Does God Give Us a Pattern to Follow?

by Terry Wane Benton

The total evidence of scripture is that God is a God of order and expects us to follow the pattern of sound words in everything we do (II Timothy 1:13; Colossians 3:17; ICorinthians 14:33ff).

God’s Patterns

Noah had a pattern to follow in building the ark (Genesis 6:22). He had to operate within what the pattern authorized. He was not free to make alterations according to his own will. If God gave no pattern, then Noah could do whatever he wanted. He could use whatever wood he wanted and build it as large or small as he wanted. He had to follow the pattern God gave him. He could not deviate from the pattern.

Moses had a pattern (Exodus 25:8-9,40; 26:30; 27:8; cf. Acts 7:41, 44; Leviticus 10:1-2; I Samuel 15) on building and furnishing the tabernacle. He had to build the tabernacle within the bounds of what the pattern authorized. He was not free to make alterations, changes, additions, or subtractions from the pattern. He had to do everything according to the pattern because the earthly structure and furnishings had to reflect or foreshadow the spiritual things to come properly. The spiritual things had a pattern that had to be precisely foreshadowed by that earthly tabernacle.

New Testament Patterns (II Timothy 1:13; 2:5; 3:16-17)

For gospel obedience

How do we come into Christ for salvation (Romans 6:17-18; I Timothy 1:16)?

1. If there is no pattern of properly coming to salvation in Christ, then you cannot demand belief, what to believe, repentance, confession, and you cannot bind baptism. We can expect people to comply only if there is a pattern of sound words on these matters.
2. If there is no pattern for proper gospel obedience, then you cannot forbid infant baptism, appealing to Mary, counting beads, or doing cartwheels for salvation.
3. If there is no proper order, then there is no disorder. Anything we want to do or believe would be acceptable to God. There is a pattern of sound words on how to come into Christ for salvation (Galatians 3:26-27).

For collective worship

(Colossians 3:16-17; I Corinthians 11:17ff; 14:1-34)

1. If there is no orderly pattern for how to worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:21-24), you can make a meal out of the Lord’s Supper and have butterbeans and deviled eggs with tea and banana pudding in memorial to Jesus and call it the Lord’s Supper.
2. If there is no pattern to follow, we can have animal sacrifices, restore the Old Testament's Tabernacle and priesthood system with burning incense, a table of shewbread, and pray to Mary or Buddha.
3. If no order is given in the New Testament, then there can be no disorder. Everything goes, including Rock bands, strobe lights, and everyone speaking gibberish (pretending to speak in tongues simultaneously with no interpreter). There can be no disorder if no pattern shows proper order. But there is order in the New Testament's assembled worship, and therefore a pattern to follow.

For the organization of the church

(Acts 14:23; Tit. 1:5; 1 Pet. 5:2)??

1. If there is no pattern on how the church should be organized, then we can have popes, cardinals, synods, clubs, district associations, and state and federal organizations that rule the smaller clubs or churches.
2. If there is no pattern of church organization seen in the New Testament, then we can accept the priestly caste of Catholics and the anti-priestly caste of the Protestants at the same time.
3. If there is no order, there is no disorder.

Is there a pattern for the above things? Can we see only disorder and everyone doing as they please in the New Testament? Can we find all the things of Catholicism and, at the same time, all the things of the Protestant churches all used and celebrated in the New Testament? Was Paul a Roman Catholic while Peter was a Lutheran, John a Methodist, and Andrew a Baptist? Or were they all doing the same things, teaching the same things in every church (I Corinthians 4:17; 1:10-13), or were they doing all the random things reflected in Roman Catholicism and Protestantism?

Suppose we see order in the New Testament, no Roman Catholicism, and no various Protestant denominations. In that case, we must go back to the pattern of sound words and be ordered according to the pattern of sound words so that none of these things not seen in the Bible are in play and are not supported and encouraged by us. If there is a pattern of sound words that shows what a church should teach and practice, then that is the will of God for us to teach and practice. No more and no less than what is presented to us in the scriptures that “completely furnish the man of God” (II Timothy 3:16-17). If the Scriptures “completely” furnish us but do not furnish us with how to be Roman Catholics or Protestant denominations and only how to be Christians, then that is the pattern of sound words to follow. We cannot be more or less than Christians following the pattern of sound words. They did that then, and it can and must be done now. There is a pattern of sound words in these matters, and we are not free to ignore or alter them.

God bless all who are determined to abide by the pattern of sound words.