The Clarity of Scripture

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” -Psalm 119:105

The doctrine of the clarity of Scripture (often called the “perspicuity of Scripture”) teaches that “the meanings of the text can be clear to the ordinary reader, that God uses the text of the Bible to communicate His person and will.” [1] “The witness of the Church throughout the ages is that ordinary people, who approach it in faith and humility, will be able to understand what the Bible is getting at, even if they meet with particular points of difficulty here and there.” [2]

This doctrine is in contrast to other positions like that of the Roman Catholic Church, which asserts that Scripture is imperspicuous (unclear) apart from the interpretative framework of the Catholic church and tradition.

Christians who love and promote the clarity of the Bible encourage others to read it for themselves. Those who deny the perspicuity of the Bible have not historically encouraged a personal devotional time of studying the Bible, and have even “denied free access to the Scriptures lest [others] interpret them improperly and disseminate false doctrine.” [3]

The issue of perspicuity is not entirely unique to the Bible, as it concerns the basic principles of hermeneutics which are relevant to all texts. That the scripture is clear does not ensure, however, that man will receive it for what it is. Man is depraved and needs the illumination of the Holy Spirit in order to see the meaning for what it is.

Consider the words of Martin Luther, who opposed the attitude of Erasmus toward scripture:

“But, if many things still remain abstruse to many, this does not arise from obscurity in the Scriptures, but from [our] own blindness or want [i.e. lack] of understanding, who do not go the way to see the all-perfect clearness of the truth… Let, therefore, wretched men cease to impute, with blasphemous perverseness, the darkness and obscurity of their own heart to the all-clear scriptures of God… If you speak of the internal clearness, no man sees one iota in the Scriptures, but he that hath the Spirit of God… If you speak of the external clearness, nothing whatever is left obscure or ambiguous; but all things that are in the Scriptures, are by the Word brought forth into the clearest light, and proclaimed to the whole world.” – Martin Luther, Bondage of the Will