Westminster Confession of Faith 1.7
"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."
Summary
Not everything in the Bible is as clear as
everything else. Peter says this concerning Paul's teaching (2 Peter 3:15-16).
Some teachings are more difficult to understand than others. But the Bible is
clear on the essentials, "those things which are necessary to be known,
believed, and observed, for salvation". God has made the things of
salvation clear in the Scripture to anyone, whether learned or unlearned, to
the extent that all men are able to attain a sufficient understanding of the
Bible to be saved. No one will stand before God on Judgment Day and be able to
claim the defense of ignorance. The essentials are summarized
by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, and consists of Christ's substitutionary death
"died for our sins", His burial, His resurrection on the third day,
His appearing unto the apostles and many others, and His ascension into heaven,
where He sits at the right hand of God the Father. While there will be
disagreements between Christians on issues secondary to this (church government,
worship style, evangelism tactics, certain doctrines, etc.) there can be no
disagreement regarding these essential truths of Christianity without the
dissenting party putting themselves outside the boundaries of orthodoxy.This is also why denominations can exist without jeopardizing the unity of the catholic Church. If everything in the Bible is not equally clear, we would expect people to disagree over those less-than-clear matters, even while we still have a clear outline of those things that are plain in Scripture.
+ Blessings in Christ +
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