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THE SILENCE OF THE SCRIPTURES
Mark Reynolds
That with
respect to the commands and ordinances of
our Lord Jesus Christ, where the
Scriptures are silent as to the express
time or manner of performance, if any such
there be, no human authority has power to
interfere, in order to supply the
supposed deficiency by making laws
for the Church; nor can anything more be
required of Christians in such
cases, but only that they so observe these
commands and ordinances as will
evidently answer the declared and obvious
end of their institution. Much less
has any human authority power to impose
new commands or ordinances upon the
Church, which our Lord Jesus Christ has
not enjoined. Nothing ought to be
received into the faith or worship of the
Church, or be made a term of communion
among Christians, that is not as old as
the New Testament
(Mattox, 323 Emph. mine MER). |
When Thomas Campbell wrote the
above statement as part of the “Declaration and
Address” it was thought to be groundbreaking, and
shattering to the idea of division in the Christian
religion. The impact that it had on many who read
these statements can best be summed up in a statement
by one of the readers: “Mr. Campbell, if we adopt that
as a basis, then there is an end of infant baptism” (Dunagan,
1). The point was logical, easily understood, and came
to be a key of the Restoration Movement: “We speak
where the Bible speaks, and are silent when the Bible
is silent.”
Although Campbell may have been
one of the first to advocate this principle during
his era, he was certainly not the first to teach
the importance of appreciating the silence of the
Scriptures. In 1525 Huldreich Zwingli wrote A
Commentary on the True and False Religions
advocating that the Scripture would allow in church
services only what the Bible approved (Mattox, 256).
Tracing the principle of the
silence of the Scriptures back to the Restoration
Movement, or even to the Reformation is not good
enough. In order for it to carry any weight, or to be
binding today it must be found within the sacred
Scriptures. Not only is the principle found in the
Bible; it is a powerful proof of the wisdom and
inspiration of God’s holy word. Three areas are
profitable to show the power of arguing from the
silence of the Scriptures. (1) The silence of the
Scriptures point to inspiration. (2) Examples of being
bound by the silence of the Scriptures in the Bible.
(3) Its application and importance to modern-day
Christians.
SILENCE OF THE
SCRIPTURES POINTS TO INSPIRATION
In his sermon on the inspiration
of the Bible, J.W. McGarvey made the point that the
brevity of the New Testament narratives regarding
Christ, and other monumental moments in the New
Testament shouts inspiration (McGarvey, 5). As John
wrote, “And there are also many other things which
Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every
one, I suppose that even the world itself could not
contain the books that should be written” (John
21:25). How could Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, all of
whom were willing to die for the story they were
writing, in as few as twenty-nine pages (Mark) and at
the most forty pages (Matthew) capture all of the
events of Jesus birth, life, suffering and death? (McGarvey,
5). They were restrained in their writing, but the
Scriptures they wrote did not suffer in the least!
This brevity continues to be
impressive when one thinks of the accounts given of
single incidents in the New Testament. The baptism of
our Lord itself could have been a whole book of the
Bible, if not more:
| There was the
humble yet lofty mien of him who came to be
baptized; the surprising demeanor of the great
preacher as he confessed his unworthiness to
baptize such a person; the solemn act of the
baptism itself; the still deeper solemnity of
the prayer on the river’s bank; the startling
voice which was heard from heaven – the voice of
Jehovah – which had not thus broken the silence
of the skies since it thundered from the summit
of Mount Sinai; the graceful descent of the Holy
Spirit in the form of a dove; and the oracle,
big with the fate of a lost world, in which God
confessed his own beloved Son. What man with
a writer’s instinct could have stopped short of
many pages in describing the scene as to do it
justice? (McGarvey, 6). |
How much space was taken up by
the gospel writers? Matthew wrote twelve lines; Mark
and Luke both used six; and John only alluded to it.
The resurrection of the Lord, the ascension of the
Savior, and many other terrific events that could have
taken up volumes were condensed to a few short
paragraphs. And again, it does not take one iota of
power away from the Scriptures!
EXAMPLES OF THE
SILENCE OF SCRIPTURES
Noah and the Ark
When God saw that the wickedness
of man was great, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, He
knew what needed to be done. He needed to destroy man
from the face of the earth. “But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8). God would not
destroy the good with the bad so He instructed Noah on
how he and his family could be saved. “Make thee an
ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark,
and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch”
(Gen. 6:14). Noah’s salvation rested in the building
of the ark.
This example is one of the oldest
to show the power of the silence of the Scriptures.
This writer, however, does not apologize for using it.
It is one of the oldest, because it is one of the
best. And it is one of the best because after all
these years it still cannot be answered! God told Noah
what type of wood to use, and that command eliminated
all other kinds of wood. Noah could not use a
different variety and say to God: “You did not say, I
could not use this type!” When God gives a
specific command it eliminates everything else.
Nadab and Abihu: Leviticus
10:1-3
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And Nadab
and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of
them his censer, and put fire therein, and put
incense thereon, and offered strange fire before
the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there
went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them,
and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said
unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake,
saying, I will be sanctified in them that come
nigh me, and before all the people I will be
glorified. And Aaron held his peace. |
When one looks back to the verse
that precedes these verses one sees that God used fire
to symbolize and signify to the congregation that He
was satisfied with their strict adherence to His
prescribed law (Lev. 9:24). Now God uses this same
fire to execute immediate punishment on Nadab and
Abihu, and to show His displeasure at their straying
from His prescribed law. Nadab and Abihu had done
everything right: They were authorized to perform this
part of the worship; they used the proper censers;
they lit the censers with fire; then placed the
incense on the censers. They did everything right
until they used unauthorized fire. What made the
fire unauthorized? It was not the fire that God had
specified for them to use in worship!
It was not that God had
specifically forbidden the fire they used, but rather
He had specified what fire they must use (Lev. 16:12;
Num. 16:46). God did not have to go down a list of
other sources of fire, specifically forbidding each
source; He only had to tell them which fire to use and
that eliminated all other sources.
Moses in the Desert of Zin
Numbers 20 records the account of
the Israelites murmuring in the Desert of Zin. On this
occasion they were murmuring because of a lack of
water. Moses spoke to the Lord about the situation,
and Jehovah told him to “take the rod, and assemble
the congregation...and speak ye unto the rock” (Num.
20:8). The results of this action would produce water
for the people. Moses, however, in his anger, “…lifted
up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice
and the water came out abundantly, and the
congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the
Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed
me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of
Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation
into the land which I have given them” (Num.
20:11-12).
Moses violated the principle of
the silence of the Scriptures. God did not tell him
not to strike the rock, but did tell him to speak to
the rock. Speaking to the rock eliminated everything
else, including striking the rock. How serious is God
regarding His silence? All that Moses had done in
leading the people of Israel out of Egypt did not keep
God from excluding him from the Promised Land because
of going beyond God’s word.
Acts 15:24
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Forasmuch as
we have heard, that certain which went out from
us have troubled you with words, subverting your
souls saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep
the law: to whom we gave no such commandment
(Acts 15:24, emph. mine, MER). |
Since the apostles had given
these false teachers no authorization to teach these
things, the teachers had no right to speak. Silence
did not authorize their teachings.
Hebrews 7:14
While explaining why Jesus could
not be a priest on earth, the Hebrews writer appealed
to the argument of the silence of the Scriptures: “For
it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of
which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood”
(Heb. 7:14). The Law of Moses made it clear that all
priests serving under that law must be from the tribe
of Levi (Num. 3:5-13). Why could a man from the tribe
of Judah not be a priest? The Law of Moses spoke
nothing about it. God specified the tribe from which
priests must come, and when He did, it eliminated all
other tribes.
When the Bible is silent on a
matter, God’s children must respect it. Not only is
the teacher’s soul in jeopardy when he disrespects the
silence of the Scriptures, but also the souls of those
he teaches! Had God not punished Nadab and Abihu, the
whole congregation would have believed that God’s
silence gives approval. Had the apostles not corrected
the false teachers in Acts 15, the church would have
been led back to the Law of Moses rather than
following the perfect law of liberty! Mankind must
respect the silence of the Scriptures!
THE APPLICATION
AND IMPORTANCE TO MODERN-DAY CHRISTIANS
Most false teaching and practices
come not from a misinterpretation of what the Bible
says, but rather, from violating the principle of the
silence of the Scriptures. The punishment is just as
severe today as it ever has been. In fact, it is the
same punishment that those in the first century
faced:
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For I
testify unto every man that heareth the words of
the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add
unto these things, God shall add unto him the
plagues that are written in this book: And if
any man shall take away from the words of the
book of this prophecy, God shall take away his
part out of the book of life, and out of the
holy city, and from the things which are written
in this book (Rev. 22:18-19). |
This principle is just as
relevant today as ever before! Yet many religious
people continue to believe that if the Bible does not
specifically prohibit an action, then it permissible
to practice it in Christian worship and service. It is
no wonder why there is such a strong “anything goes”
attitude in religion today.
Law of Exclusion
It would be humorous,
if not so serious, to treat those who take liberties
with the silence of the Scriptures the same way they
treat God’s Word. In other words, it would be
interesting to see how lenient they would be when the
law of exclusion was violated when they were involved.
For example, suppose a man who believes that he can
practice anything in religion that the Bible does not
specifically condemn, takes his automobile to the
mechanic to get his oil changed. He tells them,
“Please change my oil.” After giving the mechanic
these instructions, he goes back to his office and
works the rest of the day. Can you imagine his
surprise when he returns back to the shop to see that
the mechanic has not only changed his oil, but has
also put a new engine in the car, tinted all the
windows, put on new tires, and painted the car pink!
Obviously he would want to know why they mechanic had
done all of this without his authorization. He might
say, “I only told you to change my oil!” Can you
imagine his rage when the mechanic replied, “But you
did not tell me not to do these things.” Surely
one who expects God to be lenient would not be so
patient when the same violation was used on him.
The Law of Exclusion
simply means that when a command is given everything
else is excluded. When the man in the above
illustration told the mechanic to change his oil, it
excluded everything else. If the mechanic found
something else that needed repaired in the car, he
would need to get the owner’s permission before
repairing it. Even children understand the Law of
Exclusion. If a child’s mother tells him to play in
the front yard, an obedient child understands that the
backyard is excluded.
We would not stand
for it when someone violated the Law of Exclusion when
we were involved. Nor does God stand for it! When He
told Nadab and Abihu what type of fire to use, it
excluded all others! When he told Moses how to
retrieve water from the rock, it excluded all other
methods. When God told Noah what type of wood to use,
it excluded all others. When God commanded that all
priests of the Old Law must come from the tribe of
Levi, it eliminated all other tribes. When God tells
Christians to sing praises to him using the heart as
an instrument, it eliminates all other instruments
(Eph. 5:19). When God tells Christians to partake of
the Lord’s Supper upon the first day of the week (Acts
20:7), it eliminates all other days of the week. When
He promises us that He will add all the saved to His
one church (Mat. 16:18; Col. 1:18; Acts 2:41-47), it
eliminates all other churches. When God says a man can
only be saved when he has been washed in baptism (Acts
2:38; 22:16), it eliminates all other ways of
salvation.
CONCLUSION
One
preacher attributed the following quote to the late
and lamented Gus Nichols: “As soon as we stop
preaching on an issue, it will become a problem
again”(Highers). It may be that we thought we had the
issue of the silence of the Scriptures settled a long
time ago. Unfortunately a misunderstanding at best or
a complete disregard at worst, of the silence of the
Scriptures had led to much digression from some who
are members of the church of Christ. In fact, one of
the main arguments Rick Atchley used to defend the use
of mechanical instruments in worship was from a
misunderstanding or disregard of God’s silence. “New
Testament commands to sing neither prescribe nor
prohibit instrumental music” (Miller, 38). In other
words, the Bible does not say we can or cannot use
instrumental music. Dave Miller answers by showing the
need for respecting the silence of God’s word: “New
Testament commands to eat bread at the Lord’s table
neither prescribes nor prohibits the eating of
hamburgers” (Miller, 38). There is a command to eat
bread as part of the Lord’s Supper, which excludes
hamburgers. And there is a command to sing in worship,
which excludes playing instruments.
Faithful
Christians will always need to know how to answer
those who teach that anything the Bible does not
specifically condemn is approved. Sadly, we have been
fighting this battle for years with the denominational
world. It is even sadder, however, when we have to
answer the argument from our own brethren. But answer
it we must!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dunagan,
Mark. “Silence of the Scriptures.” http://www.ch-of-christ.beaverton.or.us/Silence_of_the_Scriptures.htm.
Highers,
Alan. “The Church’s Landscape as I See It: Preparing
Congregations for the
Days
Ahead.” A sermon presented at Polishing the Pulpit,
Aug. 27, 2010.
Mattox,
F.W. The Eternal Kingdom. (Delight, AR. Gospel
Light Publishing Co., 1961).
McGarvey,
J.W. McGarvey’s Sermons. (Delight, AR. Gospel
Light Publishing Co., 1975).
Miller Ph.
D., Dave. Richland Hills and Instrumental Music.
(Pulaski, TN. Sain Publications, 2007).
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