“The remaining matters I will arrange when I come.”

Paul understood a letter couldn’t cover all the Corinthians’ issues. His tome was not exhaustive, but was sufficient for the time being. But what about us today? Who of us hasn’t wished the Lord had given us more specifics on some issues? We don’t have the apostle Paul to clarify everything for us. In fact, this writer certainly has many questions for Paul about the head-covering and the practice of the Lord’s Supper. There is much in chapter 11 on these issues, but there is much left out, at least to this questioning mind.

Yet we are not left with complete uncertainty. We have so much more than the Corinthians, who did not have the benefit of the entire canon of NT Scripture as we have today. As far as we know, this letter from Paul was probably the only written document of Scripture they had. We now have all 13 of Paul’s writings, plus those of Peter, James, John, and Jude—as well as the letter to the Hebrews and the four gospel accounts. We have a wealth of inspired writings to draw on and with which to “fill the gaps.” In fact, there is much we can say with certainty in terms of doctrine, surely enough to distinguish false doctrine.

At the same time, we do well to recognize that not all of our questions are answered in Scripture with the same certainty. At the most basic level where the Scripture speaks directly to an issue, we have complete certainty, a “Thus saith the Lord” situation. For example, the gospel of grace is absolutely certain for salvation (Gal. 1:8–9, Eph. 2:8–9, etc.).  At times we may struggle with the meaning (for example, does “Thou shall not kill” apply to capital punishment or waging war?), but the principle is clear. And sometimes we must compare Scripture with Scripture to arrive at certainty, as we do with the Trinity, which is the logical conclusion we draw from intermeshing various passages.

When we struggle with uncertainty of application, we must be committed to grace toward one another. We know for certain the Lord has instructed us to remember Him in the bread and wine. Jesus taught this in the Upper Room, the apostles taught it (as in 1 Cor. 11), and the early church practiced it (Acts 2:42). But we are less certain about how frequently we should do this, the form it should take, whether it should be a separate meeting of the church or part of a larger meeting, or the decorum of participants—to name just a few of the many questions that arise about this issue alone. With increased study of the Word, one becomes inclined to agree with the confession of one respected teacher of the Word: “The older I get, the less sure I am about many things, but of the things I am sure of, I am now more sure.”

Lord, help me to be careful where I place my confidence and certainty.