Queen's Road Cell

"and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (v.15). How does Scripture help us toward being saved?  Both OT and NT comprise 'special revelation'. They contain the truths about God's redemption that are used by the Holy Spirit to save an individual. "Special revelation is rooted in the redemptive plan of God, is addressed to man as sinner, can be properly understood and appropriated only by faith, and serves the purpose of securing the end for which man was created in spite of the disturbance wrought by sin.  In view of the eternal plan of redemption it should be said that this  special revelation did not come in as an after-thought, but was in the mind of God from the very beginning...It is a knowledge that is not rationally demonstrable but must be accepted by faith." (Berkhof) In contrast, 'general revelation' is a "revelation of t...

Grace was sharing about her experience in a church in London that seemed to over-emphasize the Bible as the only source of God speaking to us. The role of the Holy Spirit seemed to be primarily that of interpreting Scripture to believers. We spent some time discussing the idea of revelation: "general" revelation (Rom 1:18-20) is sufficient grounds for condemnation, but "special" revelation is necessary for salvation. The Bible is special revelation. God has revealed Himself most fully in His Son (Heb 1:1-2). I think we are to distinguish this foundational idea of how God reveals Himself to man from the idea that God communicates His will and desires to us in ways that are outside Scripture. He uses dreams, or a Christian brother's/sister's encouragement, the worship time in church, or circumstances to point us to Him. The key consideration is that all these means of communication must never go beyond what Scripture teaches - this is still the final authori...