I was raised among a group of congregations that associated with what many called the ‘Restoration Movement”. The defined purpose of such a movement was intended to “restore” our Christian beliefs and practices to those as defined in the Bible and abandon those that had been adopted by men.

            There was a generally adopted slogan that was voiced by those in the movement that appeared to be in harmony with the principles recorded in the Bible, specifically in the New Testament. This slogan stated:

                        “We speak where the Bible speaks, We are silent where the Bible is silent”

            The intent of this was that we would proclaim the Lord’s message as we would carry out Jesus “Great Commission” as recorded in Matthew 28 and refrain from any teaching or practices that were not specifically taught in the New Testament.

            While this seems to have been a noble and appropriate guideline for the function of the church, we need to remember that we are/were depending upon imperfect people who are prone to inject their own personal desires into the best of intents. The result was (and is) that many of the churches (congregations) have injected their own thoughts or desires, resulting in practices equivalent to those they desired to leave behind. (Some of these might be the specific order of worship services, the songs that are used in services, the manner in which we take the Lord’s Supper, etc.) It is worthy to remember that nowhere in the New Testament are we given a specific order of worship services. The best seems to be recorded in the following Scriptures. (Bold is done by me)

  • Acts 2:42 (NKJV) 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
  • Ephesians 5:19 (NKJV) 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
  • Colossians 3:16 (NKJV) 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

            From these, it “appears” that some of these practices to be adopted and continued would be:

  • “the apostles’ doctrine” (should be fairly easy since we have the New Testament)
  • “fellowship in the breaking of bread” (again, fairly easy (??) since we have Scripture to guide us)
  • “in prayers” (again, fairly easy since we have Scripture to guide us)
  • “psalms” (again, fairly easy since we have the Psalms in the Scripture)
  • “hymns” (this may be somewhat difficult since we do not have a Scriptural record of what was sung.
  • “spiritual songs” (much like hymns, but presents a question since many of us have disputes today as to what songs are really spiritual.)
  • “with grace in your hearts” (Only God can be the judge of this.)
    The noted motto was later stated in another manner as is noted below.

                        “We speak where the Bible speaks, Where the Bible is silent, we speak”

            The intent of this was that we would proclaim the Lord’s message as we would carry out Jesus “Great Commission” as recorded in Matthew 28, but the last phrase was to state that “if” the Bible had no specific teaching on a matter, we are free to speak our own opinion. This “appears” to address the questions noted above (#’s 4-7 above) in that we are free to have opinions and have practices in our worship in manners where the Bible has no specific teaching.

            This all sounds good, until we begin to make such “opinions” or “practices’ a condition of fellowship with each other; even considering those who practice differently than us as even being Christians.

            While all of the intents of our forefathers who attempted to restore the teaching and practices of the early church into the church of the 20th century and beyond, the problem was and is that we are dealing with imperfect people who almost always insist upon injecting our own opinions or desires into  all matters of how the church should be conducted. We have seen and likely been instrumental in the movement of the Lord’s Church away from the wort[1]hy intentions of those who have gone before us.

            Since we are dealing with such  imperfect persons (self included), the likely best solution may be for each of us to admit our own shortcomings and be patient with those we “believe’ to be less spiritual than us.

May God give us wisdom as we strive to serve Him.

 

James (Jim) Rowe lives in Louisville, KY, and is a student of the Bible.

 

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