The Silence of the Scriptures
by Trent Sherwin
If we were to take a trip to our favorite drive-through fast-food restaurant and order a #1 with cheese, fries, and a Coke, and then, when we pulled up to the pay window, discovered the total was $43.59, would we have a problem with that? The obvious answer is, “Yes, of course!” Hearing that staggering price for just one meal, we would ask the cashier why the meal was so expensive. She simply states, “You didn’t tell me not to give you one of everything else on the menu.” We would probably just drive to another fast-food place instead of trying to explain the principle of exclusion by silence to this young cashier.
It is a very simple principle to understand in the secular world; from the example above, we derive that if I say I want a #1, that’s all I want—nothing less, nothing more. Yet, something that we understand and apply in the secular world is often misunderstood and disregarded in the religious world. Denominationalism normally rejects the law of exclusion based on what it wants (not what God wants). This manifests itself in various ways, including entertainment in their services, instrumental music in worship, not observing the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week, failing to preach the whole counsel of God, and incorrect teaching of God’s plan of salvation. If we read the Bible as it is written, we will clearly understand that when God says to do something, He doesn’t have to say, “Now don’t do this or that, just do what I said!”
Several passages throughout the Bible illustrate this very principle. In Leviticus 10:1-2, there is the account of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of the high priest of Israel, offering something that God “commanded them not.” The result of their transgressing God’s instructions by offering something that God didn’t authorize was death.
Paul writing to the Colossians and Ephesians about singing (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16) gave the command to sing—not to sing and play! We have no authority to use any instrument except the human heart, for that is the instrument we use in singing to God!
The writer of Hebrews spoke of the silence of the Scriptures in Hebrews 7:14, when he wrote, “For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.” The Levites were through whom the priests came in the Old Testament. Moses never had to say that Judah, Manasseh, etc., won’t be priests; he just said the Levites are the priestly tribe.
There are numerous examples throughout the Bible of the significance of the silence of the Scriptures, and we must recognize this. If God says not to do something, we need to be careful not to do it. When He commands us to do something specifically, we must be sure to do that and nothing more or less. Jesus gave a warning at the end of the Bible about those who would add to or take away from that which is written (Revelation 22:18-19)! Let’s just stay with the Bible!
