When discussions about religion take place, a frequent question is: Where is THIS in the Bible? The certain implication of this question is: one would not believe some things if one cannot find them in the Bible...or at least, they are not as important as those which are in the Bible.
And this is our subject here: "What about those things which are NOT in the Bible?"
FIRST, let me make it clear that the Bible certainly DOES contain a lot of truths, and EVERYTHING in it is in it for a reason. However, this is not our topic.
SECOND, there are a great many things (and events) which are perfectly true (and good) which are NOT in the Bible. Geometrical formulas, the use of anti-biotics, and the battles of the American Revolution are nowhere in the pages of the Bible. Nor does the Bible tell a man to remember his wife's birthday, but he should. It does not tell baseball players to autograph baseballs for young boys, but they should.
THIRD, the Bible itself tells us that some of it is difficult to understand, (2 Peter 3:16) and therefore, EXACTLY what is (or is not) in the Bible is a matter of personal opinion (this is true for Protestants, who accept no authority above their own purely personal inclinations).
THEREFORE, the first conclusion we MUST draw is that although the Bible (rightly understood) is the word of God, there are good things which man should do which are NOT in the Bible, and good acts (by definition) are in accord with God's will for man.
There are, however some (so called) "Fundamentalists" who will argue that ALL good things are implied by some passage in Scripture. Although this is a completely non-defensible position, let us (simply to expose it) evaluate it impartially. Such a position is based upon the assumption that one can make "implications" based upon one's personal opinion of what the Bible may "actually mean." But nowhere in the Bible does it say: "thou shalt make implications to support one's own opinions." Therefore, in order to find "implications", and then base beliefs upon them, one must go beyond the Bible to do so. If one does this, then one CANNOT then turn around and say that ONLY what is in the Bible should be followed. To put it in other words: to base one's beliefs "entirely" upon the Bible, one must immediately violate the "principle" by going outside it to find justification for this very position. These people go beyond the Bible to defend the position that no one should go "beyond the Bible." Such silly hypocrisy cannot be considered as serious by any rational person. And no intelligent person does.
BUT, on this there is another, and perhaps more important point. This is one thing which the Bible itself tells us is NOT in the Bible. And this one thing is VERY important to real Christians. And this thing is ALL of the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus Himself told us that:
- His followers must live by every word which God gives us (Mt 4:4).
- His words would not pass away (Mk 13:31).
Therefore, every real Christian MUST go "beyond the Bible" IF all the words of Jesus are NOT in the Bible.
What does the Bible say on this subject?
When Jesus spent two days in the Samaritan village TEACHING, so that many came to believe in Him, (Jn 4:40), NOT a single word is recorded of what He said...but these words did NOT pass away. When Jesus taught for HOURS on end - for so long that the crowd became hungry -- NOT a word of what He said was recorded (Mk 6:34)...but we must live by them nonetheless.
Either Jesus meant it when He promised His followers that they would know truth (Jn 8:32), and truth must include His teachings, or of what use is it?
After all, if those words (the ones which the Bible makes reference to but does NOT record) must have been of importance because people came to believe in Him because of them. And therefore, if one takes Jesus seriously, then one must hold that going "beyond the Bible," is not only proper and necessary, but a vital sign of true Christianity. And anyone who says otherwise cannot be taking the words of Jesus as having any value at all.
Therefore, when something is NOT in the Bible, it may be something good, or true, or nice. But some things not directly contained in the Bible are guaranteed to be one thing: they are the ACTUAL TEACHINGS of Jesus Himself by which His true followers MUST live.
If Jesus wanted His followers to live "by the Bible alone" (as some Protestants say), He must have said this and it must have been recorded somewhere in the Bible...BUT He never did. And if He said it and it's not recorded, then (once again!) we have to go beyond the very Bible to defend not going "beyond the Bible".
No matter what, no real Christian can ever hold that something extra-Biblical is anti-Biblical. So, because something cannot be found (to your satisfaction) somewhere in the Bible means nothing at all as to whether it is truly from God or not.
Therefore, so that we will be able to know the full truth (as promised in Jn 16:13), there MUST be another authority to advise us, and to which we may go to learn what the Bible really means and what Jesus fully and really taught. This is necessary because the Bible itself teaches us that it is inadequate to do this. But it also teaches us that it is inadequate to do this. But it also teaches us that "the bulwark and pillar of truth" (1Tim 3:15) is the CHURCH of Jesus. And of course, the Church could only be the one which is headquartered in Rome, the only one founded by Jesus to guide man and lead him to salvation, so that he may "come to a knowledge of truth and be saved." (1Tim 2:4).
So the next time this topic comes up, point out that although something in the Bible is certainly true, if it is NOT in there, it is not necessarily false...not unless the Church of Rome says so.
So if you take seriously the Bible, understand that the Bible was NEVER intended to be understood outside of union with Rome.
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