What Does The New Testament Say About Singing in Church?

 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

-Ephesians 5:18-20 (NKJV)

Since the word psalms is used here in Ephesians 5, one might say that since the Greek word here translated psalms is psalmois, from the word Greek psallo means, in Classical Greek, "to pluck, twitch, or twang", that the meaning here in Ephesians 5:19 (and Colossians 3:16) of the word psalms is "a poem to be sung and accompanied and on a stringed instrument". The person says this is a command to sing psalms and that there is no question that musical instruments were in the first century church and continue to this day.

There are a couple of problems with this interpretation.  Number one, the New Testament was not written in Classical Greek.  Greek Lexicons written by Christians (Vine's, Thayer's, and BDAG) tell us something along these lines about this words Psalmois and Psallo, that is translated "sing", "psalms, or "sing psalms".  Although the word originally (in Classical Greek) meant to play a stringed instrument or to sing with harp accompaniment, but, “later, however, and in the New Testament, it came to signify simply to praise without the accompaniment of an instrument.”(Vine's expository dictionary of NT words)

Number two, the context of each passage psalmois and psallo is used in, in the New Testament determines the meaning of the word.  The verse in the context of the passage of scripture gives us the interpretation of what it means, because the context supplies the object.  Someone might say, "psalms means to sing with harp accompaniment", but since the context supplies the object, in this context it does not mean singing with harps or plucked accompaniment, but rather spoken, voiced, or sung words where the human heart is the only instrument of music making involved.  

If we only looked at the word "psalms" (psalmos in Greek) in a vacuum, the "object" is literally a song accompanied by a plucked stringed instrument (a psaltery or harp). If the word stood alone, the object would be the harp and the song.  But the surrounding words give us an overriding definition of what psalms and making melody (psallontes) mean in this verse.  And what they mean is voice, rather than instruments, and the instrument being played is the heart.  The context overrides the literal classical Greek definition of the word psalm.  The object is now the human voice and the human heart.  Music is being made here by the voice and the heart.  To force this passage and others like it to say, "that since psalm means words accompanied with instruments, in the Classical Greek definition, that here we have instrumental music in the church", is a misinterpretation; a "wrong turn."

Similar passages, stated below,  come to the same interpretive conclusion: when psalms are sung in the New Testament, New Covenant church, they are sung acapella, meaning that the only instrument used is the voice and the heart.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

-Colossians 3:16

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.

-James 5:13

What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.

-1 Corinthians 14:15 

The better way to sing praises and worship songs in the church meeting is acapella, simply because that is what is modeled in the New Testament scriptures.  

I have witnessed or taken part in pretty much every form of worship.  I think most of us might agree that lasers and fog machines would be distracting and inappropriate for Christian worship.  But after a life of witnessing and participating in every form of worshipping in church, I think it is all distracting from the scriptural model of singing to God while mutually edifying and teaching one another.  When it is multiple singers, one person playing one instrument, a band, an orchestra, or smaller ensemble, it is a distraction, and most of the time, a performance.  Performances are distracting.

I used to think that the Greek word translated psalm or psalms had to mean words or poetry accompanied by musical instruments, until I studied it more deeply.  I also thought that there were words and accompaniment when Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:26, "What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.”  But what this means is that someone is singing or reading a psalm, and that's all.  The NT Greek definitional meaning here is, "sing / sing praise.”  Just like when we read the Psalms, and when we preach the Psalms without having to break out our guitar or get behind a keyboard; the Corinthians spoke or sang psalms without instruments because the context tells us that there are no instruments and we have speaking only.  Just like when we read a psalm aloud, we can also sing it improvisationally, acapella.  When someone "had a psalm", it simply meant they read it or sung it to other Christians.  The actual New Testament contexts control the meaning of the word psalm.

As a side-note, 1 Corinthians 14:26 is often quoted as a model for how to do church where everybody gets to participate, but this is not at all what Paul is teaching here.  The context tells us that Paul is rebuking the Corinthians for their chaotic church meetings.

What about the verses that describe worship in heaven accompanied by musical instruments?   Whether or not the instruments depicted in heaven in the book of Revelation are symbolic or literal, does not mean that instrumental accompaniment is the better way to sing and worship in the church, as we have no scriptures demonstrating or modeling the usage of instrumental accompaniment with singing in church.  But we do have scriptures that guide us to sing with our voices making music with our hearts.

Ephesians 5:19: “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody (adontes kai psallontes) in (or with) your heart to the Lord.”

Colossians 3:16: “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing (adontes) psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Context supplies the object. In Ephesians 5:19 the specified “instrument” that is “plucked”, or with which melody is made, is the heart (“in your heart”). Parallel language in Colossians 3:16 speaks of “singing with grace in your hearts.” If psallo inherently required a mechanical instrument, Paul would be commanding every Christian to play one (the participles are plural and apply to the whole group). No one practices or claims that. (Gary Henson, Barnes COC)

The controlling verbs are verbal/vocal activities:

-speaking (lalountes)

-teaching and admonishing (didaskontes kai nouthetountes)

-singing (adontes)

-making melody (psallontes)

These are all things done with the voice and the heart. 

The parallel structure and the explicit mention of the heart make the instrumental sense unnecessary and, in context, unnatural.

Major English translations (KJV, ASV, NASB, ESV, NIV, etc.) render psallo as “sing,” “sing praises,” or “make melody”—never as “play an instrument.” In every New Testament occurrence the surrounding language points to vocal praise (speaking, teaching, admonishing, singing with understanding, fruit of the lips, etc.).  (Victor M. Eskew, Oceanside COC)

 There is no New Testament example of Christians using mechanical instruments in worship assemblies, and historical evidence shows the early church practiced a cappella singing for centuries. (Dr. Justin Imel, Sr.)

Does anyone insist psallo / psalmos means “singing with instruments”?

The claim that the words inherently require instrumental accompaniment is widely recognized as an oversimplification (and often a misunderstanding) that arises from:

1. Looking only at the classical Greek root meaning (“to pluck / twang a string”).

2. Ignoring the documented semantic shift by the Hellenistic and New Testament periods.

3. Overlooking context (especially “in/with the heart” in Ephesians 5:19 and the verbal parallels in 1 Corinthians 14, Colossians 3, etc.).

A preacher or Bible teacher who asserts that the NT Greek words psallmo and psalmos “always means songs with instruments,” reflects surface-level reading of a lexicon entry or Strong’s definition without further historical or contextual study. It is a common enough popular argument, but it is not the consensus of careful Greek scholarship or of the major New Testament commentaries that wrestle with the passages in detail.