Showing posts with label General Revelation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General Revelation. Show all posts

Monday, September 16, 2013

Truth

Discussing the tenet "Christianity is true and anything opposing it is false," K. Scott Oliphint says, "God's revelation describes the way things really and truly are in the world. That is, we are saying that what God says about the world is the way the world really is" (Covenantal Apologetics: Principles and Practice in Defense of Our Faith, 51).

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Revelation, Again

More from Berkouwer on the relationship between general and special revelation:
We have in mind only that, in the most profound sense, no true knowledge of the revelation of God in the works of his hands is obtainable without faith in Christ. Calvin's reference to the glasses (of faith) as the only means whereby we can know God in this book of "nature," is of decisive significance for all reflection on general revelation. This is not a question of our knowledge of nature as such, but rather of our knowledge of God's self-revelation. Stated otherwise, in Dogmatics general revelation is not to be regarded (in isolation) as an independent object of study. Reflection on dogmas is in principle different from activity in the natural sciences. . . .  
The relationship between general and special revelation is not a competitive one; but in special revelation our attention is focused on the universality of God's actions in relation to (the plan of) salvation and the Kingdom of God. It is precisely this salvation of the Lord which calls forth a song of praise about the works of God's hands, indeed, this hymn of praise is a part of that salvation. When we speak of the general revelation of God, then we are concerned with this universality of God's actions in created reality" (G. C. Berkouwer, General Revelation, 285-286).

Revelation

"We may, and must, emphatically protest against any two-sources-theory, which places Scripture and tradition, or Scripture and nature, or Scripture and history, on one line, as sources of knowledge of equal import [emphasis original]. Any such equalization has always resulted in a devaluation of Holy Scripture. But also every attempt to prove, on the basis of fallen mankind's blinded eyes, that God has revealed himself only by his Word, and not already in the works of his hands, must be rejected" (G. C. Berkouwer, General Revelation, 280).