· Bibliology ·

Lecture Seven:  The Concept of Revelation I – General Revelation

TH330 Systematic Theology I · Moody Bible Institute · Dr. Richard M. Weber

I. Introduction

“The knowledge of God’s existence, character, and moral law, which comes through creation to all humanity, is often called ‘general revelation’ (because it comes to all people generally.  General revelation comes through observing nature, through seeing God’s directing influence in history, and through an inner sense of God’s existence and his laws that he has placed in every person.”  (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 122-123)

“[W]ithout the Bible some knowledge of God is possible, even if it is not absolutely certain knowledge.”  (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 121)

II. Characteristics of General Revelation (natural revelation)

A. General in Scope

Everyone has access to them, ie nature. Whether or not they recognize that…

Matt 5:45.  “[God] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”  (Cf. Acts 14:17)

B. General in Geography

Encompasses entire globe.

Ps 19:1-4a.  “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.  There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

C. General in Methodology

There’s a sense of conscience that is evidence of a creator.  See rom passage…

Ps 19:4b-6.  “In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.  It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.”

Rom 2:14-15.  “Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.”

III. Sources of General Revelation

A. Creation (The “Cosmological Argument”)

   The universe around us shows a creator. Somebody must have put it here…

1. Three Presuppositions

a. every affect must have a cause

b. every effect depends upon its cause for existence

c. no effect can be its own cause

2. The Cosmological Argument

a. if the universe came from nothing, it is self-created.

b. The universe was created, it must come from something eternal.

c. The Biblical view of the Cosmological Argument.

Ps 19:1-6.  “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.  There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.  In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.  It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.”

B. Organization (The “Teleological Argument”)

1. The Argument

a. the  argument: Design demands a designer.

2. The Biblical Handling of the Argument from Organization

a.    the  argument: Design demands a designer.

Telos: “end purpose”

Acts 14:15-17.  “Men, why are you doing this?  We too are only men, human like you.  We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.  In the past, he let all nations go their own way.  Yet he has not left himself without testimony:  He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”

C. Humanity (The “Anthropological Argument”)

1. The Question

  a. how can man – a moral, intelligent, living being – be explained apart from moral, intelligent, and living God? You see the idea of rightness and wrongness, intelligence in people. Where did it come from?

“Material, inanimate, or unconscious forces could hardly have produced man.  Evolution cannot produce soul, conscience, or religious instincts.  Lifeless idols do not generate living offspring.”  (Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, 35)

2. The Biblical Handling of the Anthropological Argument

 Ps 94:9.  “Does he who implanted the ear not hear?  Does he who formed the eye not see?”

Acts 17:28-29.  “‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’  As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’  Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone – an image made by man’s design and skill.”

IV. Content of General Revelation

A. God’s Glory

Ps 19:1.  “The heavens declare the glory of God…”

B. God’s Power to Work in Creating the Universe

Ps 19:1.  “…the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

C. God’s Supremacy

Rom 1:20.  “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power … have been clearly seen…”

D. God’s Divine Nature

Rom 1:20.  “For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – his … divine nature – have been clearly seen.”

E. God’s Providential Nature

Acts 14:17.  “Yet he has not left himself without testimony:  He has shown kindness… He provides you with plenty of food…”

F. God’s Goodness

Matt 5:45.  “He causes the his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

G. God’s Intelligence

Acts 17:29.  “Since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the divine being is like gold or silver or stone…”

H. God’s Living Existence

Acts 17:28.  “‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ … ‘We are his offspring.’”

I. God’s Moral Laws (Limited)

Rom 1:32.  “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

Rom 2:14-15.  “(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accursing, now even defending them.)

“The knowledge of God’s law derived from such sources is never perfect, but it is enough to give an awareness of God’s moral demands to all mankind.”  (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 122)

V. Value of General Revelation

A. To Display God’s Grace

  a. after the fall He has not ceased to pull all sense of Himself from creation. That He may be glorified in what is seen.

B. To Build the Case for Theism

   Regardless of what religion you belong to, you know there is a God.

C. To Justly Condemn Rejecters

  a. everybody has some response to it. If you reject what is right before your eyes, then you deserve and are guilty of the judgment.

“It would not be just for general revelation to save if God provided before the foundation of the world a Lamb to be slain for sin.  To give salvation apart from the Lamb would be an unjust provision.  But not to condemn those who reject revelation at any point of their pilgrimage of rejection would also be unjust for a holy God.”  (Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, 38)

God is just. If He were to say that sin were ok, then He would be inconsistent in nature. He must be just. General revelation will not save, but can condemn.

D. To Provide Social Restraint of Evil

  a. “the law is written on our hearts”. We will all have common ground. We can assume it exists due to a common ground for morality in some sense or another.

E. Not To Provide Saving Knowledge of God

“[I]t must be emphasized that Scripture nowhere indicates that people can know the gospel, or know the way of salvation, through such general revelation.  They may know that God exists, the he is their Creator, that they owe him obedience, and that they have sinned against him.  …But how the holiness and justice of God can ever be reconciled with his willingness to forgive sins is a mystery that has never been solved by any religion apart from the Bible.  Nor does the Bible give us any hope that it ever can be discovered apart from specific revelation from God.”  (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 123)