Mar 21

1 Corinthians 15:33
Memorise 2 Timothy 2:15
“…evil communications corrupt good manners.”

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul writes against those who say that there is no resurrection of the dead. In verse 33, he warns that such a saying is characterised by evil because it denies the truth of God. Such evil sayings will corrupt good manners. “Ethos” is the Greek word behind “manners”, from which we get the word “ethics”. Thus, denying the truth of God leads to a corruption of our behaviour. Therefore, the only way to ensure that our behaviour is characterised by goodness is to stay away from all evil communication, or false teachings, and to cleave to what God’s Word says.

The same principle which applies to the issue about the resurrection of the dead also applies when making sound judgments in choosing music for worship.

The world today is full of many different voices, each trying to convince us of what is acceptable or even necessary in worship. The choice of music has become more contemporary, with one common argument being that the worship service needs to be ‘updated’ in order for Christianity to remain relevant in this modern day and age. The argument is that if the worship service remains too ‘traditional’, then people will not be attracted to church.

When we apply Scripture to judge between what is acceptable as worship music, we are able to understand that such an argument is flawed. Instead of worship being for God, that argument changes worship into something that is man-centred – the worship service becomes a means to attract crowds to church, using the carnal affections and preferences of men by playing the music that they want to hear. Such a teaching is clearly against Scripture.

We must be constantly on guard against evil communications. No matter how logical or reasonable an argument may seem, it is still considered evil if it is against God’s Word. Listening to such arguments will ultimately corrupt our understanding, and eventually it will corrupt our behaviour. Our sole guide must not be the persuasiveness of men – instead, our lives must be based on God’s Word alone.

Thought: Am I easily swayed by the arguments I hear from the world?
Prayer: Lord, help me to guard against all evil communications