Our purpose at the Omega Institute is to help the believer understand and appreciate the doctrines of Scripture in a way he or she can truly digest and apply. This series of devotionals cover the spectrum of Evangelical biblical doctrine in such a way that the Christian can meditate each week on a different truth from Scripture so as to master the essentials and better know and serve his or her Lord.
Key Verse(s):
“20Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21For the prophecy came not at any time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” —2 Peter 1:20, 21
One of the most common criticisms leveled against Evangelical Christians regarding the Scriptures is that of hypocrisy. We say we believe in “Sola Scriptura” (the Reformation principle that the Bible alone is the ultimate source of authority for the believer) but we turn to so many other sources to understand and apply it. The line of reasoning goes like this: “If the Bible alone is inspired, and it is enough, then why all the commentaries, Bible teachers and teaching ministries, etc? All the Christian should need is the Bible itself. Right?”
In a sense, that is precisely what the man or woman who holds to Sola Scriptura is saying – this position does not rule out the importance of study aids and godly teachers; in fact, the Scripture itself affirms that Bible teachers are a gift from God to the Church (Ephesians 4:11-13). During the time of Nehemiah, Ezra reads the Law to the people of Israel, which had been long lost and now well, recovered. “They read from the book, the Law of God, translating (explaining) to give the sense so that they understood the hearing.” (Nehemiah 8:8)
The Scriptures, like any piece of literature, requires interpretation on the part of the person reading it – however, the Scriptures are clear enough in what they re saying that anyone who is responsibly taking into the consideration the elements we use to interpret someone’s words will arrive at the proper meaning regarding the main points of Scripture. The Reformers called this the perspicuity of Scripture: that the “main thing is the plain thing.” The most central teachings of Scripture have enough clear mention in the pages of the text that anyone who is careful to keep issues like context (what is being said around what I am studying: before and after it?), language (remember, the Old and New Testament were not written in modern English: what do the original languages bear out?), audience (who is being written to?), the occasion (under what conditions was the passage written?) and genre (what is the style of writing used here and what are the general rules for understanding this kind of work?). When the Ethiopian Eunuch read Isaiah 53, Philip’s question, “do you understand what you are reading?” was answered with, “Well, how could I unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8:30, 32); a response that assumes Philip’s ability to understand and relate the meaning of the text to him. Note, that the eunuch was not relying on a teaching magisterium (some special class of clergy entrusted with the meaning of the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit) but on a man who was familiar enough with the teachings of the Word to have arrived at the proper conclusions.
Not convinced? Consider the apostolic practice in relating the meaning of the Bible to even its most skeptical critics (at least from the standpoint of the Christian Church and its message):
“And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them [the Jews] and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead saying, ‘This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”
Acts 17:2, 3
This approach to teaching Scripture is mentioned in Acts 17:7, 18:19 as well as 19:8, 9. This does not demonstrate that the power of reason alone with the driving force in being able to understand Scripture, but it does prove that the Scripture is clear enough for anyone to be able to reason through it without the need for some human agency, special teacher or appointed organization to make the meaning of Scripture clear.
Like any written information, there are harder sections to understand than others (2 Peter 3:16) which unstable and unlearned folks can distort – however, the clarity of Scripture and the sufficiency of the Word should only push us to further diligence in the study of and submission to its truths (2 Timothy 2:15) and the Scripture promises us that we can personally be an individual who rightly “divides” the Word of truth.
—Larry Carrino
