This is just so confusing.
These guys say Romans is perspicuous:
This allows Barnhouse to faithfully adhere to the Reformation maxim that Scripture interprets Scripture, and that it is perspicuous (clear) in its teaching, infallible, and authoritative. Thus, his focus on Romans becomes an exposition on the doctrines of the entire Bible.
But then these other guys say this:
Paul’s letter to the Romans is as important as it is dense. In precise, nuanced Greek, Paul articulates Christianity’s theological foundations.
So how do we decipher the meaning of this ancient, foreign text? Here we have arguably the key to understanding the faith—and it’s packed with references to Jewish covenantal law, natural law, and the cultural background shared by Paul’s Greco-Roman audience, all in a language marked by countless dialects.
How can anyone hope to really understand this essential treatise?
[emphasis added]
So which is it, my Protestant friends? Is Romans perspicuous, or is it so difficult that the only folks with any hope of understanding it have doctorates? And how exactly is it that you can possibly disagree about something like this? I mean, if you can’t even agree as to what parts of the Bible are supposed to be perspicuous (or not), how are you ever going to agree on what Scripture (supposedly) teaches so clearly??
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