Ray Dutton
In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Here Jesus stated “explicitly” (by the very words) that no one can come to the Father except by him. “Implicitly” (not in exact words) He said that it is impossible to come to the Father by Buddha or Mohammed.
The implications of God’s teaching are just as true and binding as the explicit statements, but false teachers deny this fact. They have long tried to justify their additions to God’s word by arguing that the Bible does not “explicitly” (in so many words) forbid what they are doing. However, if God frowns upon only those things which he “explicitly” forbids then there could be nothing wrong with Christians worshipping Buddha or following the teachings of the Koran, because no explicit statement of the Scriptures mentions either Buddha or the Koran.
The truth of the matter is that God’s Word instructs us both explicitly and implicitly. When we properly interpret a Scripture’s explicit statements, we will correctly “infer” those things which are “implied” by them. For example, John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” A man rightly “infers” that HE should believe in Jesus because God “implied” this when he said “whosoever.” Though his name does not appear in the Bible, he necessarily “infers” that “whosoever” includes him.
When a mother instructs her daughter to put certain ingredients into a bowl in order to make cake batter, even a small girl knows by “necessary inference” that all other possible ingredients should not be arbitrarily added. When Jesus instructed the disciples to use bread and the fruit of the vine in the Lord’s Supper, the disciples properly “inferred” that they were not permitted to add bacon and eggs, though these items were not “explicitly excluded” by Jesus. Even Naaman the Syrian understood by “inference” that Elisha’s command to wash seven times in the Jordan river “implicitly excluded” the Abana and Pharpar rivers (2 Kings 5:12).
All of this being true, why is it that the explicit command of God that we should “sing” in our worship (Eph. 5:19; Col 3:16) is not understood by many to implicitly exclude all other forms of music, He could have simply said “make music.” However, God chose to include only “singing,” and we therefore properly “infer” that whistling, humming, and playing on a piano are not authorized.”
Note from editor: This would also exclude hand clapping. Hand clapping would be the same as a drum. A drum is and mechanical instrument of music and therefore not authorized by God. This also would rule out patting the foot if it could be heard throughout the building. Yes, there was one building that had wooden floors and some of the men would tap their foot to the beat of the music. (I know this is all true for it was a place that I worshipped. I could call the name of the place and you would know where it was for some of you have been at this building.) It was so loud that all in the worship could hear it. The preacher kindly said, “What is the difference in tapping the foot that everyone can hear and a drum?” That ended the loudly tapping of the foot. If one must tap his foot in time with the music it can be done in a matter that will not resemble the beating of a drum.
We must be careful in what we do. It is important to do that which God allows and He has told us what we are to do.
Worship, to many, is becoming nothing more than a place to be entertained. That is not the worship that God wants. We are to worship God when we come together. He has told us what He wants in worship (John 4:24 is a starting place). Many are standing up waving their arms and acting out. (If one happens to watch denominations that televise their worship services this is seen.) This has no place in worship to God! We need to get back to what God wants and not what we want. It is God’s worship! He has told us how to worship Him, let us do worship His way!
The above article came from The Words of Truth.
Love, Keith
