Would Calvin Have Pushed Our Organ Out the Sanctuary Doors?

I came across this article, “Instrumental Music in Worship: Commanded or Not Commanded,” after a conversation I had with a few friends about the worship wars going on in churches today. The thing that bothers me most about the discussion between those who prefer so-called “traditional worship music” and those who prefer so-called “contemporary worship music” is that, if we’re honest, its all about just that - preferences. Worship isn’t supposed to be about us, its supposed to be about worshiping our King as one united body of Christ. It’s fairly common for those who prefer a “contemporary” worship style to be accused of “watering down theology” and “catering to the seeker crowd,” but this article argues that the introduction of organ music and hymns into the church was exactly the same thing - a concession to popular demand. I love the old hymns (see my post on “Dusty Old Hymns?“), but I also believe that every generation should take the traditions of the church (notice I said, “traditions,” not theology) and make them relevant to their own context and time in history. The so-called “contemporary” worship style did not arise out of a desire to water down theology, it’s a product of a generation doing what has been done in the church forever — obeying God rather than following man’s traditions. I think this article is very interesting, particularly where it says:

” We are not surprised, then, that Reformed churches returned to the ancient simplicity of worship. In Geneva — and then in the Calvinistic churches influenced by Geneva — musical instruments were rejected. They were not, indeed, “forbidden . . . in private . . . but they [were] banished out of the churches,” according to Calvin, “by the plain command of the Holy Spirit,” because Paul (in I Cor. 14:13) “lays it down as an invariable rule that we must praise God . . . only in a known tongue.”

And where it says:

“It is significant, however, that the Reformers rejected the use of musical instruments in worship because they understood the Scriptures to require this. They were also able to give a clear and convincing statement of their reasons. But was this true in later times when the organ was reinstituted in the churches? Did the ministers (and theologians) of that time first show that they understood this to be a thing commanded by the Lord in Scripture? Did they present a convincing argument from the Bible? The answer to these questions is, sad to say, emphatically no! Like so many retrograde changes that have been made in Calvinistic churches since the Reformation, this was simply by way of concession to popular demand.