Perspicuity of Scripture.
Perspicuity is a word that means “clarity,” “clearness,” or “understandability.” When we talk about the Perspicuity of Scripture, we’re talking about the idea that God’s Word is clear about things that must be understood and obeyed. Not everything in Scripture is easy to understand, but what we must understand to be saved is clear. The Bible says that the simple become wise through reading and applying God’s Word. The psalmist wrote: The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. (Psalm 19:7). The Westminster Confession of Faith explains it succinctly: “All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all: (2 Pet. 3:16), yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them. (Ps. 119:105, 130).” In short, the doctrine of perspicuity means that the Bible's central message is clear and understandable and can be appropriately interpreted in an ordinary, literal sense.
Defining Our Terms by Kevin Gardner (article) - The doctrine of Scripture is foundational to the Christian faith. But there is more to say about Scripture than simply, “The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.” If you don’t grasp what the Bible is and how it came to be, you’ll never fully grasp its meaning. Since the meaning of the Bible is vitally important to our faith and life, we will here briefly define a few key terms that relate to the doctrine of Scripture as the study of God’s Word written.
The Perspicuity of Scripture by Burk Parsons (article): Not everything in Scripture is easy to understand, but what we must know to be saved is clear. Jesus's hard sayings aren’t found only in the Gospels but throughout Scripture, since Jesus is the ultimate author of Scripture as the eternal Word of God. The Holy Spirit indwells us and enables us to interpret and apply His Word, leading us into all truth.
The Perspicuity Of Natural Revelation by Cornelius Van Til (article) - of course, created man cannot penetrate to the very bottom of this inherently clear revelation. But this does not mean that on this account, the revelation of God is not clear, even for him. The created man may see clearly what is revealed clearly even if he cannot see exhaustively.
Perspicuity of Scripture: The Emergent Approach by John MacArthur (article) - Influenced by postmodern notions about language, meaning, subjectivity, and truth, many younger evangelicals are questioning whether the Word of God is clear enough to justify certainty or dogmatism on points of doctrine. The dominant Roman Catholic idea had been that the Bible was obscure and difficult to understand. However, the Reformers disagreed, arguing that anyone reading could understand biblical teaching. Rather than limiting biblical interpretation to the clergy or the Magisterium, the Reformers encouraged lay Christians to study and interpret God’s Word independently. Though such an understanding, as Luther openly admits, did not demand complete agreement among Protestants on every secondary doctrine, it did establish an important principle: That the Word of God was revealed understandably, that its central message is clear, and that (because it is clear) all men are fully accountable to its message.
What is the clarity of Scripture? (article) - The clarity of Scripture is also known as “perspicuity.” This means that the message of the Scriptures can be understood by the great masses who wish to understand it. God’s Word has been revealed so everyone who wants to know what it means can understand it. In addition, they can live following these truths.
The Westminster Confession of Faith 1.7 (website) - The Westminster Standards are rooted in history, biblically timeless, and a confession for all peoples. For centuries, Baptists, Congregationalists, the Reformed, and Presbyterians have all drawn strength from the theology of the Westminster Standards. The Westminster Standards, for the English-speaking world, represent the historical articulation of the gospel and sound theology recovered during the Protestant Reformation. However, the staying power of the Westminster Standards is not in their historical tradition but in the fact that they are anchored in the Word of God.
Martin Luther on the Perspicuity of Scripture (article) - this published contest of his with Erasmus reminds us that the primitive roots of error are always profoundly planted in the soils of human wisdom and reason, whether in the past or the present. In his counterargument against the famous doctrine of free will, Luther contested the tactics of those who sought to advance their doctrines by avoiding many explicit texts of Scripture. It is the historical habit of liberal thinking to call explicit texts ambiguous, especially when those texts seem to threaten any system of thought in liberal theology.
Of The Perspicuity of Scripture: All the things, therefore, contained in the Scriptures; are made manifest, although some places, from the words not being understood, are yet obscure. But to know that all things in the Scriptures are set in the clearest light, and then, because a few words are obscure, to report that the things are obscure, is absurd and impious. And, if the words are obscure in one place, yet they are clear in another. But, however, the same thing, which has been most openly declared to the whole world, is both spoken of in the Scriptures in plain words, and also still lies hidden in obscure words. Now, therefore, it matters not if the thing be in the light, whether any certain representations of it be in obscurity or not, if, in the mean while, many other representations of the same thing be in the light. For who would say that the public fountain is not in the light, because those who are in some dark narrow lane do not see it, when all those who are in the Open market place can see it plainly? [The Bondage of the Will, That the teaching of Scripture is clear and decisive, pp. 73-74].
Anyone can come to Scripture and discover how they can be saved, even children and those lacking formal education. In this episode, Barry Cooper shows that the Bible is evident in its teaching about salvation and its basic principles for pleasing God.
In this episode, Ekkie and Nathaniel discuss the fundamental Christian doctrines of the "Clarity" and "Necessity" of Scripture. These are doctrines that are so essential that they impact the entire Christian walk, either for the good or detriment of the believer.
Christians ought to submit to the authority given to us by Christ, Pastors, elders, teachers, etc. But what happens when those in authority teach things contrary to the Word of God? Is there a higher court to which we can appeal? The answer is yes. The appeal is the appeal of sola scriptura.
Gillespie and Riley start to wrap up their reading of Martin Luther’s Bondage of The Will by discussing the Bible’s clarity and why personal feelings and our need to find meaning in everything can hijack God’s Word.
The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther
The Bondage of the Will is fundamental to understanding the primary doctrines of the Reformation. In these pages, Luther extensively treats what he saw as the heart of the gospel.
Free will was no academic question to Luther; the gospel of the grace of God, he believed, was bound up with it and stood or fell according to how one understood it. Luther affirms our total inability to save ourselves and the sovereignty of divine grace in our salvation. He upholds the doctrine of justification by faith and defends predestination as determined by the foreknowledge of God.
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