The Doctrine of Revelation: General Revelation

God exists, God created, God created human beings in his image, and he reveals himself to them in two primary ways: general revelation and specific revelation. This week I want to say a few things about general revelation, and then next week I say a few things about specific revelation. 

When we speak of general revelation, we're referring to the fact that God reveals himself through creation (see Psalms 14:1, 19:1-6, 33:6; Acts 14:17, 17:22-31; Romans 1:18-23). Historically, theologians have included in this category the physical universe and everything in it, the flow and details of human history, and human personality (since we are made in the image of God). To put it succinctly, all things exist to display and magnify the being, power, and beauty of God. 

The Scholastics of the middle ages, and most notably Thomas Aquinas, referred to this type of revelation as “natural theology” to distinguish it from “special or revelatory theology” which I’ll say more about in a moment. 

General revelation is indeed an “unveiling of God” and yet it is limited because it gives us few specific details about God. All of creation screams that God exists but it says almost nothing about precisely who he is and what he’s like. It says almost nothing about his names, his character, his purposes, his will, his ways, and so forth. And furthermore, even where creation is clear (e.g., about the power of God), we in our sinful nature are prone to distort what it plainly displays. 

Because of this, there arose quite a lot of debate, especially in the sixteenth century, about whether or not it is proper to refer to creation as a revelation of God at all. I won’t go into the details of the debate, but suffice it to say that in the end the theologians of that era concluded that creation is indeed an unveiling of God but that it’s insufficient and open to much misinterpretation because of human sinfulness. 

This leads us to the second type of revelation, specific revelation, which I'll touch on next week. For now, consider the words of Psalm 19:1-6 and reflect on how all creation declares the glory of God. 

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat” (English Standard Version).