THE CLARITY OF SCRIPTURE

In his first interview with Mary, Queen of Scots, John Knox set forth the clarity of Scripture: “The word of God is plain in itself; and if there appear any obscurity in one place, the Holy Ghost, who is never contrary to Himself, explains the same more clearly in other places: so that there can remain no doubt, but to such as obstinately remain ignorant.” Zwingli, too, tested everything by the light of the gospel and the fire of Paul. He remarks that philosophy and theology prevented him from devotion to the Scriptures: “But eventually came to the point where led by the Word and Spirit of God I saw the need to set aside all things and to learn the doctrine of God direct from his own Word. Then I began to ask God for light and the Scriptures became far clearer to me—even though I read nothing else—than if I had studied many commentators and expositors.” Zwingli mounted the pulpit of the Great Church in Zurich, January 1, 1519 to announce a program of preaching consecutively through Matthew and ultimately the New Testament. Though Luther could not accept the militant Swiss reformer and the tragic division over the sacrament separated these leaders at Marburg in 1529, Zwingli’s appeal was to divine authority.

In the Baden Disputation of 1526 Zwingli answered how one ought to listen to that Word. It must be direct and master the understanding lest one’s own meaning make vain the Word of God. “If it is obscure in any place, it is to be expounded by God’s Word from another place.” Whether at the great disputation of January 29, 1523 or when Zwingli was at the point of death, both the preaching and hearing of the Word guided the Reformation in Zurich. There was a Zwingli Luther never knew, who wrote on October 31, 1531 before his death on the battlefield, “This is the best weapon, the only one that will be victorious, the Word of God.… Listen to the Word of God! That alone will set you right again.” To all of this John Calvin added common sense. For the reformers Christ was the subject and sovereign of Scripture. If for Jerome to be ignorant of Scripture was to be ignorant of Christ, for them to be ignorant of Christ was to be ignorant of Scripture.

The Bible was desired in the early Reformation, says Professor Van Den Brink, as a help to find a better way to God. The Word of God “seated in the minds of the faithful” led to possession and perception of its clarity. Patrick Hamilton it seems was accused in 1528 of just that opinion that the people of Scotland were well able to understand the New Testament. In Patrick’s Places, Hamilton expressed that better way to God:

    The Law sayeth

    Pay Thy debt

    Thou art a sinner desperate

    And Thou shalt die.

    The Gospel sayeth,

    Christ hath paid it.

    Thy sins are forgiven thee

    Be of good comfort, thou shalt be saved.

For all the reformers the clarity of Scripture led to that certainty. Its clarity and certainty provoked a crisis for Catholic exegesis.

Robert B. Laurin, “The Dead Sea Scrolls and Interpretation,” ed. Ralph G. Turnbull, Baker’s Dictionary of Practical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1967), 125–126.