DEVOTION // Scripture is clear
[An] important attribute of the Bible… is the attribute or characteristic of clarity. If the Scriptures were not clear, then they would not be able to accomplish the work ascribed to them by St. Paul when he tells us that through them we become “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus … and … thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:15) …
They are… so clear that anyone with a normal grasp of language, its vocabulary and grammar, can grasp the meaning and intention of the words of the Bible. Jesus tells us that through his Word we will “know the truth” (John 8: 31,32).
If his Word were not clear, we could not know that it is the truth or what that truth is.
• There is nothing fuzzy or clouded in the words of the gospel as summarized by Jesus in John 3: 16. Jesus is crystal clear: God loved the world. God gave his Son. All who trust in him have, even now, eternal life.
• In Romans 10: 17, St. Paul is crystal clear when he tells us how that faith is created: It comes by the hearing of God’s Word.
• There is nothing muddy or murky about Jesus’ words when he instituted the Sacrament of the Altar: “This is my body; this is my blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
• There is likewise nothing unclear about St. Paul’s words in Titus 3: 4-7 with respect to the Sacrament of Baptism: It is a means by which God saves and gives us every heavenly blessing.
The intention and object of God’s love and grace in Christ as it is expressed in John 3: 16 is likewise in need of no clever interpretation or giant intellect: The object of all his grace and blessing is the whole world, every one of us, each one of us, none excluded. How could anyone miss the point? St. John repeats it in 1 John 2: 2, and St. Paul emphasizes it in 2 Corinthians 5: 19.
Just as the doctrines mentioned are clearly taught in the clear words of the Scriptures, so too are all the other doctrines of the Bible clearly taught in the clear words of the Scriptures. That people reject some or all of the doctrines taught by the Scriptures cannot be blamed on the Scriptures or on some supposed lack of clarity in the Scriptures.
That many reject its doctrines in part or completely is the fault of the devil and of those who reject those doctrines. St. Paul makes that point when he says, “Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:3,4).
Source: Daniel Deutschlander in Grace Abounds: The Splendor of Christian Doctrine. Northwestern Publishing House.
