2 Peter 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’
God wants us to use our brains. When it comes to believing in the Gospel, many hold the idea that we just need to turn off our brains and no longer think critically about things. Without getting too deep in the weeds, many want to completely throw out the premise of how to establish Bible authority. Maybe not completely, but many do attempt to hang their hats on the idea that necessary inference is unnecessary. Some even claim that God never uses inferences in the Bible. This kind of thinking is illogical. The word “inference” derives from Latin roots “to gather in”. Basically, an inference suggests the idea of gathering in data from various sources and then drawing conclusions because of the evidence.
You may be reading this article and begin to think that this isn’t necessary to think about, but I want to strongly urge you to reconsider the implications of this kind of thinking. We need to be careful because this can eventually lead to matters that are absolutely salvation issues.
Let’s look through a few different examples of crucial matters and see why this ought to be important to us as Christians.
Infant Baptism
Mark 16:16 He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
Acts 22:16 ‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’
These verses tell us that it is those who believe that are being baptized. First of all, I would like to know what a baby believes in other than eating, sleeping, and pooping in their diapers. Secondly, if we are told to “Get up” or “Arise” to be baptized, I would like to see an infant do just that. I have never seen an infant be able to get up without being picked up! Also, what sins has the baby committed? How can a baby who has no sin, who cannot get up, and cannot believe in anything yet be baptized for the remission of sins? Additionally, Acts 2:38 says to repent. I would like to know what a baby is repenting of. Logically we can see that we do not need a “thou shall not baptize infants” in the scriptures to know that it is not a scriptural practice. There are no examples of it occurring in the New Testament and there is no mention of it. Because of this, it is only right to conclude that it is necessarily implied that baptizing babies is wrong.
Meeting on the first day of the week for worship
1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.
Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.
The Christians in the first century met daily with one another. There is no doubt about that. This does not mean that there was never a day specified for when they would come together to accomplish specific tasks.
Christians met on every first day of the week to give to the collection for the saints and to partake of the Lord’s supper. Since we know that they met each Lord’s day (every Sunday). It is clear that the primary purpose for their assembly was to observe the Lord’s supper (see also 1 Corinthians 11:17-20). Then it must necessarily follow we need to do this every first day of the week.
What does this all boil down to? All we are doing is using common sense. God wants us to use common sense. Inferences is a reasoning device for us to use to establish truth and practices of the truth. We use it almost every single day of our lives without ever thinking about it. For example, if you hear thunder, what might one infer? That lightning is in the area and that it might possibly rain. God gave us a brain for making sound judgments. He expects us to use them. We gather information in order to establish good practices.
Isaiah 1:18a “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD…
1 Thessalonians 5:21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;
We need to test everything. We don’t need to believe in something just because we were taught it at a young age. Put that teaching to the test! Don’t believe what I say in these articles or from the pulpit just because I am a preacher. You need to make sure that whatever I say is in line with what is taught. God wants us to think about these things. Have you ever stopped to consider why you do the things that you do? This is when faith can get hard sometimes. We need to investigate why we do the things that we do because “going through the motions” is not what God is looking for. Look at Matthew 22:37 again. God wants our heart, soul, and mind.
by Lee Elkins
