Scripture is a great gift. In it, God has revealed Himself to us. We can know God truly, and be confident that we know Him, because He has plainly spoken to us in the Bible. He has not left us groping in the dark. Rather, He has disclosed His nature, character, works, and will. And Scripture not only leads us to God, it helps us understand ourselves. We are creatures; God is the Creator. We understand who we are as His creatures when we read His divine perspective as contained in His Word.
It is certainly true that we only see ourselves correctly if we see ourselves through the lens of Scripture. If we drill down a bit more, we discover that we also need God’s revelation in order to be saved. Beyond general understanding of ourselves, we need God to tell us about ourselves if we are to experience salvation. Without revelation, we do not know what sin is; God defines sin for us. We don’t know the extent and nature of our sinful condition; God explains that to us. Even if we do recognize our need for salvation, we do not know where to go to be saved. God tells us that salvation is found in Jesus Christ.
I hope you see with me how central this truth is to the Christian faith. Everything we know and experience as believers is predicated upon God’s revelation. Without Scripture, we don’t have even the raw materials to construct true faith. If anything is to be known as truth, it must be revealed to us by God. Remembering that helps us appreciate God’s superabundant revelation. The truths we take for granted—God’s kindness and mercy, His holiness, His providence, His grace in the gospel—these are accessible only through revelation. Without God’s gracious disclosure, we are hopelessly lost.
That said, there are things that can be known apart from God’s written revelation. In previous articles we’ve discussed general and special revelation. General (or natural) revelation is that which God has revealed in creation. Even without written revelation, man is able to know God exists. Special revelation is that which is known through special means—specifically, the writings of Holy Scripture. This special revelation is necessary for us to be saved. Scripture indicates that special revelation is not necessary for us to be condemned, but it is for us to be saved.
Special revelation is not necessary for us to know God exists. Romans 1:19-20 makes this plain. “…what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” God’s existence is plain in the things He has created. The glory, power, and order of the universe testifies to the glory, power, and order of the God who made it. David makes a similar point 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.
Two things deserve our consideration here. First, the created things (heavens, firmament) and the order of the universe (day unto day, night unto night) reveal God. God’s own glorious person is shown to us in the rich beauties and vast expanse of the heavens. This “speech” is accessible to all mankind. Not just a few, not just those of a certain ethnicity or culture, but to all of us. It transcends cultural and linguistic barriers. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. This revelation shines into even the darkest corners of the earth. Every person witnesses the creation’s testimony to God’s existence and His creative power.
Because all men have access to this divine light, all men are able to know God exists. If we examine the logic of Romans 1, we discover that this light is sufficient to condemn man. We do not need special revelation (God’s written word) to be accountable before God, since He has revealed Himself to all in creation. But since fallen man “loves the darkness rather than the light” (John 3:19), he rejects this revelation and brings condemnation on himself. General revelation is sufficient to condemn men, but not to save him. Since all have access to this divine light, the default state of all men (after Adam) is “condemned.”
So Jesus is able to say in John 3:18 that “he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Unless we believe in Christ, we are condemned. We are not in neutral territory by birth. Rather, we are born in the kingdom of darkness. We are blind wanderers, and without God’s gracious revelation we would remain therein eternally. “Man is in a most desperate condition, of which he is only partially aware, and he does not know whether he can be saved from it, or if he can, how he can be saved. The unwritten general and special revelations of God furnish no real answers to this question. Very clearly, therefore, man needs infallible instruction concerning his most important problem in life, his eternal welfare.”[1] Without that instruction—which comes by divine revelation—we are helplessly condemned.
While revelation is not necessary for us to be condemned as sinners, it is necessary for us to be saved. First of all, we cannot properly understand our sinful condition without it. If we do not recognize our sin, we do not know we need salvation. The first step of God’s saving work is a strange mercy—conviction. God’s revealed truth tears down our pretentious self-made religion. Before God’s holiness our wretchedness is most plainly seen.
One of the purposes of the Old Testament law was to reveal human sinfulness. In the law, God revealed His character and His expectations for His covenant people. But the law was never intended as a means of salvation, a set of rules to follow in order to be saved. Rather, it revealed God’s standards and, juxtaposed to that, it showed the destitution of the human heart. As Paul says in the epistle to the Romans, “I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’ but sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire” (Romans 7:7-8). Scripture reveals our sin and leads us to repentance.
But it is not enough just to know that we are sinners. Though we may know ourselves to be the most wretched among men, that does nothing to secure salvation for us. In His great mercy God does not just reveal our sin, but He also reveals the remedy—Christ. Though we are condemned in our sin, we can be saved through Christ. This too comes to us by revelation. Scripture is necessary for us to know that Christ is our salvation. In it, we learn that Jesus is the way to the Father (John 14:6). He has reconciled us to God through the cross (Ephesians 2:16). He is salvation to all who believe (Romans 10:9). He purchased us by His blood, laying down His life for us (John 10:15). His is the name by which we may be saved (Acts 4:12).
Finally, revelation is necessary for us to believe. Yes, all that we’ve already discussed is necessary for salvation. We must know ourselves to be sinners, and we must know that Christ is our Savior. These are only understood by revelation. But even faith itself comes by revelation. We have no object for our faith unless that object is revealed to us in Scripture. Thus “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Our faith is a response to revelation. When God’s word encounters our hearts, we have opportunity to believe or disbelieve, to submit or rebel. When God’s word has its intended effect, faith is produced in our hearts.
As an aside, this also teaches us that faith has substance. Faith is confessional. Faith is not a general good feeling toward God. It is not religious optimism. It is not a leap into nothingness or a walk off a cliff. Rather, faith is in something—specifically, God’s truth. We only have faith in the truest sense if we accept Scripture with full confidence. Biblical faith is based upon God’s revelation. Faith is taking God at His word. It is “hearing” the “word of God.”
[1] Thiessen, Henry Clarence, Lectures in Systematic Theology (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2006), 43.