NECESSARY INFERENCE
An Expression of God's Will
Necessary - absolutely essential
Inference - conclusion based on
evidence
Absolutely Essential Conclusion
"Necessary
Inference" is a concept that is sometimes difficult to grasp but like
commands and examples it is merely another way that God expresses His
will. Simply put, certain conclusions,
though not specifically stated, are required by the facts or evidence.
A Necessary Inference is simply a required conclusion
Example #1 Freq.
of partaking of the Lord's Supper-Every 1st day of the week
It is necessarily inferred that we
must break bread every first day of the week.
Acts 20:7 Now
on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread,
Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message
until
NKJVExodus 20:8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to
keep it holy."
Did God mean every Sabbath? YES!
Example #2 The
Lord raised on the first day of the week (Luke 24:1,7,13,21,)
Luke 24:1
Now on the first day of the week,
very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the
tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.
Question: What
day of the week was it? ______________
Vs. 7
"saying, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,
and be crucified, and the third day rise
again.'"
Question: How
many days from the crucifixion would the Son of Man be
raised? _________
Vs. 13 Now behold,
two of them were traveling that same day
to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from
Question: What
day of the week were these two men traveling to Emmaus? ____________
Vs. 21
"But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem
Questions:
* What day of the week is discussed
in Luke 24? _________ (Note vs. 1 and 13)
* How many days had it been since the
crucifixion? _______
* How many days from the crucifixion
did Jesus say He would be raised? _________
* If it is the first day of the week
and three days have past since the Lord was crucified, and Jesus said that He would rise on the
third day, on what day of the week was Jesus raised? ________
* The _________ day of the week is the required conclusion,
the necessary inference.
Example #3 We continue to live after being separated from the body
Note: Mark
Mark 12:18-27
24 Jesus answered and said to them,
"Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? 25 "For when they rise from the
dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in
heaven. 26 "But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in
the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob'? 27 "He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are
therefore greatly mistaken."
Note: In the passage referenced by Jesus, God did not say He
was "the God of the living", however in stating "I am the God
of" those who had departed from this life He infers that they are still
living and therefore "He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the
living". The Sadducees were "greatly
mistaken" in not concluding this basic truth.
Note Also: Matthew 22:41-45
Christ, whose Son is He?
IMPORTANT QUESTION
Question: How
do we know what does and does not apply to us in the bible?
We can only answer this question through necessary inference!
Answer: If it was given to someone in our
circumstances.
This is an example of "necessary inference".
Conclusion
We necessarily infer
many things every day. We process
information or evidence and draw conclusions that are demanded by the
information and evidence. If we refuse
to submit to that which is necessarily inferred in the doctrine of Christ we
will deny ourselves of life saving knowledge as surely as the Pharisees and
Sadducees did.