The Nature of General and Specific Commands

Commands govern nearly every aspect of human life, whether those commands are issued from parents to children, from governments to citizens, or from God to humankind. Commands take a major part the actions of every human being governing the actions in which they participate. Commands are given by one that has authority, and as people living under that authority, we are obligated to live by those commands, whether they come from our parents, our government, or our God.
Commands come in two forms, generic commands and specific commands. Generic commands are considered generic for one simple reason, they do not specify any correct way of doing the thing commanded. The command can be carried out by any means necessary, as long as the one who was given the command fulfills it. Specific commands are quite different from generic commands. Specific commands specify the correct action that must be taken to fulfill the command. When a certain action is specified, every other action is prohibited by that specification. This principle is clearly seen in every aspect of human life where commands are issued from people in authority to those under that authority.
For example, when dining at a restaurant, you instruct (command) the server to bring you a soft drink. “Bring me a soft drink” is a command that is generic in nature. By stating you want a soft drink, the server can fulfill the command in any way he or she sees fit. She could bring you a Pepsi, a Mt. Dew, a Dr. Pepper, or any other soft drink and fulfill that command. However, you may wish, at the restaurant, to order a specific kind of soft drink. “Bring me a Sprite” is a command that is specific in nature. By stating you want a Sprite you have specified exactly what kind of soft drink you want. The only way the server can fulfill that command is by bringing the exact thing that was specified, a Sprite. If he brought you a Dr. Pepper or a Diet Sprite, the server would not have fulfilled the command. Furthermore, we understand that by specifying the exact thing that is wanted, everything else is prohibited. As the one ordering a Sprite, you do not have to say, “Bring me a Sprite, but not a Coke, nor a Dr. Pepper, or a Mt. Dew” and name every other soft drink served at that restaurant. Can you imaging the confusion if every person giving a specific command had to say what he or she wanted and then state everything that he or she did not want?
The principle is true when applied to the Bible as well. For example, Jesus gave his Apostles both generic and specific commands. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus tells his Apostles “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” This statement by Jesus has both generic and specific commands. First, Jesus tells his Apostles to “Go ye therefore”. This statement is a command that is generic in nature. Jesus simply said to “Go”. He did not tell his Apostles how to go, just to go. The Apostles could have fulfilled this command any way in which they saw fit. They could have walked, ridden a horse or donkey, taken a chariot, or sailed in a ship. Any of these options would have fulfilled the generic command to “Go”. Jesus then tells his Apostles exactly what they were to do as they went. Jesus says, “Make disciples of all the nations”. This is a specific command. Jesus specifies exactly what he wants his Apostles to do when they “Go”. He specifies that they are to “make disciples”. This prohibits everything else. Would they have fulfilled Jesus’ commands if they went and made proselytes of all the nations? What if they made hunting club members of all the nations or any other such thing? By specifying “disciples” Jesus prohibits everything else.
Furthermore, Jesus tells his Apostles to “teach them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you”. This is another specific command given by Jesus. The Apostles were to “make disciples” by “teaching” to “all nations” everything that Jesus had taught them. If the Apostles were to teach “all nations” the teachings of the Greek Philosophers, they would not have fulfilled Jesus’ commands, for he specified, and thereby prohibited, everything else.
When Jesus initiated the Lord’s Supper in Matthew 26:26ff, he took both unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine and gave it to his Apostles. Paul likewise instructs Christians on what is to be used and when it is to be done in the book of First Corinthians chapter eleven. We see the specified ingredients in the Lord’s Supper and understand that what is specified is what is commanded; what is specified prohibits everything else. When both Jesus, as God on earth, and Paul, as an inspired Apostle, specify that unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine are to be used in the Lord’s Supper, everything else is prohibited. We cannot use peanut butter crackers and Dr. Pepper in the Lord’s Supper because the specified prohibits anything else that can possibly be eaten. To make the claim “They did not say not to use peanut butter crackers and Dr. Pepper” is to refuse to see the logic behind specific commands that we apply to every aspect of our physical lives.
If we understand this principle in our physical lives, why does it suddenly not apply to our spiritual lives? If someone were to order a pepperoni pizza from a pizza store, only to have it arrive with anchovies on it as well, would that someone just accept the pizza and pay for it even though the pizza store had not obeyed the command? Furthermore, how would you feel if you tried to return the pizza and the store employees said “You did not say not to put anchovies on your pizza! You will accept that pizza and like it because we made it for you in a sincere way.” Every single one of us would be outraged with that store and never go back. Yet people today daily tell God, “You did not say not to do it this way and you will accept this because of my sincerity!” We will not accept bad pizza from a pizza store that does not follow our commands, yet we expect God to accept anything we wish to give him, without following his commands! This ought not to be! Again I ask, why can we see this in everyday life, yet not apply it to God and his Holy Word in our worship to Him?
Jesus tells us that we are to worship the Father in spirit and in truth. In John 4:24 these words are recorded for us: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The Apostle Paul states in II Thessalonians 3:6 “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which they received of us.” Paul commands Christians, through the authority of “our Lord Jesus Christ”, that we follow in the traditions of the Apostles. In fact, if we do not follow in those traditions, we are to be withdrawn from. Paul the Apostle delivered, through inspiration, the tradition that we follow in worship to God in song. Paul states in Ephesians 5:19 “speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.” This command from God is specific in nature. First, God tells us to “Speak one to another”. This is the first specific command. We see that our voices are to be used in this part of worship. What do we speak, any old thing? No, because we are given another specific command; “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs”. These three things are specified, thereby limiting everything else. We do not speak patriotic songs, cartoon songs, or any other type of song. God then gives us more detail, “singing and making melody”. This command is both specific at first and then generic. The specific, which prohibits everything else, is to sing. We again must use the voice. We sing to God. The generic is “make melody”. The phrase “making melody” means to “cause to vibrate by touching, to twang,” (Thayer) and to “twitch or twang, that is, to play” (Strong). It is extremely important to notice that immediately following this generic command to “make melody” is a specific command on how that is to be done. God specifically commands that the instrument to be played is “the heart”. When God specified “with your hearts” he prohibited everything else that could be “caused to vibrate” or “twitched and twanged”. The specific command to “make melody with your heart” prohibits making melody with anything else.
Some people claim that singing “a cappella” is simply a church of Christ tradition. They are correct, it is a tradition handed down from the Apostle Paul to all Christians from the breath of God himself. God had specified, and we must therefore do that which is specified in order to be pleasing to him. Who can add to God’s specific command? Who can add to God’s specific command and then tell God, “You will be both pleased and ‘Glorified’ by my addition to your authorized, specified commands to your creation”? Let us “Obey God rather than men” as the Apostle Peter said in Acts 5:29. Let us not “hold fast the traditions of men” thereby “leave(ing) the commandment of God” as Jesus condemned in Mark 7:7-8. Let us never “reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your tradition” Mark 7:9. Let us always “hold fast the traditions, even as I delivered them to you” (I Corinthians 11:2) that we will always be pleasing to God.
Jesus once asked in Mark 11:30, “The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men? Answer me.” I ask the following question, “Instrumental music in Christian worship, is it from heaven, or from men? Answer me.”

Joshua D. Haley