A quick thought on the perspicuity of Scripture

[Mathetes]

I've been reading through the archives of Turretinfan's excellent blog and was dismayed at the amount of Romanists who seem to think that disagreements amongst Protestants is enough to demonstrate that the Scriptures are not really perspicuous and that an Infallible Interpreter is therefore needed.

This got me to thinking, and it's really quite simple to disprove. Is there anything in North America more perspicuous than a stop sign? It's a big red octagon placed in plain view with the word "STOP" in big white capital letters. Obviously, then, no one sails through stop signs, right? No, it's been estimated that stop sign violations make up 70% of crashes. Of course, this can be for a number of reasons - anything from people putting on their makeup in their car or unwrapping their egg mcmuffins to daredevil antics and what have you. One thing is clear, though - no one is silly enough to suggest that the message of the stop sign isn't clear enough. So why, then, insist that differences in opinion are due to a lack of clarity in Scripture? (bearing in mind, of course, that papal decrees also have to be interpreted; also bearing in mind that Romanists disagree on many things as well)

 

[au5t1n]

Good point. Thanks for sharing.

 

[C. M. Sheffield]

Well said. Most arguments used by Catholics against protestants like this one can just as easily be turned around on them! Your's is a good example of this.

 

[Ask Mr. Religion]

Someone should point these papists to:

Scriptural Perspicuity in the Early English Reformation in Historical Theology (Studies in Biblical Literature): Richard M. Edwards: 9780820470573: Amazon.com: Books

Just sayin'.

 

[Brian Bosse]

Hello Everyone,

I just finished reading Mark Noll's The Civil War as a Theological Crisis. One of the points made was the inability of a highly biblicized society to utilize the Scriptures to resolve the slavery issue, and how this failure radically changed society's view and use of the Bible. One of the most interesting sections of the book for me was the chapter on the various Catholic assessments of this failure. They regarded the Civil War crisis as a dramatic illustration of the inherent problems of Protestantism. Of course, as has already been mentioned in this thread, the Catholic magisterial solution these assessments provided does not solve the problem.

In the end, Mark Noll helped me to understand how powerfully distorting paradigms can be as it relates to both the individual and societal use of the Bible. So, even though I hold to the perspicuity of the Scriptures, I also hold to a skepticism regarding my own objectivity as I approach the Bible. I am not nearly as dogmatic about things as I once was. This is not an indictment against the clarity of the Bible, but rather is an epistemological indictment of the individual who is trying to understand the Bible.

Sincerely,

Brian