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"The Silence Of The Scripture"
Jarrod Jacobs
When we think about the Bible and Bible authority, we must remember that the Bible does not reveal certain things. In other words, the Bible is silent about certain issues and subjects. When we see that the Bible is silent, we must respect the silence of the Scripture.
In I Peter 4:11, Peter says, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God..." You may have heard someone say, "We speak where the Bible speaks, and are silent where the Bible is silent." That phrase had its origin with the words of the inspired apostle Peter. Jesus said a similar thing in Matthew 4:4. Let us read what He said: "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Jesus did not say that we will live by those things that do not proceed out of God's mouth! Everything that proceeds, or is revealed by God is what we are to live by, and when God has been silent, we are not to act! In Deuteronomy 29:29, we read, "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." Both Old and New Testaments tell us that the things that are revealed in the Scriptures are what we live by, and NOT those things which have not been revealed!
The Jews in the Old Testament understood and respected the silence of the Scriptures. The very reason that Jesus Christ was not a priest on this earth was based on the silence of the Scriptures! "For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood" (Hebrews 7:14). The tribe of Levi was appointed to be priests. Once this was said, no other tribe was appointed to be priests due to the silence of God's commands!
These truths have not changed. We must obey what has been revealed, and leave alone those things that were not revealed by God. Silence does not permit, it prohibits!!
Does the church where you attend speak and act where God is silent??? Think about it!!
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