GENERIC AND SPECIFIC AUTHORITY MUST BE UNDERSTOOD - 6
The churches of Christ Greet You (Romans
16:16)
1. Above we
asked the question, “How Does The Bible Authorize”?
a. The Bible
authorizes by GENERIC and SPECIFIC
authority.
b. Generic and
specific authority are derived
in only one of three ways –
1. by
direct command,
2. approved example,
3. or necessary inference.
2. Generic authority has often been illustrated by using the
Master's command
to the apostles.
a. He said, “Go ye
therefore, and teach
(or make disciples) of all nations …” (Matthew 28:19).
b. The apostles
were commanded to GO
c. (and that command is now the responsibility
for every Christian
to fulfill).
3. But how were they to go?
a. When
God has specified a
duty
b. but
has not defined the means
by which the duty is to be carried out, expediency is authorized.
4. Expediency
is that which expedites;
a. it is
an essential means
by which an obligation is carried out.
b. That
is, human judgment may
be exercised to formulate how to accomplish the duty.
5.
Thus,
the apostles could walk, ride an animal, or take a boat.
a. We
can do the same, but we
also have planes, cars, the US Mail, the INTERNET, etc.
b. Shoes,
trains, and boats
are definite and distinct expedients to going.
c. Epistles
were sent to some
places where the apostles could not go in person.
6.
Chairs
and beds are not aids for going, but for staying.
a. The
point is that while all
expedients are optional aids,
b. all
optional aids are not
expedient to a given obligation.
1. The Gospel was to be set forth
and disciples
were to be made in all nations.
2. Generically then, they were to
go and teach
in every God glorifying way they could.
7.
Specific
authority is restrictive in that it specifies what God wants done.
a. God is very specific in
stating that a person is
to “sing” (Colossians 3:16).
b. In
the case of man-made musical instruments,
c. some would have
us believe they are an expedient
to evangelism.
8.
Such
is not the case, because biblical expediency pertains to that which
expedites;
a. a
means by which something
is directly carried out.
b. A
piano is an expedient to
making music, but not to speaking.
c. Mechanical
instruments are instrumental to making music, not to evangelizing.
9.
When
God specifies how an obligation is to be carried out,
a. we do not have the option of deciding
expediency
to fulfill the duty.
b. The instrument to making music in New Testament
worship
is specified in Ephesians 5:19:
“Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
in your heart to the Lord.”
c. The heart is the instrument, and verbal vocal
spiritual music is the direct command.
10.
For
years true Gospel preachers have been able to preach
a. that one could search throughout the
New Testament
b. and never find the command for
Christians to “make music” in worship
c. (thus, God rules out man getting to
decide “how” he is going to
make music).
11. Today, however, things have changed.
a. We can still
preach that truth to those
who study from a reliable Bible translation,
b. but we know that the unreliable NIV
c. gives the incorrect
rendering of Ephesians 5:19
as “make music.”
1. But even so, if one
respects the authority of the Scriptures
2. he will make music
BY singing (cf. Heb 13:15).
12. Just as the principle (law) of authority
a. is crucial in the everyday human affairs of
our time,
b. so it is throughout the Bible - from
Genesis to Revelation.
13. Despite the deceptive false teaching of the Adventist,
a. no man living today is under (amenable to)
the Old Covenant
b. (including the Ten
Commandments - Col. 2:14-15).
c. All now are
living under the New Covenant,
the Gospel, the law of Christ (Heb. 9:15-17; 10:9).
14. However, the apostle Paul made clear that men living today
can learn - in principle -
a. from the record of
various events in the Old
Testament (Rom. 15:4).
b. Do you remember
the reason Nadab and
Abihu were killed by God?
c. The Scripture
says, “And Nadab and Abihu,
the sons of Aaron, took each of them his censer, and put fire therein,
and laid incense thereon, and offered strange
fire
before the Lord, which he had not commanded them.
And there went out fire from the Lord, and
devoured
them, and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:1-2).
15. It is an “un-get-aroundable”
point that Nadab and Abihu offered “strange fire” unto God.
a. It was “strange”
because it was fire
that “he had not commanded them,”
b. that is, they used in worship fire which
God had not authorized
them to use.
16. Was their using in worship
a. that which God had not authorized them to
use an important matter?
b. YES! It
was so important in the sight
of God
c. that He destroyed them with fire.
17. This example of the principle of Divine authority
a. lets men living today
know that they
must NOT do in work or in worship
b. that which is not
authorized by the word of
God, the Bible.
18. King David and others moved the Ark of the Covenant
a. in a way which God had not authorized.
b. They moved it on
a cart - not on the
shoulders of the Levites,
c. as God had authorized
(2 Sam. 6:1-11; 1 Chron.
13:1-14; 15:1-15).
19. Because the affair involved an unauthorized way of moving the ark,
a. and because an
unauthorized man touched it,
b. he was destroyed by God.
c. The matter of
authority is again seen
to be crucial.
20. Why is it wrong to partake of the Lord’s Supper
a. on any day other than the first day of the
week (Acts 20:7)?
b. It
is because no other day for the observance of the Lord Supper
is authorized.
1. God’s law of inclusion is: whatever is authorized is
included.
2. God’s law of exclusion is: whatever is not authorized is
excluded.
c. What excludes anything is that it is not
authorized.
21. God authorized the ark to be made of Gopher wood (Gen. 6:14).
a. What excluded
any other kind of wood
was that there was no authority for it.
b. There was no direct
command, approved example,
c. or
implication to authorize any other wood.
22. In the worship
of
God in music, the New Testament scriptures authorize singing (Eph.
5:19).
a. What excludes
mechanical instruments
of music is there is no direct statement,
b. approved example, or
necessary inference to
authorize them.
23. Loved ones, honoring God’s word as the source of authority is
binding
upon all men!
a. God has the
right as Creator to command
His creatures.
b. One will either
respect and honor Bible
authority or reject and spurn it.
1. However, to claim
to love the Lord and ignore and spurn His
authority is a disgrace (cf. Matthew 7:21-23).
2. Jesus said, “If ye
love me, ye will keep my commandments” (John
14:15).
24. The great problem today is a “lack of
knowledge;”
a. a lack of knowing what God commands.
b. The people of
old had the same problem
during Hosea’s day (Hosea 4:6).
25. Friends, we are praying that the God whom we serve
a. will continue to bless you with wisdom and
the knowledge of His
will (cf. Prov. 1:7).
b. However, we must
not fail to remind you
c. that you have an
obligation to allow that God
given knowledge to give you wisdom (cf. Prov. 2:6).
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with
all thy getting get understanding” (Prov. 4:7; cf. 3:13).