I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word (Psalm
119:14-16).
The term perspicuity means clarity, lucidity, and intelligibility.
Ironically, in our era, this word – thought to be archaic and ambiguous – is decidedly unclear.
The
seminal event of the Protestant Reformation was Martin Luther composing his Ninety-Five
Theses – a compilation of Luther’s specific disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church – and nailing that document to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg.
The
date was October 31, 1517.
And
Brother Martin became ardent and emphatic in his proclamation of the perspicuity
of Scripture.
So
what does that mean?
If you were explaining the concept to a 12-year old, you might say perspicuity
means a concept or idea is clearly expressed and easily understood.
And that’s exactly what Luther declared about the Bible. It’s message is clear and can be understood by almost anyone.
The
Westminster Confession of Faith written in 1646 defines it this way: "...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".
However,
the problem in our day is that although the most educated culture in human history,
there exists a great unfamiliarity among self-identified Christians with the content
of the Bible.
And
yet, for spiritual growth and maturity, every believer requires a deliberate diet of God’s Word.
And to understand the Scripture, we need to appreciate the role of the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Truth – in guiding the 3-part process of observation, interpretation
and life-application.
To
do so effectively, we naturally want to employ some basic hermeneutic
principles. Hermeneutics is the science of interpretation.
Whether you’re reading the newspaper, a blogpost, a Shakespearean play, or a sports boxscore, you approach the text with a relevant framework for understanding the data.
That
framework is the interpretive principle of hermeneutics.
Here
are some useful hermeneutical principles for studying the Bible, for
apprehending its perspicuity:
- Who was the author and
who were the original readers?? Understanding their context, timing, reason for
writing and place in history helps our comprehension.
- What did the original readers understand this text to say. Sometimes you’ll hear wildly fanciful and symbolic ideas that the original readers – 2000 years ago and living half a world away – would never have concluded!
- How does this fit into the whole arc of God’s plan of redemption from Genesis to Revelation? The Scripture is clear in its exquisite and coherent entirety. Some concepts are difficult and may take a lifetime of learning; but the message of Jesus Christ and His Gospel is basic, clear, perspicuous.
- Allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. Start with the mindset that the Bible is consistent and rational; the reader’s task it to understand its coherency.
However, in our post-modern culture, understanding the teaching of
Jesus is not difficult. The larger challenge is in accepting, receiving, and believing
it.
Takeaway: One of the great New
Testament examples is found as the Apostle Paul evangelized the Greek town of
Berea. He preached in the synagogue to Jewish people who received his message
with great eagerness: they examined the Scriptures every day to see if what
Paul said was true (Acts 17:11).
Paul
could have been offended that the Bereans did not trust his Gospel
proclamation. He might have objected that they were not naturally trusting of
him.
But Luke – the author or Acts and an apostolic compatriot of Paul’s – commends the Bereans for their diligence as critical thinkers.
If what Paul said didn’t align with the Bible, they wanted to be biblically literate enough to recognize that. They were diligent, thoughtful, thorough.
And
remember, the NT was not yet written so they were examining the Old Testament
scriptures!
May
the tag of Berean be one to which we each aspire!
