Perspicuity of Scripture and its Implications

London Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 1 Paragraph 77.
All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet 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 use of ordinary means, may attain to a sufficient understanding of them.( 2 Peter 3:16; Psalms 19:7; Psalms 119:130)

I begin with the LBCF Chapter 1 Paragraph 7 that clearly (no pun intended) teaches the perspicuity of scripture on the matters of salvation and redemption. This biblical truth sets Christianity above all other religious claims. For example, the Bahai faith teaches that revelation is a manifestation of divine ideas that don't actually give transcendent unchanging truth. Or Islam that teaches that Allah is unknowable, or the Gnostics who believes in secret knowledge, or Buddhist that believe you should empty yourself of thought in order to reach nirvana. All such views of revelation are self defeating, undermining the very claim of having divine revelation. But in Scripture we have the very thoughts of God communicated to man by way of revelation in the form of propositional truths (Deut 18:18, 1 Cor 2:16b, Col 1:26). This of course is what makes the gospel news (Rom 1:16). We know that it is news because it disclosures the truth of the only way of man's salvation, which others wise would not be knowable (Eph 2:12). This is a wonderful truth that we can know truth! And that 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 use of ordinary means, may attain to a sufficient understanding of them. This has many implications. It means that the gospel is to be known and understood; it is not meant to be some unsolvable conundrum or paradox. But rather it is the very Word of God spoken to man that is able to save our very souls! (Jam 1:21) With this being the case it means that churches have no excuse in getting the essential gospel message wrong. It can not be the failure of the all wise God who has sufficiently communicate his will to man through the faith once and for all delivered to the saints (Jud 3). But rather the failure of the saints, or supposed saints, who have in some cases for some reason, decided to distort gospel truth in order to promote some ulterior agenda.

But that being said, true saints love the gospel, some are willing even to die for it. However, there are still some challenging implications for churches that have the gospel and believe in the perspicuity scripture. First, it implies that we should be busy with evangelism, after all we have the good news (Mark 16:15). But secondly, and this is where I have observed some deficiencies, we should be training up other man in order that the gospel can impact the church of tomorrow. Paul instructed Timothy that he was to entrust the gospel to other faithful man, who in turn would be able to teach others (2 Tim 2:2). How could Paul say this to Timothy if he didn't have a degree in theology? The reason he could instruct Timothy this way is because of what he was entrusting to him; namely the perspicuous teachings of Scripture concerning salvation in Jesus Christ. Now of course there is much need for scholarship and higher academic training today, but we can't make such training the necessary prerequisite for church leadership or missionary work.

So my challenge would be this: Does your church right now have men ready to the lead after the current leadership is no longer there? Thank God for the perspicuity of scripture, which allows us teach timeless transcendent understandable truth to all people from every walk of life. Lets us make the most of what God has revealed to us in scripture for the generations to come. Enough said.