So, it's permitted but not commanded, and it's determined by culture? I don't think that's how the regulative principle works.
A capella EP and... Raising Hands in Worship?
- Thread starter lunarWood
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Ryan&Amber2013
Puritan Board Senior
In the case of prophecy, I can think of no reasonable inference other than the anticipation of women speaking aloud among the congregation. How else were they to communicate God's word for the church revealed to them, and if not during such public revelation, when was the head to be covered? Do you assume this instruction was intended only for the moment when a woman whispered a prophecy in an elder's ear or when she prayed silently?
It's probably fair to say that when Paul writes to Timothy about his desire that men in every place lift up holy hands in prayer without dissention and anger, he has in mind elders such as Timothy, and that the desire wasn't for the lifting of hands per se, but for prevailing peace and prayer in the gatherings of the church. So I think you're right to point out that this isn't a general mandate prescribing the lifting of hands as the correct posture for prayer.
However, at the same time I think it's equally unwarranted to read this verse as a prohibition of women lifting holy hands in audible prayer amid the congregation, or of anyone lifting hands who is not leading the congregation in prayer.
Agreed. I was referring specifically to dancing, which I think would fall under the category of element (for the purposes of this discussion, not that I think dancing is an element of worship). My point was simply that if one wants to use Psalm 150 to argue for instruments as a commanded element of worship, then to be consistent one would also have to argue that dancing is a commanded element of worship. And according to the RPW, whatever is not commanded is forbidden. So... based on the argument from Psalm 150...either both instruments and dancing are commanded, or if not commanded, then they are forbidden. But one can't selectively use it to argue just for the use of instruments without also arguing for dancing.
Ryan&Amber2013
Puritan Board Senior
I think the Psalm is saying that we ought to give praise to God, but that doesn't mean that the command to use instruments is valid for the New Testament any more than references to incense, lamps, sacrifices, etc. in other Psalms are valid for the New Testament. The command to praise God carries over into the NT, the use of instruments in corporate worship does not.
"There is a distinction, however, to be observed here, that we may not indiscriminately consider as applicable to ourselves, every thing which was formerly enjoined upon the Jews. I have no doubt that playing upon cymbals, touching the harp and the viol, and all that kind of music, which is so frequently mentioned in the Psalms, was a part of the education; that is to say, the puerile [childish] instruction of the law: I speak of the stated service of the temple.
For even now, if believers choose to cheer themselves with musical instruments, they should, I think, make it their object not to dissever their cheerfulness from the praises of God. But when they frequent their sacred assemblies, musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting up of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law." - John Calvin's commentary on the Psalms (emphasis mine)
But the OP is about raising hands in worship, so I think we have gotten off track.