Scripture, no matter how many significations the separate words
C. The Unity of the Sense of Scripture
It is of the greatest importance to understand at the outset that Scripture has but a single sense, and is therefore susceptible to a scientific and logical investigation. This fundamental principle must be placed emphatically in the foreground, in opposition to the tendency, revealed in history and persisting in some quarters even up to the present time, to accept a manifold sense,—a tendency that makes any science of Hermeneutics impossible, and opens wide the door for all kinds of arbitrary interpretations. The delusion respecting a multiple sense originated largely in a misunderstanding of some of the important features of Scripture, such as its figurative language, its mysterious and incomprehensible elements, its symbolical facts, rites and actions, its prophecies with a double or triple fulfilment, and its types of coming realities.
1. BASES FOR THIS PRINCIPLE. It must be maintained that Scripture, no matter how many significations the separate words may have, has but one proper sense. This follows necessarily from a consideration of the following:
a. The veracity of God. It is a settled principle among men that a man of undoubted veracity will habitually express himself in unequivocal language. The human conscience has never approved of the equivocation of the Jesuits. And if a really truthful man would not consciously resort to the use of ambiguous language, then certainly God, who is the absolute truth, cannot have given us a revelation that is calculated to mislead.
b. The purpose of God's revelation. God reveals His will and the way of salvation to men, in order to glorify Himself in the redemption of sinners. He had in mind a gracious and glorious end. And in view of this, it is utterly inconceivable that He should have provided man with a dubious revelation, since this would defeat the very purpose which He sought to realize.