In the Ancient Near East, nighttime was very dark. With the glow of headlights and streetlamps today, sundown doesn’t really stop us from traveling wherever we want to go. But before electricity, if a caravan set out in the dark of night, travelers had to carry lamps or torches that would light only the next few steps. This is the image the psalmist used for God’s Word in Psalm 119:105: “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,” guiding us one step at a time.
Psalm 119 is a deeply personal and poetic celebration of the illuminating power of Scripture. It’s an acrostic poem with 22 stanzas, each beginning with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, a common method in Hebrew poetry that aided memorization. Though the author is anonymous, many scholars point to David, or perhaps Ezra or Nehemiah. Regardless, the author’s “delight” in God’s Word is unmistakable (Psalm 119:14; Psalm 119:16; Psalm 119:24; etc.).
With 176 verses, this is the longest chapter in the Bible. Nearly every verse celebrates God’s Scriptures, also called His “law,” “testimonies,” “precepts,” “statutes,” “commandments,” “ordinances,” “words,” and “promises.” Each of these eight synonyms offers nuance to the same theme.
Some critics argue that the psalmist even seems to worship the Word rather than God, but actually, every verse references God directly, often with the personal address “you” or “your word.” Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp,” which also echoes Psalm 119:130: “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple” (emphases added).
So what does this have to do with studying the Bible? Just as light brings clarity, Christians throughout history have used the word “perspicuity” to describe how the Bible’s Truth is clear to us.
The IVP Pocket Reference Series defines “perspicuity” as “a doctrine maintaining that the gospel of Jesus Christ and the salvation obtained through him are clearly presented in Scripture … it affirms that the message of Scripture is presented with enough clarity that it can be understood, at least at a basic level, without advanced theological or exegetical training.”
Long ago, biblical manuscripts were copied on scrolls that had to be stored in synagogues or churches and read communally, but later events and technologies like the printing press enabled more believers to read the Bible themselves, not depending solely on clergy. (Or depending on Scriptures that were inaccessible in Latin.) Bible scholar John Frame writes, “The clarity of Scripture does not mean that we need no teachers; Scripture says God provides teachers … But the doctrine of clarity calls on everyone—of any age, status, or education level—to hear God’s word.”
Throughout this two-week Theology 101 study, we’ve highlighted some helpful Bible study tools. Today, as we close, the tool is simply this: At first, don’t use one. Just sit with God and His Word, and let Him speak. While other resources are valuable and often necessary, we remember God’s words to Israel: “The word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it” (Deuteronomy 30:14). If “what can be known about God is plain to [people], because God has shown it to them” through His creation (Romans 1:19-20), how much more clearly does He shine on us through His Word?
It’s important to affirm the clarity of Scripture as a lamp that “gives light … to the simple” (Psalm 119:130) while also acknowledging that the special revelation of God’s Word is different from general revelation, or what we can know about God from His creation. While Romans 1:19-20 says everyone knows that God exists (even if they deny it), it is God’s prerogative to grant the additional knowledge of Him found in His Word.
The Apostle Paul, writing to the Christians of Corinth, said: “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 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” (1 Corinthians 2:12-14, emphasis added). God is the one who gives understanding. Without that help we are otherwise “not able to understand.”
God is the One who gives people understanding of who He is. We see this with the disciples in Luke 24:45, as Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”
Peter also knew Jesus was the Messiah, not because Peter was so smart but because God “revealed” it to him (Matthew 16:17).
The Bible is clear on a basic level to all who read it, but let’s also pray that its Truth deeply penetrates every heart and mind with a supernatural and saving understanding. We pray this, knowing that God says His Word always accomplishes all His purposes. (Isaiah 55:11)
Adorn the Gospel 