The perspicuity of Scripture
You’ve got to love a million dollar word like perspicuity, especially when you find out what it means.
My brother commented on theology yesterday:
Okay, but then let’s make it practical (relevant) and understandable for those of us who don’t have a DMin. or a degree in Philosophy.
Using two dollar words and arguing non-essentials leaves me cold. I’d rather just go for a coffee with my pals.
I’m glad to see Arthur recognizing the brilliance of D.Min. students. And I do realize that perspicuity is a two dollar word. But before Arthur leaves to have coffee with his friends…
I agree with Arthur, and I think it’s time to return theology where it belongs: away from the ivory towers, and back to non-eggheads. That’s where perspicuity comes in.
The Reformers insisted on what they call the “perspicuity” of Scripture, that the Bible is substantially intelligible to the common person and requires neither pope nor professor to interpret it. It is essentially open to our understanding without recourse to academic specialists or a privileged priesthood. As the Westminster Confession says, “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 course of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.
I like this belief.
