Theme: God has revealed himself in various ways, indirectly through His creation (general revelation) as well as directly (special revelation) through dreams, visions, prophecy, and especially through the written Scriptures. Though written by many authors over a wide range of times, places, cultures and contexts, the Bible demonstrates a remarkable unity because it is God’s self-revelation. From it we learn about God’s nature and purpose and find our place in His story as the people of God.
Outline:
1. General Revelation - Can see God in His creation. Romans 1:20, Psalm 19:1. Inherent God awareness. We’re spiritual beings, created in His image.
2. Special Revelation: Dreams, Visions, Prophecy
Direct - God speaks directly to people through dreams, visions, prophecy - specifically for the person or limited people
A. Dreams - OT: Genesis 20:3, 28:12, 28:31, 37:9, Daniel 2, Daniel 4:7. NT: Matthew 1:20, 2:12, 13, 19, 22, 27:19. God probably still speaks through dreams. Many Muslims have dreams about Jesus
B. Visions - OT: Genesis 15:1, 46:2, Daniel (chs. 7-12). Prophets: Isaiah 1:1, Ezekiel, Amos 1, Obadiah 1, Micah 1:1, Nahum 1:1, Zechariah 1:8. NT: Luke 1:22, Acts 10, 16:9, 18, 2 Corinthians 12:1. John in Revelation.
C. Prophecy - ⅓ of the OT. Direct spoken revelation. “Then the word of the Lord came to..” occurs 106 times in the OT.
Prophecy is not primarily about the future, it’s sometimes just a call to repent.
In the NT prophecy is a spiritual gift. Ephesians 4:11-12. We all have spiritual gifts to encourage and build up the body of Christ. Romans 12:6, 1 Corinthians 12-14.
Both men and women can have the gift of prophecy. Acts 2:17, 21:9, 1 Corinthians 11:5. Cautious of false prophets. 2 Peter 2:1.
Test the prophets to see that they’re from God.
Prophets provide a word from the Lord on specific issues. Acts 11:27-28.
Has prophecy ceased? The kind of prophecy included in Acts 11 isn’t included in the Bible. It’s not necessary for prophecy to have ceased with the close of the canon. 1 Corinthians 13:8
Indirect - Through the written Word. For everybody. Genres: Poetry, symbolic - Isaiah 55:12. Apocalyptic - Revelation 13:1. Proverbs - Proverbs 26:4-5. Applied differently in different situations. Speculative wisdom - Ecclesiastes 1:1-4. Imprecatory psalm - Psalm 137:9 - venting to God. It’s not something we pray
3. Special Revelation: The Scriptures
A. The Inspiration of Scripture - God-breathed. 2 Timothy 3:16. How did He do it? How did inspiration take place? Acts 2:16, Hebrews 3:7. Who is speaking? Human author, Spirit (it goes back and forth). Acts 4:25. Revelation as both human and divine. The convergence of human and divine makes it difficult to interpret and apply (Hermeneutics). Inspiration or dictation? How do we know that most of scripture wasn’t dictated? Different styles in the scriptures.
B. The Authority of Scripture - Sola Scriptura - determines what we believe and how we ought to live. Scripture has the last word. Authority used:
Personal experience or preference
Church hierarchy (popes, pastors, etc.)
Tradition or dogma (creeds, doctrines)
C. Illumination of Scripture - the aid of the Holy Spirit in understanding scripture. Inspiration - author receiving new revelation. Illumination - interpreting and applying previously given revelation. 1 Corinthians 2:14, John 16:13
D. The Diversity of Scripture
Communicated through human authors - kings and peasants, written in palaces and prisons, sophisticated styles, simple styles, “bad grammar” (Revelation). 1 Corinthians 1:13-16
Diverse human languages - Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek. Not a 21st century American document. It affects how we study it. Enter into the culture and context. We don’t have direct access to scripture, specific circumstances. Mark 10:21, 1 Corinthians 7:27, Matthew 10:5
Diverse Genres - What’s the purpose of the genre? Philippians 1:1 - Letter. There’s a chasm of time, place, culture, and language
Exegesis - Crossing the cultural and linguistic bridges to discern the original meaning. How to apply it to our lives. Who? What? When? Where? Why? Not every command in the Bible is written to us. Exodus 29:38, Deuteronomy 21:18-21, Leviticus 19:19, Mark 10:21, 1 Corinthians 7:27, 1 Peter 5:14
Contextualization - Bring the significance back from their context
Three criteria for cultural analysis
1. Criterion of purpose - Why was this given?
2. Criterion of correspondence - the closer the cultural or historical context to ours, the more we can apply. Ephesians 5:18, John 3:12-17
3. Criterion of consistency - commands that remain consistent throughout the Bible likely reflect God’s universal will.