The Bible is clear. It is not cryptic and mysterious, a riddle to be cracked. It is not complex or scholarly, understandable only by the brilliant. It speaks the truth understandably, so that common, everyday people may know the truth. They may know both what they must believe to be saved and how they are to live as a result. The way of salvation and the particulars of Christian obedience are easily discerned from the Bible.
This is the theological concept of the clarity of Scripture. But we must ask the question, does the Bible itself back up this claim? Does the Bible teach its own clarity, or have we imposed that idea on it?
Deuteronomy 6:6-7
And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Deuteronomy records Moses’ great sermon, his final words to the children of Israel before his departure and death. In it, he recounts God’s past goodness and reminds them of His law. These words in Deuteronomy 6 underscore the importance of that law. Moses reminds his fellow Israelites that it’s not enough to have a superficial knowledge of God’s law—the law must permeate all of life. Whether at home or abroad, whether at the end of the day or the beginning a new one, the law should be discussed, understood, and internalized. It should be in the heart.
For the law to be in the heart it must be understood, embraced, and loved. But we ask, how can one love what he does not understand? In God’s goodness, the law is clear enough that all may understand it. It is not too lofty for any in Israel. In fact, even children can understand it. “You shall teach them diligently to your children.”
We would find it strange if God commanded something impossible. The command to teach even children about the law assumes that they are able to understand it and know what to do because of it. God asks His people to teach His commands to their children, with an expectation that those commands are clear enough that they will understand them.
While these verses don’t directly teach the clarity of Scripture, they most definitely assume that God’s law may be understood by all who hear it.
Deuteronomy 29:29
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Later in Deuteronomy we find this verse. Moses has instructed Israel of the law and has proclaimed both blessings on the faithful and curses on the unfaithful. In chapter 29, Israel renews their covenant with the Lord. After again reminding Israel of the consequences of turning away from God, Moses makes it clear that God isn’t asking anything unreasonable of them. He hasn’t left them questioning His will; God has told them exactly what He expects from them. Yes, there are things God hasn’t told them (“The secret things belong to the Lord our God”), yet He has also revealed some things very clearly.
To what end? So that Israel may do all the words of the law. God has revealed His will so His people would be able to obey Him. Can they obey God without understanding what He requires? Of course not! But this passage assumes that the law is written in a way that it may be understood and obeyed. In short, the law is clear, so that all who read it may understand what God requires of them, so that they may obey Him.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14
“For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.”
Again, Moses reminds the Israelites that they aren’t being asked to do the impossible. They have been exhorted to remain faithful to their Savior God, but that faithfulness does not first require some extraordinary task. They don’t need to climb into heaven to understand God’s will for them. They don’t need to cross the sea to some unknown land to unearth the mysteries of God. Rather, God has revealed His will to them in the law. God’s law is not hidden. It is not far off. Rather, it is near, so near that they may speak of it with their mouths. They may ponder it in their hearts. And they may obey it in their lives.
This tells us something of God’s character. Is He one to obscure His will? Does He ask us to follow Him, yet hide from us along the way? It doesn’t seem so. His self-revelation in the law was clear and accessible. He made His will known. He asked His people to study the word, ponder it, embrace it, and obey it. In fact, the entire idea of revelation (God giving us His Word) speaks to His desire for us to clearly know who He is and who He isn’t, what He loves and what He hates. The revealed Word is God making Himself plainly known. And even in the law, these rules and regulations given to Israel, He made Himself known. All that’s left is to receive His Word and obey it.
What God wanted from his people was not hidden far off in the sky or stored far away beyond the sea. The law can be on our lips. It can be taught to our children (Deut. 6:7). God’s revealed will does not require searching out and solving the mysteries of the universe (29:29). The word of God is near, not far, right in front of you, ready to be understood and obeyed.[1]
2 Kings 22:8-11
Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. So Shaphan the scribe went to the king, bringing the king word, saying, “Your servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of those who do the work, who oversee the house of the Lord.” Then Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.
Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes.
2 Kings 22 recounts Josiah’s coronation and the beginning of his reign. Though he “And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord,” he did so without the written law of God for the first seventeen years of his reign. In the eighteenth year, Hilkiah the priest discovers the book of the law.[2] Since both Josiah’s father Amon and his grandfather Manasseh were wicked kings with little regard for God’s law, it’s likely that it had been neglected for nearly seventy-five years.
Seventy-five years without the word of God. Though the Israelites may have been able to maintain a form of worship over those years, much of their true knowledge of God was surely lost. Such is apparent in the king’s mourning. When he heard the law, he knew that Israel was not living in obedience to it. Though they still called themselves the people of God, they had wandered far from His will. They had forgotten God.
The fact of the clarity of God’s word is quite evident in Josiah’s remorse upon hearing it read. He quickly understood that his people had fallen far short of the law of God. Though the law had been neglected for decades, the meaning was still clear. To Josiah, God’s Word was not a puzzle to solve or a riddle to crack. He didn’t need to send it off to his premier scholars to have it demystified. Rather, what God wanted could be plainly understood in His Word. And when Josiah heard that Word, he understood the truth, and he mourned.
But he did far more than mourn. He obeyed. The descriptions of Josiah’s reforms in the following chapter bear witness to his zeal for the law. Several times we are told that Josiah performed the words of the law which were written in the book, and again we remember that Josiah was not confused about what God required. He clearly understood the law, and he was zealous to live according to it. He abolished idol worship, rebuilt the temple, and reinstituted the Passover, all because of what he read in the law. He had no difficulty understanding the law, but that’s because it was not difficult to understand—because it was clear.
God’s Word is clear, which is why, even after decades of neglect, it can be read, rightly understood, and applied. If God’s will is obscured in His writing, or hidden away in some mystical code, Josiah would not have immediately known what to do. And we wouldn’t know what God wants from us today. But we can thank Him that His will is not hidden from us. God’s will for us is clear, and it can be found right there on the pages of His Word.
[1] Kevin DeYoung, Taking God at His Word, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014), 63.
[2] This book would have been the Pentateuch, the first five books of our Bible.