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Acceptable Christian music today has broadened from a well-defined stream to a raging torrent ignoring all traditional banks and boundaries. Some have tried to contain the flood with hastily devised levees; some have retreated to allow the ever-growing river freedom to flow unchecked; some have jumped headlong into the rushing stream with apparent glee; while many have merely watched with dismay.

The confusion caused by the changes in Christian music has altered the picture of sacred music from a clearly defined image to a jumble of pieces. While each piece supplies part of the picture, Christians have had great difficulty in putting those pieces together to form a coherent, consistent picture of Christian music.

The difficulty in formulating a sensible, Biblical philosophy of Christian music may best be illustrated by the old fable of three blind men describing an elephant. The first felt the elephant's trunk and said, "An elephant is round like a tree." The second placed his hands on the elephant's side and said, "An elephant is flat like a wall." The third said with equal conviction after touching the elephant's tail, "An elephant is long and skinny like a snake." Obviously, to the sighted person all three were right, yet all were wrong. They were right in that they adequately described one part of an elephant. They were wrong in that they perceived only part of the picture.

Some, in attempting to draw a clearer picture of one aspect of Christian music, have, in fact, made that part seem as if it were the whole. Some make the text the only relevant consideration, others focus on the rhythm, while others focus on the performers. As in the fable, they were incorrect because they looked at only part of the picture.

Music is not one-dimensional. Songs with Biblical words may be couched in sensual music. Songs with lovely, attractive music may carry heretical texts. Questionable musicians may perform some sound texts with appropriate music, while trusted musicians may present unbiblical songs. The answer to this confusion is to firmly establish the underlying Biblical principles. Once these are in place, the particular questions seem to answer themselves.

All Music Must First Be Offered to God

Our first priority in our music is to apply the Biblical mandate to "do all to the glory of God" (I Cor. 10:31). Ephesians 5:19 reads, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." The first part of this verse refers to the horizontal aspect of music, "Speaking to yourselves..." One important function of music is man's speaking to man, horizontally. It is right and proper that we teach, encourage and admonish one another through music.

However, the verse does not end there. It continues "singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." That is the vertical aspect of music. When we apply only the horizontal aspect as our standard, the door opens wide for many excesses. When we fail to consider whether or not our music is an appropriate offering to God, we tend to please first ourselves and then our contemporaries, supposing that anything useful in speaking to men glorifies God.

Ample Scriptural evidence proves that this supposition is untrue. How we serve God is as important as if we serve Him. Samuel said, "To obey is better than sacrifice" (I Samuel 15:22), rebuking Saul for his self-willed service. In shame, Saul admitted, "I have sinned...because I feared the people and obeyed their voices." When satisfying men is our priority, pleasing God is a doubtful result.

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