Editorial -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Journal of Dispensational Theology
Volume: JODT 15:45 (Aug 2011)
Article: Editorial
Author: Anonymous


Editorial

Humanity needs communication from God with regard to who He is and what He requires. The thousands of disorganized and organized religions that exist worldwide today is evidence that humanity is confused and ignorant with regard to God’s revelation. Although it is not necessarily a search for the true God (Rom 3:11), humanity’s religious and philosophical pursuits indicate the emptiness in life that occurs due to the absence of God, as a consequence of disobedience and unbelief. All humanity recognizes the necessity for authority in life because there is a fundamental human need to function according to one’s truth perception. As opposed to sola Scriptura, other sources of authority may include, for example: church traditions, human reason, individuals, occult practices/superstitions, religious groups, and theological persuasions (some of which may be valid and others obviously not, but even those with validity must never contradict, subjugate, or substitute biblical revelation). God’s Word is, of course, the ultimate authority for everything necessary to salvation (cf. 2 Pet 1:3), and because Scripture alone contains such truth, it must necessarily communicate it with perspicuity so as to be comprehensible to all humanity. Indeed, the Bible is sufficiently perspicuous in this regard for any person who will receive Scripture for the authority that it is (cf. Ps 119:105, 130; 2 Pet 3:16). The perspicuity of Scripture does not obviate the need for hermeneutics but does makes understanding possible. There are certainly those who regard biblical truth as abstruse, yet this does not result from obscurity in Scripture; rather, obfuscation is the consequence of one’s own spiritual blindness or lack of understanding by those who do not strive for the omniperfect clarity of the truth. Sadly, there are some who become so preoccupied with thoughts contrary to Scripture that they prevent understanding it, such as those who equate the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement with “a form of divine child abuse.” Gary Gilley’s article aptly responded to such unbiblical notions, and clarified why Christ died. Brian Wagner’s article specifically addressed the conditional perspicuity of Scripture. In the final part of his article, John Tucker demonstrated how understanding viticulture at the time of Christ clarifies the Lord’s words with regard to fruitbearing (John 15:1-6). David Ermold affirmed Scripture as perspicuous, and concluded his series based upon the conviction that 2 Timothy 2:11-13 “is no exception.” The publisher of the Journal of...

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