“Just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them concerning these things, in which some things are hard to understand, which the unlearned and unstable twist, as they also twist the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” — 2 Peter 3:15–16
“The opening of Your words gives light, imparting understanding to the simple.” — Psalm 119:130
A Concept That Needs Clarifying
In certain church settings, two seemingly opposite but equally lopsided positions exist:
One says: “The Bible is clear, everyone can read and understand it directly, and no teachers are needed.” In practice this position denies the necessity of the gift of teaching and denies the difficulty of understanding that Scripture itself acknowledges in many places.
The other says: “The Bible is too profound — you cannot understand it on your own; you must depend on one particular teacher’s interpretation to understand it correctly.” This position elevates one person’s teaching to a level equal to, or even above, Scripture itself, effectively stripping believers of the right and confidence to read the Bible directly.
Scripture’s own answer to this question is more precise and more balanced than either extreme.
Scripture Acknowledges Its Own Difficult Passages
Peter — an apostle personally chosen by Jesus — commented on Paul’s epistles with candor: “in which some things are hard to understand” (2 Pet. 3:16). The Greek dysnoētos (G1425) is composed of “difficult” (dys-) and “to understand” (noeō), meaning “not easy to grasp with the mind.” This word appears only once in the New Testament, but its appearance is enough to show: the apostles themselves acknowledged that some parts of Scripture are difficult.
Peter continued: “which the unlearned and unstable twist” — the verb “twist” (strebloō) originally means “to wrench” or “to distort.” The problem is not how difficult these passages are, but that immature people go astray when they interpret on their own.
The author of Hebrews faced a similar predicament: “Concerning Melchizedek we have much to say that is hard to interpret, since you have become dull in hearing.” (Heb. 5:11) The difficulty lies not only in the depth of the text itself, but also in the spiritual condition of the hearers.
2 Peter 1:20 goes further: “No prophecy of Scripture is of one’s own interpretation.” The Greek epilysis (G1955) — “a loosening,” “an explanation” — refers to “unlocking a sealed meaning.” The point of this verse is: prophecy did not originate from human will, and its interpretation should not originate from personal imagination.
The Biblical Witness: Teaching and Explanation Are Necessary
A recurring pattern runs through Scripture: someone reads the word but does not understand it; someone comes to explain, and then they understand.
Nehemiah 8:8: Ezra and the Levites read the book of the law aloud, “translating and giving the sense so that they understood the reading.” The Hiphil form of the Hebrew bîn (H995) — “to cause to understand.” The Levites’ function was not to replace the people’s reading of Scripture, but to help the people understand what they heard.
Acts 8:30–35: Philip encountered the Ethiopian eunuch, who was reading Isaiah, and asked him, “Do you really know the things that you are reading?” The eunuch answered: “How could I unless someone guides me?” Philip then, beginning from that passage of Scripture, announced Jesus to him. The eunuch did not lack the text — he had the scroll in his hands; what he lacked was explanation and guidance.
Luke 24:27, 32, 44–45: The risen Lord Jesus, on the road to Emmaus, “beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, explained to them clearly in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (24:27). The Greek diermēneuō (G1329) — “to interpret thoroughly.” Then in verse 45, the Lord “opened their mind to understand the Scriptures” — dianoigō (G1272), “to open thoroughly.” The disciples had not failed to read Moses and the prophets; what they needed was someone to open their understanding.
Acts 17:2–3: Paul in the synagogue at Thessalonica “reasoned with them from the Scriptures, opening and placing before them that the Christ must suffer and rise from the dead.” “Opening” (dianoigō) and “placing before” (paratithēmi, G3908 — “to set alongside for examination”) — Paul was not speaking from thin air but was setting out Old Testament passages one by one, explaining them for his hearers.
2 Timothy 2:15: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman, cutting straight the word of the truth.” “Cutting straight” (orthotomeō, G3718) — literally “to cut straight” — the word of truth needs to be “cut correctly,” discerned according to its intended meaning. This is not something casual reading can accomplish.
Ephesians 4:11–14: Christ gave to the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers, for the purpose of “the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ” (4:12) — until believers are no longer “tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching” (4:14). The gift of teaching exists in the church because believers need it — not everyone automatically understands everything.
What “the Clarity of Scripture” Actually Says
The “clarity of Scripture” (perspicuity of Scripture) put forward by the Reformation is a concept frequently misapplied. This doctrine never claimed that every verse of the Bible is self-evident.
The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 1, Section 7 — the most authoritative statement of this doctrine in the Reformed tradition — is remarkably precise:
“All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all: yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.” — Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 1, Section 7
Notice the three qualifiers:
First, “not alike plain in themselves” — the Confession itself acknowledges varying degrees of clarity in Scripture.
Second, “necessary … for salvation” — the scope of clarity is limited to the core truths of salvation, not to the entirety of Scripture.
Third, “in a due use of the ordinary means” — even core truths require “due use” of certain means to be understood — which itself acknowledges the necessity of study and diligent reading.
Luther distinguished between the “external clarity” of Scripture (claritas externa — the teaching is clear when publicly proclaimed) and the “internal clarity” (claritas interna — spiritual apprehension requires the illumination of the Holy Spirit). He said Scripture is clearer, simpler, and more reliable than all human writings — but he simultaneously insisted: the difficulty in understanding comes from human blindness, not from Scripture’s ambiguity. (See Theopedia: “Clarity of Scripture”)
In other words: what the Reformers meant was — the way of salvation is clear in Scripture; but Scripture as a whole contains deep content that requires earnest study, the help of teaching, and the illumination of the Holy Spirit to apprehend.
Commonly Misapplied Verses
Several passages are often cited to support the position that “the entire Bible is transparent to everyone.” But a careful look at the context shows they say something far narrower:
Psalm 119:105 — “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” This is a praise of the function of God’s word in guiding the direction of life, not a declaration that every verse of Scripture is self-evident. A lamp illuminates the path at your feet — it does not say the lamp illuminates all the terrain at once.
Psalm 119:130 — “The opening of Your words gives light, imparting understanding to the simple.” “Opening” (Hebrew pethach) means “entrance” or “opening” — the entrance of God’s words brings light. But “entrance” itself implies a process of entering, not instant total transparency.
2 Timothy 3:15–17 — “The sacred Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Paul spoke of being wise “unto salvation” — Scripture is sufficient on the matter of salvation. He then said that Scripture is “profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (3:16) — these functions require teachers to carry them out (teaching, conviction, and correction are themselves acts of instruction), rather than happening automatically.
Deuteronomy 30:11–14 — “This commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far off.” In context “this commandment” refers to the commands of the covenant delivered by Moses, not to the entirety of Scripture. When Paul quoted this passage in Romans 10:6–8, he applied it to “the righteousness of faith” — the message of salvation is near, on your lips — not to all doctrine.
Balance: Neither Authoritarian nor Laissez-faire
The teaching of Scripture points toward a balanced position:
The core message of salvation — repentance, trusting in Christ, justification by faith — is clear. A person with no theological training, reading the Gospels and Romans with an honest heart, can understand the way of salvation. This is the true content of the doctrine of “clarity.”
But a vast amount of content in Scripture — the historical background of Old Testament prophecies, the doctrinal expositions in Paul’s epistles, the symbols of Revelation — requires earnest study, the help of teaching, and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Peter himself said Paul’s letters contain “some things hard to understand”; the author of Hebrews said “concerning Melchizedek we have much to say that is hard to interpret”; after His resurrection Jesus spent time personally “explaining” and “opening” the meaning of the Scriptures to the disciples.
This means two things:
First, the gift of teaching is real and necessary. God gave teachers to the church because believers need help understanding the deeper contents of Scripture (Eph. 4:11–14). To deny the necessity of teaching is to deny the gifts Christ gave to the church.
Second, the authority of teaching does not equal a monopoly on interpretation. The teaching of any teacher — no matter how gifted — should be examined by believers against Scripture itself. The Bereans “examined the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11), and Paul called them “who received the word with all readiness” — examination is not disrespect; it is a mark of healthy faith. Teachers exist to serve believers in reading the Bible, not to replace believers in reading the Bible.
Both sides must be held together: acknowledging the gift and necessity of teaching, while refusing to equate any single teacher’s interpretation with the authority of Scripture itself. The authority of Scripture belongs to Scripture, not to those who interpret it.
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman, cutting straight the word of the truth.” — 2 Timothy 2:15