Christian Study - Silence of Scriptures

Silence of Scriptures

The force of scriptural silence is to be discovered within the Scriptures themselves. If one discovers how inspired men regarded the silence of the Scriptures, such would show how we, as uninspired people, should regard God's silence.

Silence was exclusive in the Law God gave to Israel. This is shown in the command against idolatry. The Law given at Sinai as recorded by Moses was brief and plain. God said, "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3 NASB).

This law is expanded in Deuteronomy17:2-3, 5: "If there is found in your midst, in any of your towns, which the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, by transgressing His covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, which I have commanded,... then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed, to your gates, ... and you shall stone them to death." God did not have to enumerate all of the pagan deities of Egypt and Canaan in order to teach monotheism. All that was needed was to tell them who they were to worship, and that excluded all others.

This ministry was taught in the ministry of Jesus Himself. When Jesus was tempted to fall down and worship the devil, he answered with a scripture: " 'You shall worship the Lord, your God, and serve Him only' " (Matthew 4:10). The scripture Jesus quoted was from Deuteronomy 6: "You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him, and swear by His name" (v. 13). It was not an explicit statement that prohibited the worship of the devil. It was a positive teaching stating who was to be worshiped. This excluded all others, including the devil. The word "only" is not in the text of Deuteronomy in the phrase quoted Jesus, "serve [worship] him only." Jesus added it when he quoted it to the devil. Jesus understood the silence of Scriptures. The silence of the Scriptures was prohibitive in this case. It was not necessary for all of the gods that ever have been worshiped by men to be enumerated and specifically prohibited. A positive teaching by its very nature excluded all that were not involved in it. The exclusive nature of silence is shown in the practical life of the New Testament church. The Acts narrative tells about certain brethren who had come from Jerusalem to Antioch. They were causing a schism in the church because they demanded circumcision of all of the brethren. Paul and Barnabas refused to allow this innovation into the Lord's church. Both groups from Antioch came to the apostles at Jerusalem to resolve the conflict. After much discussion, the apostles, the elders and the church sent letters to all the churches among the Gentiles. A part of the letter reads, "Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls, it seemed good to us, having become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul" (15:24-25).

The apostles refused to let brethren bind that which did not have the authority of Jesus or the apostles behind it. Those who brought in innovations without authority were said to have "disturbed you" and "unsettling your souls" (v. 24). Such is the lot of all who would bring into practice of the church anything about which Jesus or the apostles "gave no instruction."

The Silence

The silence of the Scriptures may be understood in three ways: (1)Silence is sometimes the unrevealed will of God that a man cannot know and does not need to know. (2) Silence sometimes pertains to incidentals-the ways and means of doing something that is commanded in the Scriptures but about which details are not revealed. (3) Silence is sometimes exclusive. It would disallow anything beyond that which is clearly revealed.

The Unrevealed

There are many things about which God has not spoken. They are totally un-revealed, and it would be presumptuous to try to pierce the silence of God. God has not revealed when Jesus is to come again; it is a mystery; it consists of secrets that belong only to God. Moses said, "The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God" :Deuteronomy 29:29 ASV). R.C. Bell used to say in his Bible classes, "I don't know; I don't have to know, and I'm glad I don't have to know." One must respect the silence of the scriptures as well as the things that are clearly revealed.

The Incidental

When does the silence of the Scriptures include the incidental? An example of this type of silence can be seen in regard to the Christian assemblies. The Scriptures are silent about where Christians are to assemble. It is evident that the New Testament church assembled often. It was their practice to assemble on the first day of the week to observe the Lord's Supper (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34). When they assembled, they were to make contributions to the needs of the saints according to their prosperity (I Corinthians 16:1-4). They were exhorted not to forsake the assembling of themselves together (He-brews 10:25).

The Bible is silent, however, about where they were to assemble. Sometimes it was done in the temple on Solomon's porch; sometimes it was in an upper room; sometimes it was in the synagogue. Nothing is said about a church building or a rented hall. The Bible teaches the necessity of assembling, but the location and style of building is unrevealed. Such would be incidental to obeying the command to assemble.

The Scriptures are sometimes silent about how a thing is to be done-although it requires that it must be done. F.L. Lemley has expressed this concept clearly in "God's Silence": "It must be observed that expedients for carrying out commands inhere in the commands and we need to have no specific authorization for any expedient. But in the absence of a command there can be no authorized expedient" (Firm Foundation, May 28, 1974; p. 5).

The Excluded

When is the silence of the Scriptures exclusive? An example of this type of silence can be seen in infant baptism. Nowhere does the Bible condemn infant baptism. The Scriptures are silent about it. It is rejected, not because the Bible condemns it or because it is morally wrong, but because it must be done without the authority of Christ as revealed in the Scriptures. The Scriptures teach that baptism is for penitent believers, that baptism is for the remission of sins, and that baptism is immersion. Infant baptism involves none of these. It is something different from New Testament baptism because it is different from any New Testament teaching about baptism. Winfred Ernest Garrison and Alfred T. DeGroot recorded an incident when this was realized in the early Restoration Movement. They wrote, "When in 1809, Thomas Campbell announced the slogan, 'Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent,' Andrew Munro responded and said, 'Mr. Campbell, if we adopt that as a basis, then there is an end to infant baptism.' Such it was to those who respected the silence of the Scriptures" (The Disciples of Christ, rev, ed., Bethany House, St. Louis, 1958; p. 140).

When a command is given, it logically excludes all that is not involved in the command. Woody Woodrow affirmed this point with quotes from Arlie Hoover: "It is a true command, statement or word must have limited meaning, else rational discourse would be impossible. As Hoover has noted, 'If a word meant everything, then it would mean nothing in particular. To mean anything, therefore, a term must include itself and exclude or contradict its opposite' " ("The Silence of the Scriptures and the Restoration Movement," Restoration 28:1; pp. 37-38).

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