This is an in-between week for my Life of Paul series, so for today I want to discuss a bit further a topic that I brought up two months ago in Life of Paul 13. In that post I mentioned, kind of in passing, about how Paul pointed to the general revelation of God when he was speaking to the people of Lystra. The principal of general revelation is that knowledge of attributes of God and awareness of His existence is available to ALL people through what God has made and through what He does.

Another type of revelation of God is called special revelation. This is where God specifically reveals himself through the direct inspiration of his words (the Bible), through his own incarnation (Jesus), and through specific historical events (circumstances, miracles and such). It is through these that we learn the specifics of how and why God works and how we can relate to him.

I want to comment a little on how we “interpret” these revelations – both general and special. By way of introduction I’ll just mention that my Master’s thesis and Doctoral dissertation both touched quite extensively on this topic. In essence, how we interpret is very much integrated with our own worldview – our concept of how the world works, why it works, and whether or not we are willing to acknowledge God’s involvement in it.

Associated with these two types of revelation is the concept of Dual Revelation. This is simply an acknowledgement that the same person (God) is responsible for both the specific revelations (special) and for the revelations apparent in his creation (general). Because they are produced by the same (perfect) author, they should not contradict each other. Where we see contradiction, then, needs to be an indication to us that we are reading something wrong. In other words, it is not the revelation that is in error but our interpretation of the revelation that needs some fixing.

There are some relevant Bible passages that I want to mention first. Psalm 19:1-4 says, “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.” This pretty clearly articulates the principal of general revelation. God’s attributes (glory and handiwork) are apparent in what He has made.

Romans 1:18-23 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” Here we see the principal that God’s general revelation of Himself serves to make all humans “without excuse” because of what they have learned of Him though His creation. Yet the natural tendency for humans is to reject what they learn of God in favor of what they deem to be their own superior judgment.

One person may look at a beautiful sunrise (or sunset) and proclaim the wonders of God are being demonstrated through it. Another person may reject that view and claim that the view is caused by the interaction of light, particles, and atmospheric refraction. Both views are technically correct, but they are driven by the worldviews possessed by the viewers. If you acknowledge God’s sovereignty, you can still appreciate God’s creativeness in His design of the laws of physics and the beauty it creates. If you disavow God’s existence, all you’re left with is the physical explanation. Ultimately, though, the important thing in this example is NOT the sunrise but rather what you choose to do with your knowledge of God.

Jesus commented on this principle in Luke 13:1-5: “There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.'” Here Jesus was pointing out that we can have all kinds of debates about various topics, but the most important thing to be considered is one’s standing (relationship) with God.

I’m going to talk more about this issue in coming off-weeks between the “Life of Paul” series posts. I’m going to link them all together with a new blog post category called Dual Revelation. Keep reading!