face meaning. The Book is written in plain English, and all that is
necessary for its comprehension is a knowledge of what the words mean.
If we have any doubts, we can consult the dictionary. The plain man
ought to have no difficulty in understanding the Bible.

Nobody can deny the clearness of the English of the Scriptures.
Nevertheless, the plain man does have trouble. How far would the
ordinary intelligence have to read from the first chapter of Genesis
before finding itself in difficulties? There are accounts of events
utterly unlike anything which we see happening in the life around us,
events which seem to us to contradict the course of nature's procedure.
There are points of view foreign to our way of looking at things. More
than that, there seem to be actual contradictions between various
portions of the books. And, above all, the way of life marked out in the
Book seems to lead off toward mystery. To save our lives we have to lose
them. All the precepts of common sense seem set at defiance by some
passages of the Book. How can we explain the hold of such a book on the
world's life?

When once the problem of the understanding of the Scriptures is raised,
various solutions are offered, all of which contribute a measure of
help, but most of which do not greatly get us ahead. For example, we are
told that the Book is translated literature, and that if we could get
back to the original narratives in the original languages, we would find
our perplexities vanishing. There is no question that a knowledge of
Greek and Hebrew does aid us in an understanding of the Scriptures, but
this aid commonly extends only to the meaning of particular words. One
who knows enough of Greek or Hebrew to enter sympathetically into the
life of which those languages were the expression is prepared to sense
the scriptural atmosphere better than one who has not such equipment.