Ted wrote:

Under the thoughts of perspicuity (clarity), it is asserted that you do not have to be a bible scholar to understand the Scriptures rightly. Scripture is written in such a way that its teachings are able to be understood by ordinary believers.

JS asks:

I’m going to sound like a total elitist here, but the sorts of conclusions that “ordinary believers” come to when confronted with unfamiliar scriptures are whack. I’m all for people reading their Bibles, but if we think that untrained Americans can read a bunch of documents written centuries ago by nomads and understand them properly, we are crazy. Heck, the only reason why many passages of scripture are intelligible to me is because I’ve been spoon-fed their interpretation since I was a child.

This is a great question. Perspicuity doesn’t mean that everything in the Bible is equally clear; nor that there are not some hard/difficult things in the Word (even the Apostle Peter says there are—and Peter’s are no easier!). Rather, the teachings of the Bible are able to be understood by all who seek God’s help and are willing to follow what it commands.

Here’s an extended quote from Wayne Grudem on the role of scholars in the church. He’s answering the question: given the perspicuity of the Bible, why do we need teachers:

Is there any role then for Bible scholars or for those with specialized knowledge of Hebrew (for the Old Testament) and Greek (for the New Testament)? Certainly there is a role for them in at least four areas:

1. They can teach Scripture clearly, communicating its content to others and thus fulfilling the office of “teacher” mentioned in the New Testament (1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11).
   
2. They can explore new areas of understanding the teachings of Scripture. This exploration will seldom (if ever) involve denial of the main teachings the church has held throughout its centuries, but it will often involve the application of Scripture to new areas of life, the answering of difficult questions that have been raised by both believers and unbelievers at each new period in history, and the continual activity of refining and making more precise the church’s understanding of detailed points of interpretation of individual verses or matters of doctrine or ethics. Though the Bible may not seem large in comparison with the vast amount of literature in the world, it is a rich treasure-house of wisdom from God that surpasses in value all the other books that have ever been written. The process of relating its various teachings to one another, synthesizing them, and applying them to each new generation, is a greatly rewarding task that will never be completed in this age. Every scholar who deeply loves God’s Word will soon realize that there is much more in Scripture than can be learned in any one lifetime!
   
3. They can defend the teachings of the Bible against attacks by other scholars or those with specialized technical training. The role of teaching God’s Word also at times involves correcting false teachings. One must be able not only “to give instruction in sound doctrine” but also “to confute those who contradict it” (Titus 1:9; cf. 2 Tim. 2:25, “correcting his opponents with gentleness”; and Titus 2:7-8). Sometimes those who attack biblical teachings have specialized training and technical knowledge in historical, linguistic, or philosophical study, and they use that training to mount rather sophisticated attacks against the teaching of Scripture. In such cases, believers with similar specialized skills can use their training to understand and respond to such attacks. Such training is also very useful in responding to the false teachings of cults and sects. This is not to say that believers without specialized training are incapable of responding to false teaching (for most false teaching can be clearly refuted by a believer who prays and has a good knowledge of the English Bible), but rather that technical points in arguments can only be answered by those with skills in the technical areas appealed to.
   
4. They can supplement the study of Scripture for the benefit of the church. Bible scholars often have training that will enable them to relate the teachings of Scripture to the rich history of the church, and to make the interpretation of Scripture more precise and its meaning more vivid with a greater knowledge of the languages and cultures in which the Bible was written.