GENERIC AND SPECIFIC AUTHORITY
A response to “We do a lot of things without authority”
by Dave Brown
The quote under our title above is the major motivator for this article. Consider the following statement:
We should never do anything in religion without authority.
This statement is true as taught by 1 Cor. 4:6, 2 John 9, and many other passages. Our other articles that deal with the silence of the scriptures are also relevant. We are not to speak where God has not spoken; we are not to bind our fellow Christians to things that God has not bound all of us to.
Some do not want to accept this principle, and so they make the argument: “We do a lot of tings without authority.” When questioned, the most common example that they give are songbooks.
We will consider this example below, but first let’s ask the question: “What if this is true? What if there is no authority for songbooks? Would this negate the validity of the statement that we should never do anything in religion without authority? Of course not. It would merely mean that we have been wrong in using songbooks and so should discontinue their use. The fact that we err in one area does not justify error in all areas, or the disregard for clear biblical principles.
What is the biblical principle here? It has to do with generic and specific authority. This is not a difficult subject to understand. Consider the command that God gave to Noah: Build an ark. At that point Noah had the discretion as to size, shape, materials, tools, etc. to accomplish this command. However, God did not stop there. He gave Noah some specifics. He told Noah to make it of gopher wood, he gave dimensions and several other specifications. Noah was not at all authorized to go against these specifications and arbitrarily do things the way he wanted to (as though he thought God was making a mistake).
On the other hand, God did not specify the tools. Now, Noah could not just use any tools. It was still contingent upon Noah to use the best possible tools at his disposal. This is an important concept. Nothing that we do is without law. There are general laws for everything we do. One of them is to not be wasteful of the resources that God has given us, and the most precious of these resources is our time. Thus, Noah should choose tools that would get the job done in a most effective and efficient manner. But this was Noah’s decision and judgment, since God had given not specifications in this regard.
So now to the example at hand: songbooks. True, we do not have specific authority for songbooks, but does that mean we have no authority? No, we have the generic authority to sing (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). Further, we are commanded to “let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40). But we do not have any specification as to how this is to be accomplished. Let us consider the alternatives:
· Commit all songs to memory (we feel that this is probably what was done in the first century, but that cannot be proven, and it is not specified as a biblical requirement; but it is certainly an alternative);
· Have some common way that the worshippers can view the words and/or the music – there are probably dozens of ways this could be accomplished: charts, overhead projection, power point, etc.
· Provide individuals with the words and music – this could be done by giving them individual handouts or providing a songbook, or both.
Recognize, it is not that we have not constraints here – we still have to use our judgment as to which is the best way in this day and age to do things decently and in order. Most churches have decided that songbooks are the most practical of all of the methods considered, although I am sure that many exceptions are made, especially to accommodate songs that are not in the books.
The point of this example has nothing to do with songbooks. It has to do with the fact that they are authorized. They are authorized as an expedient to the generic command to sing. This very same thought process should be applied to all of the judgments that we are forced to make when carrying out God’s commands.
The following might sound strange, but it is a truism: all God’s positive commands require some human judgment in their accomplishment. Try to think of an exception. Noah had to choose the tools, the time, perhaps his helpers, and on and on and on. Songbooks are just one of the judgments we have to make with regard to singing. There is also the particular song, which verses to sing, how to pitch it, how fast to sing it, and on and on and on.
Sometimes we wonder about the necessity for articles like these. Whatever happened to common sense? But sometimes it is the truisms that we have the hardest time in accepting as reality. The fact that we have to make these judgments does not mean that they are not authorized; else nothing that we do would be authorized. On the other hand, the making of the judgments is not always simple, and it should not be trivialized. Rather, we should work though each of God’s commands, consider the alternatives for its accomplishment, and pick the ones that we see to be most expedient and to God’s glory. God made us capable of making these decisions, and when we make them right, we glorify God.