But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. [1Peter 1:15-16]


Hmmm, it looks to me as if the reason to be holy is mainly because it is written!!! And if it was not written, no matter how crucial it is, it cannot be requested from man. Does this look like demeaning the character of God?, Does it look like making the personality of God of non effect, and you're saying "if God is holy Himself, and He demands holiness, does He have to write it before it will become what man must possess and comply with???"

Contrariwise, to me it looks as if 'forever O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven', it sounds like - the law of any land is never effective until it has been committed to the books, and is written down. The seriousness attached to any commandment in any nationality is depicted clearly when it is penned down in black and white. When the law is only spoken, it may make sense, but it is not effective. To proof the authenticity of any law, to apply any law, to effect any law, it has to be the one written down whereby all eyes can behold and read it. The law is made effective, powerful, potent and functional because it has been logically, legibly written down among the tenets, and acceptable as the standard that controls and guides human behaviour. Hence, when the Bible says, "because it is written...", it confers upon that commandment and that law, an authenticity, a potency, a compulsion, that there is no escape route, neither is there any exception to this one.


”Because it is written…”

I know it is very sure that God must have said a lot of things, God must have made several, numerous statements. Jesus, while He lived on earth must have said so many other words, He must have done many other miracles. There are countless things and untold works that were done from ages past that can be accredited to God, but why is it that many of those works were not written down for us? Why do we have only the little contents of the Word in the Bible? Is that all there is about God?
The issue is this: Can God demand from you what He has not revealed unto you? Is God a Nebuchadnezzar who demands both dream and interpretation from those who never received the dream? God only demands from us, and deeply so, and seriously so, only the things He has demanded from us. No man would be held responsible by God for things that were not clearly revealed, and written down, and penned down for us. Whatever God demands, has not only been said, they have been clearly written down as well. The writing authenticated the demands of the said words. If they were said without corresponding writing, they would have faded into nothingness and would have been forgotten by now.

Because it is written, it becomes imperative, it become compulsory, it becomes a necessity, a must do, how much more, when even the Bible declares that "that written Word is God". Jesus Himself is the Word. Oh, it means that He that trivialises the written word, trivialises God Himself, and whatever God attaches importance to, He will SURELY put it down in writing.
Therefore, when any word is written, man has got no further option than to submit.


"Because it is written..."

I discover also that the Bible did not say "because it is spoken...", although, whatever is written by the Lord is also spoken. The word of God, written for us in the pages of Scriptures, always speaks on. The word speaks daily as we read and meditate. The Spirit breathes on the Word and it speaks, then the word becomes alive. Do you know that NOT all spoken words are written, but ALL written words are spoken, and WILL continue to speak.

In clear terms therefore, it becomes vivid in my spirit that only that which The Lord has written down for me is actually of immense essence. I am not bound by any law to bury my head under any other commandment that I am convinced through careful search of Scripture and divine explanation that they were not written clearly in Scriptures. I am not obliged to obey or submit to any law or commandment that is passed down unto me once I cannot find any semblance of such in the Bible, or if it does not grow out of a divinely inspired Scriptural root. Man will eventually be judged by the word, and that word has found its expression clearly written down without any ambiguity.

There are religious traditions, there are beliefs, ecclesiastical practices which men have formulated out of zeal, and many times, these become a burden, a weight upon the bearers because inasmuch as they want to please the Lord, they have equally arrogated such religious practices as part of believers' faith that the Lord demands. The Christian life that ought to be a life of liberty and freedom in the Spirit, has suddenly become a heavy load while trying to keep both laws – the written and the unwritten. Many times, disobedience or disregard of a man to these "unwritten words" (which are "generally accepted standards") have been labeled as ‘sin’ and ‘iniquity’, and the man unto whom the Lord had not imputed sin has suddenly been marked as a terrible sinner and heretic because he did not conform.

"Am I free?", the apostle asked. Of course I am free. Once it is written, I must be willing and ready to obey, because it becomes a must for me, and God will grant me the grace to obey without having to struggle. But once it is not written, if it is only spoken - by whosoever, then, I am not obliged to keep such laws, and my obedience to such laws is not counted by heaven as part of my spirituality, neither is my disobedience to it counted as a stain on my spiritual garment.

O yes, some man-made religious laws are good, they could even help and assist the faith of many, they could endear a man more to God, they could help in staying far from any objects of compromise, they could do a lot of good things, but, it becomes wrong if we now begin to judge the spirituality of a brother or sister by how much he or she has conformed to such rules and regulations, and we pronounce men godless or immature because they refused to be bound by our laws.
I am free, I am not bound by any law, any rule, any tradition, any belief, so far it is not clearly written down in the Bible. If I have accepted some beliefs, that is for me and for me alone, I must never judge other men by my beliefs, I must never rate or base the spirituality of others by their obedience or disobedience to these unwritten laws. God's word written for us is FULL and COMPLETE for instruction, doctrine, life, ministry, and eventual judgment.