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Chapter Three (“It is not beyond you: The accessible word of the living God”) is where we really get down to business and look at actual verses. “The crucial test for any Christian doctrine is whether it accords with the teaching of the Bible.” In this chapter, Thompson makes the case that the perspicuity of Scripture is taught in the pages of Scripture itself.

Jesus and the Old Testament
It’s always a good idea to have the same attitude toward the Scripture as Jesus. And Jesus believed the Old Testament Scriptures to be understandable and accessible. Jesus often claimed he was fulfilling Old Testament prophecy (Matt. 10:35-36; Luke 4:18-19; John 13:18; 15:25). Jesus referred to the Old Testament as evidence for the veracity of his teaching (Matt. 21:42-44; Mark 10:4-9; John 10:34-35). Other times he chided the Jewish establishment for not conforming to the word of God (Matt. 21:13; Mark 7:6-7, 10). In short, appealing to the Old Testament was decisive for Jesus. It was supposed to settle the matter. “Equally, it seems, Jesus make such an appeal not only with the expectation that this testimony will be accepted by faithful Jewish men and women, but that it will be intelligible to them. What use would there be in quoting texts no-one was able to understand?”

Later Thompson writes:

Jesus appears to operate on the assumption that when the words of Scripture are read or heard, they will be understood, at least well enough to warrant an acknowledgment that he is who he says he is and that his words are true. Yet this overarching confidence does not exclude the possibility that an individual passage might prove difficult, such that the exhortation ‘let the reader understand’ is appropriate. He is not suggesting that every text is transparent, that understanding is always and in every case automatic or simple. Nevertheless, in general terms the Scripture can only operate the way they do in Jesus’ teaching ministry because they are assumed to make sense as they stand. This assumption enables him to hold accountable those who claim to know the Scriptures, but fail to respond to him with repentance and faith (John 5:36-47).

The Apostles and the Old Testament
The apostles approached the Old Testament in the same way Jesus did. Recently I had someone stop me short when I was trying to make a point using the Bible. He interrupted, “But you can’t use the Bible as a trump card. It’s only your interpretation.” But didn’t the apostles use the Bible as a “trump card”? Peter appealed to the Old Testament at Pentecost to make his claim that “this Jesus whom you crucified” was both Lord and Christ. Paul appealed to the Old Testament constantly in his epistles. He even reasoned with the Jews in the synagogues (Paul was making rational arguments and he had never even heard of Descartes!) and set up shop in the Hall of Tyrannus to lecture and prove from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. The book of Hebrews is nothing but an extended commentary on several Old Testament passages. The assumption in the New Testament so plain that no one had to even defend it was that the Old Testament texts had a specific meaning and their meaning could be understood.

The Old Testament and the Clarity of Scripture
Thompson points to four main lines of evidence for the clarity of the Old Testament in the Old Testament itself.

1. Moses and the accessible Book of the Law
Deut. 30:9-14 argues that the word of the law is “very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” The commandments of God are not in heaven that we have to go get them. God’s instructions are not esoteric or unintelligible. Rather, it was explicitly stated that Israel could learn God’s word, meditate on it, and carry it out (cf. Joshua 1:8-9).

2. The light of the Psalms
God’s word, according to Psalm 119:105, is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. The word is not cloaked in postmodern, hermeneutical mystery. Rather, the unfolding of God’s words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple (v. 130). Holy Scripture is clear because God is light and God’s light is meant to give us eyes to see.

3. Understanding against all odds
“A third line of evidence in the Old Testament, to which classic defences of the doctrine often appeal, are those examples of a biblical text being understood, even in circumstances remote from when it was first written.” For example, when the Book of the Law was rediscovered in Josiah’s day (2 Kings 22), the people read it, understood it, and knew what to do in response. Likewise, after Ezra’s reading of the Book of the Law to the returned exiles in Jerusalem, the priests gave the meaning of the text so that the people understood the reading (Neh. 8:1-8). The Book of the Law had been all but lost. It was written a century prior. And yet the leaders gave the meaning of the text (not just an interpretation!) and the people understood. The clarity of Scripture does not render all exposition unnecessary, but such exposition assumes that the text has a meaning that can be clearly communicated.

4. The guarantee of God: His words never fail
“A fourth and final line of evidence gathers those statements throughout the Old Testament (and the New Testament as well) where God speaks of the effectiveness of his word.” God’s word will accomplish its purposes (Isaiah 55:10-11). His word will stand the test of time (Isa. 40; Jer. 30:2-3). Further, God comforted his people with promises. And what comfort would there be in divine promises if their sure meaning always alluded us?

When Scripture is Difficult
No serious defense of the perspicuity of Scripture denies that there are difficulties in the Bible. “Clarity is not the same as uniform simplicity or even transparency.” Parables were meant, in part, to conceal the truth from those who would not see it. Nicodemus did not understand from Ezekiel what it meant to be born again. The Ethiopian eunuch needed help grasping the meaning of Isaiah 53. Peter famously admitted what we’ve all thought a time or two, some of what Paul writes is hard to understand.

But even in this text it assumed that a true meaning of Paul’s words can be ascertained. Otherwise how could Peter warn that “ignorant and unstable” persons twist the words of Paul like they do the rest of the Scriptures? How can the words of Scripture be twisted unless there is a correct, understandable shape from which all deviation can be measured?

So there are hard texts. Some passages of Scripture are simple. Some passages require exegetical know-how. And a few passages still puzzle us. The doctrine of perspicuity does not deny any of this. But the doctrine of perspicuity also gives us confidence that the most important things in the Bible can be understood, because God wants us to understand them. Moreover, God has given us his Spirit to illuminate our minds. He has also given us Spirit-gifted teachers to exposit the hard texts. No matter the hard texts we can still say with Peter that “we have something more sure, the prophetic word, 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 heart” (2 Peter 1:19).

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