Is the Bible Understandable?

I. Introduction
A. Many attacks on the Bible — mammoth onslaught
1. One of the attacks is on the understandability of the Bible
2. Satan in the garden questioning the understandability of God’s word. (Gen.3:1)
3. Tradition traditions: Catholic, Orthodox
4. Charismatic church
5. Liberal church
6. Emerging church
7. Skeptics
8. “That’s just your interpretation!”
9. Satan may be attacking you personally in this way.
B. Reformation
1. Sola Scriptura
2. Bibles in the hands of the people
3. These both presume understandability (perspicuity)
4. One of the principles of the Reformation was that the Bible is understandable.
5. God is a speaking God. What difference does that make if you can’t understand what He says?
6. God says of Jesus, “Listen to Him!” Again, that only makes sense if His word is understandable.
7. If the Bible is not understandable, then the Bible isn’t sufficient. And if the Bible’s not sufficient, we need some additional source of truth.
8. God is capable of making Himself clear. He gave us language as a gift. And in spite of all the limitations of human language and communication, the almighty God is capable of using it to make Himself clear.
C. Now obviously people often don’t understand the Bible. So let’s talk about what this doesn’t mean:
1. It doesn’t mean it’s always easy to understand it.
2. And it doesn’t mean we can understand it completely.
3. And it doesn’t mean we can understand it all on our own.
4. And it doesn’t mean everyone can understand it.
D. It means that the main message of the Bible can be understood by an open-minded person.
II. What the Bible says about its understandability:
A. God speaks to people and they understand: Noah, Abraham, Moses, the prophets
B. Josiah found the law (2Kg.22-23). He was able to understand it without help. It made sense to him.
C. Many times Jesus cited the OT as if it made sense. He chided people for not catching its meaning.
1. And similarly, many times the authors of the NT appeal to the OT as if it clearly and authoritatively answers the question.
D. An yet, many times people don’t understand the Bible. This leads us to the question: Why don’t people understand the Bible? And the Bible talks a lot about this.
1. John 8:43 “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you can’t hear My word.”
2. Matt. 22:29 Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” (See also Mark12:24.)
3. Luke 9:45 They did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.
4. Hebrews 5:11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
5. Psalm 32:8–9 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.
E. It’s not understandable to everyone.
1. 1Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
2. General revelation and special revelation
a. Romans 1:18ff. — Everybody hears this.
b. Special: not for everyone
3. Ears to hear are a gift from God.
a. John 7:17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
b. John 10:27–28 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
F. The disciples often misunderstood Jesus, but He never excused it as if the problem was with His communication. Rather, He often referred to them as dull of hearing and having little faith.
1. Luke 24 — the road to Emmaus, where, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
2. Luke 24:25 He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”
G. Remember Jesus at 12 confounding the elders in the temple in Luke 2?
1. This wasn’t a miracle: a one-year-old doing this would have been a miracle.
2. This shows us what a 12 year old mind is capable of if it is not twisted and distracted by sin.
3. Our problem with the Bible is not one of understandability, it is one of sin.
H. We don’t need the church to tell us what the Bible says. We don’t need tradition to understand its main messages.
I. Who was the Bible written to? Who were the NT epistles written to, for instance? The law of Moses? the prophets? They were not written to church officials or bishops. They were written to the people of God, in the confidence that the people – with God’s help – would be able to understand the word of God. Who were the popes and cardinals and bishops who explained Paul’s letter to its Ephesian recipients?
III. 2Peter 3:15–17 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
A. There is a recognition here that sometimes the Scriptures are difficult to understand.
B. But those who get it wrong are not excused by this. They are said to twist the things to their own destruction.
C. It’s true: People find whatever they want to find in the Bible. But you can’t blame the Bible for this. This is true about any writing.
IV. Conclusion
A. We have been given a very precious gift: the Bible in our own language, the message of Jesus which we can read for ourselves.
1. We don’t need a broker. We have direct access to God in His word.
B. Our only problem is us: our own sinfulness.
1. We do need God’s grace. He’s the one who can deal with our sinful hearts.
2. Ps.119:18 “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.”
a. There are wonderful things in the word of God for me to see.
b. But there’s an obstacle.
(1) It’s not an intellectual problem.
(2) It’s not an understandability problem.
(3) It’s a heart problem. It’s a spiritual problem. It’s a sin problem.
(4) There’s a blindness I have. I need the eyes of my heart opened (Eph.1:18).
c. I can’t remove this obstacle. (That’s why this is a prayer.)
d. God is the One who can open my eyes.
C. Text books – one year builds on another. The first grade math book is vastly different from the graduate school math textbook.
1. But we all have the same textbook. The little kids Sunday school class uses the same textbook as the Ph.D. class!
2. So obviously, there are different levels of understanding. But they are true levels of understanding.
3. The ocean: toddlers play in the surf and the world’s top oceanographers make special little capsules to travel in down to the deepest portions.
4. Neither one knows everything there is to know about the ocean, but they both have real knowledge of the ocean.
D. One of the passions of the Reformation was for the simplest, least-educated person could learn the Bible well. And it’s happened all over the world, all through history. As God works in people’s hearts, He opens their eyes to the beautiful truths of the Bible.
1. Many times the Bible itself began a church — with no outside help!
2. This does not repudiate, or even diminish the value of the teaching ministry of the church. We’ll be talking about that in a few weeks.

V. Next week
A. What about the shocking things the Bible says, like condoning slavery? Can it really be trusted? That’s what we’re going to talk about at SS next week.
B. Next week’s sermon: The Holy Spirit’s role in our relationship with the Bible