The Law of Inclusion / Exclusion

Silence of the Scriptures

Carl O. Cooper 

            The law of inclusion / exclusion as used in Bible Hermeneutics, as well as everyday life, is a combination of 2 important factual considerations.

            1. What is the command?

            2. Is there silence on any more instructions?

            The proper truth of the matter is this: There is, unarguably, a boni-fied law of inclusion and exclusion. It applies to how we interpret the Bible and it applies to normal life in general. In everyday life if your employer sends you to the supply house with a list which instructs you to purchase copy paper, I don’t have to tell you this includes copy paper and at the same time it excludes everything else. If however, it also mentions ink cartridges, it also includes them. This is the law of inclusion and exclusion which common sense and logic tell us that exists for us all. This cannot, in good faith, be denied. The silence of any more information and instructions on the list determines what is authorized. This is true in everyday life and it is true for the Bible as well. It is true for the list of building materials for the arc, and it is true for the music we are authorized to present to God in worship as well. The law of inclusion and exclusion is alive and well and cannot be denied.

            Here are 3 examples using the law of inclusion / exclusion. There could be many more but these 3 will demonstrate beyond doubt that the logic of this law is undeniable.

Example I; Noah and the arc.

            1. Command; Make the arc out of gopher wood.

            2. There is silence on any other type of wood.

            Conclusion; The law of inclusion / exclusion authorizes the arc to be constructed out of gopher wood and any other type of wood would be a violation of the authorization given.

Example II; Church Music.

            1. Command; Sing in worship to God.

                        A. Other related instructions; Fruit of the lips, Make melody (emotion) with the                                           heart, speak.

            2. There is silence on any other form of music for worship to God.

            Conclusion; The law of inclusion / exclusion authorized vocal music as worship to God.

Example III; Your employer sends you to the supply house with a list which instructs you             to purchase copy paper.

            1. Command; Purchase copy paper

            2. There is silence on making any other purchases.

            Conclusion; You are only authorized to purchase copy paper.

                        A. However, if there was other information on the list that would also be                                                  authorized.

            As you can see, the law of inclusion / exclusion depends on both authorization and silence at the same time. Before a command can become a law you must make sure you have compiled all the information you have about the command. Since one half of the authorization includes silence on any more instruction, the silence is equal to the command.

            When we study the Bible, we must give attention to the law of inclusion / exclusion. And unless we properly use this hermeneutic in our Bible interpretation many of the doctrines we hold dear in the church could not exist.

            Consider these common doctrines:

            The Lord’s Supper. Without the law of inclusion / exclusion, how would we be able to know what type of bread we should use on the Lord’s Table? Or what about the proper day we should take communion. The observance of the Lord’s Supper is to be on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). Since the Bible identifies that day, God automatically excluded any other day on which we may observe the Lord’s Supper. Now I know that men seem to prefer other days to suit their own reasons, but that makes no difference. Any day other than Sunday, the first day of the week, is excluded.

            Or for that matter, How could we be sure what day of the week we should come together for worship unless God told us it was done on the first day of the week?

            And what about the music we offer to God as worship? We are commanded to “speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16).

            Because we have this clear command, and the fact that the Scriptures are silent on any other type of music for Christian worship, we know that only vocal music is authorized. This excludes any other kind of music, such as instrumental. The words used in the authorization we have are; singing, “speaking to one another”, fruit of the lips” (Hebrews 13:15), “Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.”

            The commands we follow in Scripture are very clear, providing we use the law of inclusion / exclusion to understand them. This hermeneutic of understanding Scripture gives clarity to our Bible study that we could not have without this reasoning process. However, if we ignore this law of inclusion / exclusion we have the same chaos the religious world struggles with. We must never forget that proper Bible study requires that we understand that the same Scriptures that authorize, can at the same time exclude many other things due to the “silence of the Scriptures”.

Carl O. Cooper