REVELATION
1. Definition. Revelation is God’s disclosure of Himself through creation, history, the conscience of man and Scripture. It is given both in event and word. There is no technical term for the concept in Scripture; it is spoken of in various ways. Two words are most frequently tr. “revelation” in Scripture: ἀποκαλύπτειη and φανεροῦν. While there is no evidence to support any sharp difference of meaning in the two words there are perhaps subtle shades of meaning discernible. Apokalupsis may be taken to mean “unveiling,” whereas phaneroun refers to that which is manifested above and beyond the unveiling, or removal of the covering. From these two words it may be stated that revelation has to do with the unveiling, uncovering and manifesting of something or someone previously veiled or covered.
2. The twofold aspect. Theologians generally describe divine revelation in terms of a general (natural) and special revelation. General revelation is God’s witness to Himself toward all men through creation, history, and the conscience of man. It is set forth in such Scripture passages as Psalm 19; Acts 14:8-18; 17:16-34; Romans 1:18-32; 2:12-16; etc.
Certain basic views on general revelation may be noted. First to be stated is that of the Roman Catholic position, with which many Protestants agree. Those who adopt this view argue that general revelation provides the basis for the construction of a natural theology. (Natural theology refers to the effort to construct a doctrine of God in which His existence is established without appeal to faith or special revelation but solely through reason and experience alone.)
This view maintains that theology is twostoried. On the first level a natural theology is built from the building blocks of general revelation cemented into place by reason. This natural theology includes proofs for the existence of God and the immortality of the soul. It is insufficient for a saving knowledge of God, but it is essential for one who would rise to that level. Admittedly, most men do not arrive at even this first level through reason but by faith; nevertheless it is imperative that the theoretical possibility of such a rationalistic approach be held.
On the second level a revealed theology is built from the building blocks of special revelation cemented into place by faith. This revealed theology includes all the distinctive beliefs of the Christian faith, such as the deity of Christ, substitutionary atonement, the Trinity, etc. Only on this level is one brought to a redemptive encounter with God in Christ.
This approach has led to a rationalistic apologetic and is built upon a largely Arminian theology.
Second to be outlined is the position of Karl Barth. Barth denies both natural theology and general revelation. According to Barth, revelation is given exclusively in the Christevent. The Bible is the fallible but authoritative pointer to Him. From a Scriptural perspective it would appear that Barth overreacted to the exponents of a natural theology and threw out the baby with the bath. This forced him to eisegesis of those Scripture passages which speak of general revelation and brought him to a falling out with his friend Emil Brunner. (See: “Nature and Grace” by Emil Brunner and the reply “No!” by Karl Barth.)
Third, we note the position of John Calvin. Calvin maintains that general revelation may be correctly understood only through the lenses of special revelation. Following the lead of Paul in Romans 1, those who adopt this position contend that while one could find a natural theology in v. 20, the apostle goes on to show that fallen man engages in a suppression of and substitution for the truth. Even in regard to the so-called “Nature Psalms” it must be remembered that these were the expressions of godly man, written by those who therefore viewed nature through the perspective of special revelation.
This approach has led to a revelational apologetic and is built upon a largely Reformed theology.
Special revelation is God’s disclosure of Himself in salvation history (revelation in reality) and in the interpretive word of Scripture (revelation in Word). Quantitatively this encompasses more than we have in Scripture.
Neo-orthodox theology maintains that revelation is never propositional; that is, it is not given in words but only in events. The Bible is therefore only a record of revelation; it represents a human attempt to understand and bear witness to the revelatory works of God. For Barth, revelation occurs when God’s disclosure of Himself in the Christ-event is responded to by faith. The Bible is the authoritative pointer to this experience but not revelation itself.
3. Features of a Biblical concept of revelation. The ultimate object of all God’s revelation is to bring us to Himself. It is not creedal formulations or doctrinal statements, but personal encounter with God that marks the ultimate goal of His revelation. The Biblical concept of truth is not merely that of detached critical reflection but also of subjective, even passionate involvement with the God of truth Himself. Revelation provides the answer to fallen man’s twofold predicament: (1) his ignorance of God and therefore of himself, (2) his guilt before God. God has revealed Himself in Christ not only to make us knowledgeable but also to make us holy.
Biblical revelation is by divine acts of history. God accomplishes His plan for man in connection with specific, temporal events. The historical skepticism of Bultmann can never gain acceptance by those who maintain a consistently Biblical view of faith. There is no Christ of faith without the Jesus of history. The whole course of Biblical history is the story of what God has done for His people; it is a record of “the saving acts of the Lord” (Mic 6:5). Christ is the mid-point of this saving history; it is in Him that the decisive word was spoken respecting man.
Biblical revelation culminates in Jesus Christ. The incarnation is the supreme act by which God revelas Himself. He is the center of the Gospel (Rom 1:3, 16; 1 Cor 15:1-4; Gal 4:4; Heb 1:1, 2; etc.). The OT is revelation in anticipation of the Christ; the NT in reflection on the Christ. Barth wrongly asserts that God reveals Himself solely in Christ (Christomonism). We cannot argue from the fact of exclusive salvation in Christ to that of an exclusive revelation in Christ. Scripture will not permit this. In Hebrews 1:1, 2 it is stated that God has spoken not only in His Son (literally, “in Son”) but also in the prophets. This passage would seem to teach that although God’s special revelation of Himself has come most fully in His Son, it was not given only in Him. In addition to this Heb. passage, there is the fact of God’s having revealed Himself in creation, history and the conscience of man (general revelation).
Biblical revelation is also divine interpretation of meaning (revelation in word). The Biblical narration of the divine saving events includes the divine communication of the meaning of those events. Specifically, the basis of the NT message is the narration of interpreted events. In the NT the events are mainly recorded in the gospels; the intepretation of these events is found mainly in the epistles. (Note here as an illustration of these two elements; historical event and interpretive word, 1 Cor 15:3, 4.)
The NT account of saving events is integrally connected with the OT by the first Christians. In 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4, Paul ties in the death, burial and resurrection with OT Scriptures—“in accordance with the scriptures.” Note that this phrase is used twice. Paul was keenly conscious of the continuity of the two covenants. He viewed the NT salvation-historical kerygma as the completion of a process begun in the OT.
All revelatory events, past, present and future, are summed up in one event of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. The God of the future has revealed Himself climactically in His Son; according to Hebrews 1:2 the incarnation ushered in the last days, the eschaton. Past and present can be properly understood only in terms of the future as already revealed in the incarnate Christ.
This revelation is brought to man by the Bible. The redemptive acts of God together with their divine interpretation were recorded by the inspired apostles and prophets. The Bible thus becomes the means in conjunction with the inner witness of the Spirit whereby revelation given directly to prophets and apostles becomes revelation to needy sinners of every succeeding generation. The Bible is not only a pointer to revelation but is itself also revelation.
Revelation must be understood in terms of three factors: (1) The revealer—in this case God; (2) The instruments of revelation—in this case the Scripture speaks of various modalities such as vision, dream, deep sleep, urim and thummim, the lot, theophanies, angels, divine speaking, historical event, and the incarnation resulting in a product, namely, the Word of God (the Bible). Up to this point we have revelation only objectively conceived. (3) Finally, we have the receiver—in this case men who respond in faith to the One of whom the message testifies. This is revelation subjectively conceived.
The Bible as the product of God’s revealing activity is the means whereby the redemptive work of Christ is communicated to fallen man, though communication is ultimately achieved only when there is a response of faith on the part of the receiver. Thus, revelation must be subjectively appropriated. The objective side of the divine work of revelation (terminating in a record) needs to be supplemented by an internal subjective work of the Spirit. This inner work of the Spirit has classically been spoken of as illumination (estimonium). The point here is well illustrated by the experience of Samuel: “Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him” (1 Sam 3:7). From the context we learn that God had spoken to Samuel on three previous times but it was only on the fourth time that that which was objectively the word of the Lord became the word of the Lord to Samuel. Paul speaks of this distinction when describing the result of his ministry among the Thessalonians—“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers” (1 Thess 2:13). The word tr. “receive” means to hear with the outward hearing of the ear and it is in contrast to “accepted,” which means to respond from the heart. Truth known must become truth accepted.
The authority of the Bible is derived from its divine inspiration. The Bible is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness because it is God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16, 17); that is, it is divine in origin. Though God employed the personalities of the human authors the message is ultimately from God Himself. A proper view of inspiration can be obtained only in the context of a correct view of revelation.
An adequate view of revelation will also recognize that the Bible must be rightly interpreted. There must be a proper methodology employed in an effort to understand the Scriptures. Hermeneutics is a crucial area of concern today. Traditionally a conservative hermeneutic maintained that the proper approach to the study of the Bible was that of a historical-grammatical one. More recently, in what is called the “New Hermeneutics,” we discover the idea that the primary task of the interpreter is that of a tr. of the Biblical message into contemporary terms, often, it seems, at the expense of the original message itself. A consistently Biblical view of revelation cannot condone any hermeneutic which in the name of relevancy relieves the interpreter from a responsible handling of the text.
Whenever one approaches the Scripture to ascertain its message the first aim must be to understand what the author is intending to say to his readers. In other words, one must first listen. One must be very cautious so as not to read his own existentially laden views into the text of Scripture. If this danger is not continually guarded against one may hear a false address. In other words individual understanding and experience must not only be seen as possible exegetical aids but also as possible sources of error.
After one has carefully ascertained what the original message was, he must then go on to ask how that message may relate to himself and contemporary man. The ultimate goal of exegesis is only fully achieved when the NT faith is appropriated, but this is the second step, not the first.
Revelation must be carefully differentiated from two other concepts: inspiration and illumination. Whereas revelation has to do with the communication of information as regards what God has done for and said to fallen man; inspiration has to do with that act whereby God through His Spirit employed men to record authoritatively this information. Revelation has sometimes been defined in such a way as to suggest that although all of Scripture is inspired not all is revelation. It would seem preferable however, to view all of Scripture as revelation, as giving to men that information which is deemed divinely essential for man’s good and God’s glory.
Illumination has to do with the work of the Spirit whereby the reader is enabled to understand the record (1 Cor 2:13, 14). Whereas revelation is objective disclosure, illumination has to do with subjective apprehension. In revelation God uncovers the truth; in illumination the believer comes to understand it.
These three concepts form essential steps in God’s communicating to man. Revelation has to do with what is communicated; inspiration with how it is communicated; illumination with why it is communicated.
Bibliography G. C. Berkouwer, General Revelation (1955); J. Baillie, The Idea of Revelation in Recent Thought (1956); C. F. H. Henry, ed. Revelation and the Bible (1958); J. G. S. S. Thomson, The Old Testament View of Revelation (1960); B. Ramm, Special Revelation and the Word of God (1961); F. G. Downing, Has Christianity a Revelation? (1964); J. I. Packer, God Speaks to Man (1965); W. Pannenberg., ed., Revelation as History (1968); M. C. Tenney, ed., The Bible—The Living Word of Revelation (1968); C. H. Pinnock, Biblical Revelation (1971).