I was in Port-au-Prince, Haiti just a couple of weeks ago teaching a Masters course for Indiana Wesleyan University for 40 Haitian students. The title of the course was Exegetical Analysis of the Gospels. The core of the course focused on methodical Bible study methods and strategies.
As we progressed through the course together, I began to assist students in discovering deeper dimensions of the text. I explained to the students that while the original manuscripts of the Bible were not written to us, they were, in fact, written for us. The Bible has a message for us today. Furthermore, the Bible will always have deeper truths for us to explore because it is eternal, just as the One who breathed it (inspira-tion). As a community of faith, we will never fall short of discovering gems of truth in the Scriptures.
As we continued on mining for those wonderful gems in Gospels narratives, the students began to say things like, “I’d never seen that before and I read that text countless times!,” and, “How did you see that! I would have never caught that in the text!”
In fact, it got to the point where some of the students felt a bit discouraged because they felt that being a good interpreter of the text must require years and years of sharpening interpretive skills (and there is some truth to this).
In an attempt to encourage them, I reminded them of the Christian doctrine of the Clarity of Scripture. The doctrine of the Clarity of Scripture is one of the lesser known doctrines of Christian faith. It’s less known then doctrines like the Trinity, the Divinity and Humanity of Christ (Christology), Substitutionary Atonement (Justification and Soteriology), just to name a few. The doctrine of the Clarity of Scripture essentially espouses that the message of the Bible is clear to anyone, who by the help of the Holy Spirit, seeks know and obey God.
Isn’t this a wonderful truth? I love this doctrine because it reminds me that even the truths of the Christian faith themselves are not always “findable” strictly through human reason and diligent searching. In fact, Paul says that the Gospel is folly to the world (1 Cor 1:18). Life comes through death? How does that makes sense? The Trinity? One, plus one, plus one, plus one equals One? That’s absurd!
God’s truths are so transcendent that we cannot just stumble upon them on our own. If we’re able to discover anything fresh in the text, any word that gives life, it must come through the wonderful help of the Holy Spirit. After all, didn’t Jesus call the Holy Spirit “The Helper” (John 14:26)?
Reminding them of this truth gave them a fresh wind and renewed their excitement and perseverance for engaging the text of Scripture.
I encourage you, next time you read the text, let the Holy Spirit guide you into truth and deeper dimensions so as to bring living water to your soul.
