The Clarity of Scripture
One of the central tenets of evangelicalism is the authority of scripture. God is our ruler. He rules us by his word. His word is the final authority in all matters of faith and conduct. We must submit to his word. God always speaks the truth – he cannot lie, he knows everything, so his word can always be trusted.
Of course, this view of scripture has always been attacked. From the serpent in the garden, “You will not surely die!” to the contemporary unbeliever, “The bible is fool of errors!” However, for the most part, in evangelical circles these attacks have been fended off. J.I. Packer’s classic treatment of the subject in Fundamentalism and the Word of God (1958) comes to mind or more recently Timothy Ward’s book Words of Life (2012). In evangelical minds and churches these books seem to have made their mark.
However, it seems to me that while we have been vigorously defending the authority of God’s word, we have inadvertently let another insidious heresy creep into our churches. Namely, while affirming the authority of scripture, many of our people continue to deny its clarity. “Of course,” they say, “we would submit to God’s word in all matters (e.g. gender roles or what have you), it’s just that the scriptures are unclear about exactly what God requires of us.” Functionally, this guts the doctrine of scripture’s authority completely. God cannot rule us effectively if we cannot understand him.
To solve this problem, many go in search of an authoritative interpreter – someone who will explain God to us, clarify what he is trying to say. The Roman Catholic turns to the papacy, and to church tradition for clarity. Perhaps, in a culture obsessed with novelty and throwing off the shackles of the past this will become more and more attractive to some. Knowing that the Orthodox/Anglican/Catholic church has held to this or that interpretation for hundreds of years can be comforting when other interpretations seem to lack weight.
Many ‘evangelicals’ effectively do the same thing – turning to their favourite preacher to find the interpretation that most suits them. If your preacher doesn’t interpret the passage in the way you like then you can just dismiss it “That’s just his interpretation”, “This passage is highly controversial – there are many different views on it.”
In this view, preaching is not an authoritative message from God that the listeners must sit under, it is merely the thoughts & opinions of the preacher that the congregation can take or leave. In the digital age, this problem has become exacerbated by the rise of celebrity preachers. If your local pastor (who is of course very ordinary) doesn’t agree with one or more of your favourite leading lights, then he must be wrong. Functionally, we have turned Carson, Keller, Jensen, or Taylor into Popes.
For some, ironically, Calvin is the Pope. One’s interpretation of scripture must always be Reformed (with a capital R) or it cannot be right. Of course, this was never what the reformers wanted.
First, the reformers stood against the Papacy. Councils and Cardinals have erred and contradicted one another countless times. They are mere men, sinful, corrupt, and confused just like the rest of us. They cannot be trusted as reliable or authoritative interpreters no matter how scholarly or educated they claim to be, nor how long their errors persist, nor how widespread or popular their views become.
Second, the reformers stood against the Anabaptists and the so-called “Right to Private Judgement”. This effectively multiplies the number of Popes. I have my interpretation; you have yours and we must leave it at that. Because the Holy Spirit is illuminating me from the inside, I can be confident of my interpretation no matter how scholarly those who disagree with me, no matter how novel my interpretation is, no matter how unpopular it is.
Of course, many Christians today see no alternative to these two positions. Left, apparently, with no options but these equal and opposite errors they end up drifting between the two, seeking some middle ground. Thankfully, the magisterial reformers (Luther, Calvin etc.) fell into no such trap because they rejected the basic premise – that the scriptures are unclear. And perhaps more than ever we must recover this confidence in our churches.
The doctrine of the clarity (or perspicuity) of scripture reminds us that the bible is not obscure or confusing, we are. It is we who are in the dark – lost in a sea of confusion created by our own sinfulness and the sinfulness of everyone we know. Our only hope is that by God’s grace the clear light of scripture will break through into our sinful minds and illumine us to the truth. Praise the Lord, “The unfolding of your words gives light” Psalm 119:130 (see also 2 Cor. 4:6).We do not have the right to interpret scripture. It is the height of blasphemy to imagine that human interpreters can communicate clearly while God cannot. No, “Scripture interprets Scripture”. The preacher does not step into the pulpit to clarify the bible, but to preach the clear word. The congregation does not seek their own interpretation of a passage, but humbly submits to the word they have heard.