The Clarity of Scripture

OK, well, guys, we are looking at the doctrine of the clarity of Scripture tonight. Big thanks to Jacob for covering the doctrine of sin last week.

We’re gonna dive into what this doctrine means and how we can apply it in our lives. To start, let’s look at two passages from Deuteronomy.

First, let’s remind ourselves of this in Deut 29:29

Deuteronomy 29:29 ESV

29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

And then, the whole chapter of Deuteronomy 30 spells out the idea of the clarity of Scripture

Deuteronomy 30 ESV

1 “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. 5 And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. 6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7 And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. 8 And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 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?’ 13 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?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. 15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Now, I know that’s a long passage, but I want us to see what the Bible itself says about the clarity of God’s word.

So the doctrine of clarity, which is sometimes called the doctrine of perspicuity, is the belief that Scripture is clear and is able to be understood clearly by regular, everyday human beings, and that all a person needs to understand Scripture is the ability to read it or the ability to hear it read.

And honestly, this is a simple one, because there is no dependence on gender, age, experience, education, or cultural background that prohibits a person from understanding Scripture.

Now, before we get started I do want to mention that just because Scripture is clear doesn’t mean everything is easy to understand. We sometimes have to wrestle with hard things in the Bible, and we will talk about that. But just because Scripture is clear does not mean it is easy.

Alright, lets dive in and try to understand what this doctrine really means and how it is best applied in our lives.

So lets start with what clarity is dealing with.

From Deut 29:29, we see that Moses tells the people that the “secret things” - things that people cannot grasp - belong to the Lord.

We have already talked about this some, but we are not capable of understanding all there is to know about God. He is infinite, and we simply cannot know everything about Him and His ways.

But we can know Him, and we are able to know what we need to know. We see that in Deut 29:29 as well - “the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

Scripture is God’s word. It is revealed to us. It is accessible and intelligible to us.

Allison notes:

50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology Major Affirmations > Understanding the Doctrine > Chapter 5: The Clarity of Scripture

The only prerequisite to understanding Scripture is the normal acquired ability to read texts (when a Bible is available to literate people) or to understand oral communication (when Scripture is read out loud or broadcast). This means that understanding Scripture does not depend on one’s gender: both men and women can know it. It is not contingent on one’s age: young, middle-aged, and old people can comprehend it. It does not depend on one’s experience: new Christians as well as seasoned believers can comprehend it. Understanding the Bible is not contingent on one’s education: unschooled people as well as scholars can grasp it. It does not depend on one’s cultural background: different ethnicities, races, and language groups can comprehend it.

As we keep going in Deuteronomy 30, we see that Moses tells the people that when all these things (the blessing and the curse that he has been reminding them of), that the people should remember the words of the Lord and obey them.

You don’t tell people that if you don’t actually expect them to understand what they were told.

The writers of Scripture assume the intelligibility of Scripture.

50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology Major Affirmations > Understanding the Doctrine > Chapter 5: The Clarity of Scripture

Scripture itself is characterized by the presumption of continued intelligibility: it assumes people will be able to understand it even when they are in contexts far removed from the original settings in which Scripture was written.

This is the truth of the doctrine of clarity that combats the typical argument that, because we are thousands of years removed from the original context and culture given in Scripture, that we simply cannot grasp what it says, or more to the point, what it means.

The whole point of that criticism is to dismiss the Bible as ancient and outdated.

Funnily enough, Deuteronomy 30 highlights for the children of Israel a time when they have forgotten or ignored God’s word, “moved on” from it, as it were, and just don’t relate.

And God still holds them accountable. And Moses warns them that, when it happens (because it will happen), that they must go back to the Book. They must go back to God’s word, and obey it.

This is one of the most interesting things about Scripture.

Critics will argue that it is outdated. But Scripture is constantly looking forward to those who will trust in God and His word.

50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology Major Affirmations > Understanding the Doctrine > Chapter 5: The Clarity of Scripture

this supposedly outdated, “backward” book looks forward favorably to people being able to comprehend it in circumstances drastically different from when it was written. In part, this confidence is based on the fact that Scripture addresses realities common to all people at all times and in all places. Additionally, the clarity of Scripture dovetails with the illumination of the Holy Spirit, his ministry whereby he aids Christians in the proper understanding of clear Scripture.

Now, as I said before, we want to keep this doctrine rightly.

Scripture can be clear and still be hard to understand. Clarity does not always translate into ease of understanding.

Let’s take two passages as examples:

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

That one is easy, right? What does that mean?

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Now, what about this one?

1 Peter 3:18–20 ESV

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

Now, let’s have an interpretation of that one…

We can easily hack out some of it, right? But some of it has to be thought through, studied, prayed over…Some of that interpretation is difficult.

So, how do we, as believers, understand the hard passages?

How do you think?

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Scripture tells us how!

1 Timothy 5:17 ESV

17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

1 Timothy 3:2 ESV

2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,

The church has historically held to the biblical model of understanding - Pastors/Elders/Overseers are called to teach the Word.

I, as an elder…Jacob, James, Andy, Tyler, Larry, Lou…all of your elders are tasked with the responsibility of teaching. We have the responsibility to assist church members in better understanding and applying Scripture.

Honestly, that is because God has gifted the elders with a gift and ability and passion to teach, to research, to understand. For many of us, God has given us these abilities, and it is part of what sets the elders apart. That doesn’t make us more special, it just means we have a different responsibility.

So, the elders are to help teach Scripture. We are also supposed to model Scripture. We are to show you how to apply Scripture, lived out every day.

And that is part of this doctrine of clarity.

50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology Major Affirmations > Understanding the Doctrine > Chapter 5: The Clarity of Scripture

the clarity of Scripture demands that what is rightly understood be applied concretely. Depending on the text of Scripture, this proper application may be obedience to its commands, trust in its promises, confession of sin, and the like. Clear Scripture grips its readers’ hearts and demands a personal response.

Now, we have been talking about this doctrine as it relates to believers. But what about unbelievers?

Paul talks about how Scripture is foolishness to the unbeliever. Yet, when God is calling that unbeliever to Himself, clarity becomes a big deal.

50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology Major Affirmations > Understanding the Doctrine > Chapter 5: The Clarity of Scripture

those who are being aided by the Holy Spirit as he moves them toward salvation gain an understanding of the gospel. What previously appeared to them as foolishness now makes sense. Even unbelievers in general can grasp something of clear Scripture. Though they ultimately end up rejecting the truth of which they have some understanding, they do have intellectual knowledge of those matters.

Now, as I said before, there is a lot about God that we do not or cannot know or understand.

50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology Biblical Support > Understanding the Doctrine > Chapter 5: The Clarity of Scripture

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever” (

We read as we started tonight Deut. 29:29 and all of Deut 30. We see in chapter 30 Moses explaining that the Word of God - “this commandment (vs 11)” - is not to hard for the people.

That speaks directly to the clarity of Scripture. It isn’t too hard for the people to understand what God wants them to do.

It also isn’t far off, as if they have to go on some perilous quest to gain it or the insight of it. No pilgrimage required.

50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology Biblical Support > Understanding the Doctrine > Chapter 5: The Clarity of Scripture

There is no need to go to heaven to bring the Word of God down, nor cross the sea to bring it near. “But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it” (vv. 12–14). Scripture is not an obscure book. When parents sit on the bed with their children and tell a Bible story, or when friends comfort one another with passages they have memorized, the clear Word of God is not “far off” but “very near.”

In fact, later in Deuteronomy, Moses gives his writings to the elders of Israel. He commands them:

Deuteronomy 31:9–12 ESV

9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law,

This is so that no matter what is going on, there will be a refreshing in the minds of the people about God’s law.

Now, you may say, just every 7 years?

That isn’t because that is all that is needed, but because people are in general disobedient. Consider this from Deuteronomy 6:

Deuteronomy 6:1–9 ESV

1 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 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. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The word of God is not only clear (hence all the commands to do it, to follow it, to obey it), but it is also meant to be lived out every day. It is meant to be a large part of who you are as a believer.

That’s chapter 6. Chapter 31, Moses is like, “I know y’all gonna neglect this, so we gonna make sure you hear it at least every 7 years!”

50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology Biblical Support > Understanding the Doctrine > Chapter 5: The Clarity of Scripture

Moses expected that his writings would continue to be intelligible to the people of Israel, even when read in contexts very different from that in which he wrote them. Where the people were going, Moses did not know. But he did know that his writings would continue to be clear in the future.

Scripture is clear. And we are commanded to write it on our hearts.

OK, let’s quickly address some major errors we can see regarding clarity.

So the first one is something we already mentioned. That is that people want to dismiss the Bible as archaic and outmoded, and therefore has no worth to us because it can’t really be understood.

50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology Major Errors > Understanding the Doctrine > Chapter 5: The Clarity of Scripture

This perspective ignores Scripture’s own presumption of continued intelligibility and the fact that Scripture’s particularity addresses realities common to all people at all times and in all places.

The second major error is that people want to abdicate their responsibility to interpret Scripture because they don’t belong to the “priestly caste.” This ignores the fact that each believer is a priest. That’s another theological discussion for another time, but the priesthood of the believer basically says we don’t need an intermediary to get to God. We have direct access, and therefore we also have the responsibility to read and study His word and interpret it, with help from those who have the gifting to teach and better explain.

This leads into the third area of error, which is this idea that, because the Bible can be hard to understand, I don’t want to bother reading it.

There’s a reason these things are called “spiritual disciplines.” It isn’t easy to read Scripture every day. That doesn’t mean we can neglect it. That is why you need to ask for help. If you struggle with understanding a passage, talk to one of the elders or your Sunday School teacher. Don’t quit because it’s hard.

God has better things for you than that.

Let’s pray.