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When the 13 American colonies won their independence from England, they formed a union under what
were styled the "Articles of Confederation." But after a while, the founding fathers saw the need
for a stronger central government, which led to the drafting of the U. S. Constitution in 1787.
In the debate over a new constitution, there were two opposing philosophies regarding the government's authority to act. Thomas Jefferson was a proponent of "Strict Constructionism," and Alexander Hamilton championed the cause of "Loose Constructionism." Jefferson believed that the federal government could act only as the constitution authorized it to do so. Hamilton took an opposing view and said the federal government could do anything not specifically forbidden by the constitution. That debate between loose and strict constructionists still rages in our country more than 200 years later. That is also the way people look at God's Word. Many people believe anything is permitted in religion that is not forbidden in the Bible. They are loose constructionists. On the other hand, there are those who believe one's religious practice must be authorized by what the Bible says and whatever is not commanded must not be done. These folks are strict constructionists. How, then, should the Bible be regarded? When it comes to what we preach and practice in religion, must we be strict or loose constructionists? Must we do only what is authorized in the Bible, or are we permitted to do anything the Bible doesn't specifically forbid? It will probably come as no shock that most people are loose constructionists when it comes to religion. When a Bible passage is cited to show that God has authorized certain practices, the standard reply is, "Well, the Bible doesn't say we can't." But what all men need to realize is that the Author of the Bible is God. It was written by men inspired of God who were given the very words they wrote according to the apostle Paul in First Corinthians 2:9-13. The question, then, is, "Shall we live by what God has said, or shall we live by what He hasn't said?" The Bible is God's revealed will to man. No one on earth can know what God wants us to preach and practice apart from the Bible, and He has always been very specific regarding His will for us. We are warned not to take away from or add to God's word. That warning was given in Deuteronomy 4:2: "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it." It was repeated in Proverbs 30:5-6: "Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar," and at the very end of the Bible it is again repeated in Revelation 22:18-19: "If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." So, according to God's revealed word, it is a serious and eternally fatal matter to be loose with that word. In order to serve God correctly it is necessary that we know and understand what He wants us to do and the only way we can know that is to study the Bible. Jesus told Satan that "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4). In that statement, Jesus placed a premium on God's word. Notice what He said? Man shall live by what? "By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." That means we absolutely cannot live by what God didn't say. If we are to please God and go to heaven at last, our lives must be ordered by what God has said in His word — not by what He didn't say. Paul wrote, "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning" (Rom. 15:4). Those things "written aforetime" were the things of the Old Testament. Although we do not live under the Old Testament law today, there are great principles in it from which we can profit. God's law may have changed, but the way he deals with men has never changed, so it will be profitable to study how God expected men to treat His word in ages past. One of the great examples, and one with which most people are familiar, is Noah. When God determined to destroy the world with a flood, He commanded Noah to build an ark and gave him the specifications for it (Gen. 6:14-16). Notice especially the very first statement of God to Noah: "Make thee an ark of gopher wood." That was God's word to Noah — God's command. Now, let us ask this: "Was Noah a loose constructionist with God's word?" Did Noah think to himself, "I know the kind of wood God said to use, but, you know, He didn't say not to use pine?" If Noah had reasoned that way, he would have been right. God didn't say not to use pine, and by that reasoning Noah would have been a loose constructionist. But Noah understood the principle given by Jesus in Matthew 4:4. Man is to live by what God says — not by what He didn't say. You see, Noah was a strict constructionist. That's why Moses wrote in Genesis 6:22, "Thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded him, so did he." If Noah had been a loose constructionist, that verse would read this way: "Thus did Noah according to some, but not all that God commanded him because God didn't say not to use pine." But Noah was a man of great faith who was willing to take God at His word and do what God said. He heard God's word, believed it, and did as it instructed. That same principle applies to all of us today. If we are to please God, we must hear His word as revealed in the Bible, believe it and do as it instructs. Because Noah was a strict constructionist, he not only pleased God but saved his family from destruction in the flood. But there's also an example in the Old Testament of a couple of people who were "Loose Constructionists" when it came to God's word and their loose construction of God's word cost them their lives. They were Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, Israel's first high priest. As Aaron's sons of the tribe of Levi, they were also priests and it was their task to burn incense in the tabernacle. In Leviticus 10:1-2 we find that these two men "took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord." Notice the wording in the last part of verse one: they offered "strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not." Did you get that? They offered something God "commanded them not." Sounds like Nadab and Abihu thought they could do what God didn't command and still please him. Again, these two may have reasoned that God didn't say not to take fire for their censers from another source, and they would have been right. But God had commanded them to use fire from the altar of incense and they got theirs from another source — one which he commanded them not. They may have also reasoned that, "any fire will burn incense," and they would have been right. But by being loose constructionists with God's word, they lost their lives. God means what He says and when it comes to the Bible, He expects us to be strict constructionists. |