The Regulative Principle and Freedom

I was reading an excellent summation of the Regulative Principle of worship given as a paper at the International Council of Reformed Churches and reported in "The Ordained Servant" a paper of the OPC. I am not intending to add anything directly to what was said by the author, G.I. Williamson, but I did want to deal with an issue which has been raised against the idea of the principle when it comes to worship.

The issue is explained as God requiring a different set of standards in his worship from that which he requires everywhere else in life. Everywhere else, goes the argument, God lays out the principles and lets us decide how we are going to apply them. In worship (suppose the regulative principle is correct) he not only lays out the principles but (it is implied) even tells us how to apply them. This means (the conclusion) that the regulative principle must be wrong, there is no freedom in it. So, is there freedom in the regulative principle of worship? Looking at just the issue of what we sing for the present:

Suppose we were to set aside the principle. When we come to worship we would have to accept the decisions taken by the Church leaders as to whether the particular songs we sing were acceptable to God. The Old Testament shows us that there are eternal consequences hang on such choices - if a pair of well-meaning young men can be struck dead because they offered an incense which God did not commend - we had better be certain those leaders have chosen carefully. Then the way we find out what choice has been made is the songbook we will sing from. Ordinarily, that means we are limited to the songs in that book. Then, significantly, as time goes on such books tend to have fewer and fewer of the Psalms in them (at least that seems to be the common experience of those who use such books).

Now, the intent of those who wish to make changes to the regulative principle may not have been to exclude the Psalms but such is the sinful heart of man that the effect is the same as if it had been. Sin will always push us to avoid the word of God - even in his worship. So, God provides us with a song book and requires us to sing from it when we come to worship him. The leaders of the Church do the same, but they provide a different song book. If it comes to a choice, I know which will be mine, especially when I know that what I sing will be used to "teach and admonish" me. I would rather know that what I was learning about spiritual matters and attitude of mind was taught by God's book rather than the book of a man (however well respected he might be).

Then there is a matter of the tunes. God did not supply us with tunes. The would seem to imply we are free to make tunes as we will or (in the same way as he had preserved the Bible) we would still have the tunes of David, Moses and the others. The question of what musical instrument(s) should be used to accompany the singers is less important than the way it(they) is(are) played. Guiding the melody in order to keep the singers in tune should be the role not providing a show.

A Capella is always possible, though, God is less concerned about the beauty of the music and more concerned about the intent of the singer. Tunes and musical insruments have been assumed to be matters of circumstance rather than elements of worship (like the time we gather and the location) so are matters God leaves to our discretion. A case, however, can be made for the practice of the Scottish Reformers who set out a number of tunes which were taught over a period to all congregations and which would match the versions of the Psalms which had been set to meter. The result was (with a good, strong singer to lead the congregation) every Presbyterian Church in Scotland, no matter the size, sang the same songs and used the same tunes. And none felt they were limited in their ability to worship God. They were free from the tyranny of men and free from the need to buy the fancy musical instruments so beloved by the cathedrals of the Romanists.

The best thing about the regulative principle is that I am free to choose any one of the selections in the song book and know they are not going to lead me astray. There is freedom. And, were Churches all over the world to use the same song book (as was the intention - if the regulative principle is applied correctly) I would have the freedom to enter any church and join in the worship knowing the singing is pleasing to God. In the end it is what pleases God which matters - and shouldn't he be to one who has the choice about what is acceptable worship?