The Elastic Clauses Of The Constitutionally — Minded Bible Student
One of the finest documents ever produced in the minds of men is the Constitution of the United States of America. It is a well conceived formula for the establishment and preservation of one of the finest, and fairest, systems of government that has ever graced the earth. Nearly everything was taken into consideration in the drafting of that paper. What was not placed in the original document was later made a part of it with the addition of the "Bill of Rights" and the subsequent thirteen amendments to the Constitution.
Even by amending what was already a very good composition it was still far short of perfection. This is not said to slander the Constitution, for the very ones who drafted it were willing to admit its weaknesses. In fact, because of its shortcomings, certain "elastic clauses" have been provided to "take up the slack" left by the document itself. These clauses have sometimes been called the "enforcement clauses" of the Constitution. As an example, please note section two, of Article 13, among the amendments to the Constitution. It reads: "Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. There are several others which read nearly the same.
What the writers of the Constitution have done is to provide a certain amount of flexibility to their paper. It is self-evident that the Constitution itself has not provided for every possible eventuality, hence, the "elastic clauses". To have "elastic clauses" in human works of Law is very good, because humans are fallible and cannot foresee the difficulties which may arise in the future. But God did not provide such clauses in His book. The book of God is a perfect book which contains everything necessary for the carrying out of God's every purpose (2 Pet. 1:3)
Unfortunately, many brethren seem to think the Bible is replete with "elastic clauses". This is just not the case. The Bible nowhere provides such statements as "The churches shall have power to carry out this command by appropriate legislature and organizations of its own doing." Or, if it does, I certainly have been unable to locate such. Is the Bible a humanly conceived book which needs this flexibility to effectively deal with the changing times? Of course it is not. It is a book prepared by' the very mind of God, and as such this book needs no change (2 Pet. 1:21; 2 Tim. 3:16,17).
In fact, instead of "elastic clauses", in God's book it has just the opposite. It has restrictive clauses. Instead of giving us power to legislate for ourselves it requires us to remain within its confines for our authority (Col. 3:17). Is man better than God that he can determine how best to accomplish the tasks which God has given him to do?
Let us do our very best to remain within the framework of God's "Constitution" by refusing to fall into the temptation of availing ourselves of non-existent "elastic clauses". God gave us all we need to carry on His work. It should be our desire that we not try to create new organizations through which we will do that work, whether that organization be of a benevolent nature, evangelistic nature, or what-have-you. Let's do things God's way, and not avail ourselves of the "elastic clauses of the Constitutionally-minded Bible student."
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