“His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Ps. 1:2)
The doctrine of the clarity of Scripture has deeply affected my entire life.
Now, how should we understand this doctrine? The doctrine of the clarity of Scripture is easily misunderstood and, I think, commonly misunderstood. Here’s how I understand the clarity of Scripture.
Scripture affirms that it can be understood, but
- Not all at once,
- Not without effort,
- Not without ordinary means,
- Not without the reader’s willingness to obey it,
- Not without the help of the Holy Spirit,
- Not without human misunderstanding, and
- Never completely.
Understanding Scripture is a process.
Picture the clarity of Scripture as something of a journey to a distant mountain. We see the mountain clearly from far away, but we will see more detail—and understand more of what we see—as we journey toward the mountain over many months and years. We can see it from the beginning of our Christian lives, and we truly see and understand something about it, but a lifetime of seeking deeper understanding will be repaid with a lifetime of growth in knowledge and wisdom.
You gotta work at it
Commands to meditate on the Bible show that further study will lead to further understanding:
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Josh. 1:8)
The frequent prayers for understanding in Psalm 119 and later in Corinthians indicate that fuller understanding comes with further study:
“Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.” (Ps. 119:33)
“For we write you nothing but what you can read and understand; I hope you will understand fully.” (2 Cor. 1:13, RSV)
And a deeper yet understanding is given to those who are more mature in their faith:
“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.” (1 Cor. 2:6–7)
“But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” (Heb. 5:14)
Big billboards, small signs
We might even imagine various signs on this journey to the mountain. Some, like “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31), are written in huge font that can be seen from a great distance. Other signs appear shortly after the journey has begun, and teach us to trust God and obey him daily.
But other signs appear in small font, not visible at first, and when we come close enough to read them they announce topics such as “predestination” and “millennium” and “preaching to the spirits in prison” and “the relationship between God and evil.”
Ultimately, even when we can read those topics on the signs, we find that a partial explanation is in yet smaller print, and a fuller explanation is in tiny print. And then at the end of that tiny print we find statements that say:
“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.” (Deut. 29:29)
And then we might even find ourselves saying along with Job,
“I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” (Job 42:3)
Clarity is a property of Scripture, not a property of its readers, who vary widely in their understanding.
Scripture tells us that it can be understood, but not all at once—growth in understanding is a lifelong process.
This post is adapted from a lecture Dr. Grudem gave, called “The Perspicuity of Scripture.”
Wayne Grudem will be the third speaker during our Best Sermon Ever series. He will preach the sermon “Guard Your Heart” out of Proverbs 4:23 on August 18th at the Bellevue and Downtown Seattle churches, with the sermon showing at all other churches and online on August 25th. Visit the BSE sermon series page for service times and other info.
