Three Questions About The Breaking Of Bread

March 2019 – Grace & Truth Magazine

QUESTION 1: Why are musical instruments, even the piano or keyboard, not typically used in meetings for the breaking of bread? They were used by the psalmist and the children of Israel, weren’t they?

ANSWER:Yes indeed, Israel used musical instruments of various kinds in their worship of God. they were told: “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (Ps. 96:9 NKJV). As God’s earthly people, their God-ordained worship also included practices and tangible aids designed to make the worship of God impressive to man in the flesh. Elaborate ceremonies and feasts were ordained by God in meticulous detail and all was to be done according to His outward prescriptions. The priests and Levites were clad in special clothing – the garments of the high priest being specifically said to be “for glory and for beauty” (Ex. 28:2). Sweet-smelling incense was burned as a fragrance for God, animal sacrifices – at times by the hundreds and even thousands – were offered on altars of stone or bronze. Gold and silver were lavishly employed in the tabernacle’s construction and later in that of the temple. It is in this setting that we also find trained choirs and many kinds of musical instruments. The best that earth could offer and that man could make and do was to be used to “worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

All this changed in the New Testament. Neither “this mountain” nor Jerusalem was to be the place designated for the worship of God (Jn. 4:21). “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything” (Acts 17:24-25), Paul could tell the men of Athens. “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth,” our Lord told the woman at the well of Sychar (Jn. 4:24). All the outward trappings of old have lost their significance. Animal sacrifices are past, Christ’s sacrifice being all-sufficient before God once for all. Robes, incense, choirs and musical instruments no longer are required or even mentioned in connection with the worship of God here upon earth. Singing and praying are now to be with the spirit and the understanding (1 Cor. 14:15). Whatever we do as Christians is to be done from the heart, as to the Lord and not to men (Col. 3:23). An entire epistle, Hebrews, is devoted to teaching Jewish believers – and us – the superiority of Christ above all that God had given in Judaism under the law.

Musical instruments are nowhere forbidden in the New Testament, and Christianity is not a religion of legal regulations. However, true liberty is not a display of my abilities or a doing of my will. It is the

• Intelligent freedom to do the will of God as taught in the Word and as directed by the Spirit of God.
• Exaltation of Christ, and such exaltation can be done in all simplicity.
• Overflow of hearts enraptured with Him and needs no well-meant crutches or artificial aids of a nature that might tend to distract from Him.

QUESTION 2: If one is so disturbed during the Breaking of Bread as to hinder him from partaking, should he speak up and say something or wait and not break bread?

ANSWER:God’s Word plainly tells us, “But let a man prove himself, and thus eat of the bread, and drink of the cup” (1 Cor. 11:28 JND). We break bread to remember the Lord. It is not right to take out frustrations with our brothers and sisters in the Lord upon Him by not breaking bread. He should be the One filling our hearts. Occupation with people and their failures may well be something to confess with shame to our Lord as we prove ourselves in His presence. “Love has long patience, is kind ... is not quickly provoked, does not impute evil” (13:4-5).

Where something is radically out of order in the meeting, the Spirit of God may possibly lead a brother to point this out in a sober, godly manner. But, let him be sure that he is speaking a word of exhortation in the Spirit and not simply giving vent to his personal feelings. A sister would not, of course, speak up in the meeting itself (14:34), but might prayerfully go to the individual involved in a humble, godly manner afterward and share what is on her heart.

QUESTION 3: Is it appropriate for one to speak in tongues in the Remembrance Meeting? Should what he says be translated? Should there be an interpretation of one’s prayer, Bible reading or song?

ANSWER:First of all, Scripture does not speak about a “Remembrance Meeting” as such. It does make a few references to the believers’ breaking bread. The meeting described in 1 Corinthians 14 seems to have been one simply open to the leading of the Spirit of God. Verse 26 shows the broad scope of what may transpire at such a meeting where the Holy Spirit is truly free to lead. The key exhortation in the chapter is found in this verse: “Let all things be done for edification.” Earlier in the epistle the meeting is stressed, in contrast to the Corinthians’ former ways of being led by evil spirits when they were still in the bondage of idolatry (12:2).

First Corinthians 12-14 deal with the Corinthians’ misuse of the gift of tongues, a gift no longer normally being given. While the subject here is not the use of foreign languages, the principles given can be applied to them in a meeting. Worship is essentially addressed to God (Mt. 4:10; Jn. 4:23-24). Nowhere do we find rules for it nor should we make rules.

First Corinthians 14 shows that what is done in the assembly is essentially done by the assembly. We refer to this as “collective” or “corporate” in contrast to “individual.” A brother may be the mouthpiece of the assembly (1 Cor. 12), as it were, but the other brothers and sisters should join in by saying, “Amen.” In order to do so intelligently, they should be able to understand what he has said. Applying these principles to the question of translation of what is said in a foreign language, it is certainly appropriate to translate what is not capable of being understood by a portion of the assembly. Thus they will be edified and able to say “Amen” with an appreciation of what has been prayed, read or sung. If someone reads from the Bible, others can of course follow in their own Bibles, or the brother suggesting a portion to be read can request that someone else read it in the language more commonly understood.

Above all, grace and forbearance one with another is vitally important. Language problems should never be used to prevent a fellow believer from expressing worship in prayer, but we must remember that we need not be fluent in a language in order to pray.

All three questions answered by Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.