The Nugget:
Isa 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (KJV)
Isa 8:20 To the Law and to the Testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no dawn to them! (LITV, Literal Translation of the Bible)
Isa 8:20 To Torah and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no light. (TLV, Tree of Life Version)
Isa 8:20 They should go to the teachings and to the written instructions. If people don’t speak these words, it is because it doesn’t dawn on them. (GW, God’s Word translation)
Isa 8:20 You are to answer them, “Listen to what the LORD is teaching you! Don’t listen to mediums—what they tell you cannot keep trouble away.” (GNB, Good News Bible)
Isa 8:20 Then you must recall the LORD’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened. (NET Bible)
My Comment:
I have sometimes been asked, “Where in the Bible does it say we are to go by the Bible alone?”
Sometimes the questioner is sincere. Sometimes the questioner raises this as an issue to refute or challenge my firm stand that we are to “go by the Bible alone and in its entirety.”
The answer is plainly stated in Isaiah 8:20. The prophet Isaiah warns the people not to seek guidance from other sources when God seemed to be silent. The people were upset because God did not respond to their repeated requests for guidance. God has already given the guidance they need in His written Word, the Bible.
The application to us ought to be clear: we are to go by what the Bible teaches us. We are not to be guided by any other supposed sources of guidance (promoted by mistaken churches and movements) such as so-called “tradition.”
That my interpretation of Isaiah 8:20 is correct is confirmed by comparing what the several different English translations say as I have given above.
That my interpretation of Isaiah 8:20 is correct is confirmed by reading Isaiah 8:20 with its immediate context:
To the law. +Isa 8:16, +*Isa 1:10 note. **Deut 17:14, 15,, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20; **Deut 30:11, 12, 13, 14, **Jos 1:8, **2Ch 17:9, Ezr 7:10; Ezr 10:3, Neh 8:1, +*Psa 1:2; +Psa 119:1, Ecc 8:1, Jer 6:16; +*Jer 15:16, Eze 40:3, *Hag 2:11, Mal 4:4, Mat 4:7; Mat 14:4; Mat 15:4; +*Mat 23:2; +*Mat 23:3, Mar 4:24; **Mar 7:7; **Mar 7:13; Mar 10:3; Mar 10:19; **Mar 12:24, **Luk 4:4; *Luk 10:26; *Luk 16:29, 30, 31; Luk 18:20, **Joh 5:39; **Joh 5:46; **Joh 5:47, Act 2:38 note. **Act 17:11, Rom 4:3; +*Rom 15:4, 1Co 9:8, Gal 3:8, etc. Gal 4:21, 22, **2Ti 3:15, 16, 17, Jas 1:25, +*1Pe 2:2, **2Pe 1:19.
testimony. +Isa 8:16, Deut 17:14; Deut 17:18, 19, 20, Rth 4:7, 2Ki 11:12, 2Ch 23:11, Psa 78:5; Psa 93:5; +Psa 119:2; +Psa 119:24, Rom 3:2, 1Co 2:1, 2Ti 1:8, 1Pe 4:11.
if they speak not. Deut 13:3, +**Psa 119:63, +*Pro 19:27, Mat 24:4, +Mar 4:24, +Luk 8:18, *Act 20:28, 29, 30, 31, 32, **1Co 14:29, 2Co 2:17; 2Co 4:2, +*Gal 1:6; +*Gal 1:7; Gal 3:1, Eph 4:14, +2Ti 3:5, 2Pe 2:1; 2Pe 3:16, **1Jn 2:27, 2Jn 1:9, 10.
according. Here we learn the absolute importance of basing every doctrine, every belief, on the written word of God.
No error is more fundamental, nor more disastrous, than depending upon some external source of authority, whether extra-Biblical writings, or an organization claiming to dispense God’s truth.
The only source of authority is the written word of God.
This word is declared in many ways to be perspicuous—that is, understandable (Deut 30:11 note; +Psa 102:18, T49 (Bible a written revelation, and intelligible); +*Pro 8:9) to the ordinary person, who, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, together with careful study, may be trusted to come to just and sound conclusions as to the meaning of Scripture.
Otherwise how could spiritual truth be made known to “babes and sucklings” (Psa 8:2, Mat 11:25)?
How could ordinary listeners be commended for checking the accuracy and truthfulness of an apostle (**Act 17:11)?
How could ordinary believers be charged with the responsibility of judging the message of an apostle, to determine that it was the true gospel (Gal 1:8)?
Note that the great doctrinal epistles are specifically addressed to the “saints,” that is, the ordinary believers, not to the pastors, bishops, theologians, or authorities of the church (Rom 1:6; Rom 1:8; 1Co 1:2; Eph 1:1; Php 1:1; Col 1:2).
We shall be judged on the basis of our belief or disbelief in the written word of God (Joh 5:24, 25-47; Joh 12:48).
In that day we will not be able to excuse our wrong belief, if such it should prove to be, by an appeal claiming “But I believed what my church, pastor, organization, etc., taught me” (**Eze 14:10, Mat 7:21, 22, 23; **Mar 12:24; **Mar 12:27, **Rom 14:12). T46 (Bible, the true standard of faith and practice—danger of false standards): Isa 29:11, 12, 13, Exo 35:29; *Exo 40:16, Deut 29:29, *2Ki 23:24, Ezr 7:14; Ezr 10:3, Psa 26:3, Pro 22:21, Mat 7:21, 22, 23; Mat 15:3, 4, 5, 6; Mat 15:9, *Mar 7:7, 8, 9, Luk 3:14 note. Joh 8:6; *Joh 12:48; Joh 16:13 note. +*Act 8:31, Rom 2:16; Rom 2:18; Rom 3:2; Rom 3:10; Rom 4:3; Rom 12:6; +*Rom 15:4, +1Co 1:2; 1Co 3:13, 2Co 10:12; 2Co 11:4, +*Gal 1:8 note. Eph 1:1, Col 1:2; *Col 2:8, +*1Th 5:21 note, 2Ti 2:15, 1Pe 4:11, 1Jn 4:6.
to this word. Isa 65:5 note. +*Deut 4:2, 1Ki 13:9 note (point 1). 1Ch 28:19, *Psa 102:18, *Pro 30:5; *Pro 30:6, **Jer 23:28; **Jer 23:29, Mic 3:5, **Mar 12:24, Luk 12:57, *Joh 8:31; *Joh 8:32, +**2Ti 3:15; +**2Ti 3:16, *1Jn 4:1, Rev 4:1 note. Rev 22:18.
it is. Isa 30:8, 9, 10, 11, **Psa 19:7; **Psa 19:8; **Psa 119:130, *Jer 8:9, Mic 3:6, **Mat 6:23; **Mat 22:29, *Mar 7:7, 8, 9, *Luk 8:11, Rom 1:22, *2Pe 1:9, +*Jud 1:3 note.
no light. Heb. morning. lit. “darkness,” either of morning or of evening (Young). +*Isa 17:14; Isa 47:11, Gen 32:25; Gen 32:27, Exo 25:37, Lev 24:2, Num 8:2, Jos 6:15, 1Sa 9:26, Job 24:16; Job 38:12; Job 38:15, Psa 49:20; *Psa 101:8; +**Psa 119:105; +**Psa 119:130; Psa 139:9, Pro 2:6; +*Pro 4:18; +*Pro 4:19; Pro 6:23; **Pro 8:9; Pro 14:6; Pro 18:1 note. Pro 20:20, *Jer 8:9; Jer 14:14 note (point 1). **Jer 23:28 note. **Eze 14:10 note. Dan 11:33 note. Hos 6:3, *Mal 4:2, *Mat 6:23; *Mat 8:12; **Mat 11:25, Luk 11:36, Joh 1:9; Joh 3:19; Joh 3:21; Joh 8:12, *2Co 4:3; *2Co 4:4, *2Pe 1:19, 1Jn 1:5; 1Jn 1:7; 1Jn 2:11, *Jud 1:13, +Rev 2:28.