Sunday Hymn: Come Thou Almighty King

Come, Thou almighty King,
Help us Thy name to sing,
Help us to praise!
Father all glorious,
O’er all victorious,
Come and reign over us,
Ancient of Days!

Jesus, our Lord, arise,
Scatter our enemies,
And make them fall;
Let Thine almighty aid
Our sure defense be made,
Our souls on Thee be stayed;
Lord, hear our call.

Come, Thou incarnate Word,
Gird on Thy mighty sword,
Our prayer attend!
Come, and Thy people bless,
And give Thy Word success,
Spirit of holiness,
On us descend!

Come, holy Comforter,
Thy sacred witness bear
In this glad hour.
Thou who almighty art,
Now rule in every heart,
And ne’er from us depart,
Spirit of power!

To Thee, great One in Three,
Eternal praises be,
Hence, evermore.
Thy sovereign majesty
May we in glory see,
And to eternity
Love and adore!

—Author unknown

Sunday Hymn: The Church's One Foundation

I chose the video above because the two descants, sung separately first, and then combined for the last verse. Can you hear them?

The church’s one Foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is his new creation
By water and the Word:
From heav’n he came and sought her
To be his holy bride;
With his own blood he bought her,
And for her life he died.

Elect from ev’ry nation,
Yet one o’er all the earth,
Her charter of salvation
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy Name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food.
And to one hope she presses,
With ev’ry grace endued.

Though with a scornful wonder
Men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed,
Yet saints their watch are keeping,
Their cry goes up, “How long?”
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song.

The church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord to defend,
To guide, sustain and cherish
Is with her to the end;
Though there be those that hate her,
And false sons in her pale,
Against or foe or traitor
She ever shall prevail.

‘Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace for evermore;
Till with the vision glorious
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great church victorious
Shall be the church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union
With the God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won:
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we,
Like them, the meek and lowly,
On high may dwell with thee.

— Sam­u­el J. Stone

Theological Term of the Week: Perspicuity of Scripture

perspicuity of scripture

The teaching that the ordinary reader can understand from scripture what God requires of them for salvation as long as they are willing to seek God’s help to understand and obey it; the truth that “the knowledge necessary unto salvation, though not equally clear on every page of Scripture, is yet conveyed to man throughout the Bible in such a simple and comprehensible form that on who is earnestly seeking salvation can, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, by reading and studying the Bible, easily obtain for himself the necessary knowledge.”1 Perspicuity does not mean that the scripture contains no passages that may be difficult to understand or that all passages are equally clear. This doctrine is also—and prehaps more commonly—referred to as the clarity of scripture.

• From scripture:

… from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness … . (2 Timothy 3:15-16 ESV)

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4 ESV).

• From The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 1, Section 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.

• From Systematic Theology by Robert Letham, page 206-207:

A number of crucial distinctions must be made. There are varying degrees of clarity in the Bible. First, this is intrinsic to Scripture itself, since “all things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves” (WCF 1.7)… .

Second, the relative clarity of Scripture also depends on the capacity of the reader: “all things in Scripture are … not alike clear unto all” (WCF 1.7). Some readers are less able to understand than others, whether by lack of knowledge or education, lack of Christian experience, or a decifit of intelligence… .

However, the Protestant doctrine of the perspicuity, or clarity, of Scripture acknowledges these difficulties but nevertheless asserts that the saving message is clear.

Learn more:

1. Simply Put: The Perspicuity of Scripture
2. Got Questions: What is the doctrine of the perspicuity of Scripture?
3. Emma Saying: How to pronounce perspicuity
4. Burk Parsons: The Perspicuity of Scripture
5. Mark D. Thompson: The Clarity of Scripture
6. Kevin DeYoung: The Clarity of Scripture

Related terms:

• analogy of faith
• authority of scripture
• exegesis
• illumination
• sola scriptura

Filed under Scripture

1 From Introductory Volume to Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof, page 167.

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