1 / 9

Authorit y and Silence

Authorit y and Silence. The question at hand is this: “Does the silence of the Scriptures on a particular topic indicate a license or a restriction ?” In other words, “Is the silence of the Scriptures a permission or a prohibition ?”. Authorit y and Silence.

xiu
Download Presentation

Authorit y and Silence

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Authority and Silence The question at hand is this: “Does the silence of the Scriptures on a particular topic indicate a licenseor a restriction?” In other words, “Is the silence of the Scriptures a permissionor a prohibition?”

  2. Authority and Silence • For literally hundreds of years, the silence of the Scriptures was pretty much universally viewed as a prohibition. • Thus, men such as Charles Spurgeon (Baptist), John Wesley (Methodist), Martin Luther (Lutherans), and John Calvin (Presbyterian) were all opposed to instrumental music being used in the worship of their respective churches because God said nothing of Christians using it for worship in the New Testament. • But in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries particularly, silence in the sacred text has come to be seen very much as permission.

  3. Authority and Silence • So, which is correct: permission orprohibition?Please consider the following: • 2Timothy 2:16-17indicates that man is fully equipped by the inspired word “for every good work.” • Therefore it logically follows that if God did not see fit to include it in Scripture, it is not a “good work.” • We then have to consider it, given God’s omission in Scripture, at best as anunauthorized addition. • The prohibitory power of God’s silence is apparent.

  4. Authority and Silence • Have God’s Laws always been prohibitive in their silence? Again, please consider: • Gen.4:2-5a; Was God’s silence regarding plant sacrifices prohibitive or permissive? cf. Rom.10:17> Heb.11:4 • Lev.10:1-2; Was God’s silence regarding strange fire prohibitive or permissive? cf. Lev.6:12-13; 16:12 • Deut.4:2; 12:32; Prov.30:5-6 (et al) all indicate that the Jews were prohibited fromadding to ortaking away from God’s Law. • Therefore, it logically follows that if God did not see fit to include something in their Law, it could not be added by them and considered a “good work”! • The prohibitory power of God’s silence is apparent.

  5. Authority and Silence • “OK, but you’re using “logic”- is there a N.T. passage which says “Silence means ‘prohibited’?” • Heb.7:11-14 • God has spoken through Moses (Law) that priests would come from the tribe of Levi, v.11. • The larger contextual point being made is that for Christ to be a Priest from the tribe of Judah, the Law of God would have to be changed, v.12; and it was, cf. vv.18-19. • But concerning the tribe of Judah, the text says God “spoke nothing concerning priests,”vv.13-14. • If God’s silence is permissive, why did the Law have to be changed to allow Jesus (from Judah) to be a Priest?

  6. Authority and Silence • So, does the silence of God permit or prohibit? Consider, as an example, instrumental music in worship: • Matt.28:18, Jesus had all authority, and yet never mentioned instrumental music, cf. 26:30. • John 14:26: 16;13, The apostles were guided by the Spirit into “all truth,” and yet never mentioned instrumental music, cf. 1Cor.14:15. • 2Pet.1:3, The New Testament, the Law we are under, never commands instrumental music,Eph.5:19; Col.3:16; et al. • Rev.5:8; 14:2; and 15:2 mentions instruments in heaven, or sounds like them, but heaven is a spiritual place, and still doesn’t authorize them on earth. • Instruments were first introduced into Christian worship in 660 A.D. (by Vitalian), but were not commonly accepted until the twentieth century! Why, do you suppose??? • The silence of God then came to be viewed as permissive rather than prohibitive!

  7. Authority and Silence Conclusions? • If we understand the completeness of God’s word; and • We understand the command to neither add to nor take from what God has said; then, • We must also understand the silence of the Scriptures to be prohibitive rather than permissive. • The authority of the Scriptures is actually quite simple: • If something was/is not commanded by Christ, or • Was not taught or exemplified by the Apostles, or • Was not practiced by Christians under the teaching of the Apostles, then • It is not authorized. Further, • If it aids the obedience of a command without changing or altering the command, it is allowed, but not required. • But if it adds to the command by altering or changing it, it is prohibited. Simple!

More Related