Do not Think Beyond

Paul wrote to the Corinthians instructing them to “learn in us not to think beyond what is written…” (I Corinthians 4:6).  What was he telling them that we need to hear today?  It seems to me that he was giving the key to proper Bible study.  As we try to understand what God says in Scripture and how it applies to us today, we need to have a proper methodology for ascertaining consistently what He is saying.
 
I have thought about this many times and have concluded that there are only two ways to approach the study of the Bible and discover how it applies to our lives today.  One method is to announce that you are going to teach and practice anything the Bible does not specifically condemn.  This is an outside/in approach.  The person who does this will start from a particular teaching or practice and look for specific negation in Scripture.  Finding no specific negation, he will feel free to teach and practice this particular position. 
 
The other method is to state that you are going to teach and practice only what the Bible licenses or permits.  This is an inside/out approach.  The person who does this will start in Scripture asking what does the Bible permit, authorize, or license on this particular topic.  Once he has determined what is permitted, he will set about teaching and practicing only those things.
 
Here is the main problem with the first methodology.  It is impossible!  There is no way that any writing can enumerate every single possible teaching and practice down through the centuries!  On a much smaller scale, no parent can use this methodology with his or her children.  If this is the way to do instruct, a parent would need to negate specifically every single item in a store into which the child is sent to purchase something.  Now, put this same methodology into the criminal justice system and we will have chaos!  For instance, instead of criminalizing fraud, we would need to negate specifically every possible specific way to commit fraud!  How is that possible?
 
Paul’s methodology is very simple.  What is written stands as a permit or license for what is mentioned.  This is the methodology that God must have expected Noah to use when he built the ark.  God did not mention specifically every kind of wood.  He simply said use gopher wood.  It is the same methodology God used with the children of Israel when He told the priest to release a goat into the wilderness as a symbol of carrying away the sins of the people.  He did not negate specifically every other animal!
 
This is the only way that we can all come to a proper understanding of God’s revealed will together.  This approach allows us to be a people known for what we approve.  We can teach that all the other things not mentioned are merely not approved without determining the final destiny of those who teach and practice unapproved things.  If we follow Paul’s methodology for determining what we teach and practice, we will not “go beyond what is written.”  That should be our goal.

— Mike Johnson