General Revelation vs. Special Revelation

In religious terms, revelation describes the way God makes himself known to his people and the manner in which he discloses his existence, nature, and character. A formal definition of revelation refers to the process by which God discloses his divine nature and the mystery of his will and purpose to human beings. In other words, revelation can mean both the act of revealing and the content revealed.

Revelation is typically divided into two broad categories: general revelation and special revelation. General revelation means that God reveals his divine nature through his created order—through nature—by providing only indirect information about his existence. This type of revelation is available to humanity and is seen in the existence of creation and through human reason and intellect. Much debate surrounds what can be known about God through general revelation, with Catholics and Protestants having differing degrees of comfort with natural law, or the idea that morals and ethics are rooted in God’s created order.

Special revelation refers to God’s divine self-revelation mainly through key events in human history culminating in Jesus Christ’s incarnation as revealed in the Bible. In special revelation, God reveals himself through the incarnation of the living Word (Jesus) and God’s written word, the Bible. Only through special revelation can God reveal his promise of salvation ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Background

Revelation is a translation of the Greek word apokalypsis, which means “unveiling.” To explain and justify their beliefs about God, many religions have turned to revelation, or reported instances of a divine presence speaking or divine action. Divine revelation has been a constant and central focus in theology.

Since the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century, special revelation has often been viewed with suspicion, as has the idea of divine hiddenness. Christian thinkers have traditionally explained divine hiddenness and the need for special revelation in the context of sin, with revelation typically seen as the means to salvation. When in history God acts to save humanity, he reveals himself and his plans. But due to the Enlightenment critique, theologians began to downplay special revelation and instead emphasized what could be known about God through rational argument or historical analysis. By the twentieth century, theologians began to re-emphasize a unique divine revelation through Jesus Christ.

Overview

General revelation refers to a revelation universally available, while special revelation is made (directly or initially) to a limited number of people. The terms general revelation and natural revelation are for the most part used interchangeably, while special revelation and supernatural revelation are considered counterparts.

Bruce A. Demarest and Gordon R. Lewis, authors of Integrative Theology, define general revelation, or natural, revelation, as “the disclosure of God in nature, in providential history, and in the moral law within the heart, whereby all persons at all times and places gain a rudimentary understanding of the Creator and his moral demands.”

Gary Erickson, author of Revelation, defines general revelation as “God’s communication of himself to all persons at all times and in all places” and distinguishes it from special revelation as less particularized and less detailed.

General revelation is considered universal, intuitional, and acquired, while special revelation centers on both the idea of sin and the concept of incarnation.

Sin is the rejection of or separation from God or the removal of him as the ultimate reality. It is willful disobedience to God and is considered inherent to the human condition. Because of what theologians call the noetic effect of sin—or the effect of sin on the mind—human reasoning abilities are less than pure, and special revelation is needed to govern the interpretation of general revelation.

Incarnation is the theological belief that in Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God appeared in fully human form. It is the necessary belief behind the concept of special revelation as historical revelation, which holds that God reveals himself through specific historical events. Within the history of Israel, he prepared his people for his ultimate revelation through Jesus Christ.

The Catechism of the Catholic Churchhas much to say about special revelation as it relates to the incarnation, specifically that “God communicates himself to man gradually. He prepares him to welcome by stages the supernatural Revelation that is to culminate in the person and mission of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.”

The Catechism teaches that God has revealed himself through the creation of heaven and earth and of earth’s first humans and through his covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the nation of Israel. These and other Old Testament events are considered specific moments of revelation.

Holy scripture, a record of God’s activity in human history, also is considered an important source of special revelation, as is tradition, or what has been handed over. For example, the second-century Christian fathers considered the revelation of God as it was made known through the first-century apostles and prophets. The Catechism teaches that scripture and tradition each hold equal weight.

Christian scholars generally teach that general revelation is the first and foundational revelation upon which all subsequent revelation is built and that special revelation has several priorities over general revelation. Among them are that special revelation is linguistic and therefore more direct because it uses human words and that special revelation is more redemptive because humans are sinners who are prone to rebel and often deaf to God’s voice and blind to his beauty.

Special revelation, Christian scholars have written, does not supersede general revelation because it is more fully “from God.” Both special and general revelation are equally from God, but the receiver of general revelation, man, is the problem. Before sin entered the world, Adam’s and Eve’s minds were pure, as was creation itself. But after sin overtook the human race, man’s ability to interpret natural revelation in a God-centered way became distorted.

General revelation also is thought to be insufficient for salvation, while special revelation is necessary for it.

Both special revelation and general revelation, are considered mutually meaningless without each other and mutually fruitful with each other. Some religious scholars believe one cannot correctly understand the Bible without general revelation, and one cannot correctly understand nature absent the light the Bible sheds on nature.

Bibliography

“Divine Revelation.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 17 July 2020, plato.stanford.edu/entries/divine-revelation/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.

Mayer, Robert J. “Lecture Two: The Doctrine of Revelation / Theology 105, Introduction to Scripture.” Belmont Abbey College, canvas.bac.edu/files/26736/download?download‗frd=1. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.

Taylor, Justin. “Which Has the Priority: General Revelation or Special Revelation? 6 Theses on Natural Law and Scripture.” The Gospel Coalition, 30 June 2019, www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/priority-general-revelation-special-revelation-6-theses-natural-law-scripture/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.

Tautges, Paul. “Why Special Revelation Trumps General Revelation.” Counseling One Another, 30 Oct. 2017, counselingoneanother.com/2017/10/30/why-special-revelation-trumps-general-revelation/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.

Thomas, Robert L. “General Revelation and Biblical Hermeneutics.” The Master’s Seminary Journal, Spring 1998, tms.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/tmsj9a.pdf. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.