by Irvin Barnes
“Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.” (Genesis 6:14, NKJV)
One doctrine states that when the Bible gives specific instructions then all other actions are excluded. This position says that the silence of God is binding. For example, when God commanded that the ark be made of gopher wood all other types of wood were excluded. This position would argue that since God commanded gopher wood, had Noah used pine or oak or some other wood then the ark would not have floated and Noah and his family would have perished with the rest of humanity.
The other side of the issue would argue that the type of wood is unimportant, that one kind of wood would be as good as another. In the case of Noah and the ark the position more correctly stated would say Noah should have used gopher wood but might also use oak or pine in some parts of the ark along with the gopher wood. Gopher wood was not exclusive according to the position that the silence of God is not binding.
I am convinced that the silence of God is binding in the areas where God has legislated. There are some areas where God has not legislated one way or another In the areas where God has stated how He desires a thing to be done, this excludes all other like things that could be accomplished in the same vernacular or context.
Going back to the ark, it seems absurd to think that if God had wanted Noah to use only gopher wood that He would have had to say more than what is said In this case if the silence of God were not binding then in order for God to exclude all other types of wood, God would have had to say use gopher wood and gopher wood only.
That might seem a small thing with reference to the ark, however if the principle prevailed throughout the Bible then every time God gave a command, if to attach the word only to every command or state the exclusion such as: don’t use pine, don’t use oak, don’t use walnut, etc. Some have suggested that if the Bible were written this way, the Bible would be so large that it could be moved only by train car or on a trailer truck.
Please consider some other subjects to illustrate the point. The Bible commands baptism in water for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38 & Acts 10:48). In the conversion of the eunuch (Acts 8:29-40) the word water is used 4 times. Phillip and the eunuch went down into the water, Phillip baptized the eunuch and they came up out of the water. There is no doubt then as to the element in which one is to be immersed or submerged in the act of baptism. It has been said that one woman objected to immersion in water and claimed that rose petals would be much more appropriate. Some children were “playing church.” Their parents forbid them to emulate baptism in water. so they immersed one another in a huge pile of leaves.
Is it necessary for God to say, “do not baptize in leaves, do not baptize in rose petals,” before such would be excluded?
Baptism is a figure of the burial of Christ (Romans 6:3-4) Colossians 2:12 states. “Buried with Him in baptism.” This burial is also plainly implied in the conversion of the eunuch. Burial in water for baptism, excludes such things as pouring or sprinkling. It is impossible for pouring and sprinkling to fulfill the picture of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Therefore, pouring and sprinkling are excluded on the basis of silence. God specifies the burial, but nowhere states, “do not sprinkle, do not pour.”
Again, if the Bible were written to state what God wants and then specifically state all the things in each category of service that God does not want, the book would be cumbersome and next to impossible to study. The Bible student would have to search through so many combinations of “don’t do this and don’t do that” that he would be hard pressed to find the things actually prescribed as necessary to serve God.
Another example: when Jesus instituted the Lord’s supper the Bible says He took fruit of the vine, or grape juice. Suppose the silence of God is not binding; yet, God wanted us to use grape juice and grape juice only, it would he necessary for God to have said in His word, “use fruit of the vine, don’t use juice from anything except a grape vine.” Even then someone could reason, “But God did not say don’t use juice from fruit that grows on a tree, so we will use apple juice or perhaps any juice that does not grow on a vine.” So the prohibitions would be endless.
The Bible has not always been bound together in a volume as we have it today. So, the above passage applies specifically uniquely and in context to the book of the Revelation. Some would say the principle of not adding to or taking from, applies only to the Revelation letter. I think not! Why would God bind the principle for this book only and allow the rest of the scriptures to be altered by adding to and taking from? Reason itself demands that if the rule applies to the Revelation letter it also applies to every other book of the New Testament.
Since we must not change the Word of God by adding to it or subtracting from it, then what is said is binding and what is not said is also binding. It is as important to observe the silence of the scriptures as it is to what the scriptures actually say.
Instruments of music in worship is another example of division that has occurred as a result of the doctrine that the silence of God is not binding. You read nothing in the new testament to indicate that the new testament Christians ever made melody in the church on an instrument. Since the Bible does not say, “do not use an instrument in the church”. early innovators decided an instrument of music would be permissible. Those whose conscience would not allow them to accept this new practice were forced to withdraw and a major division occurred. If all people had only continued in the belief that “singing and making melody in the heart” excludes playing on an instrument then the division would never have occurred.
Hundreds of practices have been brought into modern religions about which the Bible says nothing at all. People accept these practices without ever stopping to think if the practice is scriptural or not. Innovations are potentially divisive and eventually the end of those who accept them is condemnation.
Genesis 6:14., “Make yourself an ark of ________________; make rooms in the ______, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.
”
Acts 2:38, “Repent, and be _____________ every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the ______________ of _______________, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
Acts 8:36-38, “And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is ___________ what hinders me to be _________ ?’ And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the _________ of __________ .’ And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the __________, both Philip and the eunuch; and he ____________ him.”
Acts 10:47-48, “Can anyone forbid __________, that these should not be _________________, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he ________________ them to be _________________ in the name of the Lord.”
Colossians 2:12,“____________ with Him in _______________, in which you also were ___________ with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”
Matthew 26:26-29, “And as they were eating, Jesus took ________, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body. Then He took the _________, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this ______ of the ______ from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
Revelation 22:18-19, “For I testify to everyone who _______ the _______ of the prophecy of this book: If anyone ________ to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone _______________ from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall ________________ his part from the ______________ , from the ___________________, and from the things which are written in this book.”
T F God is pleased when man omits practices taught in the Bible.
T F God desires that man should leave His word as is, neither adding to it or taking from it.
T F In the context of any given subject or practice, what God does not say is as binding as what is revealed in the scriptures.
T F In the context of any given subject or practice, the silence of God is not binding.
Please Contact me, Dennis Crawford, at BibleTruthsToU@gmail.com or 253-396-0290 (cell)for comments, questions, further Bible information, or for the location of a congregation belonging to Jesus Christ near you.
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