The Clarity of Scripture

4 characteristics of Scripture

Authority

Necessity

Sufficiency

Clarity / perspicuity

Clarity of Scripture

“The Clarity of Scripture means that the Bible is written in such a way that it is able to be understood, but right understanding requires time, effort, the use of ordinary means, a willingness to obey, and the help of the Holy Spirit; and our understanding will remain imperfect in this lifetime” - Grudem

This is not to say that every part of scripture is easy to understand or that all of scripture is equally easy to understand.

2 Peter 3:15–16 “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”

Hard, not impossible

Also, those who twist those passages are held accountable

There are parts that are easier and parts that are harder to understand.

Understand = Authors original intent

Wrong to think that difficulty is the normative pattern of scripture

The Bible affirms it’s clarity

OT

Deuteronomy 6:6–7 “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

Expectation that children can be taught

Expectation to speak of them in all you do

Implication is others will also be able to understand

Deuteronomy 30:11–14 ““For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.”

Psalm 119:130 “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.”

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

light is understanding

Peter expresses this of OT

2 Peter 1:19 “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,”

NT

We also see the clarity of scripture affirmed in the NT

Jesus assumes that people are able to understand the scriptures

Even thought they were 2000 years after Abraham & 1000 years after David

Grudem - “In a day when it is common for people to tell us how hard it is to interpret Scripture rightly, we would do well to remembver that not once in the gospels do we ever hear Jesus say anything like this: ‘I sympathize with your frustration - the Sicriptures relevant to this topic contain unusually complex interpretatice difficulties that have puzzled scholars for many years’”

Rather, Jesus puts the blame back on the people for misunderstanding and never on the scriptures themselves

Matthew 12:1–8 “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.””

Matthew 19:3–4 “And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,”

Matthew 21:12–16 “And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?””

Parable of the tenants

Matthew 21:41–42 “They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

Resurrection wives

Matthew 22:27–33 “After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.” But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.”

Road to Emmaus

Luke 24:25 “And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”

On top of Jesus teaching, NT epistles assume understanding by everyday people

Written to entire congregations

1 Corinthians 1:2 “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:”

Galatians 1:2 “and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:”

Philippians 1:1 “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:”

Colossians 1:2 “To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”

Exhortations to read scripture publicly

1 Timothy 4:13 “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.”

Sections Children are expected to understand

Ephesians 6:1–3 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.””

Colossians 3:20 “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”

Requirements for understanding scripture rightly

Time

Understanding scripture is a process that takes time

Psalm 1:1–2 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Acts 15:25 “it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,”

2 Corinthians 1:12–14 “For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— just as you did partially understand us—that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you.”

All of scripture is able to be understood but not understood all at once

Effort

Meditation affirms effort also

Ezra 7:10 “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.”

In Peter saying P teaching are difficult also affirms effort

2 Peter 3:15–16 “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”

Ordinary Means

What is ordinary means

Language

You cant understand something in a language you dont speak

1 Corinthians 14:10–16 “There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying?”

The Bible has been translated into more that 3000 languages

Jesus actually quotes the greek rendering of the OT different times in the gospels

Matt 15:8-9 -> Isa 29:13

Matt 21:16 -> Ps 8:2

& Others

Listening to teachers of the Word

1 Corinthians 12:28 “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.”

Reading of Commentaries

Historical interpretation

Fellowship & community

Concordances, lexicons, historical background information

Willingness to Obey

James 1:22–25 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

Psalm 119:34 “Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.”

Jesus said of jewish opponents

John 8:43 “Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.”

1 Corinthians 3:1–3 “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?”

Not ready because their was a lack of obedience to what was said

Help of Holy Spirit

Psalm 119:18 “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”

Psalm 119:27 “Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.”

Psalm 119:34 “Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.”

John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

1 Corinthians 2:12 “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”

Understand our understanding is imperfect. Clarity is a property of scripture, not of the reader

Scripture is ABLE to be understood rightly, not that it will be

Objections

Theological liberalism

Postmodern Hermeneutics

Roman Catholic Teaching

Implications

The meaning can be known

We can proclaim the gospel message with confidence

We should be reading, studying, and meditating on scripture daily for our lives

We can teach biblical doctrines

We can teach Biblical ethics

Translations should be encouraged

John Wycliffe & William Tyndale

Bible reading should be encouraged

When we disagree, it’s not the Bibles fault