The Silence of the Scriptures The Silence of

The Silence of the Scriptures

The Silence of the Scriptures • We are not to do anything in religion based upon the silence of God • This is taught in the OT: Lev. 10; Num. 15; Jer. 14 • This is taught in the NT: Acts 15; Rom. 10; Heb. 7

Silence is Golden • The silence of scriptures can be looked at in another way: consider what the Bible doesn’t say vs. what it does say • One impressive feature of the Bible is its great sense of brevity and restraint: what it does not say; this is an argument for its inspiration

God’s Silence vs. Man’s Speech • Consider what the Bible would read like if man had written it • Man is interested in gruesome detail • Man is interested in sexual detail • Man is interested in mundane detail • Man is interested in self detail

The Silence of the Scriptures • Where did God come from (Gen. 1: 1)? • What was the fruit that Eve ate (Gen. 3: 6)? • What did Moses do while growing up in Egypt (Ex. 2; Ac. 7: 22)? • What does God look like (Ex. 33: 20)?

The Silence of the Scriptures • What happened to the ark of the covenant (1 K. 8: 1 -11)? • What did Jesus do from birth to age 12 (Mt. 2; Lk. 2: 21, 39 -40, 50 -51)? • What did Jesus look like (Isa. 53: 2)? • What happened to Joseph (Lk. 2: 51)?

The Silence of the Scriptures • What happened to Mary after Jesus’ ascension (Jn. 19: 26 -27; Ac. 1: 14)? • What did the 12 apostles look like and how did they die (Ac. 12: 1; 1 Cor. 9: 5)? • What about the miracles while Jesus was on the cross (Mt. 27: 52 -53)?

The Silence of the Scriptures • What was the exact shape of the cross (Mt. 27: 32)? • What do we know about Luke (Col. 4: 14)? • What happened when Paul finally met with Caesar (Ac. 27: 24)? What was his thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12: 7 -10)?

The Silence of the Scriptures • Man cannot resist the urge to speak where the Bible is silent • Consider the many “apocryphal” books (Gospel of Thomas, 2 Macc. 2: 4 -8) • Consider the many church “traditions” started concerning the life and death of Bible characters

The Silence of the Scriptures • Consider the hundreds of commentaries that have been written that seek to explain matters of “silence” • Consider the many movies made of Bible stories (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Passion of Christ, Noah, etc. )

The Silence of the Scriptures • How do you explain such brevity and restraint in the scriptures? The Bible is the product of God, not man! • The H. S. was the guiding hand behind the writing of the Bible (Neh. 9: 30; Jn. 16: 13; 1 Cor. 2: 4, 13; 2 Pet. 1: 20 -21).

Why Was the Bible Written? • Not to satisfy our curiosity or inquisitiveness • Not to merely give us history or provide us mundane information • It was written to tell us what to do to be saved and stay saved (Deut. 29: 29; Jn. 20: 30 -31)