Theology (1) Theology (1) Lecture Part II: RevelationLecture Part II: Revelation

Jintae Kim, PhDAlliance Theological Seminary

Nyack, NY 10960(845) 770-5762

E-mail: Jintae.kim@nyack.eduWebsite: http://all4jesus.net

Refer to my other note on Refer to my other note on Revelation.Revelation.

http://www.all4jesus.net/eng/bib100lect2.pdf

RevelationRevelation? (42)? (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. SpecialGeneral 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 RevelationGeneral Revelation

The Modes of General The Modes of General Revelation (42-3)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 The Reality and Efficacy of General RevelationGeneral 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 RevelationCalvin: 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 General Revelation and Human responsibility (48-9)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 Particular Revelation

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

DefinitionDefinition

God’s manifestation of himself to

particular persons at definite times and places, enabling those persons to enter into a redemptive relationship with him.

NecessityNecessity

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 The Style of Special Revelation (53-4)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 The 3 Modes of Special RevelationRevelation

(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: Special Revelation: Propositional or Personal?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 The Preservation of the Revelation: Inspiration (60-7) Revelation: Inspiration (60-7)

Inspiration: DefinitionInspiration: Definition

Definition of InspirationDefinition 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 RevelationInspiration 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 InspirationRevelation 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 InspirationEvidence of Inspiration

InternalInternal EvidEvidencesences

(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 EvidencesExternal Evidences

(1) Diversity of writings, but coherence of the themes: 1,500 years, 60 generations, 40 writers – Salvation history

(2) Scientific and historical inerrancy http://www.all4jesus.net/eng/otq13.pdf

(3) Archaeological evidences http://www.all4jesus.net/eng/first10.pdf

Theory Content

The Intuition Theory Function of a special gift: High degree of insight

The Illumination Theory

Heightening of their normal powers: Sensitivity; perceptivity

The Dynamic Theory Combination of divine and human elements. Direction of the thoughts.

The Verbal Theory To the selection of the words.

The Dictation theory

Extent of Inspiration (64-5)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 The Dependability of God’s Word: Inerrancy (68-75) Word: Inerrancy (68-75)

http://www.all4jesus.net/enhttp://www.all4jesus.net/eng/otq13.g/otq13.

pdfpdf

3 Evangelical Conceptions of 3 Evangelical Conceptions of Inerrancy (69-70)Inerrancy (69-70)

Absolute The Bible, which includes rather detailed treatment of matters both scientific and historical, is fully true.

Full Same as Absolute except its view of scientific and historical references, which may not be necessarily exact, but are popular descriptions.

Limited It regards the Bible as inerrant and infallible in its salvific doctrinal references.

Inerrancy and InfallibilityInerrancy 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 InerrancyImportance of InerrancyTheological 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 implyInerrancy 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 implyInerrancy 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: The Power of God’s Word: Authority (76-81)Authority (76-81)

Definition of AuthorityDefinition 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 AuthorityIncorrect View of Authority

Traditionalism Church and her tradition

over or equal to Scriptural authority (Ex. Roman Catholic)

Rationalism Reason over Scripture

(Ex. Liberalism)

Mysticism Experience over Scripture