What do you believe and what do you do when the Bible is not explicit about a certain belief or practice? There are a lot of things in this world that are not explicitly commanded or prohibited in Scripture.For instance, years ago a man in my church was convinced that VCRs were unbiblical. But when I asked him for a chapter and verse, not surprisingly, he could not show me a single verse that said, "Thou shalt not use a VCR." His belief was that they were an instrument of the devil, but he could not back it up with an explicit prohibition. I know that VCRs can be used for sinful purposes, but so can a lot of other devices. The truth is they can also be used to glorify God. The point is that when the Bible does not specifically state that a given belief or practice is right or wrong, Romans 14:5 is our verse. We have to make a decision.
Now we can decide to never do or believe anything that isn't explicitly commanded or positively modeled in Scripture. This is a very commendable and safe choice, and some people attempt to do this. But what I have found over the years is that this is difficult, if not impossible to do in real life.
People have tried to convince me, for instance, that our church should only practice what is explicitly commanded or modeled in Scripture, which sounds very, very right. But these same people will use something like a DVD to get their message out. Where is that in Scripture? Where does it say that it is okay for believers to use DVDs. You can check the whole Bible, but it is not there and that's the inconsistency. No one I know consistently follows specific commands and prohibitions in Scripture only. There are too many areas of life where God has allowed us to make choices. The question is how will we make these choices.
When the Bible is not explicit, we can't just say that we can do whatever we want. We have to follow biblical principles that inform and govern our choices.
- Does it glorify God? (I Corinthians 10:31)
- Are we being controlled by it? (I Corinthians 6:12)
- Could it be a stumbling block to a weaker Christian? (Romans 14:13)
- Does it make for peace and the building up of others? (Romans 14:19)
- Does it build us up spiritually (I Corinthians 10:23)
"People have tried to convince me, for instance, that our church should only practice what is explicitly commanded or modeled in Scripture, which sounds very, very right. But these same people will use something like a DVD to get their message out. Where is that in Scripture?"
ReplyDeleteDo you think that there is a distinction between what is done in personal liberty and what is done in corporate worship? Presumably, nearly all Christians would agree that they have the liberty to watch a DVD. Yet, how about if that Christian were to try to act on their liberty by watching a DVD during corporate worship, say during singing or preaching?
In a similar example, a pastor once called on the congregation to begin yelling and cheering as though we were all at a football game during corporate worship. I thought that this broke the command that we worship with "reverence and awe" as I did not think that the stands at a football game were an example of reverence. (Heb. 12:18-29) So, I believed myself to be bound by the Word to participate in corporate worship, yet also bound by the Word to not participate in irreverent worship.
Obviously, there will be a difference of opinion on whether doing something like that is reverent; that isn't the point. My question is, should the church add to its corporate worship things that aren't specifically commanded by God, which may bind the consciences of its congregants?
Your previous post on Lent (as an act of corporate worship) is another example. Can the church require its congregants to participate if they are convinced that it is a good thing to do, even if Lent isn't explicitly commanded in Scripture?
-Joel
Joel,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a couple of very key issues. First, the issue of individual vs. corporate decision-making. Romans 14:5 addresses the individual Christian. Where Scripture is silent each person has to come to a conviction beased on principles in God's Word. For the local church, I believe human authority is vested in the elders of the church to come to convictions about how ministry is to be done (I Timothy 5:17). They have to "rule" on these matters. Obviously, where Scripture is explicit, they have to follow Scripture. But where Scripture is silent, they have to come to a conviction based on Scriptural principles.
In regard to worship, there are some specific commands. "Preach the Word" would be one (II Timothy 4:2). But in my opinion, there are many aspects of worship that are not explicit and require careful study and interpretation from the elders to determine the church's convictions about corporate worship. Personally, I see worship as involving celebration and reverence both based on Scriptures like Psalm 95 and 100, for instance. I plan to do a post on this specific issue soon.