Special revelation

The God who speaks and acts

General revelation reaches everyone through creation and conscience; special revelation is given to particular people in history, and it makes known what creation cannot, God's purpose to save sinners. It is sometimes called supernatural revelation. God spoke in many ways. To prophets he would "reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream" (Numbers 12:6); with Moses he spoke "face to face, clearly and not in riddles" (Numbers 12:8). Matthew Henry sums up Hebrews 1: God spoke "sometimes by personal directions, sometimes by dreams, sometimes by visions, sometimes by Divine influences on the minds of the prophets" Matthew Henry.

God also made himself known by what he did. The exodus came with its own interpretation: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Exodus 20:2). His deeds were explained by his words, and his words were confirmed by his deeds. Then came the one all of it had pointed to.

On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son

Hebrews 1:1-2

Jesus does not only bring a message from God; he is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). As Matthew Henry puts it, "The gospel revelation is excellent above the former" Matthew Henry.

From promise to fulfilment

Special revelation was not given all at once; it grew clearer as history moved on. The Heidelberg Catechism, asked where we learn the gospel, answers:

From the Holy Gospel, which God himself first revealed in Paradise, afterwards proclaimed by the holy Patriarchs and Prophets, and foreshadowed by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law, and finally fulfilled by his well-beloved Son.

Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 19

In 1894 Geerhardus Vos defined biblical theology as the study that traces this unfolding of special revelation through history Geerhardus Vos, The Idea of Biblical Theology. God had his revealed word committed to writing by prophets and apostles (Belgic Confession, Art. 3), so Scripture is the way special revelation reaches us today; the Spirit's work in that writing is called inspiration.

How revelation and Scripture belong together

All churches confess that God has spoken decisively in Christ, but they describe the link between revelation and Scripture differently. Evangelicals receive Scripture as the Word of God written: special revelation in written form. The Catholic Church teaches that God revealed himself by deeds and words bound closely together, and that this revelation is handed on by Scripture and Sacred Tradition together Dei Verbum.

Modern theology offered other accounts. Friedrich Schleiermacher treated doctrine as the description of the pious consciousness, the feeling of absolute dependence on God Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith, and many liberal theologians after him looked for revelation above all in human religious experience. In the twentieth century Karl Barth understood revelation as the event of God himself speaking in Jesus Christ, and called Scripture the witness to that revelation Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics. Evangelicals hold that God has made himself known not only in deeds and in a person but also in true words, and so confess Scripture itself as his revealed word. Whether God still speaks through prophecy today, a question on which evangelicals differ, is taken up under revelation. See also How does God speak?