Saturday, April 21, 2018

11.1-3 Theology of Revelation 1

11.1 Rule of Faith
  • God has revealed himself through nature and reason (natural revelation). The human mind can apprehend some truth, although it is almost always partial and skewed. Our language about such things is more expression than explanation.
  • The Holy Spirit has revealed and reveals truth (special revelation).
  • The Spirit has revealed and reveals himself through Scripture, the Church, and spiritual experiences. 
  • Wesley's quadrilateral aptly captures these sources of truth--Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience, although I refer to spiritual experience here.
  • Prevenient grace is God's grace that reaches out to us and empowers us to move toward him, including our knowledge of him.
  • Scripture was inspired, is infallible, and authoritative.
11.2 Natural Revelation
  • Psalm 19 - "The heavens declare the glory of God."
  • Romans 1:20 - "The invisible things of God are clearly seen by that which is made, even his eternal power and divinity."
  • Acts 17:26
  • Debates between Barth and Brunner, Cornelius van Til and the Calvinist presuppositionalists
  • Critical Realism and postmodernism
11.3 Christ, the Word
  • John 1:1 - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
  • John 14:6 - "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
  • All we need to know about God is revealed in Christ. 
  • The Old Testament anticipates Christ. The New Testament witnesses to Christ. 
  • The Holy Spirit has continued to unfold the significance of Christ in the Church.
Previous "chapters"
Chapter 1: What is Biblical Theology?
Chapter 2: Theology of God
Chapter 3: Creation and Consummation
Chapter 4: Sin and Atonement
Interlude: A Theology of Israel
Chapter 5: Jesus the Christ
Chapter 6: Salvation
Chapter 7: The Holy Spirit
Chapter 8: The Church
Chapter 9: Eschatology
Chapter 10: Christian Ethics

1 comment:

Martin LaBar said...

Thanks for this summary.