By Steve Higginbotham
How one understands the authority of Scripture is, in my understanding, the single most important component to achieving and maintaining unity among God’s children. Without a common understanding of how the Bible authorizes, even the most earnest desire and irenic spirit are insufficient.
Just look at our own history. We are the heirs of a century-long division due to how one ascertains and applies the Scriptures. Does the “silence of the Scriptures” on a particular issue provide authority for that issue, or does it prohibit the practice of that issue? The answer to this question is set forth in Scripture itself. All we need to do is allow the Scripture to be its own interpreter. Consider:
The very first of the ten commandments said, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). However, the children of Israel did not always observe this command. Their disobedience to this command led Jeremiah to say, “Amend your ways…” (Jeremiah 7:3). What ways did they need to amend? They had built high places upon which to burn their sons and daughters. But note the principle to which God appeals to condemn their action. God said they were guilty of doing that “which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart” (Jeremiah 7:31).
Note that God used the “principle of silence” to condemn their idolatry! Their condemnation was not based upon the original, explicit prohibition of idolatry, but rather was based on the equivalent practice of doing that which the Lord had not commanded.
We need to heed the words of the Puritan preacher, Richard Baxter who said, “For what man, dare go in a way which has neither precept nor example to warrant it? Can that be obedience which has no command for it…O, the pride of man’s heart, that instead of being a law-obeyer, will be a law-maker! For my part, I will not fear that God will be angry with me for doing no more than He has commanded me, and sticking close to the rule of His word, in matter of worship; but I should tremble to add or diminish!”
May we have such reverence for God and his authority that we might all tremble at the very thought of adding to or diminishing from God’s word!