Some Bible Things We Don’t Know

I Pet 4:11 has nothing whatever to do with what vocabulary we use to accurately describe God’s truth. But it has everything to do with forbidding us from teaching false doctrine, that is, doctrine contrary to the “oracles of God” (II John 9). And a sometimes overlooked part of teaching truth is not asserting concepts the Bible does not say. Examples …

· The Bible doesn’t say what the forbidden fruit was (Gen 2:16-17), so we shouldn’t say definitely it was an apple. That is a possibility, but not the only possibility.

· The Bible doesn’t say how many wise men there were (Matt 2:1), so we shouldn’t say there were three. That’s a possibility, but not the only possibility.

· The Bible doesn’t say Jesus is the fulfillment of Gen 3:15, so we shouldn’t say He was (as a definite). That’s a possibility, but not the only possibility. Yes, the wording will fit Jesus, but it will also fit the physical snake – which would be a continuation of the thought of verse 14.

· The Bible doesn’t say why Jesus asked Peter if he loved him three times in John 21:15-17. Some say it was because Peter denied Jesus three times but that is just speculation.

· The Bible doesn’t say exactly what was wrong with what Nadab and Abihu did in Lev 10:1-2. We don’t know if it was because they started the fire from the wrong place, or if they burned the wrong kind of incense, or a third option. It is unrevealed.

· The Bible doesn’t say what Paul’s thorn in the flesh (II Cor 12:7) was. It might have been poor eye sight (Gal 4:15, 6:11), but we don’t know for sure.

· The Bible doesn’t say when the Lord’s Day (Rev 1:10) is. We don’t even know that it was a once-a-week thing.

· The Bible doesn’t say whether or not the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43) was baptized before he was on the cross, but we do know a sinner has to be baptized to be saved (Mark 16:16) under the new covenant.

· The Bible doesn’t say how many were baptized with the Holy Ghost (15 or 15 hundred) in the first century, but it does tell us the duration of the miraculous gifts in I Cor 13:8-13.

· The Bible doesn’t say when Christ is coming the second time (Mark 13:32); only that He is (Heb 9:28).

· And if you know of a passage that proves how long Jesus’ ministry was and/or how long Jesus lived, I am all ears. If we don’t know, then we shouldn’t say (I Pet 4:11).

Why is it so important that we don’t assert things we don’t know? Because if a preacher will parrot his brethren on religious notions he can’t prove from the Bible on what we might consider small issues, then he might do the same thing on issues which we deem extremely important. Deut 29:29 tells us how to regard the things we don’t know – “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

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