A Starting Point
As we explored last month, theology is necessary for every Christian. We are all theologians, whether or not we see ourselves as one. We each have a perception of God and His ways. Now, sometimes our perception is askew and we need direction and clarity, but we do all have a core set of beliefs about God.
We have a knowledge of God, but where does that knowledge come from? At the base level, how do we know God? Do we have the ability within ourselves to search out the character and will of God? No. We, with our limited capacities, can only guess at who God is. “There are mysteries which the human mind, unaided by revelation from God, can never unravel. They are beyond us. The only way by which such things can be found out is by getting information from one who knows—and who, besides the Infinite God, can know them—except through revelation from Him?”1
We need a starting point. We often take for granted the fact that God speaks, that He reveals Himself. The very fact that God has spoken is remarkable! Nothing required God to give us even a backwards glimpse at His will and ways. He created us of His own free will. Though we had nothing but what He gave us, we chose our own way—following our lust and forsaking Him. We rejected Him, yet He pursued us. He continued to speak, revealing His redemptive purposes. He has pulled back the veil and revealed His glory to us. We could not reach Him, so He reached out to us.
God’s revelation can be sorted into two categories: general revelation and special revelation. General revelation is given to everyone. It is such that every man and woman can understand that there is a God. This includes both the work of nature and our ingrained knowledge of moral good and evil. Special revelation is when God specifically communicates with a certain person or group of people, primarily as recorded in His Word. While general revelation does point us to God, only special revelation gives us the particulars of God’s character, commands, and plans. We can only truly know God through His special revelation to us.
General Revelation
General revelation comes through two channels: creation and our instinctive morality. Our observation of the beauty and ordered complexity of creation naturally leads us to the question of whether or not there is a Creator. A masterpiece always leads us to ask about the master—so also with creation. The diverse splendor of the cosmos leads us to wonder where it came from. This impulse is clearly seen in a child. When he sees a car, he asks who built it. He turns to a nearby house, wondering who designed it. And when he sees the tree in the front yard, he naturally asks who created it. The answer—God did. All of creation points to God as the supreme designer and builder. This is the psalmist’s reflection in Psalm 19:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.
His conclusion, in looking at the world around him, is that it must have had a Creator. Each new day reveals God’s goodness and faithfulness. Creation speaks a universal language, understood by every living soul. The glory of God is manifest in creation.
The second channel for general revelation is our instinctive morality. Each of us has an innate knowledge of right and wrong. Paul, in Romans 1, shows that “even unbelievers who have no written record of God’s laws still have in their consciences some understanding of God’s moral demands…Wicked people know that their sin is wrong.”2 Romans 2:14-15 follow this thought:
When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.
We all know basic morality, even without Scripture. But our moral standards only make sense when they are drawn from an immovable standard. God, in His mercy, built each of us with a moral compass, set according to His perfect definition of right and wrong.
General revelation is embedded in us and in our world. In it, God displays something of His character. But, though we can know of God through it, it does not allow us to truly know God. It does not give us the necessary details of His will and character. “It must be emphasized that Scripture nowhere indicates that people can know the gospel, or know the way of salvation, through such general revelation.”3 General revelation shows us that God exists, but it will never save us.
Special Revelation
Special revelation—when God communicates specifically with a person or group of people—answers this problem. Scripture is the primary form of special revelation, but within it we discover several other means God used to communicate with men.
The first is personal address. When God created Adam, He spoke to him. “‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” He talked directly to him, giving him both a blessing and a mandate. This communicated something Adam would never have know otherwise. We see similar cases with Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, and a host of others. God spoke to men, telling them about Himself and communicating His will to them.
The Bible also records times where God spoke to men through angels. Abraham, Lot, Balaam, Zacharias, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, Paul, and many others saw angels and were divinely guided by them. Alongside these are the dreams and visions seen by many: Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Pharaoh, Peter, Paul, and others. While these means were unusual—even in Scripture—God did use them to reveal Himself to men.
God also used men to speak directly to other men. This is the case in the Old Testament prophets; God spoke to Israel through these men. Though the words came out of the prophets’ mouths, they were His words. Jeremiah stands out as an example: “Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.’”7 God’s words were conveyed through this human instrument, with equal weight and authority. “Thus God’s words spoken through human lips were considered to be just as authoritative and just as true as God’s words of personal address.”4
Right on the heels of this is God’s revelation in written form, which is summed up in the Bible. This is distinct from the previous means in that this was written, not spoken. God used men to record His words, both for the immediate audience and for generations to come. We will dig deeper into bibliology (the study of the Bible) later, but for now I want to focus on the Bible as God’s special revelation to all men. It is our supreme source of knowledge about God, His character, and His plans—past, present, and future. Kauffman remarks:
The Bible is the one source of information to which the reader may turn and gather light on many things that would of necessity have remained complete mysteries through the ages, but for the revelations in this Book of God.5
God’s inspired Word is the premier revelation of God’s will and character. In it we see and know God. And, though this Word was written by men, it is thoroughly divine.
It must be noted that these words are considered to be God’s own words, even though they are written down mostly by human beings and always in human language. Still, they are absolutely authoritative and absolutely true: to disobey them or disbelieve them is a serious sin and brings judgment from God (1 Cor. 14:37; Jer. 36:29-31).6
Special revelation uncovers what is otherwise veiled. It displays the undisclosed. It is God giving Himself to man by communicating with him. Through it we can go beyond our human limitations, truly knowing and understanding God. We have many reasons to thank God to His divine revelation. It clarifies the otherwise murky past, gives peace for the present, and inspires hope for the future. It does more than creation can, which only generally shows us God’s faithfulness and goodness. It paints God’s character in beautiful color: His mercy and His justice; His holiness and His grace. Most of all, it tells of Christ, our Savior. Through Scripture God tells us His story of grace and redemption, unfolded layer by layer through each Testament. Ultimately, divine revelation is a proof of God’s love for men.
- Daniel Kauffman, Doctrines of the Bible: A Brief Discussion of the Teachings of God’s Word (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1993), 126-27.
- Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), 122.
- Ibid, 123.
- Ibid, 49.
- Kauffman, Doctrines of the Bible, 132.
- Grudem, Systematic Theology, 50.