General and Special Revelation

2001-07-24

This article will discuss how God reveals Himself in two ways: namely by general revelation and special revelation. The former is observing the natural world we live in and discerning from it what we can know about God. This revelation goes out to all people. The latter is specific communication from God, which does not necessarily go to all people. It is the responsibility of the Church to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the rest of the world. But people have different views on the importance of each type of revelation.

General Revelation: An Introduction

By living in the world, people can learn a lot about God. David writes in Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (Psalm 19:2). Even in our contemporary world, the testimony of God’s intricate craftsmanship of the creation remains. The outworking of people’s lives as they are rational, volitional, emotional and personal beings shows that people are in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and that people are more than just a cosmic accident, spawned from the visible elements of the creation. God is a personal being, and is more than just a subject to study. Without communication initiated by Himself, there is no way one could do more than speculate on who God is.

Definitions of General Revelation

The general revelation of God is “the divine disclosure to all persons at all times and in all places by which humans come to know that God is and what He is like” (Demarest 1019). Because of this, general revelation “can bring light and truth to all, or, if rejected... brings condemnation,” for all know of God’s existence and have testimony of His greatness (Ryrie 31). God reveals Himself by general revelation to humankind by two main avenues. First, there is the internal evidence of God’s testimony, or “the innate sense of deity and the moral conscience” (Demarest 1019). The second way is external; that is, “the indicia of nature and the course of providential history” (Demarest 1019).

The former avenue of God’s general revelation to humankind Paul discusses in Romans 1:18-32. Most scholars turn to this passage first in discussing how people are inexcusable by sinning against the true God, whom they have not known. The Holy Spirit through Paul writes, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them” (Romans 1:18-19). In the consciousness of humankind, people have turned from the holy eternal God to a finite image they themselves have created. In return, God turned them over to their unnatural lusts, Paul continues. People know the sordid actions they have done according to their own consciousnesses, but approve of them and practice them anyway (Romans 1:32).

Likewise, Paul shows in this portion of Scripture that the testimony of nature surrounding the unrighteous idolaters speaks of God’s sovereignty. One can clearly see His eternal power and Godhead, yet they did not glorify God as He is, but their warped minds twisted God into an image found in creation (Romans 1:20-21). When this idolatry flourished, morality declined.

From what is known about general revelation from God according to this passage is summed up in three points (Ryrie 33):

God’s wrath is revealed against the unrighteous.
There is reason for this wrath because humankind forsook God for the lie of idolatry.
The result of His wrath was humankind being given over to their desires.

Another key passage scholars turn to for the validity of general revelation is Psalm 19, especially in the first six verses. Ryrie sees five points we can know about God from the creation. The heavens continually point to the glory of God and His fingerprint in creation (19:1-2). From verse 4, the center of the revelation of God is the earth and the universe. Also, the character of this revelation is clear, yet nonverbal. All people can recognize this form of revelation by this majestic revelation (19:4-6), as the warmth of the sun falls on all people. Lastly, the content of general revelation is twofold, showing the glory and the greatness of God (Ryrie 33).

The Efficacy of General Revelation

Different theologians, however, have debated the efficacy of general revelation. One of these positions is that of natural theology. Natural theology is “the idea that it is possible, without a prior commitment of faith to the beliefs of Christianity, and without relying on any special authority, such as an institution (the church) or a document (the Bible), to come to a genuine knowledge of God on the basis of reason alone” (Erickson 181). In other words, this school of thought says that it is humanly possible on one’s own efforts to understand realities of God solely on general revelation. The medieval scholar Thomas Aquinas presented such a view.

All truth, according to Aquinas, belongs to two realms: the lower realm of nature, and the higher realm of grace. The lower realm would reveal and prove certain truths based on reason without the aid of Scripture or any other authority. The existence of God and the immortality of the human soul were such examples.

From this realm, there are a myriad of alleged proofs of the existence of God. This in itself is another thesis, and many philosophers have criticized the effort of apologetics that has been argued throughout the church age. These things are nothing other than the use of human wisdom. Only God can effectively change the heart and renew people that they may come to Him, and the hardened heart before God must be humbled before they can really accept the reality of God actively working in the world around them (see Ephesians 2:1-3; Acts 9:1-9).

Karl Barth, on the other side of the argument, does not see any validity in general revelation. According to Barth, “to know God, to have correct information about Him, is to be related to Him in a salvific experience” (Erickson 188). The only way to know God is by the revelation of Jesus Christ (see John 12:44ff, 14:6). However, general revelation is the only knowledge of God that the Gentiles have, and it is great enough revelation to make them responsible to God and to bring upon themselves His judgment (Erickson 194; see also Romans 1:20-21).

Scripture makes it clear that the majestic creating hands of God can be seen in creation to all people from the entire world and from all ages. Scripture also tells that the testimony of the hearts of humankind is enough to condemn them. Even false religion can bear witness that the universe has a creator that is separate from the creation. For example, in the hymn of creation of the Rig Veda, the author writes:

But, after all, who knows, and who can say
Whence it all came, and how creation happened?
The gods themselves are later than creation,
So who knows truly when it has arisen?

Whence all creation had its origin,
He, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not,
He, who surveys it all from highest heaven,
He knows-or maybe even he does not know (Howe 110).

This is one testimony of a religion that shows the corruption of humankind that turned from the Creator to the creation spoken of in Romans 1:18-32. Though such a people can recognize that there is something beyond creation that created all things in time and space, there is a warped view of not only who God is, but there is no true conception or knowledge of the Gospel. Since God cannot be known fully or even accurately by general revelation, the only way one could know the particulars of His nature and plan for the world is if God communicates with humanity. This type of revelation, which is called God’s special revelation, does not automatically go out to all people. That is the reason for the Gospel and the Great Commission, that the good news of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection to go to all peoples (Romans 10:13ff).

Different Kinds of Special Revelation

There are many avenues of special revelation. Some of these methods God does not typically use during the church age. One type in the past was God communication of His will through use of the lot. Second, there was the use of the Urim and Thummim (“lights and perfections”). The breastplate of the high priest contained these in order to determine God’s will, though how they were used is uncertain (Ryrie 71).

Dreams also were a method of how God spoke to people throughout history. God seemed only to have used specific people, such as Mary’s husband Joseph in the New Testament (Matthew 1:20; 2:13, 19), and oftentimes a person would be appointed by God to interpret the dream (Genesis 40, 41; Daniel 2, 4). Naturally, not all dreams are communication from God. Visions were a fourth way, where human beings are more active in the vision when receiving the vision as opposed to a dream (Daniel 8), according to Ryrie (72-73).

Theophanies were also a way before the Incarnation by the way of the Angel of the LORD. Angels (literally “messengers”) also appeared to people throughout history, as well as prophets who were called to bring messages to God’s people (Ryrie 73).

Jesus Christ is the full revelation of God, for He was God Incarnate. Ryrie says that Jesus “exegeted the Father (John 1:14), revealing the nature of God (John 14:9), the power of God (John 3:2), the wisdom of God (John 7:46), the glory of God (John 1:14), the life of God (1 John 1:1-3), and the love of God (Romans 5:8)” (Ryrie 73). The most important thing, however, is that He is God (John 1:1; 8:58).

The Primacy of the Scriptures

The Bible is the most inclusive of all of these avenues; it is the inspired record of many of the aforementioned methods of special revelation. The Bible does not include every dream and prophetic message, such as certain sayings that Revelation 10:4 mentions, but the specifics of the Gospel are written in full detail (Ryrie 73). Reviewing all methods of ways God communicates by special revelation, this method is the primary way God communicates with His people.

By knowing what the Bible contains, there would not be any need for any special revelation besides the Bible, for it was written by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is in the hearts of believers. Because of the Holy Spirit’s work in these areas, there is no more need for new prophecy; God has communicated to us through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2), whose life is recorded in detail in the Scriptures.

Scripture and the Gospel

Grudem says in his definition of the necessity of Scripture that “the Bible is necessary for knowing the Gospel, for maintaining spiritual life, and for knowing God’s will” (Grudem 116). He refers to the passage of Romans 10:13-17 to support that the Bible is necessary for knowing the Gospel. People cannot know the details of what Christ did for humankind on the cross unless there is a faithful witness to what He did. The Biblical canon, which is made up of the primary sources of many witnesses that were empowered by the Holy Spirit, remains the standard of what people need if they want to be saved into eternal life. From the records of the Bible, the Gospel is preached, and this will be the case until the end of the age.

Scripture and the Spiritual Life

Grudem also references Matthew 4:4 and Deuteronomy 8:3 to support that the Bible is necessary to maintain Spiritual life (Grudem 118). One cannot live on bread alone, “but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” meaning, how can one walk with God without allowing Him to communicate through His word to him or her? Though it is true that by the will of God maintains all things and their existence (Revelation 4:11), people cannot know God if they do not know what He wills for their lives.

This leads to Grudem’s third point, that people could never “gain certainty about God’s will through other means such as conscience, advice from others, an internal witness of the Holy Spirit, changed circumstances, and the use of sanctified reasoning and common sense” (Grudem 119). As with the testimonies of general revelation, these methods of obtaining God’s will through others or from within ourselves are not perfect because of humankind’s marred nature. People’s minds are blinded by “the god of this world,” and they do not believe in the light of the Gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4). Being fallen image bearers, people can easily be deceived because of their marred spiritual senses. The Bible portrays truth in concrete ways so people can understand it.

According to Henry, special revelation is “redemptive revelation conveyed by wondrous acts and words” (Henry 1021). Special revelation is definitely redemptive in nature, as he says “special revelation in sacred history is crowned by the incarnation of the living Word and the inscripturation of the spoken word” (Henry 1021). Why did God keep the human race around after their initial sin, and if He did, why would He want to communicate with them? God told the man and the woman immediately after their fall that He would send the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, to eliminate the deceiving serpent and restore humankind’s relationship with Him (Genesis 3:15). The rest of the Bible is the search for that Seed, which is finally fulfilled in Jesus Christ in the New Testament (see especially Romans 16:20).

The Assumption of God

With all of this in mind, the authors of the Bible were never concerned with proving the existence of God. According to Ladd, “the reality of God is everywhere assumed” and that He is “a personal powerful, self-existent being who is the Creator of the world and of humankind, and who is concerned about humanity” (Ladd 20-21). In the first verses of Genesis, Moses was never concerned with such a topic because his audience, namely the Jews, already knew His existence. It is especially in this age where such questioning arises because of growing humanistic thinking and human-centeredness is in effect.

Such revelation, however, is not the issue. People know that there is a God from general revelation. Having said these things, people do not need to hear proofs on the existence of God or the legitimacy of the Bible as God’s word. There needs to be prayer that the Holy Spirit will soften the hearts of scoffers. In the end, only this type of special revelation will be of any effect on unbelievers. This does not mean that God does not use other people, miracles, circumstances, dreams and the like to reveal His will to people today, because He can and He does. But these things will not reveal anything new that is not already in the Bible; these methods, if from the Lord, will always confirm the message of the Bible.

The message of the Bible, and more specifically the message of the Gospel, is the “power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). Jesus Christ, the Son of God confirmed by miraculous signs and wonders, by the sight of many witnesses, was killed on a cross by lawless people and buried, but within three days, many bore witness of His empty grave, which is still in Israel today. His disciples and many others saw Jesus alive, seeing and touching the holes in his hands and feet and side. Forty days later, He was taken up into heaven, confirming that He is the Son of God and that eternal life can be found in Him alone. There is no other one in whom eternal life can be found, and by no ritual, good deed, or prophet can anybody enter heaven: only by trusting Jesus Christ alone.

Bibliography

Demarest, B. Revelation, General. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Second Edition. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001.

Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998.

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994.

Henry, C. F. H. Revelation, Special. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Second Edition. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001.

Howe, Helen and Robert Howe. Ancient and Medieval Worlds. White Plains: Longman, 1992.

Ladd, George Eldon. A Theology of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993.

Ryrie, Charles. Basic Theology. Chicago: Moody Press, 1999.