The Perspicuity of Scripture
By Gerry Breshea rs How did the evangelical church come to insist that the message of the Bible is clear INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF BELIEF The Church has not always believed that Scripture is clear enough for everyone to read without an official interpretation. Soon after the apostolic period, allegorical methods with roots in Greek philosophy began influencing the interpretation of Scripture. Many of the Church Fathers found "spiritual" meanings hidden beneath the literal words of Scripture. Often the spiritual meaning bore no obvious relationship to the literal meaning. The Church eventually adopted the view that since the Church was the proper guardian of Scripture, only its representatives could interpret authoritatively what was the true meaning of Scripture. The laity were denied free access to the Scriptures lest they interpret them improperly and disseminate false doctrine. In the later Middle Ages, the allegorical approach to hermeneutics began to lose its hold. Some theologians promoted a modified methodology, most notably St. Thomas Aquinas. Others threw out allegory and insisted that Scripture was so clear that even an uneducated believer could understand at the very least the Bible's message of salvation and its instructions for holy living. A corollary of this position was that all persons should have access to the Bible in the vernacular. The Reformers of the 16th century began to formulate the doctrine that came to be known as the Perspicuity of Scripture. Evangelicals are heirs of this doctrine. Evangelicals believe that Scripture is comprehensible enough so that, with the aid of the Holy Spirit and by using a sound hermeneutic that allows Scripture to interpret itself, anyone who desires to do so can understand God's message. This being true, all Christians should have unrestricted access to God's Word in his or her own language. To a generation of Christians unschooled in the historical reasons for the Reformers' declaring Scripture clear, the traditional name for the doctrine has been perhaps misleading. The implication of the word perspicuity is that any believer of average intelligence should be able to read the Bible and understand what it is talking about. If that is so, then there is no need for any ecclesiastical judge to declare authoritatively the meaning of a scriptural passage. When this position is taken to an extreme—as it has been by some Protestants—the individual becomes the supreme authority on the meaning of Scripture, claiming revelation from the Holy Spirit to authenticate an interpretation not necessarily validated by the Church as a whole. The ludicrousness of this extreme position is quickly seen when multiple contradictory interpretations supposedly come from the same Holy Spirit of truth,1 with the result that truth is made relative. A typical Catholic argument runs like this: "If Scripture is clear, why are there so many Protestant denominations Why can't Protestants agree among themselves about the meaning of Scripture " If we are to respond honestly, we must admit that the scandal of division among Protestants over supposedly biblical issues does not provide credibility to the assertion that Scripture is clear. It is a charge that cannot be lightly dismissed. Protestants as well have trouble with the doctrine.2 When asked whether Scripture is clear, they will frequently interpret the question as "Do you understand the meaning of Scripture " The answer will then be an honest "No." There are many passages of Scripture that are hard to understand, a situation made even more complicated by the knowledge that Protestant churches disagree over some major issues while all appeal to Scripture to back up their beliefs. How, then, is it possible to say that Scripture is clear

下一页