Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
History and Religion
50 Biblical Disproofs of “Evident Clearness” of the Bible

50 Biblical Disproofs of “Evident Clearness” of the Bible

Last updated on: July 16, 2026 at 5:44 pm by Dave Armstrong

0 Comments

50 Biblical Disproofs of “Evident Clearness” of the Bible 2026-07-16T17:44:00-04:00 Dave Armstrong

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

. . . One of the Key Tenets of Sola Scriptura, and the Protestant Rule of Faith

Photo credit: cover of my 2012 book, that I designed and self-published with Lulu.

When Ezra read “the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had given to Israel” to the people (Neh 8:1, RSV), note that reading / hearing alone wasn’t sufficient. Levites “helped the people to understand the law, . . . and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading” (8:7-8; cf. Deut 33:8, 10).

St. Peter described St. Paul’s letters as follows: “There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures” (2 Pet 3:16). And he stated, “no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation” (2 Pet 1:20).

St. Philip heard the Ethiopian eunuch “reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And he said, ‘How can I, unless some one guides me?’ ” (Acts 8:30-31). The risen Jesus’ encounter with the two men on the road to Emmaus is also very instructive in this regard:

Luke 24:25-27 And he said to them, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! [26] Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” [27] And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?”

Luke 24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,

Jesus told the parable of the sower (Mt 13:3-9), then He explained it to His disciples (Mt 13:18-23), who had “asked him what this parable meant” (Lk 8:9), which proves that they didn’t understand it on their own (cf. Lk 2:50: “they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them”; Jn 10:6: “they did not understand what he was saying to them”; Acts 13:27: “they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets”).

Then Jesus told the parable of the weeds (Mt 13:24-30), and afterwards “his disciples came to him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field'” (Mt 13:36) and He did so (13:37-43). The parallel account in Mark states, “when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables” (Mk 4:10) and “privately to his own disciples he explained everything” (4:34). This expressly contradicts the notion of the complete sufficiency of the perspicuity (clearness) of the Bible without authoritative interpretation.

St. Paul noted how learning the Scripture and the Christian faith itself properly takes time; it’s not a simple process: “I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready” (1 Cor 3:2). The writer of Hebrews reiterates the same point:

Hebrews 5:11-14 About this we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. [12] For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need some one to teach you again the first principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food; [13] for every one who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a child. [14] But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

St. Paul warns about people who are “burdened with sins and swayed by various impulses, who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim 3:6-7) and those who “will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths” (2 Tim 4:3-4).

Jesus also warned about the potential dangers of following one’s own inclinations in theological matters, rather than true spiritual leaders in the Church: “many false prophets will arise and lead many astray” (Mt 24:11); “if any one says to you, ‘Lo, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. [24] For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” (24:23-24). Jesus even rebuked Nicodemus, a Pharisee sympathetic to Him, who would have been a teacher, in the matter of baptismal regeneration: “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand this?” (Jn 3:10).

It’s precisely the deadly combination of sin (including rebelliousness) and lack of knowledge (about Christian theology and biblical hermeneutics and exegesis) that prevents people from properly understanding the Bible:

Isaiah 27:11 . . . this is a people without discernment . . .
*

Matthew 13:14-15 With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: `You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. [15] For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.’

John 8:43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.

Romans 1:18-22 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. [19] For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. [20] Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; [21] for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. [22] Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

Ephesians 4:18 they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart;

2 Thessalonians 2:10 . . . they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

2 Thessalonians 2:12 so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

1 Timothy 6:5 . . . men who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, . . .

2 Timothy 3:7-8 who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth. [8] As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith;

Titus 1:14 . . . men who reject the truth.

Jude 1:10 But these men revile whatever they do not understand, . . .

Moreover, what the Psalmist, Jesus, Paul, and John teach about the spiritual gifts and divine guidance and the indwelling and illumination of the Holy Spirit and understanding also certainly applies to biblical interpretation:

1 Chronicles 22:12 Only, may the LORD grant you discretion and understanding, that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the LORD your God.

Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Psalm 119:27 Make me understand the way of thy precepts, . . .

Psalm 119:29 Put false ways far from me; and graciously teach me thy law!

Psalm 119:32 I will run in the way of thy commandments when thou enlargest my understanding!

Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding, that I may keep thy law and observe it with my whole heart.

Psalm 119:73 . . . give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments.

Psalm 119:125 I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies!

Psalm 119:169 Let my cry come before thee, O LORD; give me understanding according to thy word!

John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth . . .

1 Corinthians 2:7-8, 10-16 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. [8] None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. . . . [10] God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. [11] For what person knows a man’s thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. [12] Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. [13] And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit. [14] The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. [15] The spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. [16] “For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

1 John 5:7 And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth.

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, . . .

This is why we need the Church, “the pillar and bulwark of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15), with its infallible protection of the Holy Spirit (Acts 15:28: “it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us”) to guide us. The Bible is clear that it’s not always clear just by reading it, and that sin can often blind us as to its true teaching and interpretation. And the devil is always doing his dirty work, too, sowing confusion and lies.

If we try to do it on our own, much error will be present in too many (not absolutely all!) people, and that’s exactly what we observe in Protestantism (as well as in individual liberal, heterodox Catholics), where innumerable internal contradictions mean that either both or one of the parties who disagree with and contradict each other in any given instance are believing in falsehood. And that’s not good. It’s the devil who is the father of lies and of all false doctrine.

*****

Photo credit: cover of my 2012 book, that I designed and self-published with Lulu.

Summary: Protestants falsely claim that the Bible is “perspicuous”: clear enough for anyone (even a “plowboy”) to understand without the necessary guide & aid of orthodoxy & the Church.

Baptism and Sacramentalism

Bible and Tradition

Calvinism & General Protestantism

Literary Resume

Clearness of Scripture

formal sufficiency of Scripture

material sufficiency of Scripture

perspicuity of Scripture

Rule of Faith

Sola Scriptura

Previous Post

July 14, 2026

Chrysostom vs. Faith Alone (vs. Lutheran Will Weedon)

Next Post

July 17, 2026 Biblical Perspicuity: Absurd Anti-Catholic "Defense"

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Special pleading, and not a serious response to my arguments . . ."

Dave Armstrong

Is Venerating Men & Angels Worship? ..."

""no man needs to teach us."Didn't you just teach us?"

Dave Armstrong

Is Venerating Men & Angels Worship? ..."

""Catholics say they are the only church that can lead people into heaven."In fact, we ..."

Dave Armstrong

Is Venerating Men & Angels Worship? ..."

"And lastly, I belong to no denomination and am free to serve God as He ..."

Mariah

Is Venerating Men & Angels Worship? ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category & Last Things About Me Anti-Catholicism Atheism & Agnosticism Baptism and Sacramentalism Bible and Tradition Blessed Virgin Mary Books by Dave Armstrong C. S. Lewis Calvinism & General Protestantism Catholic Apologetics Catholic Apologists Catholic conversion Catholic converts Christmas Church (Ecclesiology) Church History Conversion and Converts Development of Doctrine Eastern Orthodoxy Ecumenism & Christian Unity Eucharist & Liturgy Fathers of the Church French Translations G. K. Chesterton Hell Hell & Satan Hell & Satan & Last Things Heresies & Comparative Religion Holistic Health Inquisition & Crusades & Scandals James White Jews & Judaism & Old Testament John Calvin John Henry Newman Liberal / Modernist Theology Life Issues Literary Resume Lutheranism Mariology Martin Luther Music Orthodoxy Papacy & Infallibility Personal Page Philosophy & Science Political & Ethical & Moral Issues Protestant Persecution & Intolerance Protestantism Purgatory Purgatory & Penance Romantic & Imaginative Theology Saints & Purgatory & Penance Salvation Salvation & Justification Satan & Last Things Sexuality and Gender Issues Spanish Translations Traditionalism vs. Radical Catholic Reactionaries Traducciones al español / tradução para português Trinitarianism & Christology Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 April 2010 March 2010 December 2009 October 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 March 2009 February 2009 October 2008 September 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 May 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 October 2005 June 2005 April 2005 February 2005 July 2004 May 2004 April 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz