1. The Silence of the Scriptures Permissive or Prohibitive?

2. Attitude Toward Silence Permissive: granting us liberty and license to do as we may please or Prohibitive: forbidding us to act according to our own will? The Silence of the Scriptures

3. Examples of Silence (Old Testament) Silence about strange fire (Lev. 10:1-2; 16:12) Silence about house-building (2 Sam. 7:1-7; 1 Chr. 17:1-6) Silence about offering children in sacrifice to foreign gods (Jer. 7:28-34; 19:1-13; 32:26-35) The Silence of the Scriptures

4. Examples of Silence (New Testament) Silence about circumcision and law-keeping (Acts 15:24) Silence about an angel being God’s Son (Heb. 1:5) Silence about priests from the tribe of Judah (Heb. 7:14) The Silence of the Scriptures

5. Points to Consider The law of exclusion: the statement to do one thing excludes the doing of others. The Scriptures condemn presumptuousness (Num. 15:30-31; Dt. 18:22; 1:41-45). We are not to go beyond that which is written (Dt. 4:2; Prov. 30:6; 1 Cor. 4:6; 2 Jn. 9; Rev. 22:18-19). The Silence of the Scriptures

6. Present-Day Application The Lord’s supper observance The kind of music in worship The organization, work and worship of the church The means of gathering money Baptism Marriage, divorce and remarriage The Silence of the Scriptures

7. Where the Scriptures speak, we speak. Where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent.