Viewpoint: Focus on Amos, 25-26; bold italic heading is bold italic in the original; other text in bold is in italics in the original).

These commentators (as well as others) understand that God’s pronouncements of woe on His people at this time stemmed from their wickedness that included their playing stringed instruments in a way and for purposes that were not pleasing to Him. On this reading, Amos 6:5 speaks strongly to the music debates of our day by being Scriptural teaching that there are ways of playing a stringed instrument and of singing that are a matter of concern to God and that He condemns.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.