Institutes of Theology | Session 17 - Bibliology: Attributes of Scripture—Authority and Clarity

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As you recall, if you're with the first session when Tom taught and then last week, we are really working through a subset of God's revelation, God's general revelation in creation, God's special revelation, particularly in the Scriptures. And so, when we come to the theme of bibliology, we're really thinking about God's special revelation and the various truths that are true about the Scriptures. And so there's a number of attributes of the Scripture that we're going to work through this semester. We talked about inspiration last time that we met the fact that the Scriptures were inspired. They were breathed out by God. And therefore there is a right divine authorship of Scripture. We recognize them as God's Word. And there's also a right recognition of the human authorship of Scripture that God moved through the Holy Spirit. He moved men to speak and to write His words. And we'll consider the next couple of attributes: authority and clarity tonight. We'll also get into topics later this semester like the canon of Scripture and the preservation of Scripture and the translation of Scripture. So tonight we're going to cover two: authority and clarity of Scripture. The fact that the Scripture has authority and that the Scripture is itself clear. So we'll begin with authority. We'll take a break in between and then we will continue with clarity. 

So let's start by thinking about the fact that the Scriptures are the Word of the Lord. They are authoritative because they are spoken by God. You may remember on reading about or hearing about Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms on April 18th, 1521. He stood before Emperor Charles V. He had been arrested on account of his writings, and he was asked whether he would recant any of the teachings that were in his writings. They'd brought in stacks of his books, and they really had two questions for him. “Did you write all this, and will you recant those things?” Luther had asked for some more time the first day, came back the second day and was asked those questions. He had no problem affirming the fact that, “Yes, those are in fact my writings.” And he was asked, "Will you recant of the teachings in those writings that are contrary to what the Catholic Church would teach?" And Luther famously said this (Obviously he said it in German, so it's been translated into English, so sometimes you'll read a slightly different version of this) but he said, "Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason, for I believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves. I consider myself convinced by the testimony of the holy Scriptures which is my basis. My conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” You know Luther was really expressing there not so much his confidence in himself. He was not saying, "I'm sure I got it all right and so no, I'm not going to recant in those books." He was expressing his belief in the authority of Scripture. He said it doesn't matter what the governing authority of his day said, who was questioning him, what the church leadership of the most prominent church leadership of his day, the Roman Catholic Church said. He was bound to the Scriptures themselves. And obviously he was clear. “I don't know where what I've written is in contrast to the Scriptures because I've done my best to let the Scriptures speak authoritatively to me and through me in the things that I have written.” 

And so he was committed to stand on the Scripture’s authority on the Scripture’s teaching. That's really what we are thinking about tonight: the authority of Scripture. The fact that Scripture alone is the foundation on which all of our belief and all of our practice stands. Now, why do we affirm the authority of Scripture? Now, the authority of Scripture—and these are relatively basic truths but very profound and significant ones—comes on the foundation really of the authority of God. Do you understand that God Himself has intrinsic authority simply because He is God? And this is unlike any other human authority. He is the ultimate and primary authority. 2 Chronicles 20:6 says, "Oh Lord, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You.” You see, the simple fact that God is God means that God has all authority. Jesus claimed that of Himself in Matthew 28:18 when He spoke to them and saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and earth." John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue in biblical doctrine put it this way. Says, 

"In a biblical worldview, original and ultimate authority resides with God and God alone." God did not inherit His authority. There was no one to bequeath it to him. God did not receive His authority. There was no one to bestow it on him. God's authority did not come by way of an election. There was no one to vote for him. God did not seize His authority. There was no one from whom to steal it. God did not earn His authority. It was already his.” 

God has intrinsic authority as God. He alone is the ultimate authority. When you think of that, we recognize that every other authority is a delegated one. So when we think of human authorities, Romans 13 talks about governing authorities and it says there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God. So God's the category the quality of God's authority is different. It is intrinsic and ultimate. Every other authority we interact with whether that is in the government whether that's in the family whether that's in the church is a delegated authority. You know that's what Jesus said in in John 19:11. “You would have no authority over Me unless it had been given you from above.” God has intrinsic authority in Himself as God. He also has rightful authority as the creator. You understand? God made everything. Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” And because He made it, it is all his. Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord's and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it.” And so God is the rightful owner of all things and has authority over it. 

You know, you if you had kids, you understand the relationship between the creator and the one who has authority. You know, one of your kids builds an amazing Lego spaceship or something and another one of your kids comes and steps on it. What's the issue with that? Well, it's that hey, they made it. They're the one who owns that in a related way. And so the one who creates has authority. We see this in various analogies. Scripture uses like the potter and the clay. Isaiah 64:8. Romans 9 speaks of God as the potter, and we are the clay. The potter doesn't ask the clay what he has the right to do. Why? Because he's the potter. And so he can do whatever he wants with that clay. God has authority as the creator. Revelation 4:11 says, "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power.” Why? “For You created all things and because of Your will they existed and were created.” So we should view God as authority because He is God and that comes with intrinsic authority and because God created us and He created all things and so He has rightful authority over us.

It's also right for us to recognize Christ's authority as the Word of God, the one who came in the flesh to reveal God. John 1, if you turn there with me, describes Christ as the Word of God, the one who reveals God to us. as we begin to think about how this authority of God is reflected in what He has communicated and ultimately in the Scriptures. And in verse one of John 1, it says, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, all things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life and that life was the light of men." Verse 14, “The Word,” the one who reveals God,” became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory. Glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Verse 18, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has [what?] explained him.” Christ the second Person of the Trinity came in the flesh so that we can see to some degree the invisible God. We can understand what is true about the glory of God and the truth of God. Hebrews 1 reveals that that God has spoken to us through His Son. How do we know what is true about God? It is through the Word that has been revealed. And Jesus, when He came to earth and when He was ministering and when He was teaching, He spoke with authority. He didn't just come to say, “You know, these are some things that I think maybe are true.” No, He knew exactly what was true. 

And so as Jesus was teaching the crowds, it says in Matthew 7 and other texts, they were amazed at his teaching. Why? For He was teaching as one having authority, not as their scribes. Jesus wasn't just hoping to get it right. No, He was God Himself, the God-Man come to speak with authority what is true of God and what was true of himself. What is true of the gospel. What is true of God's will for us. And so we recognize God's authority as God, as the creator, and Christ's authority as the God-Man to teach and speak with authority as He reveals God to us. But it's not just the authority of God that is the basis for why we recognize the authority of the Bible. It's the inspiration of Scripture. You have a God who is the rightful authority and therefore what He has said carries that authority. 

We looked last time at the key passages about the inspiration of Scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16. “All Scripture is inspired by God.” It is theopneustos. It is God breathed. It is God’s Word to us. And how did God do that? 2 Peter 1:20 and 21 that “No prophecy was a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” And so there is a human authorship of Scripture, but the human authors were moved by the Holy Spirit such that they spoke from God. So ultimately there is divine authorship of Scripture, and we see that throughout the Word of God. Some 400 times the prophets used the phrase “Thus says the Lord.” Was that just like a letter opening, “This is who's writing to you?” No. That was the statement of a king, a monarch who was going to declare—what? What He was commanding of His subjects. Thus says this king. “Thus says Pharaoh.” You can see in in Exodus 5 or “Thus says Benhad,” the Syrian king, in 1Kings chapter 20. God is using that language of kingship of a monarch saying this is what the king has to say. That's what is true of the Scriptures.

And so as the Westminster Confession of Faith says, the authority of the Holy Scripture for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God, who is truth itself, the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God.” You see, the Scriptures are authoritative because the Scriptures are the Word of God. 

Robert Raymond, commenting on this article in the Westminster Confession says, "The article states, the sole reason why the Bible ought to be believed and obeyed because God who is truth itself is in a unique sense its author and therefore because it is the very Word of the one living and true God. In some it receives its authority from heaven. It requires no earthly advocacy in regard to the issue of its authority. Its authority is intrinsic and inherent. That it is self-validating. In no sense is its authority derived from human testimony. You see, we don't believe the authority of Scripture because the church has affirmed the authority of Scripture for generations. We don't believe the authority of Scripture because you learned in institutes that a whole lot of systematic theologians include a section in their systematic theology about the authority of Scripture. No, we believe the authority of Scripture because of its inherent and intrinsic authority related to the fact that it is God's Word. And so the divine author of Scripture is why the Scripture has divine authority. Those two things are packaged together. As Greg Allison says, “Biblical authority is a corollary of the inspiration of Scripture.” If you believe the Bible is inspired by God, the only possible conclusion to be drawn is the Bible is authoritative.

That's why Paul Enns in his Moody handbook of theology says, "Inspiration may be defined as the Holy Spirit superintending over the writers so that while writing according to their own styles and personalities, the result was God's written Word." And what is true of God's written Word? It is authoritative. It is trustworthy and free from error in the original autographs. So the foundation for the authority of Scripture is the authority of God and the fact that God has inspired the Scriptures. They are His words. How do, why do we embrace the authority of Scripture? Why do we sit here tonight saying yes and amen to that while so many of our world say no thanks to that? Well, it's because of a third reality which is the illumination of the Spirit. And again, we talked about this last time as one of the evidences for inspiration. In many ways because of the close connection between inspiration and the authority of Scripture. All the evidence for inspiration is also evidence for the authority of Scripture. 

We won't take the time to go back through it all, but we looked last time at what the Bible itself claims about itself, that it is God's Word and therefore authoritative. We looked at the New Testament writers view of the Old Testament that they quoted from it authoritatively that they believed that was in fact God's Word. They referred to it as Scripture. We looked at Christ's view of the Scripture that He affirmed the Old Testament not only its doctrine but the historicity of the Old Testament of the characters and the events that are recorded and He pre-authenticated the New Testament writings of the apostles. But all that evidence and more the external evidence of the truth of the Scriptures and those things is not the foundation on why you and I believe it. It's because of the work of the Spirit in us. As John 10:24 said, "My sheep hear My voice." And as 1 Corinthians 2:10-15 says, "We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God so that we may know the things freely given to us by God." Is that “just know them as head knowledge”? No. It's accepting them as true, as authoritative. He says, "A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, he cannot understand because they're spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things. That's why we saw last time the Westminster Confession of Faith says, “We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church to a high and reverent esteem of the holy Scriptures and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole, (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies and the entire perfection thereof are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God.” So there's all kinds of reasons why we can affirm that this is the Word of God and therefore authoritative. “Yet notwithstanding our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.” 

So we affirm the authority of Scripture because we recognize God Himself is the ultimate authority and God has breathed out His Word in the Scripture and because of the work of the Holy Spirit in us, we receive that Word and we recognize that Word as divine and as authoritative for all of our belief and practice.

Now secondly, let's think about what is affirmed by the authority of Scripture. What do we mean when we say when we speak of the authority of Scripture? Let me start with some insufficient affirmations. Some people when they speak about the authority of Scripture—and these are found in Greg Allison's book “50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith”—some speak of it simply as functional meaning. It's authoritative because of what it does. You know you might think of like a hammer. A hammer is authoritative over a nail because of what it does. Or you might even compare that to a second one: it's instrumental It is authoritative because God uses it. This is saying, you know, “We see what the Scripture does. It gives salvation. It equips the believer.” Or “We see how God promises to use the Scripture. It's not going to return void. And so that's why it's authoritative.” Or some would say, “Well, it's authoritative. That authority is conferred. It's because the church says it is. Why do we believe the Bible is authoritative? because that's what the church has historically affirmed.” Related to that is that it is just “traditional.” It's been viewed that way for centuries. This is obviously a unique book, the bestselling book of all time and the only book that was written 2,000 years ago that any of us care to read. Why? Well, because it's of its unique nature. But that's not why it's authoritative. It's not just that it's been viewed that way for generations. These are insufficient in and of themselves. He says, in one sense these views contain some truth. It is true that biblical authority is functional. It does impact us. It is instrumental. God does use the Scripture. It is conferred in the sense that the church does recognize the authority of Scripture. It is traditional in the sense that it has been recognized for centuries. But “individually and together these ideas he says are incomplete. Biblical authority is first and foremost an ontological matter. It has to do with the very nature of Scripture itself.” 

So what is it that we mean when we say, “The Scripture in and of itself is authoritative”? Wayne Grudum puts it this way, and I think a helpful simple way for us to think about this. He says, “The authority of Scripture means that all the words of Scripture are God’s Words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any Word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.” When that herald shows up and says, "Thus says the king," and you choose to ignore the message of that herald, you are in fact disobeying the king. In the same way, the authority of Scripture means when we disbelieve or disobey this Word, we are in fact disbelieving or disobeying God Himself. Joel Beeke puts it this way. He says, "When we speak of the Bible's authority, we refer to its property as the Word of God to obligate its readers or hearers to entire submission. The Bible has authority as the rule for faith (what man is to believe) and behavior (what man is to do). Where the Bible teaches a doctrine or reports an event, it binds our consciences to hold it for truth. When it commands an attitude, affection, or action, it binds our consciences to obey.” 

The Bible has every right to tell you and I what to believe, what is true about God Himself, His nature, His character, about history; what God has done in the world, about ourselves, how He understand us, our sin predicament, about His Son, the Gospel, the work of Christ on our behalf; about God's law, what He commands us to live, how He commands us to live; about His will, how we live in a manner that pleases Him as is followers. We are bound by what the Scriptures teach regarding our attitudes, our affections, our actions, our beliefs.

Now, one helpful clarification, I think, as we think about this is remembering what we talked about last semester when we were thinking about hermeneutics, which is that because the Bible was written inspired by God through human authors, it was written at a real time in history to real people. There was an original audience that God intends. And so Millard Ericson helps us to think about that in regards to the authority of Scripture. And he writes this. He says, "As creator and source of all truth, God has the right to command belief and obedience from all human beings." That's the authority we're talking about. He says, "All Scripture is historically authoritative. That is, it tells us correctly what occurred and what God expected from specific persons at particular times and places. Some of that Scripture is also normatively authoritative. That means that those parts of Scripture are to be applied and obeyed in the same fashion in which they were originally given.” 

You understand this fairly intrinsically. I think you know that if we were to go read Joshua 6 right now where God was commanding His people in the conquest of the promised land to conquer Jericho and He gave very specific instructions to them for how they were to go about doing that walking around the city and blowing trumpets. None of us say, “Oh that is authoritative. When's the first flight to Israel so that we can go march around Jericho? We got to do that.” It was authoritative to that original audience. It contains timeless principles for us. But not all Scripture is the same in terms of it being a present message from God to us that is to be directly obeyed. It's all for us. It's all profitable for us, but it’s not all speaking directly to us. And so, as we interpret Scripture, we have to recognize that, and we have to understand the specific context that that Scripture was given. But it's still authoritative and that it should shape our belief and practice in appropriate ways given the interpretation now. 

So what we are really thinking about when we define these things and when we think about this is the principle that was at the heart of the reformation that of sola scriptura. You've heard that phrase; you may have read and studied some about these things. But just to remind you what was really at the core of the Reformation was the Roman Catholic view of authority. The Roman Catholic view of authority viewed authority as resting with the magisterium, the teaching leadership of the Church, particularly the pope and the Church tradition that collection of teaching over time in the history of the church. Why did they view the pope as an authority of equal or really higher level than the Scripture? You know, they would trace that back to passages like Matthew 16:9 where Peter was given the keys to the kingdom, and they said he was the first pope and there's a succession of popes. You know, if you read the context, it's not too far from there where Jesus is telling Peter to get behind me Satan. So, the idea of Peter speaking with infallibility or popes being able to do that is really ridiculous. But they elevated the teaching of the Church and said that has authority. Really, they wouldn't necessarily articulate it that directly but practically that became the authority over the Scriptures, and they taught that really the Scripture is received on the authority of the Church. So the reason we affirm the authority of the Scripture is because the Church says so. So the highest authority was the Church which is very convenient if you are in leadership of the Church. You've just made yourself the highest authority. What you say goes. And the reformers said no. That's why the Church is misrepresenting the gospel and is failing to teach the true gospel. That's why the Church has all these practices that are nowhere found in Scripture and the only justification for them is because the Church says it should be that way. 

And so the Protestant response was one of sola scriptura: that all doctrine and practice must come from the Scripture not the teaching of the church. This is what you see reflected in the Bereans in Acts 17:11. They're taught. And what is their response? They're taught and they're examining the Scriptures. It says to see whether these things are so. Why is that? Well, it's because the Scripture is a higher authority than the Church or the teaching of the Church. And they said, "No, the Scripture is the foundation for the church, not the other way around." Ephesians 2:20 speaks of how the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. What's that? It's the Scripture. 

And so the Scripture is the foundation on which the church is built. And the Scripture has every right to evaluate the church. A healthy church, a true church is only that because it's in conformity with the Scripture. And so the Westminster Confession of Faith really written to summarize this idea said this. “The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, private spirits are to be examined, and in whose sentence are we to rest can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.” Now again, the reformers recognized this doesn't mean that we ignore what the church has historically taught. It doesn't mean that we ignore councils or creeds. Those are helpful. That God has been speaking through Scripture for generations. God has been gifting men in the church to teach for generations. 

And as we'll see in a moment, the Scripture is clear. And so it is right that we evaluate our understanding of Scripture with what has historically been affirmed by the church. The reformers did not throw out everything that had been taught historically and say, "Oh, it's all about us today understanding this rightly." No, but they recognized the authority is not the historic teaching of the church. The authority is the Scripture. And therefore everything must come back to what in fact does the Bible say. That's what we affirm when we affirm the authority of the Scripture. Not only that it has authority but that it is the sole authority for faith and practice for what we believe and teach. That's what Martin Luther in that quote that we read earlier what he was saying. He's saying it's not about what the pope says. It's not about what the councils say. It's about what does the Scripture say. That is the authority of Scripture.

Now, what potentially undermines the authority of Scripture? Obviously, one reality that we've just spoken of is the church or tradition. This was the Catholic versus Protestant debate of the reformation of sola scriptura. You see this with Jesus and the Pharisees where He would speak of their tradition, and He would say no you need to come back not to what you've always done but to what does in fact the Scripture say. You know we must be careful even as a Protestant church that is affirming the reformation doctrine of sola scriptura that in practice that's how we are thinking and living that what is taught what is believed, what is practiced comes from the Scriptures. This is why you see an intentional effort as we are teaching the Word of God at Countryside, whether that's Tom preaching or any other context to not only hopefully tell you what the Bible says, but with the intent of showing you what is in the Bible, to read the text, to explain the text so that you can see that this is not just what the church is saying. This is what the Scriptures teach. We have to be careful in our own application of Scripture and what we personally believe that it's not just “oh this is what I've always thought” or “what I've always done” you know that that we are drawing those conclusions from the Scriptures themselves. So the church or tradition can undermine or erode the authority of Scripture, but secular or human wisdom can as well. You know, sometimes this can just be general eroding of any authority.

You know, we live in a post-modern age that is filled with skepticism. A skepticism in the sense of l not affirming any authoritative truth. “You know what? We can't really know what's true.” You know, we can't be definitive about anything, and you are most judgmental when you make a definitive truth claim. That's the world that we are in. That's the water that we are swimming in is a world that that rejects truth. And if we're not careful, that can cause us to question the authority of Scripture or to at least to be hesitant to speak clearly and directly about the authority of Scripture. 

There's a variety of ideologies in our world that undermine what is clear in Scripture. The theory of evolution and all that goes with it to elevate scientific reasoning and say, "Oh, we've got to believe and affirm the theories of science over and against the Bible." No, the Bible speaks with authority. Human psychology is another area that can undermine the authority of Scripture. When we start looking for wisdom outside of God's Word for the issues that that Scripture addresses, the issues of our life, our relationships, and we think, “oh, maybe there's something else that would be helpful for us that we need instead of looking to the Scriptures as an authority.” You know, we live in a world that has been greatly influenced by feminism. And so there's a temptation among churches or Christians to compromise what is taught in the Scriptures in order to fit in a little bit more with the culture around us. The same could be said for issues of gender or social justice. It's tempting to be swept along by the thinking of our age rather than standing firm on the authority of Scripture. Every other person can believe something different than the Bible and the Bible is right. God is always right. 

So the church or tradition can undermine the authority of Scripture. Secular or human wisdom can undermine the authority of Scripture. And our feelings or experiences can undermine the authority of Scripture. You ever thought to yourself or heard someone say something like, “You know, I just want to do what feels right, you know, rather than what the Bible actually says. You know, how could this relationship with an unbeliever be wrong when it just feels so right to me?” And we elevate how we feel, what we think and, in our emotions, especially over what God has clearly said in His Word. Or those who view a dream or a vision or an impression of some sort or just an emotional experience as God's providential direction in their life and “I'm going to cling to that rather than to the truth of God's Word.” Why is charismatic theology such an appealing thing to so many? Well, because it's a very easy way to think you know what God is telling you without actually having to read and study what He has in fact told you. I mean, we'd all rather just be carried along in the will of God by how we feel and by our emotions. That would be very simple, but it's wrong. It's not the guide that we should be looking for. 

Turn to 2 Peter chapter 1. We'll study this on Sunday night in a couple of weeks, but really remarkable what Peter says. He's speaking of the authority of Scripture as the guide for genuine faith in the Christian life. And notice verse 16, he says, "For we do not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty." Says, "We didn't make up stuff. We saw it." For example, verse 17, “For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the majestic glory, this is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.” He says, "As an apostle, I'm communicating to you eyewitness truth." For example, in the transfiguration, “We saw His glory, we heard God speak; this is My beloved Son." And so Peter's saying, "When I tell you that Christ, that Jesus is God, the Son of God, and the only Savior, it's because of the eyewitness testimony." But notice what he says in verse 19. He says, "We have the prophetic word." You'll notice the “so” and “the made” are in italicized. They're not they're supplied in translation. He literally says, "We have the prophetic word more sure to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." 

You know, I think the temptation for those of us who read verse 17 and 18 is to say, "Man, that's awesome. Peter got to see the transfiguration. What an experience. He got to hear the audible voice of God. “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” We don't get to do that. We just get to read about it. And Peter says, "Wait, you have the prophetic word more sure, more certain than me standing on a mountain, seeing the glory of Jesus and hearing an audible voice is the prophetic word that has been written." He says, "Know this first of all, (that verse we studied last time) no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Peter says, "You have a more reliable guide than any experience you ever have." And that is the written Word of God, the inspired Word of God, where men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

More sure than any feeling, more sure than any experience is the clear teaching of the Word of God. It is authoritative for us, and it will often speak against our feelings or the things that we are inclined to believe in and of ourselves based on our experiences. You know, you go through a hardship, a trial, difficult things. Somebody sins against you in horrible ways, and you can be tempted to let your belief about God be shaped by your experience. “How could God be such and such with what I just went through?” And lots of people do that. Instead of saying, "No, I know what is true about God. The authoritative Scripture has told me what is true about God. I'm going to interpret my experience through the Scriptures. That's the authority of Scripture. And when we fail to do that, it undermines that. Even if we say, "Yeah, that's God's Word. I believe that." But we live differently when we let our feelings or experiences take precedence. 

Well, what are the implications for the authority of Scripture? The implications of the authority of Scripture. Let's take just a couple categories. First, for every Christian, because of the authority of Scripture, we must rightly respond to God's Word as to God himself. Turn to Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66 makes this connection for us in a way that I think is very clear and helpful. It says this, "Thus says the Lord." Again, that that kingly language. This is the king, the monarch, the exalted one speaking. And notice what He says about Himself. He says, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool." He's saying, "I am the exalted one." Says, "Where then is the house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?” I don't need you to build Me a temple. I have the heavens as My throne and the earth as My footstool. There's nothing you can do for me. I am the exalted self-sufficient one. “My hands,” He says, “made all these things.” I'm not only God who reigns. I'm the Creator of all things. Thus, all these things came into being. He's declaring His authority, right? His authority as God, His authority as Creator. 

And then He says this, "But to this one I will look to him who is humble and contrite of Spirit." That's the right response to God. Humility before him, a brokenness, a contriteness before him, recognizing He is the holy exalted one. We are the sinful created ones. And He says, "And who trembles at My Word." You respond to the Word of God as you would respond to the God of the Word. You respond with humility, and you respond with reverence. We come humbly to God's Word, eager to have it shape our thinking, eager to have it shape our life because we come to it as we would come to God himself. And we come with reverence. We have a trembling at His Word. Again, is that a fear as we approach it? Is that like a “Oh, I ripped a page of my Bible. Now God's going to electrocute me with lightning or something on the way to the car”? No, it's not it's not that kind of a reverence for the page or although I think we should treat God's Word, the Bible, with respect. It's our attitude towards what He has revealed. We tremble. We come with a reverence, not just a humility that says, "Yeah, I need this." But a reverence and an awe that says, "You are God and You have spoken and therefore I embrace these things." So, we must rightly respond to God's Word. I love how Tom framed this in his hymn, Our God has magnified His Word. He says, "Our God has magnified His Word just as He has his Name.” It's connected to God, to His character and person, “complete and holy, sure and true, eternally the same. Until the earth shakes off its frame, the stars, their courses stray. The smallest letter, slightest stroke, will never pass away." And then He says, "Man's wisdom and his glory fail as grass. They fade and die. But God's truth always will remain. The saints and angels cry. Oh Lord, what we tremble at Your Word and from our hearts believe. We receive it. We embrace it. Help us to guard, love and obey the treasure we received.

So we must rightly respond to God's Word as to God Himself. And secondly, we must firmly believe what is taught in God's Word. We must embrace what God tells us is true and reject everything contrary to that as a lie. We looked at 1 Thessalonians 2:13 before where Paul wrote to the Thessalonians and said, “We constantly thank God that when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.” They embraced the truth that was taught by God's Word. That's how we're to approach the Scriptures. It doesn't matter what we think. It doesn't matter what other people think. It doesn't matter what our world thinks. Doesn't matter what social media thinks. It matters what does God’s Word say. And everything we believe is going to be shaped by the Scriptures. And we're going to be firmly convinced of that. We're going to stand for that and boldly defend and proclaim what is true.

And then thirdly, we must carefully obey all that is commanded in God’s Word. Deuteronomy 28:1, God said to His people, "Now it shall be if you diligently obey the Lord Your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth." He says, "Here's what it looks like to be faithful to Me as My people." And obviously, he's making a promise to that nation. But for us, the same principle applies. “If you will diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I've commanded you today.” There's an intentionality, a diligence, a carefulness to say, what does God’s Word say? And how do I actively put that into practice in my life? That means understanding it. It means thinking about it, meditating on it, so that as Joshua 1:8 says, we can be careful to do according to what is written in it. That's how we respond to the authority of God’s Word. We embrace it and we actively strive to put it into practice. 

As James 1:22 and following speaks of, we want to be a doer of the word and not merely a hearer who deludes himself, who convinces himself. because I've heard a sermon on that or because I've read that, I therefore am practicing it. And James says, "No, you may just be deluding yourself." You need to look intently at it and actively put it into practice. So for every Christian, we must rightly respond to God’s Word as to God himself. We must firmly believe what is taught in God’s Word, and we must carefully obey all that is commanded in God’s Word.

What about for the church? You know what does it look like for a church to affirm the authority of Scripture? For a church to live out the principle of sola scriptura. It's a variety of things. I'll just mention three. One is a commitment to preach the word. Turn over to 2 Timothy chapter 4. We looked last time at the end of chapter 3, and we'll look at a little more of that as we go throughout the evening tonight. It says in verse 16 that “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” We'll talk more about the profitability, the necessity and sufficiency of Scripture in in coming sessions. But he says in verse one of chapter 4, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by His appearing and his kingdom. Paul doesn't often take a whole verse to motivate and affirm what he's about to command, but he does here. He says, “I solemnly charge you." This is a big deal, Timothy, “in the presence of God, of Christ Jesus.” And what does he say in verse two? He says, Preach the word. Preach the Scriptures. Proclaim what God has given by inspiration. What is God breathed, that's what you proclaim. Do so in season and out of season." What does that involve? involves reproving, rebuking, exhorting. What's reproving and rebuking? That's when our thinking and our living don't line up with the Word of God. And the Scripture is proclaimed and we say, “Ooh, I'm off. I'm wrong. I'm not thinking rightly. I'm not living rightly.” That's part of what we saw in verse 16. It's profitable for teaching, for telling us how to think, for correction or for reprove, telling us when we're off. Correction, helping us to get back. He says that's what you do. You preach the word, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. We do that patiently over long periods of time, continuing to teach and to preach and to instruct even when it's not popular. Verse three, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine [people don't always want to hear that] but wanting to have their ears tickled. They will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” 

What does a church who affirms the authority of Scripture do? They preach the word in season and out of season regardless of what people want to hear in society at large. They don't tickle ears. They tell the truth, and they exhort and they rebuke, and they reprove and they do so patiently and instructing, but they faithfully preach the word. Look over at Titus chapter 2 verse 1. It says, "But as for you [Titus], speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine." And the end of that chapter he says, "These things speak and exhort and reprove [what?] with all authority, let no one disregard you.” Was that because Titus was this great guy and gifted communicator, and he had authority in himself? No. He's saying you preach the word and as you preach the word, you speak with a confident authority. An authority that you do not have on your own. You know, I have no right to tell you anything with authority other than what God’s Word has to say. That's what we as pastors, as elders, teachers, we can speak authoritatively to the degree that we are teaching the Word of God. So for the church, it's a commitment to preach the word, but it's also a commitment really to guard the truth. 

You know, 1 Timothy chapter 3 back a couple of pages describes the church in this manner. Paul is writing again about what the church is to be and do. And he says, "In case I'm delayed, I write so that you will know how to how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God." We'll get to that in a second. Which he says “is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. You see, as we said, the church is not the authority over the Scriptures. The Scriptures are the authority over the church. But the church's job is to support to hold up that truth. And certainly part of that is by how we live, but it's a willingness to defend that truth, to guard that truth. That's what he said to Timothy over in 2 Timothy chapter 1 where he says, "Retain the standard of sound words which you've heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you." 

And so the church should feel a weight of responsibility that we have the truth in God’s Word. We're to proclaim it. We're also to intentionally guard it, to defend the truth, and to pass that along to the next generation so that that truth continues to be prized and treasured and proclaimed. We want to see this church and every faithful church continue in the truth, not just proclaiming it now. And it's also a commitment to obey the Word as the church. That's where 1 Timothy 3:15, what did what did Paul say? Not just that the church is the pillar in support of the truth, but he said you need to know how to conduct yourself in the household of God. God has commanded the church what it should do and how it should function and its priorities. You know, there's a number of things we could look at. God speaks to us about worship. You may have heard of the regulative principle of worship, meaning that that we worship as God has intended. We don't make up what is it that we're going to do in Scripture or what are we going to do in worship? The Scriptures shape the priorities of worship. Why do we do what we do when we gather? Why do we read the Bible and sing the Bible and pray the Bible and teach the Bible? Because that's what God’s Word tells us to do. Why do we baptize and partake of the Lord's supper? Because we thought, "Hey, these would be great ideas." No, because the Scriptures tell us what to do. So as a church, we are limited by what God says. We prioritize what God said we should prioritize in worship. God's also given clear guidelines and commands regarding biblical leadership that the church is to be led by a plurality of godly gifted qualified men and in eldership. And so the church is to function in light of those things to embrace what is commanded of biblical leadership. 

You know, think of church discipline. Not a popular thing in our world to actively confront sin, to ratchet up the pressure of that with multiple witnesses, ultimately telling that to the church or putting someone out of the church. But that's what Christ commands. And so, what does a church do? Do we say, "Well, that's kind of out of step with culture. I don't think we should do that." No, we say, "God says to do this. Christ has given us this to do, and so we want to be faithful to obey him." And we could go on and on. The church who recognizes the authority of Scripture has a commitment to preach the word, a commitment to guard the truth, a commitment to obey the word collectively, and to encourage its members to do so individually as we are faithful in church discipline. 

So the Bible is inspired by God. It is God’s Word to us. And that's not just a pie in the sky theological idea that we say, "Oh, yay. The Bible is unique. It's God’s Word." It is a reality. That means the Bible is authoritative. It is the message of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the one who created us. And so it and it alone binds our consciences to what we think, to what we believe, and to how we practice, what we practice, how we live individually and corporately as the church. 

Let me pray for us and we'll take a little break and then we'll come back to think about clarity of Scripture. Let's pray. 

Father, we thank You for Your Word, for its authority. Lord, we are humbled by You giving us the Scriptures so that we can know You. And Lord, we just confess that we treat the Scriptures far too lightly. Lord, forgive us for not valuing them as we ought. Forgive us for not living in conformity to what You have revealed, for being hesitant to embrace what You have commanded, or You have instructed us. Lord, I pray that each of us individually would prioritize having our minds and our lives shaped by Your Scriptures. And Lord, I pray that as a church, we would live under the authority of Your Word. That we would proclaim it faithfully and guard it and pass it along and be committed to obey it in every area, in every aspect of our life, collectively and individually. Lord, may we tremble at Your Word. May we come humbly to Your Word, eager to embrace it as it is the Word of God. And Lord, may we be quick to obey it. Lord, we thank You for this time. We thank You for our fellowship now as we take a brief break and look forward to all You will continue to teach us together this evening in Christ's name. Amen.

We want to turn our attention now to another attribute of Scripture, characteristic of Scripture, which is the clarity of Scripture. And this you can think of it as the biblical idea that the Word is a lamp. You know if we think of the authority of Scripture related to the fact that the Scripture is the authoritative message of the king. The clarity of Scripture we're thinking of truths like Psalm 119:105. “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Again, the world around us does not affirm absolute truth. Nothing can be certain or known with clarity. And the Bible says, No, we can have certainty, and we can have clarity because the Word of God is a lamp to our feet. And we want to discuss that when we think about the clarity of Scripture. 

Why do we affirm the clarity of Scripture? What is it that undergirds this truth that we're considering? You know, the first idea that I would direct you to think about is the Scripture as revelation. You know, Tom began our semester talking about how God has revealed Himself and His will to us. In creation, generally, we know what is true about God. And special revelation gives specificity to that knowledge of God. And when you think of revelation, what is implied in that term? It is that something is being revealed. Deuteronomy 29:29 says this. It says, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever that we may observe all the words of this law." It is certainly true that there are secret things that belong to God. There are things that we do not know. There are things that we cannot fully understand. There is mysterious truth in the Bible. We can't fully understand how things fit together. God hasn't revealed everything to us. We don't know all of God's ways and all of what God is doing in the specific circumstances of our life. There are secret things. But this verse also says, "But there are things revealed.” God has intentionally made things made truth clear to us and that has been given to us that we would observe those things. So it's God's intent to reveal. 

Psalm 19:7 says, "The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." God’s Word restores the soul. God’s Word takes the simple-minded and it gives us wisdom. Why? Because it does in fact reveal what is true. Isaiah 45:19, “I have not spoken in secret in some dark land. I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in a waste place.’ I the Lord speak righteousness, declaring things that are upright." So the fact that Scripture is a key component of the revelation of God means we would expect the Scripture to, in fact, reveal what is true about God. When we think of the clarity of Scripture and why we affirm it, we can also just think about the communication of God. What is it that hinders our communication? You know, maybe you have had conversations with your wife at some point recently or in the past about your struggles to communicate or maybe with parents and a child or as a teenager in this room feeling like we're just struggling to communicate. You know, sometimes that's related to our own wisdom or lack thereof. God has all wisdom and all knowledge. God is never at a loss for what to say. 

You know, you may be in a conversation and you're like, "Yeah, I don't know what to say." “This is a difficult one.” “I'm not sure how to respond.” God is infinitely and all wise. God is never at a loss for words. You know, sometimes it may be you don't have the opportunity to say it. There may be something you would love to say to someone else, but you don't have the opportunity or the means to say it to them. Maybe it's like your boss's boss's boss, and you're like, "Oh, if I could only say something to him." But it's like, "I can't." God has all power. He's never limited in His ability to communicate. And we see that He has intentionally done so through the inspiration of Scripture. God has chosen to communicate, and He is perfect and all powerful and so we would expect His communication to also be perfect. Robert Raymond in his systematic theology says this, 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.”

We recognize God has chosen to communicate he’s spoken to us as we saw in Hebrews 1, “Through the prophets and now in the last days through His Son.” And God is perfect in everything. And so His communication is going to accomplish what He intended and God created us as people and so He understands human language and human communication. Wilhelmus Brakel says this. “As He [God] speaks [to mankind], He is as desirous to be understood clearly as when man uses speech to express His thoughts to others. The Bible is written in the language of men.” Why did God inspire human authors to write His words in the Scriptures? Well, it was His infinite wisdom and plan to do that. But part of the result is what do we have in the Bible? We have human language, human communication, which is what we do as people. We communicate in these ways. God did not reveal Himself in some angelic language. He revealed Himself in human words. And so we understand that if God has revealed himself, God has communicated, we would expect that communication to be understandable.

But we also affirm the clarity of Scripture again because of the illumination of the Spirit. As we've already talked about what is implied in illumination, why do we use that term? It's to illuminate, to make clear or visible to something. And so the fact that the Spirit illumines God’s Word that that He opens our eyes as 2 Corinthians 4 talks about that we can now see the light of the glory of the Gospel. If God opens our eyes to see through the Holy Spirit to embrace and understand His Word, our expectation is that we will in fact be able to understand it. And so we affirm the clarity of Scripture, or as the reformers called it, the perspicuity of Scripture. If you hear that term, it's the same thing, the clarity of Scripture. 

Now before we consider this a little bit more and its implications, what do we not mean by the clarity of Scripture? What do we not mean when we say that the Scripture is clear? We do not mean first of all that all Scripture is easy to understand. Turn over to 2 Peter chapter 3. Second Peter chapter 3. (And this is not just an advertisement for coming on Sunday night to study 2 Peter. Although we're looking at a lot of 2 Peter.) Peter had a lot to say about the Scriptures. Notice in verse pick up in verse 14 for the context. It says, "Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given him wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort as they do also the rest of Scriptures to their own destruction. Now notice a couple things in this passage. Peter is equating the letters of Paul with the rest of Scriptures. So we looked at that I think last time that that he is affirming the fact that the New Testament letters are Scripture on the same plane as the Old Testament Scriptures. And so he refers them to the letters of Paul for thinking on these things. But he also says in which some things some of the things that Paul has written in his letters are hard to understand. That's an encouragement to some degree, right? We read some things in the Scriptures and we're like, “Hmm, I'm not entirely sure what is being said there.” So we're not saying when we say that the Scriptures are clear that everything in the Scripture is easy to understand. 

You read a passage like 1 Peter 3:19, 20 where it talks about Christ in which He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison who were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the Ark. And you say, "Huh, wonder what he's talking about." Yeah, we wonder what he's talking about. And again, we can unpack it. We can do our best to understand. But there's things in Scripture that are hard to understand. Just because something is hard to understand in the Scriptures, doesn't mean that the Scriptures are not clear, that they're not a lamp and a light. We also don't mean that it is unnecessary to study the Scripture. If you were with us last semester, we spent a lot of time on how we study the Scriptures and the right way to interpret the Scripture. Part of that is because of what Peter referred to back in verse 16. He said, "Some things are hard to understand, which what the untaught and unstable distort as they do the rest of Scriptures." The Scriptures, even though they are clear, can be distorted. And the Scriptures, even though they're clear, can be misunderstood. And the result of that is disaster. 

You know, things that we looked at when we talked about basic hermeneutic principles like interpreting Scripture in its context. Those are key. The fact that Scripture is clear doesn't mean you don't have to look at the context. And it doesn't mean you don't have to look at the grammar, the normal use of words in the Scripture to understand it. It doesn't mean that it's unnecessary to study. That's why Ezra's example in Ezra 7:10 where he set his heart to study the law and to practice it and to teach it. It's why 2 Timothy 2:15 speaks of how Timothy as a as a pastor and by extension all believers as we're considering the Scriptures need to be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth. We need to be committed to studying the Scriptures so that we understand it rightly. And we need to be committed to doing what the Bereans did as we saw in our opening session as we consider what we are taught in light of what does the Scriptures in fact say. So the clarity of Scripture does not mean that all Scripture is easy to understand or that it is unnecessary to study Scripture. It also doesn't mean that we do not need others to teach us the Scriptures. Again, you notice back in 2 Peter chapter 3, what did he mention? He mentioned the untaught who distort those Scriptures. And so the clarity of Scripture doesn't mean we don't need gifted teachers to explain the Scriptures to us. 

Look back at Ephesians 4. We're in the New Testament already. Flip to Ephesians chapter 4. And you see how Christ's plan for the church includes giving teachers to the church. He begins in verse 7 and says, “to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gifts.” Christ has given gifts to His body. And in verse 11 he's given gifted men. “He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers or pastor teachers. [Why?] For the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” And so Christ's plan for the church includes giving gifted teachers who can equip the saints for the work of service who can help the entire body to grow to maturity in knowledge of Christ and in doctrine and in how we live. And the result, verse 14, “we're no longer children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming.” Again, that's the untaught who are distorting the Scriptures. When we are well taught, we're no longer carried away by the schemes of false teaching and tossed here and there by every kind of doctrine. “But speaking the truth in love, we grow up into all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.”

So Christ's plan for the church includes giving gifted teachers to teach the Scriptures. What's this look like? Turn back to Nehemiah chapter 8. We see an example of this in the in the Old Testament, not in the context of the church, but the context of Israel. Notice Nehemiah chapter 8 verse one. It says, "All the people gathered as one man at the square, which was in front of the Watergate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it before the square which is in front of the Watergate from early morning until midday in the presence of the men and women, those who could understand. And all the people were attentive to the book of the law.” It was anybody who could listen to understand; and so he opens the book of the law. He read from the book of the law. Notice verse 8. It says, “They read from the book from the law of God translating or explaining to give the sense so that they understood the reading.” See the fact that Scripture is clear doesn't mean it wasn't profitable or needed to have somebody read the Scriptures and to explain those so that they could be understood and embraced. so that they could do that. So when we speak of the clarity of Scripture, it doesn't mean all Scripture is easy to understand. It doesn't mean it's unnecessary to study Scripture and it doesn't mean we do not need others to teach us the Scripture.

So what does it mean? What do we mean by the clarity or the perspicuity of Scripture? Again, if you think back to the reformation, this was one of the issues that was at the heart of sola scriptura and the different perspectives about the Scripture. The Catholic Church wanted to keep the Scripture tightly you know hold it tightly to the chest. They didn't want everyone having access to the Scriptures. They thought only those who are the clergy, only those who have been specifically trained can understand the Scripture and we're going to hold on to that ourselves instead of giving all the people the Scripture. And part of that was they wanted to retain control. The reformers said, "No, we need teachers." Sure, the church has gifted teachers that are important to the health and maturity of the body of Christ, but the Scriptures are not simply for those teachers, they're for everyone. And so, you had things like the Westminster Confession reflecting this over time, which says this, "All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all [that's what we already talked about. 2 Peter 3:16], 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.” 

So when you think about what is said there, you see a number of aspects to what is meant by the clarity of Scripture. One thing that is clear is that the central truths of Scripture are clear. All necessary doctrine as it said for salvation. Turn back to 2 Timothy 3:15. You see this in what Paul writes to Timothy. And we'll think through some implications of what he says in just a minute. But he says starting in verse 14, “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings.” So it's interesting that he also affirms that kids can know the Scriptures—again because there's a clarity to them. But he says, "You've known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." What is Paul affirming to Timothy? He's affirming that the Scriptures have all necessary wisdom for salvation and that that can be understood. It's clear the “everything necessary for salvation and all things pertaining to life and godliness.” Second Peter 1:3, Christ has granted to us all of those things and that includes what He has given us in the Scriptures. And so what is necessary to be known about God in order for us to be saved and for us to live lives that are pleasing to Him is clear in the Bible.

But it's not just that the central truths of Scripture, the key doctrine of Scripture are clear. It's also that the Scriptures can be understood by all believers. Again, that's what we see here. He's making a point that whether you are a child or an adult, if you are in Christ, you can understand the Scriptures. Nehemiah 8, Deuteronomy 30, other places you see in the Old Testament, it wasn't just a select few who were taught the Scriptures. It was that we can all gather to hear the Scriptures. That's what the reformers affirmed. That's why they said we need to translate the Bible into the language of everybody that they use. Why? So that they can consider the scriptural teaching themselves. That's why the Bereans, as we saw, were affirmed that they were noble-minded in that they were searching the Scriptures of what they were taught in order to see if these things were so. They're not affirmed for blindly and ignorantly believing what they were taught. No, they're affirmed for looking at the Scriptures to say, "What is it that these things teach and how does that compare with what I'm being taught?" 

So the clarity of Scripture means that all Scripture or that the Scriptures can be understood by all believers. Again, our attitude towards the Scriptures impacts that. The illumination of the Holy Spirit is certainly necessary for receiving the Scriptures. First Peter 2 talks about our attitude towards sin, affects our receptivity. So there are criteria that are necessary for us as believers to rightly understand the Scriptures. We must humble ourselves as we approach them, but they can be understood. It also means, thirdly, that the Scriptures can be understood through the ordinary means of language. You saw that in the Westminster Confession definition as well what is revealed in the Scriptures can be understood as with any other language. The clarity of Scripture means we are not looking for some hidden secret spiritual meaning that is buried beneath the text. We are wanting to understand what God has in fact revealed and He has revealed it through the normal use of human language and that's what we are seeking to understand. So the clarity of Scripture doesn't mean everyone will understand the Scripture equally. It doesn't mean there's not hard things. It doesn't mean we don't need to study or be taught. But it means that we can understand all that is necessary for life and godliness  and that the Scriptures can be understood. They are a lamp. They are a light. They bring clarity to what we should think and how we should live. They don't bring a fog. The Scriptures are not like a pond that a rock has been thrown in that has all kinds of ripples and you can't really see. The Scriptures, James says, are a mirror. You can see yourself in clearly. There is a clarity to the Scriptures. 

What are the implications of the clarity of Scripture? What are the implications? Well, because the Scriptures are clear, one implication is that all mankind is without excuse. We are all without excuse. You know, it's amazing how many times Jesus as he was ministering, I just put a couple of references up there, but there's many where He was talking to the Jews of his day and He would say something to them like, "Have you not read?" What was his point? His point was this is you read it, you understand it, and you embrace it. And He was saying, "Hey, have haven't you guys read this? You should know this because it is clear in the Scriptures what God says is true." 

You see, the issue with man's lack of understanding and lack of reception of God’s Word is not because of any issue in God’s Word. It's not that there's anything unclear where we have an excuse to say, "Oh, God didn't make that plain." In Romans 1 speaks of that in regards to general revelation. How much more is it the case with special revelation that reveals in greater detail? Romans 1 speaks about how the creation has made the truth of God evident. But what is the problem? Men suppress that truth. Second Corinthians 4 talks about this more with regards to the special revelation of God where it says in verse one it says, “Since we have this ministry as we receive mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame not walking in craftiness or adulterating the Word of God but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. He says as those who minister the Word of God and the gospel, we don't do it in a way that is crafty or changing the message. We simply proclaim what is true. And he says in verse three, what's the problem then? Well, if the gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they do not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. You see, the problem is not that there is no light of the gospel. It is clear. The message of the gospel is clear. The problem is that mankind is blind. It is a moral problem. It is an issue of the fact that we are dead in our sins that we do not see and embrace the truth of God’s Word. But for those who are in Christ, verse 5, “We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus is Lord and ourselves as Your bond servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness’ is the One who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

If you were saved later in life, you may remember your attitude towards God’s Word as an unbeliever. And it's like, “Yeah, this is this is kind of a jumbled mess. I don't know what it's talking about. I don't care. It's boring. And you know, why would I don't even know half the time what it's talking about.” And then God opens your eyes, and He grants you the Spirit and you can now see the light of the glory of the gospel. And this word is not necessarily easy to understand all the time, but it is clear. And you embrace that truth and you see that truth and you receive what God has revealed. Because the Scriptures are clear, all mankind is without excuse. 

But secondly, because the Scriptures are clear, we can truly know God and his will. Again, this is related to the revelation of God. You understand that there are secret things as Deuteronomy 29:29 said. There are things we wish we knew, but we can't. But there are revealed things as we saw in in Psalm 19 other places. And we can know God truly through His Word. We can know God's will. We have all that we need for life and godliness through the Word of God. And it is clear for us. And so we should approach the Scriptures with an eager anticipation. When you open your Bible to read it, when you open your Bible to study it, when you come to a church service and you anticipate the sermon, you should come expecting to know what is true, to learn more of what is true about God and His will for you. We can truly know God. We can't fully know him.

There will always be things that we would like to know more, but we can truly know him. and we can truly know his will. 

Because the Scriptures are clear, thirdly, we should all spend time in God’s Word. It's not something that we say, "Oh, I get 45 minutes of that, 50 minutes of that on Sunday. Maybe we go to Sunday school. I get almost two hours of it and that's sufficient. Somebody else is spoon-feeding me what I need to know about God." No, we should be spending time in God’s Word personally. Joshua 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth.” That's reading it. It's not out loud but reading it to yourself. And it's you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. Psalm 19, Psalm 119 extol the value of God’s Word as we meditate on it day and night. And so the fact that the Scriptures are clear that they can be understood that they can be understood by all believers using the normal means of language means we should be spending time in it. All of us spending time in it. 

A fourth implication: Because the Scriptures are clear, parents should teach their children God’s Word. Again, 2 Timothy 3 that we looked at earlier spoke of how from childhood, Timothy had known the sacred writings. You see, the Scriptures are not PhD level. Now the NAS is a higher reading level but it's truth can be understood by children. That's why God commands us Deuteronomy 6 if you want to turn over there to teach them to our children. Deuteronomy 6, He reminds us we're to love the Lord our God ourselves. We're to have these truths filling our own minds. Verse six. And then verse 7, “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

How many of you teach your three-year-olds calculus? Probably none of you. Maybe you have a unique three-year-old. But you teach your three-year-olds things like how to count and how to you know, eventually you want to teach them how to do basic math and all of those things. You know, the fact that they can't learn everything about math doesn't mean they can't learn things that are true about math. But you recognize there's some things they can't understand. And it would be a waste of time to try to teach my child something that is beyond them. But God says the Scriptures are not that. He says you should teach your children the Scriptures. You should intentionally teach your children these things and you should intentionally talk about them all the time. Why? Because the Scriptures are clear and can be understood and because you can understand them. He doesn't say “Fathers if you are gifted to teach you should teach your children the Scriptures.” No, He says all fathers can understand the truth of God’s Word and can communicate that to their children. Why? Because the Scriptures are clear. It's why Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, don't provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in [what?] the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” It is possible for every Christian father, every Christian mother to be engaged teaching their children accurately the truth of God’s Word. 

Now again, does that mean that that's the only teaching that they need? No. You can be grateful that there are a variety of gifted teachers and if they're in a four-year-old preschool class, there's somebody who's gifted who studied to help teach them and in elementary and youth and on up. you appreciate all the other voices, but because the Scriptures are clear, parents should teach their children God’s Word. The church should also do this. That's why in, again, examples that we've already looked at, of God's people gathering and including children in that, you know, children can't understand everything in the service. But it's important that they are learning about God’s Word because the truth of God’s Word is clear and understandable. So, because the Scriptures are clear, all mankind is without excuse. We can truly know God and His will. We should all spend time in God’s Word. Parents should teach their children's God’s Word. 

And a fifth implication is we should work to see the Bible translated for all the peoples of the world. This was one of the passions that came out of the reformation. When you recognize that the Scriptures are the authority and the Scriptures are clear, the desire and the need is for all people to be able to understand the Scriptures in their own language. The reformers were champions of Bible translation. That was an important part of what they did. And we should have that same heart. I didn't pull the statistics into the PowerPoint tonight, but you understand that there are people in our world who either have zero access to the Bible in their language or have only a small part of the Bible recorded or translated into their language. They may have a trade language they could learn and gain access to the Scriptures, but they do not have what we have the ability to study what is clear in God's Word, what He has revealed in a way that is understandable to them.  And it is our role as the people of God to be involved in seeing the Bible translated for other people's all the other peoples of the world. That's, you know, inherent in the great commission. If you're going to teach them to obey all that I have commanded you, the authority of Scripture, they need the Scriptures to be able to do that. And because the Scriptures are clear, it is worth it for the Bible to be translated so that people can read it on their own. If the Bible wasn't clear, if it took a PhD and only a handful of select gifted people could teach the Bible accurately, you know, those people may know a different language and can bridge that gap. But no, the Bible is clear, and all people need to be able to read it. 

A final implication of the fact that the Scriptures are clear is that we should interpret the Bible using the literal, grammatical, historical, hermeneutic. If you weren't here last semester, you can go back and listen to what we unpacked as it regards to how we interpret the Bible. But a fundamental priority for interpreting the Bible is recognizing God intended to communicate to us. And he did so using normal language that can be understood. And so when we come to the Bible to understand it, what do we do? We approach it as normal language that can be understood. We think about what did the original author intend to communicate because that's what God intended to communicate. And we want to understand that, and we want to intentionally use a process for thinking about interpreting the Bible that helps us to understand what is clear. 

We don't come saying, "Oh, there's probably some secret hidden meaning we're trying to discern allegory or other things." No, we come looking for the plain meaning of Scripture. That's how we approach it. Again, that doesn't mean there's not figures of speech. Doesn't mean God doesn't use all the different ways that we communicate. He does. And there's different kinds of Scripture, different genres of Scripture that we interpret appropriately, but we come expecting it to be clear through the normal use of language. 

So the Scriptures are authoritative. They speak to what we believe and how we live with authority. And the Scriptures are clear. we can understand what God has revealed to us about Himself, about the Gospel, about how we live. I love Psalm 19. We read part of this earlier where it says, "The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, [what?] enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true. They are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey, and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned, in keeping them there is great reward.” And God has given us a precious treasure in His Word. It's not optional. It's authoritative for everything we think and live. But it is not a burden to have that authority in our life. It is a gift from God to tell us how to think and how to live. And it is clear. It is a delight to us. It is a joy to understand what God has revealed and to live accordingly. 

May we treat God’s Word as that which is more desirable than gold, as sweeter than honey. May we embrace the Scriptures, as God’s Word to us, authoritative, and be thankful that they are clear. God has communicated and God does everything perfectly. And so, His communication to us is all that we need. And we'll continue on that theme as we go in the coming weeks. Let's pray together. 

Our Father, thank You for these men. Thank You for the time together. Thank You that Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Lord, You have clearly revealed Yourself, Your will, Your ways to us, Lord. Not everything we would wish to know about You, but You have revealed all that we need to know in order to be saved, in order to live lives that please You. Lord, we thank You that that what You have revealed is in fact revealed, that we can understand it. Thank You that we can collectively as a church grow in our understanding together. We're grateful for gifted teachers and the opportunity to study even together tonight. And we recognize not everything in Scripture is easy to understand. But You have made it clear what we need to know and believe. And we praise You for that. May we not take this gift for granted but may we treasure it as You intend in Christ's name. Amen.