Theology (1) Lecture Part II: Revelation Jintae Kim, PhD Alliance Theological Seminary Nyack, NY (845) Website:

Refer to my other note on Revelation. ct2.pdf

Revelation? (42) Because humankind is finite and God is infinite, we cannot know God unless he reveals himself to us. Revelation is the communication of divine truth from God to humankind in such a way that they can know and fellowship with Him.

General vs. Special General Revelation : God's communication of himself to all persons at all times and in all places. Special Revelation God's particular communications and manifestation of himself to particular persons at particular times, communications and manifestations which are available now only by consultation of certain sacred writings.

General Revelation

The Modes of General Revelation (42-3) The traditional modes of general revelation are three: nature, history, and the constitution of human being. (1) Nature (Ps 19:1; Rom 1:20) (2) History: Preservation of the people of Israel. (3) Human: Morality (Kant, C. S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer), religious nature.

The Reality and Efficacy of General Revelation (1) Natural theology: It is possible to gain some true knowledge of God from general revelation. (Rom 1:20). (Ex) Aristotle, “ unmoving mover ” ; Thomas Aquinas, “ The first cause ” ; Kant, “ Pure Reason ” ; Teleological argument (2) A critique of natural theology: against its hypotheses and logic. (3) General revelation, but without natural theology (Calvin) (4) General revelation and human responsibility

Calvin: General Revelation (1) “ God has given us an objective, valid, rational revelation of himself in nature, history, and human personality. It is there for anyone who wants to observe it. ” (John Calvin) (2) General revelation evidently does not enable the unbeliever to come to the knowledge of God. Why? (3) The key: Fallen nature of man and nature (Rom 1-3; 8:18-25; Gen 3:17-19)

General Revelation and Human responsibility (48-9) (1) The internal law (Rom 2:14f) (2) The OT saints: Though they did neither know Jesus Christ nor believe him as the savior, they received the promise of salvation.

(3) The reality apart from the special revelation: “ There is no one righteous, not even one ” (Rom 3:10) (4) Necessity of the special revelation (Rom 10) (5) Thus, it is apparent that in failing to respond to the light of general revelation which they have, men are fully responsible, for they have truly known God, but have willfully suppressed that truth.

Particular Revelation

The Definition and Necessity of Special Revelation (52-3)

Definition God ’ s manifestation of himself to particular persons at definite times and places, enabling those persons to enter into a redemptive relationship with him.

Necessity Humans had lost the relationship of favor which they had with God prior to the fall. It was necessary for them to come to know God in a fuller way if the conditions of fellowship were once again to be met.

The Style of Special Revelation (53-4) (1) Personal (2) Anthropic: Revelation coming in human language and human categories of thought and action. (3) Analogical: God draws upon those elements in our universe of knowledge that can serve as a likeness of or partially convey the truth in the divine realm.

The 3 Modes of Special Revelation (1) Historical Events in the Bible (2) Divine Speech (Jer 18:1; Ezek 12:1, 8, 17, 21; Hos 1:1; Joel 1:1; Amos 3:1; Heb 1:1-2) (3) The Incarnation of Jesus Christ (Heb 1:2; 1John 1:1; John 14:9)

Special Revelation: Propositional or Personal? Revelation is not either personal or propositional; it is both/and. What God primarily does is to reveal himself, but he does so at least in part by telling us something about himself.

The Preservation of the Revelation: Inspiration (60-7)

Inspiration: Definition

Definition of Inspiration Supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit upon the Scripture writers which rendered their writings an accurate record of the revelation or which resulted in what they wrote actually the Word of God.

Inspiration without Revelation The Holy Spirit in some instances moved Scripture writers to record the words of unbelievers, words which certainly were not divinely revealed.

Revelation without Inspiration Instances of revelation which went unrecorded because the Holy Spirit did not move anyone to write them down (cf. John 21:25)

Evidence of Inspiration

Internal Evidences (1) “God speaks,” “Thus the LORD says” : 3,808 times in the OT (2) Humility of Moses (Exod 4:10-12) (3) The Bible recorded the weaknesses and failures of main characters: Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Peter…. (4) Jesus himself held regarding the OT writings (John 5:39; 10:34,35; Matt 5:18)

External Evidences (1) Diversity of writings, but coherence of the themes: 1,500 years, 60 generations, 40 writers – Salvation history (2) Scientific and historical inerrancy (3) Archaeological evidences

TheoryContent The Intuition TheoryFunction of a special gift: High degree of insight The Illumination Theory Heightening of their normal powers: Sensitivity; perceptivity The Dynamic TheoryCombination of divine and human elements. Direction of the thoughts. The Verbal TheoryTo the selection of the words. The Dictation theory

Extent of Inspiration (64-5) The OT 2 Tim 3:16 “All scriptures is inspired….” Prophecy (2 Peter 1:19-21) Law (John 10:34-35) The NT Pauline writings and other writings (2 Peter 3:16) 1 John 4:6; 1 Thess 1:5; 2:13.

The Dependability of God’s Word: Inerrancy (68-75) g/otq13.pdf g/otq13.pdf g/otq13.pdf

3 Evangelical Conceptions of Inerrancy (69-70) AbsoluteThe Bible, which includes rather detailed treatment of matters both scientific and historical, is fully true. FullSame as Absolute except its view of scientific and historical references, which may not be necessarily exact, but are popular descriptions. LimitedIt regards the Bible as inerrant and infallible in its salvific doctrinal references.

Inerrancy and Infallibility Inerrancy The Bible, in its original autographs and correctly interpreted, is entirely true and never false in all it affirms, whether that relates to doctrine or ethics or to the social, physical, or life sciences. Infallibility The Bible makes no false or misleading statement about matters of faith and practice.

Importance of Inerrancy Theological Importance Matter of God’s omniscience and inspiration of the Scripture Historical Importance With abandonment of inerrancy came liberalism. Inerrancy is a foundation of Christian doctrine. Epistemological Importance Since our basis of knowing and holding to the truth of any theological proposition is that the bible teaches it. Thus, it is of utmost importance that the Bible is to be found truthful in all of its assertions.

Inerrancy does not imply (1) Modern technological precision. (2) that only non-metaphysical and non-symbolical can convey religious truth. (3) that the NT quotes the OT with the same verbal precision that is required today. (4) that we can now dispense with our faith since we now have a book we can trust. (5) that the evangelical orthodoxy follows automatically when you accept the doctrine of inerrancy. The evangelical orthodoxy can be denied even by people of inerranciest.

Inerrancy does imply (1) that the Bible is free from error, not only theological, ethical teaching but also historical and scientific matters. (2) that the very words, the very sentences are inerrant, not only concepts on thoughts. (3) that the concept of inerrancy is applicable only to Autographs.

The Power of God’s Word: Authority (76-81)

Definition of Authority (1) By authority we mean the right to command belief and/or action. (2) God is the ultimate authority in religious matters. He has the right, both by virtue of who he is and what he does, to establish the standard for belief and practice. (3) God has delegated that authority by creating a book, the Bible that conveys his message and carries the same weight God himself would command if he were speaking to us personally.

Incorrect View of Authority TraditionalismChurch and her tradition over or equal to Scriptural authority (Ex. Roman Catholic) RationalismReason over Scripture (Ex. Liberalism) MysticismExperience over Scripture