SD 1.7
Savoy Declaration
1.7. Of the Holy Scripture
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.
Proof texts
- 2 Pet. 3:16 — [16] as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
- Psalm 119:105, 130 — [105] Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. [130] The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.
For discussion
- The Assembly cited 2 Pet. 3:16 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
- 2 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
- WCF 1.1 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
- 1689 1.1 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?