Saturday, September 4, 2021

Robert L. Reymond on the Perspicuity of the Bible in the Reformed Tradition

  

The Bible’s Perspicuity

 

All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; 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. (WCF, I/vii)

As a logical corollary to the Bible’s representation of its revelatory and inspired nature, the purpose of this entire activity on God’s part was to reveal his ways and works in a comprehensible manner to those to whom his revelation originally came. He “spoke and wrote” in order to be understood. And the prophets, apostles, and indeed Jesus himself, addressed their messages to all the people, and never treated them as intellectual pygmies who were incapable of understanding anything of what they said.

 

While the Confession acknowledges that “all things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor clear unto all” (it is this fact, among others, that requires diligent application of both the grammatical-historical method of exegesis and the analogia Scripturae principle), the Confession affirms, again against Rome, that “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 [even the unlearned unbeliever!—author] in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.” As the Psalmist states, God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light for our pathway (119:105). Note that the Confession declares that “unlearned” men through the utilization of “ordinary means” may come to a knowledge of the truth of Scripture. What are these “ordinary means”? Simply the reading, hearing, and study of the Word. For example, one does not need to be “learned,” when reading the Gospels or hearing them read or proclaimed, to discover that they intend to teach that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, performed mighty miracles, died on the cross “as a ransom for many,” and rose from the dead on the third day after death. These things are plain, lying on the very face of the Gospels. One does not need to be instructed by a preacher to learn that he must believe on Jesus in order to be saved from the penalty his sins deserve. (This includes the unbeliever, who is certainly capable of following an argument.) All one needs to do in order to discover these things, to put it plainly, is to sit down in a fairly comfortable chair, open the Gospels, and with a good reading lamp, read the Gospels like he would read any other book. Of course, if one believes these things to be true, leading to the saving of his soul (that is, believes that the Gospels’ affirmations correspond to what God himself believes), another factor has intruded itself into the situation—what the Confession has already described both as the “inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the word in our hearts” and as the “inward illumination of the Spirit of God.” (Robert L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith [2d ed.; Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998], 87-88)

 

Further Reading


Not By Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura